By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider
tMinister of International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola, delivered a keynote address at the Black Management Forum (BMF) in Limpopo on Friday 12 September 2025, at the Khoroni Hotel, Thohoyandou.
The BMF is known as a “non-racial, non-partisan and non-sexist” organisation that aims to focus on the development of managerial leadership. This year’s event was held under the theme “Harnessing Black Excellence to Drive Economic and Geopolitical Influence.”
“It is a great honour and a great pleasure for me to be here this evening to address this gathering. It is a great honour to see this gathering growing in endurance becoming bigger and bigger every year. When it started it was a quarter of what I see tonight but after seven years I can see the growth,” said Minister Lamola in his opening remarks.
“People coming together to compare notes, share notes and to build a society together. And it is only such businesses or sectors that can succeed. One of the disadvantages we have had since democracy is black people not coming together, and planning together for the future of their own country,” further added Minister Lamola.
Since the dawn of democracy the key aspect of this freedom was to realign black South Africans with a mindset that they are indeed able to participate and contribute to the country’s economic growth, as well as collaborating with one another in order to achieve this goal.
Since the dawn of democracy there has been an exclusionary culture among black owned businesses that often seek external investment or collaboration in order to achieve their success in certain markets.
However the establishment of these awards helps to transcend this way of thinking and allows for black business owners to familiarise themselves with each other and advance their ideas in a more pragmatic way.
“It is time we change this narrative. Not with mere words, but with profound transformative acts of self-determination. And I believe you are turning this narrative by telling your own stories, by awarding excellences of your own,” said Minister Lamola