Catching up with Themba Hadebe

Some know him as one half of the Posties Podcast, some know him as a man of the culture, while others know him as the man behind the scenes. I know him simply as Themba Hadebe.

Themba and I met way back in 2016 in first year at UCT, back when he was known as Jose Themba (for reasons which shan’t be discussed). This was before the Posties Podcast, before VERVE Magazine, back when we were young and dumb and groove was all that mattered, with UCT coming a close second.

Life since has done what it does, and our paths have diverged and crossed each other as life has borne us along its eddies and flows. Looking back at how far he has come since that time, I thought it was apt to catch up with the homie and reflect on his journey, and what we’ve both learned since.

This is Themba’s story.

So catch me up: What’s been happening since the second year of varsity?

“Yooo, second year is brazy. That feels like a lifetime ago”

To be fair, when was the last time we actually chopped it up?

“Facts facts facts. Okay so in second year I was still busy studying Analytics - and I was only studying that to get into Actuarial Science, and the only reason to get into ActSci was because that’s what my parents told me.”

“I had never asked myself the real question on some ‘Yo bro, what do you actually want to do with your life, what are you passionate about?’. Passions back then didn't seem like they could turn into something real-”

-Or rather we were told that they can't.

“100% that’s what we were told. So, in second year I was just bombing out of Analytics. I changed to Economics, and I was getting warmer. It wasn't a drag to sit down and study for this, I was enjoying the people that were in the course with me - and also, Mathematics at that level is just letters. It was the alphabet. Ecos seemed like more my thing.”

“So after passing my undergrad I didn't manage to get into Ecos Honours. When that happened I was a bit lost. That was the automatic next thing, and my life had always been about going from this thing to that thing to this thing. Stuck for what to do next, I ended up chatting to Sishii, who had just finished his Post Grad in Entrepreneurship and he convinced me to apply for the same program. I did it becasue I didn’t really have many options at that point, nor was I ready to go back to JoBurg - I was already kinda feeling like a failure.”

*Themba and Sishii - image sourced from Instagram*

“The way the Entrepreneurship degree was set up, we had to get into groups and register a real world business and try to run it. I was already late to register, so I ended up just lumped in with four random people. We had a cake sale to raise capital, not even knowing what the business was at that point and only raised something like 12k, by far the least of the year. After that my business partner Alan was like “yo guys, I built this kinda UPS thing, why don't we just turn this into a business?”

“At this point we were in the throes of load shedding, and we didn't have any better ideas, so that was the plan. It was me and four others - Alan Gie, Brian Gadisi, Cecilia Gallet & Durand Pelser - also very multicultural. One of us was from Mauritius, two of us were black, two of us were white, one Afrikaans. We were ‘the rejects’, but there was a camaraderie. We didn't know how we fit into this thing, but there were different skills here to work with, and we all just wanted to pass the course. So we started Arion Power, and our flagship product is the WiBox - a mini UPS device which keeps your wifi and your fiber online during load shedding.”

*The founders of Arion Power - image sourced from Instagram*

“When we started we weren’t doing crazy sales. We had no idea how to market the product and the customer base didn't fully understand what we were selling. After running a focus group we kinda lucked out, because one of the focus group members actually worked for the CIO of Old Mutual. We secured a pitch, hella nervous and all, but we managed to kill it. More than we were ready for to be honest, because he was talking numbers that we couldn't even comprehend.”

“From that it a meteoric rise. We were supplying Sanlam and Old Mutual, we had locked in a marketing campaign so our individual sales were up, and we had applied for a mentorship incubator program which we ended up becoming the poster child for. We were winning at a level where you could see that not only were we the youngest people in the room but also the most successful. It messed with our minds a bit - we didn't feel like we should be in those rooms but everyone was looking at us like we should. Imposter syndrome was hitting”

“Everything was looking up, we had a great synergy, and we just kept moving with it. Until a couple years later, when I started feeling a bit of doubt. I went through some mental health struggles, I had doubts, and I couldn't place why. I never expected to be making that kinda money, off of something that we made. It was really dope, but I never questioned if that's what I really wanted to do.”

“After a long time of questioning myself , I had just realised that ‘This is not where I want to be’. It wasn’t the space I wanted to be in, even though I’d been doing it for the past 3 and half years. I had a conversation with the guys, and they were amazing. They completely understood, it was an amicable split, the brotherhood and the friendship stayed afterwards. But on my side, at the age of 25 I had to ask myself for the first time - ‘Who are you?’”

I know that chat. We get told about the mid-life crisis but no one talks about the quarter life crisis. That moment where you ask yourself “What are you actually doing with your life?”

“Exaaaaactly. So at this point I was already doing Posties Podcast with Alex - we had started in 2023 and that was a breath of fresh air.

“The reason we started the podcast was because we could see how busy our lives were getting with work, with passion projects and with relationships. Even though we lived together we didn't want to lose what we had. So we started Posties.”

Where did the name come from?

“We were still going out a lot, and we would always bring the whole club back to us. And we were always having fiiiire chats. One of us asked the other “Why don't we record these?”. And thus Posties was born.”

*Alex Biaya and Themba hosting Posties Podcast*

I’ve definitely noticed that. These days even if I’m just chilling with the homies it ends up becoming deep chats.

“Facts. I also feel like we get stuck in the rat race a lot. We’re all in it, until we pause and realise we’re all facing similar problems. Because it's so close to home, getting other peoples thoughts on the matter is something we automatically end up doing.”

“So we started the podcast, primarily for us to maintain our relationship, but also for the sake of us wanting to build something. Pretty early on I started thinking about the business side of it. I was on some ‘What are we tryna do, how are we gonna market it, what is it gonna look like?’.

“These questions started pretty early but as we started getting guests in we realised that we were just talking to our friends. We’ve always had friends in our circle that inspired us. In the sense that they do crazy shit, they’re hard workers but they haven't lost any sense of humility, and they’re willing to just sit down and chat.”

“Two years on, even though our guest list has varied and we’ve reached out to people to be on the podcast, foundationally we’re still just talking to homies. When we see them out in the streets the chats just continue, so that connection remains, and the Posties family grows as well. It's automatic, because of the foundation that it's built on.

“The network grows that way as well, and when opportunities come up I’m keen to add value in any way that I can, because it takes nothing of me. My goal in life is to have the best network in the world, because if my phone book is of a certain value, I can help anyone where they need it.”

“Alex and I know that we haven’t even gotten started yet. We acknowledge that there has been growth - we’ve gotten a lot better at this and the span of people is really good, but this isn't the end goal. We’ve done a lot but it only looks like a lot because there’s nothing else really there. If we keep going though, we will win.”

So after leaving Arion, and while running Posties Podcast, how did you end up at Greenback Media Group?

“I went through the motions of looking for a job that was similar to my role at Arion, but I never quite found something that piqued my interest. The job market was also tough at the time, so it kind of served as an awakening, to figure out what it was that I actually wanted to do.

“I ended up getting a call from one of my boys Tashinga, who had been managing Drama for a few years and was tapped in with COCO as well. He reached out looking for someone to help run his businesses. He might have a baby face but he's an industry vet.”

“Tashinga had grown Greenback Media Group, starting with videography which was his craft, branching out to brand management with Agnisa, talent management with Basecamp, and events with Untamed Authority. Right time, right place and all, but I told him I was keen and we had our first meeting to learn how the ins and outs of the business worked, and I felt it was definitely something I could add value to.”

What was it like taking that on? You used to promote at Saint back in the day, and you’ve been exposed to the scene since first year?

“Let me tell you, there were a lot of growing pains. I had only ever been a patron of the entertainment industry. I was just there to have a good time, and from the jump dealing with all these different facets of an industry that you’ve only ever seen the outside of was big learning curves in the beginning. There were events that I spearheaded that didn't make money or even lost money. Which was a culture shock because now I’m losing at something which I thought was a walk in the park.”

“When I left Arion and came to this side of corporate, I was very scared. I was very good at one thing, but how do I translate these skills to a completely new sector? But at the end of the day, if you know how to sell one thing, you can sell anything. If you know how to network, you can network anywhere. And lowkey now it's easier because I’m not working with people twice my age. And it's easier because I care. Don’t get me wrong, money is cool. But when you have a passion for something, it makes all the difference.”

“Now we’ve reached a point where we have people handling everything that needs to be done, from graphic design to videography to events coordination, and overall the business is growing. Specifically with Untamed Authority, in the past year we’ve doubled down on our flagship events and there’s been so much growth. With SOKE, after running the event for 3 years we’ve now been able to take it to Zimbabwe last December, and we’re heading to Botswana in March. And that growth in a large part comes down to listening to our patrons.”

“SOKE is pretty much a celebration of Africa - the food, the fashion, even the music, we’re celebrating African culture. With that we knew we were on to something, it just took a few iterations for us to understand what we were on to - and it took me understanding the need for certain things in an event. Sometimes you need to lose to understand that. The learning really needs to sink in.”

What is it like working with the artists? Are you enjoying the management side of the industry?

“On the artist side of things, I’m very fortunate that a lot of my friends are artists, and the fact that I used to manage Sishii, I understand what an artist needs to be an artist. And that doesn't mean you need to get 1 million streams by next week, or 100 gigs. It comes from checking in with them to feel like an artist, so that they understand that as much as they believe in themself, other people believe too. Before the fame and the fandom comes in. From the artists that have grown so much since signing, to artists that are just joining us now, our ethos is that when you come, we have to add value. However that may be.”

Now for my favourite question. What do you think of the current cultural landscape in the city, and where do you see it going from here?

“There’s no media here in Cape Town. There are so many artists but none of them have a place to perform, they’re all still being artists after a full day’s work. Everyone is hustling, which is an important part of it, but it's gonna take away from it because you aren't creating all the time, you're not tapped in.

“Eventually there will be more media. I see it catching up a bit, with homies like Caya Creative Studios, homies like you guys, but there needs to be a thing - if Snoh Aalegra comes to perform here, like she did, there should be a press tour! She should have a network to tap into whereby you know you’re coming here and you’ll be on this podcast, you’ll do this and that interview.”

“I definitely feel like there's more collaboration than ever, but it's still not yet at a place where it's sustainable for everyone involved. I’m tired of finding a really dope fashion designer, and finding out that he works IT from 9 to 5 because he needs to pay the bills. Not to say that that isn't the journey to take, but the only way we get to push a passion full time is if we grow the ecosystem.”

“We need to be able to tap into our networks and put other people on. We are at a point now where there are more people in each other's corners who understand that ‘If I win doesn't mean you lose’. Because at the end of the day your network is so powerful. If I’m a clothing brand and someone else with a clothing brand blows up, that means there’s more eyes on Cape Town.

I think we’re thinking like that a little bit more but the last step is just that there's more everything. More media, more artists, and more brand involvement. Because the money needs to come from somewhere at the end of the day

To me, Themba has always been my chief roaster, King of Bants, but also someone who you cant trust will always be genuine and definitely someone to have in your corner. As he loves to say, he will always be his friends’ biggest fan.

Catching up with him was a fresh take on the unspoken struggles we tend to go through at this stage of our life, and and inspiring view on the culture of the city.

From co-founding a tech enterprise, to hosting a podcast with Alex Biaya, to branching out into the events industry, Themba’s journey has been one of self discovery and of adding value. To his own life, and to that of others.

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