REDEFINING T.I.A: Volume 2

The League of Extraordinary Young African Leaders:

Pilot, Entrepreneur…21st Century Young Leader

Black Aviators: Then

“Let’s play….I Spy”.  How many Black pilots can you spot at any given time in Johannesburg, New York, London…all the way up to Toronto?  How many Captains and First Officers can you spot at the SAAPA, ALPA-SA or even IFALPA? This is a game of numbers…so let’s play numbers.  Name 20 prominent and active (not the qualified but desk-bound) Black pilots from anywhere in the diaspora.  Alright.  Let’s regroup.

 The first African American Pilot was August Martin a true representation of our interconnected diaspora, the Californian who later died in Nigeria flew as the first black pilot in 1940 on the 8^th of January.  Qualified and more than capable as he was, he was initially desk-bound because no one would hire a black pilot.  Over the past decade or so, we have focused our attention on every other industry save for Aviation and Sciences in South Africa…so, young African pilots, even those in training speaks to the kind of drive and maybe dedication and ability to project goals further than the simple “I wish…I want”  but rather towards “I will …and…I become” ending off with  “I am”.  Which brings me to the first in a series of emerging LEYAL  Movement:  

The Aviator:

Koketso Sesoko: Enroute to Captain

Flight Academy: Flight Training Services and Cirrus

The Aviator: Koketso Sesoko

The defining characteristic of the emerging LEYAL Movement is that we are not confined to simply pursuing a certain career, clock in, clock out and go home after that.   We’re about moving beyond “just okay, just 50%”..we’re not about the “just” but more about the “do it”.   Here’s an example of a young South African pilot, one of the 16% of PDI pilots in our country, where there are over 800 pilots working for our national airline; less than 1% are women, but in the greater scheme of things, there are only 97 Black Pilots registered with the national carrier.   One day, all these percentages won’t matter, that color bar will be meaningless, and achievement for achievement’s sake will be the ultimate statistic – but right now, today…these matter.  This is what is separating the pioneers from the rest of the herd, but it is also signalling to the herd, the weary and somewhat wayward youth (sitting around waiting for someone to give them their big break)…that the seemingly impossible…can become achievable with tenacity, unwavering belief and a incomparable sense of self.

A deep sense of self-awareness and the passion derived from the latter is the vital element to 21^st century success.  I am a “Wordsmith“, I don’t fear these letters we form into words, I look for them, weave them about and create meaning and it’s a part of my tapestry.  So much so that I can actually pinpoint the few times I have not been able to express into words, a thought…or a feeling.   Incomparable sense of self – in this case, he is an aviator, regardless of  semantics or level, and the mechanics behind terminology.  He lives for the sky in that way.  In one of the toughest yet quite possibly one of the most beautiful professions in the world after medicine (Doctors, nurses, paramedics…if celestial beings could embody man, they could possibly reside in the latter – the good ones, not those under-performing ones though.) Sesoko is a South African with a clear sense of direction but an equally if not clearer sense of self.

Anti-clockwise: Howard Hughes, American Airways Pilots, An interpretation of Pan Am Pilots and the 21st Century South African Pilot

The road to the skies is both a professional and personal journey, in fact, it is theorized, if not romanticized that pilots are the men who converse with angels and come close to touching true paradise…or heaven – take your pick.  Koketso Sesoko has already achieved what Icarus couldn’t hold onto.  And that is the key here.  My generation often hopes for the easy way out…and then are surprised when their wings suddenly melt after flying way too fast and too close to the sun, and are equally surprised when their education, their dreams and goals, their right by virtue of being human, their endless possibilities (like their very own Daedalus) retreats fast into an impenetrable wall of failure.  Sesoko has managed to overcome the temptation to give up – giving up is much to easy, but to actively choose to put a shoulder to the ground and push back on status quo, on “you can’t…” or…”you won’t “ is the mark of an emerging leader.

Naturally, as with some of the greatest pilots of old, think Hughes and his initial love for the sky which resulted in designing the big boat with wings fondly referred to as the  “Spruce Goose” – Sesoko shares an  intricate language with the sky…reminiscent of (but set to mirror and possibly surpass the achievements of) Ernest Kekana, Founder of K5 Aviation, and one of South Africa’s first Black Pilots.  With the current state of South Africa’s Maths and Science curriculum, and the types of scores our High school seniors are producing…Sesoko and the current class of 2013 may be the only pilots of color (and we’ll include women as part of that class ) for a long time to come.  If you are not privy to any part of the political system in SA, simply put – there are two departments that are bartering tools and simultaneously able to destroy a politician’s career: Education and Health.

As Technology evolves…naturally, the hands that direct it should evolve.

Exactly a year ago, the then CEO  of government-owned South African Airways (SAA), Siza Mzimela (a qualified pilot) announced that they would be reopening the SAA Flight Academy in an attempt to seriously intervene in their poorly tracked mandate to increase the number of Previously Disadvantaged Individuals (commonly referred to as PDI) as tangible SAA assets in  the most coveted role in aviation: active pilots all the way up to captains.  Mzimela later resigned in October 2012 after Chairman, Cheryl Carolus  and several other board members decided to pack their bags and vacate the organisation in a huff and puff.  (Let’s take a moment to salute Carolus and Mzimela as two of SA’s most prominent Black women in business and say…there’s a generation watching you and we’re taking notes…what to do and in the case of the SAA Crisis…what not to do.) We’re heading for 2 full decades of socio-political freedom in South Africa and still, the distribution of the economy, education, skills, access in general is the thorn in our country’s seemingly beautiful “facial” reconstruction.  Clearly…the latter speaks to a deeper rift in our psyche which will take time to repair, and then rebuild.

Maybe it’s with this clear pattern of “emerging leaders” a direct result of a system under pressure from within, that we as a nation will gain some sort of redemption as we clobber passed our dark history into a varied vision of “utopia”. Koketso Sesoko is a Ferndale High School Alumni, an FTS Academy graduate and a current pilot within the Cirrus Flying 2.0 Training Programme.  For those of us who live our lives with our feet firmly on the ground and wander off into the skies when we have to get somewhere and driving is just not an option..say for example, Malta – Cirrus is the “Ivy League” Programme that separates mediocrity from…for lack of a better term…extraordinary.

As An Entrepreneur:

The indisputable link between Inspiration and Hip Hop Culture. Clockwise: Koketso Sesoko “The Entrepreneur” and Jay Z…ya’ll know him.

Business acumen is not an easy skill to harness…Sesoko is one of the brains behind Indie-House Record label Deepict Entertainment.  A niche entertainment company representing a few prominent artists including a rising star in the form of House DJ, Jose Chavez    It’s no surprise then that once more, the African American “School” of Hip Hop Culture is a distinct form of inspiration, Sesoko is heavily influenced by these artists (Jay Z, Kanye West, J Cole etc) whose net worth combined could probably buy out SAA’s billion rand debt at least 7 times over…if not more.  Music is an integral source of therapy, push and inspiration, but it is a fragment of the kind of success required right now…the “Never give up, never back down from a challenging goal and never apologize for your achievements” rhetoric of his musical icons is the secondary ingredient in creating success, first is his unwavering and abundant drive and determination.

The prediction is this…in a few short years, South Africa if not the world will have another edition to its Aviation Alumni:  El Capitán Sesoko.

So, let’s play “I Spy” … again.

Read up on pilots from the African Diaspora:

1. The NAI
2. K5 Aviation
3. Black Wings

Next Up:    Redefining T.I.A : Volume 3

The Capetonian Inventor changing Medicine

Scientist Inventor and winner of SABFSIA Awards