Accountant charts new path from Flats
Now Nathaniel Japhta is uplifting others
HE GREW up on the Cape Flats, in a life many who are in chartered accountant (CA) positions today can’t imagine.
Nathaniel Japhta has first-hand experience with prevalent gang culture and witnessing drug abuse.
“I saw friends and family with more talent than I had go to prison for life, or face no option but a life of drug-dealing. I was held at gunpoint for my watch on my way to write my matric final exams. It’s just one of the many experiences I had to endure and push through.”
Now a CA, Japhta is giving back to his community.
He started Pro-266, a sport management organisation which doesn’t allow a child keen to pursue a dream to slip through the cracks.
“I see so (many) kids aged 5 and 6 just roaming the streets, unsupervised. Many parents had to grow up very fast, help provide in their home very young, and just weren’t ready to play that role,” he said.
Japhta is also involved in the Heideveld Basketball Club and is the president of the Cape Town Basketball Association.
“Our goal is to grow our initiative by partnering with other CAs and corporates to change the game for our kids. We want to create more pockets of excellence, just like the one in Heideveld that produces academics, national basketball players and coaches,” he said.
Japhta received a basketball scholarship from Stellenbosch University, and it took him years to pay off his student debt.
The escape from the Cape Flats to university-centric Stellenbosch for his tertiary studies, and a later move to Johannesburg to complete his articles was a culture shock.
He said he saw students driving their own cars, while his own parents didn’t own a car. “We’re known for working in construction and wearing blue overalls,” he said.
His family also needed help, so he started his articles facing hundreds of thousands of rand worth of debt.
But he worked through it, and today is co-owner of EasyLife Kitchens Kenilworth, with his wife, Stacy, his partner in business.
He said while entrepreneurship and titles sounded glamorous, they were far from it, as it was a constant slog and the roles exposed how much you really could “vasbyt”.
“‘S-words’, suffering and sacrifice, followed by lots of patience,” he said of the recipe for success.