12 Aug 2025

Cycling can be used as an analogy of leadership, chief executive officer of SADC-Development Finance Resource Centre (DFRC) Zwelibanzi Sapula has said.

In an interview during the ‘Meet the CEO-Pedal Lead Inspire’ session, avid cyclist, Sapula shared some life lessons from cycling that he had been able to apply in his leadership journey.

He said resilience and grit were some of the elements in cycling that propelled riders to competitive goals and ability to bounce back from any setbacks.

“Riders often have to overcome climbs, fatigue and even deal with their mental state to reach the finish line in pursuit of a win,” Sapula said adding that such elements in cycling speaks to how to overcome setbacks in life and one’s career. 

He said young professionals needed to understand that in their journey they would encounter setbacks and needed to know how to overcome them. 

“These also talk to the fact that for you to make it in life you need to have a purpose and that shooting for the stars and not aiming at anything or having a target is like you are just living,” he said.

He shared that in his journey as an executive, he learnt from cycling, the importance of getting help from trusted sources and implementing it sooner. 

Sapula said he observed and noticed that the biggest issue with young people was giving up too easily.

“When they meet challenges they think that whatever they are working on is not worth their time or it is too hard, while the main issue most of the time is the fact that it is challenging. You need to learn to have the ability to overcome challenges and really step up,” he said.

Shedding more light on the initiative by SADC-DFRC which is geared at empowering young professionals in their career journeys, Sapula said the idea was to have various executives share their experiences, journeys and success to young professionals in various career paths. 

The sessions target professionals who had just started at management level where they get to hear stories and journeys that most executives go through and learn lessons on how to navigate their own careers.

Although, the first session had executives from a financial sector, Sapula said they would have executives from other sectors.

However, he explained that the sessions were not about what happens in a sector specifically, but more about ‘the journey each of the CEOs would had traversed to get to where they were; and some of key lessons they told their younger self to push for on their careers.’

Having been in Botswana for seven months, Sapula said he realised that a lot of young people had jobs, but what they had was below the qualifications they studied for. 

Therefore, he said lessons they provided during the sessions would help lift themselves up to a point where they would move up the ladder in their careers.

Speaking to cycling in Botswana as a sport still finding its space, he said the main challenge was sponsorship. He said cyclists needed sponsorship to excel, as the sport itself did not come cheap.

He also said there was need to have more cycling clubs that were professional and dedicated to helping young riders who aspired to be professional and have career in cycling. 

He appealed and called on to executives and corporate who attended the event session to see an opportunity in cycling and help develop the sport. 

He said there was need for more visibility in cycling to attract sponsorship as it was with other sporting codes.

Meanwhile, Protea Hotel by Marriott Masa Square sales and marketing manager Botho Mogami said they were part of the initiative as they believed in investing in the future. ENDS