DUMA Travel opened its
doors in 2002 and has
since grown into one of
SA’s most renowned corporate
travel agencies. Themba
Mthombeni says the agency
was born out his passion for
both business and travel.
Themba grew up with his
grandparents in a small house
in the tiny town of Glencoe,
near the Midlands in KZN.
When Themba was growing
up, his grandfather instilled
utmost discipline in him.
“19h00 was dinner time,
20h00 was wash-up time and
20h30 was study time – every
single day. This taught me
the value of hard work.” It
also helped him achieve top
grades throughout his school
and university career. He
was awarded a scholarship
to study at the University of
the Witwatersrand, where he
completed a BCom Honours
degree. He later went on
to complete his Masters in
Leadership from Unisa.
When Themba started at
university, he realised that he
wanted to see the world and
so took on a number of parttime
jobs – such as working in
the library and the canteen –
to help him fund his travels. By
the end of his degree, he had
travelled extensively – but on a
student budget. It was at this
moment that he realised that
one day he wanted to combine
his passion for travel with
business.
Themba has had an
illustrious corporate
management career. He
was an HR manager at SA
Breweries and then senior
consultant in Strategy and
Change Management at PWC.
He was an HR director at
De Beers Marine when he
eventually decided to follow his
travel passion and launched
Duma Travel in 2002. Duma
Travel opened as a Uniglobe
franchisee. “It was a small
200 sqm office and I only
had one employee, Sunette
Barnard, who still works for
me now as gm for the Western
Cape,” Themba says.
A full three months passed
before Themba made his first
sale, which was for two return
flights on kulula.com from
Cape Town to Johannesburg.
“When the customers came
in to collect the tickets, they
could not understand why we
were so ecstatic and taking
photos!” Themba chuckles.
Thereafter, Duma Travel
started raking in the sales
and got several big customers
on board, including the City of
Cape Town, University of the
Western Cape, Cape Peninsula
University of Technology and
Medical Research Council.
“I believe it was our passion
and focus on cost savings for
customers that helped the
company take off,” he says. In
2006, Themba’s wife Nomvula,
joined the company as the md.
In 2007, the board decided it
was time to take the business
to the next level and offices
were opened in Pretoria and
it was at the same time that
the business entered the
government travel market.
Today, Duma Travel has
morphed into a diversified
travel group comprising
Duma ICE, its MICE travel
division, and Duma Sport,
its sports travel division. The
company has recently signed
a partnership agreement with
Uniglobe to expand its panAfrican
footprint.
Although Duma Travel
continues to grow rapidly,
it has not stopped Themba
from travelling often with his
wife and their sons. “One of
our favourite destinations is
Prague. It was our first time
visiting Eastern Europe and
we were pleasantly surprised.
It boasts such rich history,”
Themba says. “My boys also
loved Brazil because they are
soccer fans and my wife and I
enjoyed Chile.
“Sitting in a Buenos Aires
restaurant at 21h00 and
seeing businessmen walk
in after work carrying their
briefcases shows you how
differently other parts of the
world function.”
Getting to know Themba
When Themba isn’t globetrotting,
he is kicking back
with his family.
He also enjoys spending
his free time indulging
in good food and wine –
everything from typical
Thai street food to fine
dining Italian meals – and
reading business books.
“At the moment, I
am reading Effective
Boards, written by the
PwC partners and The
Challenger Sale. Quiet
time with a good book is
the ideal way to end every
day.”
