How Mohamed Baba's employee-owned model is reshaping South African tourism

From working as a taxi 'gaatjie' and nearly losing everything - including his mental health - to now pioneering an employee-owned premium touring company, Mohamed Baba is realising his vision of transforming the tourism industry.

Speaking at the launch of a tourism company at a Cape Town hotel, on Saturday, July 19, he spoke of the importance of trust and relationships he had garnered for more than 30-years.

Mr Baba outlined his vision for transformation in an industry that has struggled for three decades to change. 

“I refuse to pay lip service to transformation anymore. My story tonight is about a journey of perseverance, resilience, and rebirth,” he said. 

Mr. Baba chronicled his upbringing in Grassy Park and paid tribute to his late father, Osman Baba. He started working as a taxi 'gaatjie' on the Sea Point, Camps Bay, Wynberg, and Heideveld routes in 1993. 

Two years later, South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup, which allowed him to drive tourists to the waterfront. 

“It was the first time in my life I experienced tourists. Then I realised they pay more, and they tip well. That led me to the start of my journey,” he said. 

His career in the leisure tourism sector began in 1995 as co-owner and operations director of a touring company, based in Wetton, one of the first emerging tourism businesses in the new democratic South Africa, and a pioneer in cultural tourism. 

Ten years later, he launched another travel group, which was the first independent, black-owned tour operator. The business operated throughout South Africa, boasting offices in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Plettenberg Bay, Durban, Johannesburg, Hazyview and Hoedspruit.

The once single operation in Cape Town, with an annual turnover of less than R10 million, grew to exceed R200 million per annum pre-Covid. 

It included a portfolio of transfers and day tours only to a range of nationally guided escorted programmes that spread across South Africa. 

From 2005 to 2020 they had close to 400 vehicles. 

In 2020, when Covid arrived, Mr Baba was forced to let go of staff and had to sell off vehicles over the following three years. 

As an entrepreneur, he was not interested in money, Mr Baba said. 

“My drive and passion were all about people. I was obsessed with delivering the best quality to our travellers, creating meaningful and rewarding employment, and empowering and developing people.

"All I wanted to do was create more jobs and ensure that people had a real place in the tourism ecosystem,” he said.

It was at this time that Mr Baba considered the need for an investor. During a lunch with his sisters, he was advised to give the business to the staff to run.

After the pandemic, he said, he was forced to be more of a businessman. 

“I was forced to understand that in order to make business work, they must deliver a financial return,” he said.

Mr Baba confessed that he made the “biggest” mistake of his career in February 2022.

He described facing major personal and professional difficulties after entering into a business partnership during the company’s recovery phase.

Mr Baba subsequently survived a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed with an acute schizophrenic disorder.

He was so paranoid that someone was trying to kill him, he tried escaping from the hospital and was transferred to Groote Schuur Hospital’s psychiatry ward for observation. 

He said after his discharge, he returned to work, trying to recover what he had lost. 

At one stage, he had to prepare a curriculum vitae to find a job. By December 2023, he bought a car and returned to driving clients.

“I had lost everything. My entire life’s worth, three decades of it. My people, my organisation, my assets... Thirty years of contacts are all gone," he said, adding that it seemed impossible to restart.

He had to find his true purpose. In the last few years, he has been mentoring tourist operators.

“I knew that if I was going back into business, I would need to empower my people,” he said.

The touring company launched with 40 team members, 25 of whom are shareholders, selected for their experience, dedication, and longstanding service in tourism. 

The company is set to offer experiential guided experiences and journey logistics across southern Africa. 

“True transformation isn’t about compliance scorecards or token gestures," he said, adding he was determined that his business would stand as proof that true empowerment is possible when you trust your people with real ownership, not just promises.

“Transformation must be lived every day through our actions; it cannot remain rhetoric. Our guests deserve experiences shaped by people who are truly invested, not just employees but owners who benefit directly from success," he said.

Mr Baba believes that more people can benefit from the industry because it is the “many who actually create the magic for our guests who remain on the sidelines.” 

“My journey from SMME (small, medium and micro enterprise) to a fully-fledged large enterprise in tourism has equipped me with a unique dual perspective. 

“On the one hand, I have accumulated a vast experience of how inbound tourism works and on the other the importance of establishing numerous partnerships internationally,” he said. 

Company director Thokozani Mdluli highlighted the broader industry implications.

The company demonstrated how tourism transformation could actually work when the industry moved beyond tokenism toward real equity sharing, he said in a statement.

They plan steady expansion over the next two years while sharing its inclusive model as a blueprint for replication across the wider travel sector.

Chief executive officer of Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA) David Frost positioned the touring company as the first of multiple ventures planned under this shared ownership philosophy.

Shareholder Shadley Basardien emphasised the personal impact of the ownership model.

“When you own part of the business you’re building, every guest interaction, every tour, every success becomes personal. That’s what creates exceptional experiences,” he said. 

Mr Basardien thanked Mr Baba for giving "this boytjie from Hanover Park" the opportunity to learn Spanish and be up-skilled to become a pilot. 

“There are good people. I want to thank our father (Mr Baba) because we are a family for sharing the business with us,” he said.