Rocket Alum in South Africa

While the students were taking their tour, Phil Molefe hosted some of the adult delegation in his office. As we laughed and reminisced, Dr. Cooks brought up the name of a former student who was from S. Africa. When she said the name Papi Leapeetswe Molotsane I sat up in my seat because Papi and I had been student leaders together at UT. Papi was an officer in both the Black Student Union and the African People's Association. Phil said he had Papi's phone number and would call him. He said Papi was doing MAJOR things and in fact had just finished a stint as CEO of Telekom the largest communications company in South Africa! When he reached Papi on the phone we had a wonderful reunion and made arrangements to meet later at our hotel. When Papi walked through the hotel doors several hours later, we embraced and laughed like old times. It was amazing to be standing in a hotel lobby in Jo'burg with a fellow Rocket! Papi insisted on taking us to dinner so we could continue our reunion. As it turned out, Papi had become one of the most influential businessmen in S. Africa and in addition to Telekom being on the New York Stock Exchange, he had also helped bring the Broadway production of The Lion King to South Africa for the first time where it continues to play to standing room only nightly. I shared with him my passion to continue to enlarge the profile of The University of Toledo to be an even greater global institution by partnerships with the EXCEL program and African countries and he pledged his support. He greatly enjoyed his time at UT and wants to become involved again with his Alma Mater. We promised to have ongoing discussions.