27/08/2026
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As ZCCI celebrates 100 years of championing business in Zululand, we look back at the leaders who have helped shape the Chamber across generations.
There is a simple question that guided Phiwo Thango during his time as President of ZCCI and that was - "What can I do for the Chamber?" Not, what can the Chamber do for me?
It is a philosophy that says much about Phiwo's approach to leadership, one built on service, opportunity and bringing others along.
His journey with ZCCI began at a business meeting, where he met Garth McCartney. Invited to attend Chamber meetings, Phiwo listened to the frustrations of small business owners trying to access opportunities created by major industrial development in the region.
He believed he could help change that. With Garth as his mentor, Phiwo's journey took him from Deputy Chairperson of the Richards Bay Chamber to Chairperson and eventually ZCCI's first Black President, serving from 2007 to 2009.
Phiwo understood entrepreneurs because he was one himself. After leaving Alusaf Hillside Aluminium in 2001, he built Morecare Engineering Services into a business employing 250 people across the mining, water and chemical industries.
But his journey included setbacks too. "I have started many businesses that failed due to lack of funding," he says. "Failure is not the end, it is a stepping stone."
That understanding helped shape one of his most significant contributions to the Chamber, establishing the SMME Forum.
The Forum created a space for local businesses to engage directly with major projects including the Hillside Aluminium Smelter expansion, RBCT expansion and Tata Steel. Project managers were brought into the room to discuss opportunities and planned local expenditure.
For SMMEs, it meant access and a seat at the table. As President, Phiwo worked to strengthen the Chamber's reach across the region, including efforts to revive the Eshowe Chamber and establish chambers in Melmoth, Ulundi and Nongoma.
His tenure also marked an important evolution in the organisation's history, with the Zululand Chamber becoming the Zululand Chamber of Commerce and Industry, ZCCI.
Through it all, Phiwo remained grounded in the values that shaped both his life and business: integrity, respect and honesty.
As ZCCI celebrates 100 years, Phiwo believes its future should remain rooted in developing business people and nurturing ethics, entrepreneurship, collaboration and resilience.
His message for the next generation, and perhaps ZCCI's next 100 years, is fitting - "If we get the values right, the business will follow."
