The streets of Johannesburg buzzed with energy in April 1994. Posters of Nelson Mandela fluttered on street poles, and people queued for hours in lines that wrapped around schools, churches, and community halls. South Africa was changing forever and so was Sipho Khumalo's life.
He stood at the corner of Bree and Rissik Street, still dazed. Just yesterday, he had been in 2025, scrolling through JSE tickers on his phone, watching news of political scandals, and trying to survive the chaos of modern South Africa. Then… something happened. A crash. A blinding light and now here he was in1994. He had something no one else in the world had, the knowledge of the next three decades.
Sipho still shaken about what happened "what just happened. Where am I??" After minutes of thinking and pondering Sipho finally took a deep breath. "Alright," he whispered to himself. "If I can't go back, I might as well build my life here. Though it is better, because it is 1994." Still whispering to himself. He was grateful to come back to the past after apartheid.
He bought every newspaper he could find like Business Day, The Sowetan, The Star. He wanted to be up to date with the past. Things that have happened and things that didn't happen, but in his mind, he already knew which companies would grow, which would collapse, which political changes would shake the rand, and even which wars overseas would ripple into the JSE. He knew that:
1995 → South Africa would win the Rugby World Cup, boosting national morale and corporate sponsorship.
1999 → Thabo Mbeki would take over as president.
2001 → The dot-com bubble would burst, but survivors like Amazon and Google would dominate.
2007–2008 → The global financial crisis would crush banks.
2009 → Bitcoin would be born.
2020 → A pandemic would crash markets worldwide, but tech stocks would skyrocket.
Sipho smiled to himself knowing that he would be rich. He would make an empire for himself. He wouldn't be the useless son he was in the past life. The world would know his family name. The first thought he had was how he would get the money to invest. He thought of going to a loan shark or his father or a bank, but he knew no bank would accept him remembering he was black. Loan sharks he knew they were dangerous. So his father was the only person who could help him. He would have to travel to Durban to get the money.
The first move was obvious MTN. The company was Founded in 1994, the same year he arrived. Everyone thought cellphones were toys for the white people and won't important. Sipho knew better. By 2025, MTN would be one of Africa's biggest telecom giants operating in countries like Nigeria, etc.
He also began remembering Shoprite, Sasol, Naspers, and Capitec (which didn't exist yet, but he knew when they would come into exist if he doesn't interrupt important events).
Overseas, he had his eyes on Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Tesla companies that would transform the world, but first he had to make money which isn't easy, but he couldn't just throw money around even if he had it. If anyone asked how a township kid from KwaMashu knew which stocks to buy it would suspicion and they would kill him before he made his first million or billion. He had to play it smart, slow, quiet and careful.