The organization's name originates from a greatly revered and hugely important figure in South African history and a leading member of the educated African elite in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, John Langalibalele Dube. John Langalibalele Dube was an educator, clergyman, writer, newspaper editor, civil rights leader, and the first President-General of the then South African Native National Congress, which later became the African National Congress. He was the founder of the Ohlange Institute, located outside of Durban, which was where Nelson Mandela famously cast his vote in South Africa's first democratic election in 1994. With his roots firmly entrenched in the area around the now Dube TradePort Special Economic Zone, he is justifiably acclaimed as a renaissance man; a man who achieved remarkable feats in the face of the most daunting of challenges in the quest for freedom and equality within South Africa.

It was, therefore, both right and fitting that a world-class facility that today offers so many opportunities to the nation be named after him. A sculpture commemorating the life and work of John Dube holds pride of place in Dube Square, located in the heart of Dube City - a stone's throw from the passenger terminal at King Shaka International Airport. Dube City is set to become the focal point of the emergent Durban Aerotropolis, or airport city, and a natural meeting place for the business community, traders, and local and global travelers.