The Good Business Journal documents leadership through long-form, independent editorial conversations with people who have earned the right to be heard. Some are CEOs. Some are founder-leaders. Some build through industry, community, capital, creativity or social impact. What connects them is not a single sector, but a track record.
Business leadership in South Africa is not measured only by title, office, scale or visibility. It is measured by what a person has carried, what they have built, how they make decisions under pressure, and whether their work leaves something stronger behind.
GBJ’s interest in South African business leaders is not ceremonial. We are not here to produce polite executive profiles that read like press releases. We are interested in the fuller story: the discipline behind growth, the mistakes behind maturity, the personal cost of leadership, and the responsibility that comes with influence. In South Africa, leadership often happens in difficult conditions. That makes the conversation more serious, not less.
This page is the front door into GBJ’s business leadership in South Africa coverage. It is for readers looking for South African CEO interviews, founder insight, executive thinking and the leadership lessons sitting inside real business stories.
Featured GBJ Profiles: Five Leaders Worth Starting With
If you are new to GBJ’s leadership coverage, these five conversations are where many readers begin.
Graham Mitchell — The Compounding Advantage
Graham Mitchell’s conversation is one of GBJ’s clearest leadership interviews because it moves away from noise and into discipline. His work focuses on sustainable growth, fewer priorities, sharper execution and the compounding effect of doing the right things consistently.
Paula Quinsee — The Business of Being Human
Paula Quinsee brings leadership back to people. Her GBJ conversation explores connection, communication, workplace culture, relational intelligence and why the future of work will demand leaders who know how to build trust, not only strategy.
Janice Wagner — Grit Is the Strategy
Janice Wagner’s career sits at the centre of South African executive leadership. As the founder of Edge Executive Search, her work has been about identifying, placing and understanding leaders, which makes her own story a powerful reflection on grit, endurance and judgement.
Tumi Phake — The Responsibility of Capital
Tumi Phake’s story is a leadership conversation about capital, integrity and long-term thinking. From Katlehong to venture-backed entrepreneurship, his journey asks what it means to be trusted with resources and to build without shortcuts.
Tim Evans — What You Build When No One’s Coming to Save You
Tim Evans brings a different kind of leadership into the section: creative conviction. His work through Malvah Studio and Odd Ritual shows what it means to lead through craft, standards and the refusal to make work that feels diluted.
Browse by Theme
Leadership Lessons
GBJ’s leadership coverage follows the patterns that emerge across serious conversations: discipline, restraint, self-awareness, communication, responsibility and the ability to stay clear under pressure. These are not abstract leadership lessons; they come from people who have had to lead in real conditions. Read Paula Quinsee on leadership, connection and relational intelligence.
CEO & Executive Profiles
GBJ’s CEO and executive profiles are long-form conversations with South African business leaders about how they build, decide, lead teams and think about growth. They are written for readers who want more than a headline and more than a polished quote. Read Graham Mitchell on the discipline of building businesses that last.
Industry Leaders
Leadership looks different across industries, but the core questions remain the same: what are you building, who are you responsible for, and how do you keep making good decisions as the market shifts? GBJ’s industry leadership coverage follows the people shaping technology, property, finance, agriculture, food, creative business and social impact. Read Peter Rix and Kume Luvhani on foresight, partnership and technology leadership.
Browse by Industry
GBJ’s business leadership South Africa coverage moves across sectors because leadership does not belong to one kind of company. We cover financial services, real estate, food and agriculture, technology, social impact, creative industries and the founder-led businesses shaping South Africa’s commercial future. As GBJ’s industry coverage grows, this section will connect readers to deeper industry spotlights. For now, browse all GBJ stories by industry and leader.
About GBJ’s Editorial Approach to Leadership Coverage
GBJ selects leadership interviews through editorial judgement, not paid placement. We look for South African business leaders with proven track records, genuine stories, industry relevance, community contribution or hard-earned insight that deserves to be recorded with care.
Our format is long-form because leadership cannot be understood properly through a soundbite. The useful lessons are often found in the pressure, the wrong turns, the private discipline and the decisions that shaped the work over time.
GBJ is for South African business professionals, entrepreneurs, partners, sponsors and international readers who want to understand the people shaping business here.
Learn more about GBJ’s editorial approach and what it means to be featured.
Could Your Story Belong Here?GBJ features South African founders and business leaders whose track records are real and whose stories are worth telling in full. Being featured is not paid for. It is earned. Once published, your story becomes a permanent, searchable record on Google, in AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, and in a growing archive read across South Africa and in more than 20 countries. If you believe your story belongs here, tell us why. We read every submission. |
