Health minister Motsoaledi's daughter breaks mould as tech entrepreneur

Lethabo Motsoaledi is a name rapidly gaining recognition in the world of tech entrepreneurship.

As the co-founder of Voyc, an innovative AI compliance startup, Motsoaledi has not only carved out a unique path in a field dominated by tech giants but also become a trailblazer in customer experience management.

Recently she was featured in Forbes’ prestigious 30 Under 30 Europe list, cementing her place among young global innovators shaping the future.

With her father's prominent legacy in politics and public service, one would think it would have been a natural course for Motsoaledi to pursue a career in government, following in her father's footsteps and continuing the family tradition of serving the nation.

While many children of public figures might feel the weight of family expectations, Motsoaledi embraced a completely different challenge. Her path diverged sharply from that of her father, health minister and former minister of home affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.

In an interview with the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, Motsoaledi revealed that from a young age she knew she was destined for something different.

“I grew up in a family of doctors. As a child I was curious, rebellious and questioning. By the time I was 16, I knew that I wanted to do something scalable — not a profession.”

Voyc, the company she co-founded with her husband Matthew Westaway in 2018, has made significant strides in transforming the customer service landscape. The Amsterdam-based company uses cutting-edge software to monitor and analyse customer service calls, offering insights that help businesses improve their operations.

According to Forbes, in 2022 Voyc helped monitor more than 11.6-million calls for its clients, which include Investec, Standard Bank and Marquis Finance.

With a growth trajectory that saw them hitting $700,000 (R12.7m)  in annual recurring revenue last year, Voyc has raised $2.1m (R38.1m) in investment, making its mark on the global stage.

This recognition comes as no surprise, considering the company’s humble beginnings. The idea for Voyc came from Motsoaledi's and Westaway’s frustration with poor customer service interactions they had experienced while dealing with retailers.

As Voyc explains, the couple, both University of Cape Town (UCT) engineering graduates, decided to start a user experience agency to help companies understand their customers better.

However, when they encountered the time-consuming task of manually analysing customer calls, they saw there was a need for a better solution: a software that could automatically analyse conversations and highlight key themes. Voyc was born.

“Resilience is the essential quality of an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is someone for whom the discomfort of the unsolved problem is worse, or more pertinent, than the discomfort of failure, judgment or rejection. Against all odds, it’s the lack of a solution that motivates her to carry on,” she said. 

Motsoaledi studied engineering at UCT, where she was also an Allan Gray Fellow. She says this background has allowed her to identify complex problems and think creatively about finding solutions.

Her role models — Richard Branson and Elon Musk — reflect her ambitious spirit, pushing her to innovate and think outside the box.

Voyc’s success can also be attributed to the company's keen understanding of the challenges faced by customer service departments, particularly contact centres.

Motsoaledi and Westaway learned that contact centre professionals genuinely care about their customers but often lack the time and resources to manage every interaction.

Voyc’s technology gives them the ability to monitor 100% of customer calls, increasing efficiency and compliance without the need for manual intervention.

This ability to transform the customer service industry earned Motsoaledi recognition in South Africa’s 2017 Inspiring Fifty by the nonprofit organisation Inspiring Fifty, which highlights influential women in tech. She was also named one of the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans in 2017, cementing her place as a rising star in the country’s tech ecosystem.

Despite the accolades, Motsoaledi remains grounded and focused on her mission to create impactful solutions that improve businesses and customer experiences.