Knowing how it feels to go without, entrepreneur now selflessly helping needy youth

Mlindelwa “ManB” Tyekana, 47, is changing lives through the Man B Foundation, an organisation he founded in 2021 to uplift communities and inspire the youth.

Based in East London, he recently launched a campaign to support underprivileged boys with toiletries and had toilets built at his former school.

Despite challenges, he remains driven by a passion to make a difference.

Growing up in poverty, Tyekana said he had to drop out of school in matric to find work and support his mother and siblings.

“I know how it feels to have nothing, and that’s why I do my best to help others escape poverty whenever I can.”

Tyekana said the Man B Foundation focused on helping communities live better and inspiring young people to dream beyond their circumstances.

One of its latest campaigns, called Boys Too Need the Love, provides soap, deodorant, and other toiletries to boys in schools.

He said boys were often left out of toiletry drives, which usually focused on girls.

“This can make boys feel ignored and angry. Some even end up stealing just to stay clean,” he said.

The foundation has also helped in other ways.

It recently built toilets at Tyekana’s former high school in Ngqeleni and is planning to support families who lost their homes during the recent floods in Mthatha.

Apart from the foundation, Tyekana also runs his own security and construction businesses.

He owns a music label called Man B Music Entertainment, through which he supports young musicians and teaches them how to manage their own work and income.

Even though the foundation has achieved a lot, Tyekana said there were challenges.

“Sometimes the very people you try to help are the same ones that doubt your intentions, assuming you’re doing it for attention or personal gain. It can be disheartening.

“But the real reward is knowing I’ve made someone smile or helped a child go to school feeling confident, that’s what matters most to me,” he said.

He hopes the government will one day support or work with him because doing everything from his own pocket is difficult.

Through his foundation, Tyekana continues to show that even small actions can bring real change, especially when they come from someone who has lived through the same struggles.

Deputy head of the John X Merriman Youth Centre, Ntuthu Gugwana, praised Man B’s recent donation of sports kits, saying the country needed more community builders such as him.

“We need more people such as him in this world. May he continue to be a blessing, not only to us but to many others as well,” she said.

Azile Gamede, who nominated Tyekana for the Daily Dispatch Local Hero Awards, said he had gone above and beyond to help those in need through his foundation.

“He has built toilets at his former school in Ngqeleni, former Transkei, bought sport kit for juveniles in East London prisons and recently donated toiletries to boy pupils at Lumko Secondary School in Duncan Village.

“He has also signed local musicians in his record label and gave them a new lease in life, and even employed some of them in the admin departments of his security and construction companies.”

She said watching him assisting helpless people and selflessly funding everything he did from his own pocket, without any help from the government, sponsors or businesses, was what made him a hero.

Daily Dispatch