What Does Success Really Mean? My Top 100 Most Influential Men Journey
Being recognised as one of South Africa’s Top 100 Most Influential Men of 2025 was an incredible honour.
But recognition has a way of making you think about a question that sounds simple until you really try to answer it.
What is success?
Is it an award?
A title?
A career milestone?
A television interview?
Standing on a stage?
For me, success has increasingly come to mean something different.
Success is what you do with the opportunities you’ve been given — and whether those opportunities allow you to make a difference beyond yourself.
From the Eastern Cape to Johannesburg
My journey certainly wasn’t mapped out from the beginning.
Originally from the Eastern Cape, I studied BCom Law at what is now Nelson Mandela University before my professional journey eventually took me into communications, public relations, media, marketing, branding and business.
That career placed me in situations where communication mattered.
Representing organisations, working with media, delivering messages and speaking to different audiences gradually developed another skill and opened another door.
Public speaking.
That eventually became part of my work as a professional Master of Ceremonies, presenter, facilitator and speaker.
None of those individual moments looked particularly dramatic at the time.
But looking back, each one contributed to the next.
Being named among South Africa’s Top 100 Most Influential Men
In 2025, I was honoured to be recognised as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Men in South Africa.
NovaNews subsequently shared more of my story, covering the journey from my Eastern Cape beginnings and corporate communications career to public speaking, pageantry and community involvement.
Read the NovaNews feature on my Top 100 Most Influential Men recognition
It was wonderful recognition.
But it also raised another question for me.
What does influence actually mean?
Influence and fame are not the same thing
I’ve come to believe that influence isn’t about how many people know your name.
It’s about whether you can change something.
Sometimes that change is enormous.
Sometimes it affects a community.
And sometimes it simply means helping one person.
My involvement in community upliftment has repeatedly reminded me of this.
When you’re exposed to the realities faced by people who are worrying about things as basic as their next nutritious meal, titles and achievements quickly find their proper place.
They can be valuable.
They can create opportunities.
They can give you a platform.
But the important part is what you choose to do with that platform.
I believe strongly in creating environments where people can develop a sense of ownership, dignity and pride.
Real change isn’t simply about doing something for a community.
Where possible, it should help people become part of changing their own circumstances.
What does success mean?
This subject also became part of my Global Leaders interview, produced by Big M Productions.
The conversation explored leadership, believing in yourself, community upliftment and my own understanding of success.
Watch my Global Leaders interview
For me, success isn’t one achievement.
It’s certainly not one award.
Success is being able to look at where you started, understand the work it took to move forward and then find a way to use what you’ve learnt to contribute something useful.
It is believing in yourself — even when the next step isn’t obvious.
It is remaining willing to learn.
It is recognising opportunities when they arrive.
And it is remembering that influence without purpose doesn’t mean very much.
Bringing purpose into professional life
These lessons follow me into my professional work as well.
Being a Master of Ceremonies is, on the surface, about hosting an event.
But the role is ultimately built around people.
A professional MC needs to understand the message an organisation is trying to communicate, connect with an audience, create the right atmosphere and give other people the space to tell their stories.
Whether I’m hosting a corporate conference, moderating a panel discussion, speaking at an event or working with a community initiative, that human connection remains the common thread.
Recognition is wonderful. Impact matters more.
I’m enormously grateful for the recognition of being included among the Top 100 Most Influential Men in South Africa in 2025.
It’s one of those moments I’ll always be proud of.
But perhaps the biggest value of recognition is that it reminds you not to stop.
There is always more to learn.
More to contribute.
More people to encourage.
And more opportunities to use whatever influence you have responsibly.
So, what is success?
My answer today is fairly simple:
Believe in yourself. Keep moving. Help where you can. And leave the people and places you encounter a little better than you found them.
That, to me, is success.
Professional Master of Ceremonies and Speaker
Bennum is available as a Master of Ceremonies, moderator, facilitator and presenter for corporate events, conferences, launches and functions throughout South Africa.