Oprah Winfrey tells young South African women that her faith is key to her success

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey sought to inspire hundreds of young South African women by telling them that her faith in God and Jesus was instrumental to her success.

Winfrey surprised 250 young women when she walked into the conference room of the Premier Hotel at OR Tambo International Airport in Ekurhulen, South Africa. The young women are being supported by a program called Dreams, which stands for Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe, Channel 24 reported.

Dreams is a U.S. initiative that encourages young women in 10 sub-Saharan African countries to remain AIDS-free. In South Africa, the program is focused on areas, such as Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, where the rate of HIV infections is high.

The talk show host came to the event as a special guest of U.S. ambassador to South Africa Patrick Gaspard.

Winfrey narrated how she grew up in an impoverished town in Mississipi where she experienced abuse at a young age before she became a successful talk show host and proprietor of a television network.

The media tycoon proceeded to tell the young women that she drew strength from her religious upbringing and said that it was a vital part of her success.

"I grew up in the church. My grandmother led me to the sense of God and made me believe there was a greater force than me. I grew up believing that God was my father and Jesus was my brother, which meant I could do anything in life," said Winfrey.

"In life you cannot trust yourself only, there must be some higher force you trust in, be it God, the community or an organisation, because you cannot be successful on your own," she added.

Winfrey encouraged the young women not to dwell on the difficult circumstances in the past. "What you do today and where you see yourself is what matters," she said.

The media mogul recently caught the ire of the public when she suggested on Twitter that she is hopeful about the presidency of Donald Trump. After the backlash, she expressed her belief that Jesus might be trying to teach her a lesson.