I thought you might just wonder who I am and perhaps even wish to know where I came from, what drives me and why I do what I do.
Who is Ernest Ngubo?
 I am an Engineer, a business strategist, a public speaker, a life and business coach and above it all - I am a born Infopreneur and a father of 3 great children.
Let’s start with my origins. Where Do I come from?
I am the only son of a very brave and meticulous woman. She never went to school but she taught herself to read and write at least the Zulu language.
She never had any formal employment but she was able to carry me through my education until I was old enough to support myself (you see my father deserted her when she had just conceived me; but guess what? She was the one who nursed him at his death bed!)
"I know enough about your mom, but who are you, and why do you do what you do?" fair question and I will try to answer it as concise as I can, but remember I cannot squeeze everything on one article...
I was born in Hlokozi - a small rural village 100 miles from Durban, South Africa. Like most rural Zulu boys, I spent the better part of my first fifteen years of my life mainly in the forest looking after cattle, bird hunting and stick fighting.
Early Career Life?
I always consider myself lucky that I was taken to school at the very early age of six years. That very first day was the one that gave me the name Ernest (the Catholic school would never admit me if I did not have a Christian name). Oh, I am so greatful to that sister of mine who looked up to heaven and came up with the name "Honest"! Enough about that chapter of my life and I won't try to bore you with the normal rhetoric - "we sometimes had to sleep with no food at all" .
My exposure to real life would begin in earnest when I had to carve a career for myself. Three years after graduating from high school with what most people would consider as “exceptional results”, my mind was still in disarray. Yes, I had a reasonable respectful job,  earned an above average salary and rented a room in a reasonable comfortable area - some of my earlier life peers would die to afford the privileges I enjoyed.
Now, though I could use my material possessions to deceive my peers that “I have now arrived”, deep within my soul, I was actually grieving. Money, work, and fashion clothes did not bring the happiness I always craved.
As much as I could fool other people that I was happy, deep down I knew that my direction in life was wrong but I could not face the truth. Why rock the boat? My position at work was very secure and I worked for probably one of the top 10 companies in South Africa (Unilever).
A Minor Incident Opened A Rare Opportunity to Attend University?
A heated argument with Franz - a senior artisan - in the electrical workshop would set me on a long journey I never dreamed about. “You are only as good as a garden boy,” Franz was the kind of person who made sure you get it raw - and it did get through my thick celebrum. But, I was not going to take such demeaning statement lying down. I wanted to show him who I really was and I offered my resignation on that very same day. I had decided a University degree in Engineering was the only appropriate revenge for such attack on my ego!
.jpg) The University of Natal was keen to accept me. Even though I had just saved enough for registration fees, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) provided enough cash for my meals.
Later on I also got a scholarship from my previous employer, Unilever. But before I knew it, four years was up! My family and friends were anxiously waiting for the big day - my graduation ceremony. After all I was the first person in the family to graduate at high school and now would also be the first one in that whole Hlokozi community to pursue and acquire the prestigious Engineering degree.
I wished I could take an indefinite sabbatical leave to the moon! My university studies had almost driven me to insanity. In reality I had jumped from pot to fire. In the first place it became a mammoth task to bridge the six year gap between high school and University. As a result, I had effectively completed just over half of the engineering curriculum at the end of the stipulated four years.
The unwavering fate commonly known as "failure" had suddenly caught up with me. Even today, I believe one of the noblest things I ever did in my life was the decision to quit University then. I threw the towel before I even started my final year examinations. The University also gave me marching orders at the end of that year – citing “slow academic progress” – making sure I never contemplate going back there again! Mr. Lee from the faculty office categorically told me, “Even Mandela won't make me change my mind".
My friends, family and in particularly, my mom, were to face the blunt reality: After all, the graduation ceremony was never going to take place - despite all the prayers. I have never contemplated suicide in my life, but I believe this was the closest I ever came to making such a lousy decision. I just could not imagine how I would be able to face Franz in the electrical workshop again. After all, he had been vindicated – I did fit the profile of a “garden boy”.
I had always known that my decision to attend University was viewed by many as ludicrous. I had rebelliously defied all good advices –abandoned a good job, left my quickly aging mom to fend for herself whilst I "pursued a selfish driven and unrealistic dream" (as one of my cousin would often remind me). But it never occured to me, not even once, that there was a chance that decision could backfire.
Reality Struck Home?
Subsequently I had to trade my own 16m2 fully-furnished bedroom at the University for a 12m2-  shack made of plastic bags, scraps of old wood and corrugated iron. The whole house only had space for only a bed, a wardrobe, two suitcases and a twenty-litre water-container. It could also accommodate a small table which was just strong enough to carry two pots and a paraffin-stove.
"But what if I still had to discover my life purpose?" That strange thought really came out of the blue. If there was a purpose, what was I suppose to do to unearth it? What if I made that my next mission?
What if I could focus all my energies on this new assignment? I will visit all libraries, spend as much time in bookshops as I could (back then you could spend days and days at CNA reading everything and anything without anybody even noticing). I would devour that information until I got the answer.
Little did I know what I had just set myself to! In no time at all, I had read just about every motivational and personal development book there was in the Durban city library.
Inadvertently I had developed an internal antennae tuned to all frequencies resonating from biographies, magazines, newspaper articles and any other material related to personal and business development. I could sniff a library and a book shop within any five hundred kilometer radius and needed no librarian to advise where the intended books were kept. I even found myself buying second hand books from the local SPCA!
Everything Falls Into Place As If It All Along Have Been Part Of The Bigger Plan!
My life started to come back slowly. Within ten years from the period I was “excluded” from the University, I had resuscitated my Engineering career. In no time I had attained a National Higher Diploma and a B.Sc. Electrical Engineering degree. Only six months from graduating from University, someone realized my energy and invited me to be a shareholder and a director in a new engineering consulting venture. I was now an entrepreneur and, to tell you the truth, this is the time when I worked like a donkey!
But my hard work finally paid off. The first ten years of my career life had landed me in huge financial debts. My professional career had been in complete turmoil.  I had been physically drained, spiritually deprived and emotionally unstable. The second ten years gave me almost all the material things I had dreamed about and more! I finally had a grasp on luxurious items like cars - an achievement to the max for a rural boy.
But Strange Enough Happiness Still Eludes Me!
Something somewhere was still missing – what was it? Material possessions could only go as far as the mind but the heart pleaded poverty.
Even my shareholding and directorship in a number of successful companies could not fill this void. I tried to work harder and my bank account really soured but it did not solve the problem. I still felt empty inside. What was missing now? Where did it all go wrong this time around?
I went back to my book shelves; feather dusted all my personal development classics and started reading again. This time around, I needed something that would touch the heart. Unlike the accumulation of material possessions, spiritual fulfilment proved to be inversely proportional to hard work. The harder I worked at it, the further it drifted away from me.
Meanwhile my learning did not stop. I learnt about the different personal mastery strategies practiced mostly by communities from Asiatic countries. I studied Meditation and Yoga. I read the Bible from the first chapter to the last page. I consulted with clairvoyance healers and became a regular visitor to the Body Mind and Spirit Fairs.
I Finally Found My Space in the Universe - If Only I had Known!
I must admit it took me quite some time to realize what had just happened. Even today, I am not sure when and how it happened, but all I know is that some miracle did happen. My life just had another 180 degree turn. All of a sudden my life just seemed to have been invigorated again.
I started to experience glimpses of complete peace, harmony and contentment. Strange  coincidences began to overwhelm my life. I felt that now I only had partial control of over own life and yet I was completely at peace with it. A new world of limitless opportunities opened up to me. I now could imagine a whole new set of limitless goals for my life and nothing seemed impossible anymore.
I felt an urge to record some of these special occasions - all the joys, fears and ecstasy that engulfed me whenever the strange “seizures” visited me. I have since attracted more happiness for my family. My family leaves in real abundance – including financial abundance. You will never realize what I am talking about until you feel it yourself. In reality I pray that it happens to you sooner than later!
Today I live my life like some form of a witch! Like a hypnotized subject, I have this urge to share with people all that happens to me – and I just cannot help it. I talk about it every time I get the chance. I preach it amongst my employees; colleagues; friends and even in strictly business functions. If I don’t do it, it really torments me. However my surprise is that lots of people want to hear more and more about it. A number of organizations have started inviting me as a guest speaker for all sorts of functions and workshops. I have even had numerous requests for CDs and books on the material I share.
Initially I just ignored the suggestion. “I am an Engineer. Why on earth should I border about writing personal development material?” All I had gathered was mainly for personal consumption. After all, there are many accomplished PhD Social Scientist in the South Africa (and the whole world) who can present the real thing.
However the idea of putting thoughts, principles and strategies - that transformed my own life - on paper began to get stronger and stronger. More and more people got so excited about my ideals that I also started to believe that something like a book or newsletter would really assist me to make a difference to more people, either than my close circles.
The seed germinated and the first plant to sprout from it was named The Food For Thought Ezine. The Ezine is nothing but a synopsis of my own life experiences, observations and stories and contributions from other friends, colleagues, books and other media sources!
Now that we know each other better...We can get back to the real business. I think I have divulged enough for now about my life. If you cannot know me now, you probably will never! Now remember this: The reason I tell my story has nothing to do with the ego. I certainly have many other ways to do so, but I share my story so that it could help other people who face similar sistuations I have been myself.
I urge you to do the same. Please share your own story with me and my others. Perhaps... just perhaps there is just one soul out there who was just meant to transform his life through your story.
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