Real Estate giant Rali Mampeule, 39, has been elected as a member of the Forbes Real Estate Council. He is the first South African to be chosen.

The Limpopo born entrepreneur who is currently completing an Advanced Management Development Program in Real Estate at Harvard University in the U.S, told SowetanLIVE that he is excited about joining the exclusive group. He said he believes his participation will help in addressing the housing shortfall in South Africa.

“I’m excited about joining the Forbes team and feel that my participation will help my country in creating solutions of addressing the material shortfall of housing in South Africa,” he said.

Mampeule is well known for being the founder and group CEO of Landworth Group Holdings and recently successfully launching the South African Housing and Infrastructure Fund (SAHIF), which is a fund that is acquiring vacant and unused land near the centres of towns and cities for conversion into zoned and serviced stands.

The council was created to help talented people within the industry to network and impact the industry positively. The criteria includes a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics as well as personal and professional achievements.

Mampeule said this is not only a big win for the South African Real Estate industry but for people from his village as well.

“It proves that any entrepreneur even those from villages, like myself, can achieve anything in life, thus encouraging every black child to keep on chasing their dreams and working hard until they succeed,” he said.

The tycoon said this will help in the struggle to bring more black people into the white dominated industry.

“It also means that we can continue to really expedite bringing new blood into the old vein of Real Estate industry in South Africa as there is still less than 10% black participation in the sector even after 25 years of democracy,” said Mampeule.

Mampeule said that by being the first South African to join the council he can share successful stories about Africa.

“I want the international to know that we have real housing structures in Africa and not just shacks and informal settlements,” he said.