Keith Bothongo

Keith Mogola Khupe Bothongo (born October 3, 1963) is a South-African lawyer, father, businessman, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of the Bothongo Group, which offers property management, business services, and leisure holding services, and a senior partner in Deo Volente Solicitor LLP, in Bedford and London.

Early life and education
Bothongo was born in Johannesburg, South Africa to Peterson Uyapo Khupe and Agnes Molly Bothongo. He is the third of the six siblings (Louis: DOB:31 July 1959), (Doris, DOB: 16 December 1961),(Owen, DOB: 6 May 1965), ( Corlet, DOB: 4 January 1967), (Mothusi, DOB: 24 December 1968). His first business acumen started while he was living in Senete Village as a seven-year-old. He used to harvest Mophane worms and his grandmother would help him process and sell them. He also began selling sweets and other things by the early age of 7 in Meadowlands.

In 1973, his parents moved him to Botswana to avoid the apartheid regime and Bothongo began living in Gaborone with his parents.

In 1974, at the age of 11, he joined Bafenyi Boxing Club and trained as a boxer for about 10 years.

In 1978, he joined the Gaborone Secondary School where he matriculated in December 1982. He became a vendor after school, selling sweets, fruits and peanuts, and Simba-chips from home

In January 1983, he joined the Standard bank, in Gaborone for a year and a half, before enrolling in the University of Botswana, and later receiving a diploma in Statistics in 1987. While at the university, he sold leather bags to civil servants, teachers, nurses, and bank employees.

In 1989, he received his Bachelor of Arts and Economics Degree from the same university, while also working at the Central Bank of Botswana in the Exchange Control Department.

He moved to Minnesota for higher education, completing his master's in International Management in 1991.

He also pursued a master's degree in Business Administration in 1992 from the University of St. Thomas and a real estate diploma in 1993.

From September 1992 to 1993, he enrolled in a real estate course specializing in Appraisals ( property Valuation) at the Minnesota School of Real Estate. During this time, he also studied Insurance.

Believing in lifelong learning, Bothongo also completed an LLB (Honors) from the University of Buckingham in 2014 and then a master's in International and Commercial Law the following year.

He also completed a real estate diploma from the Said Business School in 2016 and achieved an Honorary Doctorate from the North-West University in South Africa.

In 2017,  he enrolled for an executive course in Real Estate, at the Said business school, the University of Oxford, UK.

He is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Business Administration from SBS Swiss Business School, Zurich, Switzerland which is expected to be completed by the December of 2021.

Career
Bothongo and his family moved to South Africa in 1993 after the first democratic elections in the country. He established a real estate company that specialized in property valuations. Through the company, he became the first Associate Valuer in South Africa in 1996. He made his first investment in a commercial building in Johannesburg in 1998, and his company continued to grow. In the early 2000s, his company grew further, until it became the Bothongo Group. He also started an insurance brokerage, with offices in all Botswana major towns, specializing in Life Assurance, Pure Endowments, Education Insurance and Pension Funds. He employed over 300 insurance agents throughout Botswana. In the same year, he started the first pizza store in Botswana, a franchise chain called Pizza Den.

In 1995, after traveling and settling in Mafikeng, Bothongo opened a real estate office specializing in property valuations. He worked with the government and was involved in the valuation of farms in entire South Africa, commissioned by the Land Affairs Board.

In 1996, he became the first black valuer in South Africa.

In 1998, he moved to the Gauteng Province where he set up another property valuation practice and stayed until 2002. While in the Gauteng Province, he also got involved with the property valuation for the South African Post Office properties throughout the country.

He also operated an auctioneering company called Tsakane, which later closed due to a lack of commitment from other directors.

In 1998, he struck a deal with Aucor Auctioneers which later fell out and ended with Bothongo purchasing his first commercial building in Braamfontein.

In 2000, he started negotiating to buy a property portfolio from a pension fund, Sanlam Properties. His first deal from Sanlam properties included two buildings, which he bought for R50 million and was financed by Nedbank. Continuing his work in property acquisition, he became known as the Duke of Pretoria, to Banus van Der Walt, the then managing Director of Salam Properties.

In 2005, Sanlam properties invited Bothongo to an empowerment deal he would own 49% of their R10 billion property portfolio. The deal failed due to a lack of support from banks and was unable to be revived later, resulting in a huge loss for Keith.

In 2011, he established the Keith Bothongo Foundation, focusing on funding tertiary education in South Africa. The foundation works closely with local charities throughout the country.

Bothongo mentored Cassper Nyovest, a South African hip-hop star. He is a Senior Partner at Deo Volente Solicitors and sees the firm’s international development.

He is also an investor in a biotechnology company, Innu Science. Some of his other ventures are as follows,


 * Chairman of Bothongo Group
 * Innu Science Inc. - Biotechnology Company - Headquartered in Montreal, Canada
 * Innu Science Inc. - Scandinavia - Sweden
 * Innu Science Inc. - Delaware -USA
 * Bothongo Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve - South Africa
 * Wayguard - Drift Security Company- South Africa and Africa
 * Senior Partner Deo Volente Solicitors LLP - UK
 * Bothongo Solutions d’Hygiene Inc. - Montréal Canada
 * Bothongo Hygiene Solutions - UK
 * Bothongo Aviation
 * Bothongo Agriculture - South Africa
 * Bothongo - Rehman properties - UK
 * Mentor to a Mega South African Hip hop Artist - Cassper Noverst

Awards
In 2014, he was awarded the Morayo Atoki Prize for the Best Overall LLM Student by the University of Buckingham, UK.

In 2018 received a lifetime achievement award from the South African Institute of Black Property Professionals ( SAIBPP) to recognize his achievements in the property industry in South Africa. “Mr. Bothongo’s nomination and the ultimate selection was as a result of a public online nomination process that was conducted prior to the awards ceremony,” said Vuyiswa Mutshekwane, CEO of the SAIBPP. “Once the nomination process was finalized and submitted, the adjudication committee deliberated and made the decision independently based on the supporting information that had been supplied and the judging matrix where Mr. Bothongo’s score emerged the highest.”

In 2019, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Northwest University, South Africa, for his contribution to business and real estate in South Africa.

Personal life
Bothongo married his first wife, Etheldreda Molale, in 1988, while in his final year of university. He shares four children with his first wife. The marriage ended in 2005.

In 2006, he was in a relationship with Nthabiseng Taukobong, an Interior Designer, welcomed his second son to the world in 2008.

In 2009, he tied the knot with Olga Bothongo. Keith shares four children with her and lives with his family in Milton Keynes, England.