By Jacob Mawela.
Caption: Tiyani Makamu limned waving to the audience a moment after being crowned as the 68th Miss South Africaat the Sandton Convention Centre. Image: Jacob Mawela/Fullview.
27-year-old Bronkhorstspruit-raised communications professional, entrepreneur and youth advocate Tiyani Makamu intends to place youth entrepreneurship at the pivot of her reign as the 68th Miss South Africa.
To that extent, she plans to use her R500,000 Empower Youth Africa impact fund – part of the overall prizes she received as the new queen – to help young entrepreneurs move from ideation to becoming “funding-ready” and “growth-ready” within her first 100 days.
Such an undertaking would to some extent be enabled through the initiative (EYA) started by the Miss South Africa Organisation for the purpose of inspiring and empowering young people to contribute meaningfully to their communities, country and continent.
It is through the framework that Makamu advocates to focus on entrepreneurship and skills development, youth unemployment, and access to education and knowledge – an outlook per se aligned to the EYA’s foundational commitment to investing in Africa’s next generation of leaders
A quick glance at her resume hints towards a candidate who is equipped to assume such a daunting role. A graduate of Pearson Institute of Higher Education, she currently serves as a Group Digital Lead and Client Success Executive.
Makamu is the founder of Hubsela, a platform dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs and helping small businesses grow sustainably. Additionally, she previously served on the board of the Mfudumalo Foundation, where she contributed to initiatives which supported thousands of families and established a community library in Ivory Park.
She is passionate about equipping entrepreneurs with the tools, systems and support needed to build sustainable businesses, believing that entrepreneurship is a powerful driver of economic empowerment, job creation and community development.
Through her advocacy and entrepreneurial work, she hopes to help more young people become funding-ready, build successful businesses and create opportunities within their communities.
She emphasized her mandate to empower women entrepreneurs by closing gaps in funding, business development, and access to opportunities. She further stated that “entrepreneurship is the way forward” to solve unemployment and build sustainable communities.
During a post-event media conference attended by Miss South Africa Organisation honcho Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe erstwhile queen and co-chair of the pageant Shudufhadzo Musida and judge Professor Thuli Madonsela among others, Makamu directly spoke to the Miss South Africa Organisation’s strategic shift—moving away from a purely beauty-centered contest toward active leadership and social impact:
She stated that modern leadership requires combining “beauty, brains, and leadership,” – asserting that this exact blend was essential for driving South Africa’s progress.
The match between Makamu and the pageant is an apt fit considering that Miss South Africa is one of South Africa’s most recognized youth platforms championing leadership, excellence, purpose, and impact – to an extent, through its titleholders.
Considering that ahead of the pageant the outgoing Miss South Africa 2025 Qhawekazi Mazaleni had expressed a desire to see a successor who recognizes the community impact, expectations, and honor tied to the title – Makamu may be reliably deemed as a worthy recipient.
And the Miss South Africa Organisation’s foresight in initiating the EYA got the nod of Professor Madonsela – who highlighted the launch of its impact fund on the JSE as a crucial driver towards giving this year’s finalists access to drive community projects beyond the main titles.
(In addition to Makamu’s portion of the fund, the First and Second princesses are entitled to access R150 000 and R100 000 respectively – while all the finalists are inducted as Empower Youth Africa ambassadors carrying their commitment to young people and meaningful community impact beyond the competition.)
During the media conference at which Makamu claimed that she had previously been predicted as a future wearer of the crown, Shudufhadzo Musida the 2020 Miss SA let the media in on what it took to prepare the finalists for the moment.
She mentioned that she had firsthand experience of watching them being put rigours geared toward earning their spots at the pageant finale, at the Gordon Institute of Business Science – an aspect which may well stand Makamu in appropriate stead for the reign ahead.