Meet Thabani Zulu: The Visionary CEO behind Stella Lumen

By: Dylan Naidoo

Thabani Zulu is both a representative and the CEO of Stella Lumen, an IT company that develops products for investment management, finances and accounting. With a combined 40 years of experience, the company has expanded their work into both the private and public sectors.

Growing up in a township, Thabani’s early educational years saw him matriculate from a high school in Umlazi. Following this, Thabani studied at the University of Natal (Now University of KwaZulu-Natal) earning his BCom in accounting and he further obtained his postgraduate diploma in accounting at the same university.

In his early career, Thabani first worked as a writer for KPMG for three years, mostly focusing on articles about accounting. He then worked for Daimler-Chrysler South Africa (Now Mercedes-Benz South Africa) as a financial accountant, and began expanding his career into various fields, including his work for Unilever and two municipalities, all within the accounting field. These experiences eventually led Thabani to start his own company. He mentions that his career journey was part of a broader strategy, being fully aware that in order to rise to his desired CEO role, he needed to gain experience from working for many companies. Thabani calls it a roadmap he created for himself in order to develop the knowledge he needed to start his own company.

Interestingly, I found Thabani’s strategy quite intriguing. Broadening his horizons into various fields of work and bringing together all of this expertise to his company shows, in my eyes, a leader of great order and experience. Thabani mentions that he had to sit with himself one day and tell himself that he was ready. I admire his dedication to his goals, especially having the courage to tell himself that he is ready to begin his entrepreneurial journey.

One of Thabani’s most stand out accomplishments was his contribution towards financial and accounting education, specifically towards young school children. He has teamed up with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) to equip young learners with financial knowledge. To do this, Thabani created an accounting game, dubbed Risk and Reward, functioning similar to Monopoly. Risk and Reward essentially incorporate financial transactions that can realistically happen for business. This game includes all the challenges that come with a business and helps learners to think more critically in financial decisions.

However, even with his success, Thabani admits that starting a business, especially his first business venture, which was a filing business he started in 2009, was one of his biggest challenges. Of course, like any visionary business leader, there are many aspects which Thabani wishes he could change. However, this venture was the first step in his journey to becoming where he is today.

Another aspect that stands out to me about Thabani is his care for his staff’s wellbeing. Seeing Thabani talk about how much he cares about their wellbeing, including outings for staff birthdays or events, or celebrations for achieving milestones, is something rather special I do not see often with business leaders.

Thabani excels as a business leader through not only his extensive knowledge in the accounting field, but also his commitment to produce real change outside of the workplace. From educational initiatives to staff wellbeing, Thabani’s journey is more than just his humble career beginnings, it is a journey of overcoming challenges and following the dream to become a KZN business leader.

Understand the needs of people, business and see if you can meet their need – Thabani Zulu | CEO of Stella Lumen

Thabani Zulu | CEO of Stella Lumen