A pioneer in female aviation, Sibongile Rejoice Sambo is the founder and managing director of SRS Aviation in South Africa in 2004.
Airplanes have been her passion since she was a little girl, but initially she had air hostessing in mind—luckily, she was too short to qualify. Today her all-female-owned company SRS Aviation (standing for the initials of her name) offers a wide range of personalized charter flights for private and business purposes worldwide. The entrepreneur holds a BA in administration and majored in political science and industrial psychology and initially worked in human resources. She founded her business with loans from her mother and aunt.
“I decided to go for what lies within in me, and this is the passion for airplanes and being around the airport,” she said to CNN in 2016.
In another interview the 44-year-old said that she initially noticed a high volume of flights to and from Africa, especially by people working in the mining industry, via France. Somebody needed to provide direct charter flights.
I have the philosophy that I am where I am today is because someone invested in me. It’s my opportunity now to invest in other people.