0:05 all right I am warning you after this uh
0:07 interview you're going to have a new
0:09 crush I can promise you that much not on
0:12 just the looks but the mind as well VY
0:14 tber quo I'm sure you've heard of him
0:17 the 32-year-old self-made millionaire is
0:18 on a New Journey of changing The
0:21 Narrative of Entrepreneurship in South
0:23 Africa he says his aim is to establish
0:25 and develop high growth black
0:27 entrepreneurs in the rural and Township
0:29 markets of South Africa uh this he will
0:31 do by finding and nurturing
0:33 entrepreneurs through funding incubation
0:36 and developing developing them into
0:38 Enterprises uh some of that passion was
0:41 seen during the sa Dragon's Den program
0:44 VY is here he's in studio with us so
0:46 nice to see you again wel to see you so
0:48 good to see you again Le okay so let's
0:50 let's talk cuz there's too much to talk
0:52 about in such a short amount of time 32
0:53 years old we still got your your age
0:56 right so okay we're still 32 years old
0:58 um although I do feel bad cuz I'm on the
1:00 other side of 39 so I don't feel feel
1:02 like an old soul yeah listen if you've
1:05 done this much by 32 how did you do this
1:06 I'm I'm I'm dying to speak to you when
1:09 you hit the 40s and 50s what how did you
1:10 do this yeah I'm 5 years behind my own
1:12 timeline right so I should have been
1:14 here much sooner but I I think I was
1:15 lucky I was lucky out of the starting
1:18 block so I knew what I wanted to do with
1:21 my life very early on and there was no
1:22 doubt in my mind about what my life
1:24 looked like and so all I had to do was
1:26 just do it and and the challenge was the
1:28 just doing part it took a while to get
1:30 out of the starting blocks so AF is a
1:31 difficult country to do business
1:33 especially if you're not the kind of
1:34 entrepreneur that we're used to in this
1:36 country yeah and obviously it's
1:38 identifying the gaps and that's that's
1:41 kind of what we as entrepreneurs as
1:43 South Africans need to do is find that
1:45 Gap but how do you find that Gap I mean
1:46 there's there's so many things happening
1:49 around us yeah so I mean so the study of
1:50 gapy which is effectively what
1:51 entrepreneurs do it's interesting you
1:53 know entrepreneurship is not something
1:54 you can teach people either have it or
1:55 they don't which is just the ability to
1:57 come in and see opportunities where they
2:00 don't exist but um so the question
2:01 around how do you find the Gap it's
2:03 typically around three things it's you
2:04 got to find something people are willing
2:06 to pay for that they need now and they
2:08 have the money to pay for it the minute
2:10 you tick those three boxes you you're in
2:11 business so it doesn't matter what it is
2:14 you could be uh selling water you could
2:16 be selling ice cream you you could be
2:17 doing anything is the minute you
2:19 understand those three things you
2:20 effectively have found a gap in the
2:21 market and you can start servicing that
2:24 market yeah and and that's the that's
2:26 the the thing that you do know now I
2:27 mean you were part of the stragon den
2:30 program um identifying successful
2:33 entrepreneurs and uh investing in those
2:36 businesses so you know how do you you
2:38 know when somebody is a successful
2:40 entrepreneur obviously their characters
2:41 their traits that you're looking for in
2:43 people yeah yeah so that typically for
2:45 me I look for three things first thing I
2:47 look for is somebody who's failed before
2:48 so I've never back my money or put my
2:50 money in somebody who hasn't tried
2:52 something and hasn't failed because if
2:53 you haven't failed the theory of failure
2:55 you know entrepreneurship is interesting
2:56 it's a lot like uh it's a lot like
2:59 swimming so if I gave you a textbook on
3:00 how to swim
3:02 and you read it for 3 years and then I
3:03 took you and chucked you in the ocean
3:07 you you you you'd sink because swimming
3:08 isn't a theory thing it's a practice
3:10 thing you have to do it to know how to
3:12 do it so the first thing I'd say is it's
3:13 somebody who's failed I love people who
3:15 failed because they've proven they've
3:16 tried something and that they know
3:17 what's on the other side of not
3:20 succeeding which is this failure thing
3:21 uh the second is somebody who believes
3:23 in themselves even when there's
3:24 ridiculous odds to suggest it's not
3:26 going to work you I always say
3:28 entrepreneurs are crazy you have to be
3:29 crazy to be an entrepreneur you got
3:30 believe you're going to make money month
3:32 end which often you're not you got to
3:33 believe you can compete with big
3:35 companies which often you can't you got
3:36 to believe you can reach all your
3:38 customers which often you won't and you
3:40 have to believe you can do so cheaply
3:41 and cost effectively and make a profit
3:43 which in the early days you probably
3:45 won't do if you don't believe those four
3:46 things you're not going to succeed as an
3:47 entrepreneur so you've absolutely got to
3:50 be certifiable absolutely crazy and then
3:51 the third thing is just people who are
3:52 passionate like you got to love what you
3:54 do because I remember in the early days
3:56 the only thing that fed me was my
3:57 passion there was there was no money at
3:59 the end of the month in fact there was
4:01 too much money at the end of the money
4:03 so um you just got to be passionate you
4:05 got to love what you do yeah I love that
4:07 uh too much month at the end of the
4:09 money I've been in a situation like that
4:11 before and it's not a nice place to be
4:13 it really isn't but I want to I want to
4:14 talk a little bit about color now
4:17 because you know this is this is I mean
4:19 it's there it's in in in black and white
4:21 excuse the pun but out of the 16
4:24 businesses on this Dragons Den program
4:27 um only uh the of those funded only four
4:30 went to blacks and one was to a female
4:32 yes what is going wrong I mean when you
4:34 look at the population that is not
4:35 representative of the population but
4:37 obviously it's not about color at that
4:39 time it's about entrepreneurship and
4:42 that way of thinking what is wrong with
4:43 with the black part of communities let
4:45 me juxtapose that by then saying
4:46 remember of the five of us who are
4:49 investing four are black so just to be
4:51 clear you've got you've got 80%
4:52 investors who are black but the
4:54 investment complexion doesn't reflect
4:56 the people investing or the Dynamics of
4:58 the country and money does not know
5:00 color does it 100% which is the thing
5:02 right so we in this country we've taken
5:04 a and this is a I'm very unpopular for
5:05 having this view by the way but
5:07 entrepreneurship is not a race thing
5:08 you're either going to do it or you're
5:10 not let me put it to you this way nobody
5:12 has ever shown me favor in business
5:14 because I was black I was in business
5:16 because I was in business the fact that
5:18 I was black then became an added
5:20 Advantage so if you want to be in
5:21 business because you're black odds are
5:23 you're not going to survive it because
5:24 at the end of the month the debit order
5:26 doesn't ask you are you black or white
5:27 so am I debiting your account and not
5:29 debiting it at the end of the month the
5:31 the the the the your customer doesn't go
5:32 are you black or white so am I paying
5:33 you today or at the end of 30 days
5:34 they're going to pay you by their
5:36 payment terms so you know you asked the
5:37 question around why was that the
5:39 investment complexion it's typically
5:40 because we have a very big problem in
5:43 this country around developing real
5:45 black entrepreneurs but I mean real
5:47 entrepreneurs not the guy who registers
5:49 a company gets a tax care certificate
5:51 opens a bank account then goes and
5:53 starts applying then goes and starts
5:55 filling in database registration forms
5:56 to wait for somebody to say Supply me
5:58 that's not entrepreneurship that's being
6:00 a businessman those are the same things
6:03 nor no so we don't have that what we
6:04 also don't have and the other thing
6:05 we've done is we've taken in the main
6:08 very talented black people and have done
6:10 two things to them gave them very highp
6:11 paying jobs in corporate so there's no
6:13 incentives to start a business because I
6:15 can go get an education and get a good
6:17 job in corporate and live comfortably or
6:19 and this is the worst thing we did is we
6:21 then said well here's be transactions so
6:24 you can take 26% of a company you played
6:26 no role in building and tomorrow you can
6:29 buy a Range Rover just like that so the
6:32 minute you distort the the reward risk
6:33 system which is what entrepreneurship is
6:35 I take a risk in future I'm going to get
6:37 a reward the minute you distort it
6:39 people then don't flock to this thing
6:40 called entrepreneurship you I spent a
6:42 lot of time in Kenya and I've often said
6:43 I will fund a Kenyan entrepreneur of
6:46 South African yesterday because the
6:48 Kenyans boy are in this thing for the
6:49 Long Haul like when they build a
6:51 business they're building this business
6:52 not for today or for tomorrow they
6:54 building it for their children three
6:56 generations from now that's what we're
6:58 not getting right right I keep saying
7:00 this to people like
7:01 do you know there's nowhere in the world
7:03 where the Jewish communities by in
7:05 wholesale poor nowhere on planet Earth
7:06 will you ever find a poor Jewish
7:08 Community doesn't happen and it's not
7:10 because Jewish people come from another
7:12 planet or they're Celestial beings it's
7:13 because they simply have understood over
7:15 Generations the institution of building
7:17 a business so the father starts making
7:19 cookies he leaves the cookies business
7:21 to his son and the son makes cookies and
7:23 then he opens a grocery business now
7:24 they make cookies and they have a
7:26 grocery business and then the other son
7:27 comes and he opens a hardware store so
7:29 three four generations down you you've
7:32 got four five generations of money
7:33 that's been circulated in the system and
7:36 they've taught each other business okay
7:37 so let's bring that into the South
7:39 African system because we don't have
7:41 four five generations of business and
7:43 money been circulating in families we
7:45 haven't got that we've got principles of
7:47 affirmative action we've got black black
7:49 economic empowerment and what you're
7:52 speaking is almost saying those aren't
7:54 working no that's not what I'm saying no
7:55 no no that's not what I'm saying so I
7:57 think you need to understand so remember
8:00 be is a very complex machine it's a very
8:02 complex mechanism it has elements of
8:04 Enterprise development shop shop Supply
8:06 development absolutely necessary
8:07 affirmative action and the development
8:09 of employment Equity Black Talent and
8:11 organizations move them higher up their
8:12 rung expose them to operational levels
8:14 so they know how to run businesses
8:16 absolutely necessary what I'm not in
8:18 agreement with is taking wholesale
8:19 shares and just giving it to people
8:21 because they're politically connected
8:22 we've done that for 20 something years
8:24 it hasn't worked for us my mother worked
8:26 in a company I'll tell you a funny story
8:27 she worked in a company that did a be
8:29 transaction for 4 billion my mother was
8:31 in that company for 30 years she can get
8:33 a cent to the 4 billion so so what
8:34 you've now done is you've got black
8:36 people who've worked in the business
8:39 who've built the business who don't get
8:40 any access to the Future growth of that
8:42 business just because they don't carry
8:44 the light the right card of a political
8:46 organization and then when the company
8:47 goes through a difficult time it turns
8:48 around and says to the black staff no
8:50 wait wait we're not making profits
8:52 please don't ask us for higher wages the
8:54 stuff go but why we're not participating
8:55 in the profit growth of this business so
8:57 why must I let you make profits in
8:58 future when you're not letting me be a
9:00 part of the dream so we there's a
9:02 there's a big conversation to be had on
9:04 both sides around how we build real
9:06 entrepreneurship South Africa in my view
9:08 is that a is that a Crux now we at a we
9:09 we at a turning point we're are going to
9:11 do one of two things we're going to keep
9:13 doing what we're doing say the populist
9:15 things that sound good and earn people
9:17 votes in 20 years time yours and my
9:19 children will meet in the workplace and
9:20 we would not have changed this country
9:23 at all or we're going to start doing the
9:25 real things and letting entrepreneurs
9:27 real entrepreneurs get access to finance
9:30 and access to real opportunities so we
9:31 can actually build this country that's
9:33 what we need to do so we're talking
9:34 today about developing black
9:37 industrialists how many black people own
9:39 factories that employ more than 100
9:41 people and I'm not talking about bought
9:43 a factory from a white man that employs
9:44 100 people I'm talking about started it
9:47 from the ground I started my business 15
9:48 years ago everybody thought I was crazy
9:49 and now I've just sold it to an American
9:51 investor group and I've got my own money
9:52 and as a result I'm saying let me invest
9:54 in another entrepreneurs so I'm not
9:56 saying this for Theory I've done it
9:57 you've done it you know how it work and
9:58 I didn't ask for pity I didn't say to
10:00 people give me the business cuz I was
10:01 black or give me the no I said give me
10:03 the business cuz I'm the best at what I
10:05 do you come against V you better have
10:06 your wits about you cuz I'm going to
10:09 take you out in any space yeah and that
10:11 kind of belief I think is necessary we
10:13 had this belief in the ' 80s when black
10:15 people ran spa shops right we had it in
10:17 our own townships economies but we've
10:18 you've losted somewhere along the line
10:20 yeah cuz we just sold this thing about
10:21 pity now now all of a sudden we're all
10:23 looking for pity I don't want pity don't
10:25 give me business for pity give it to me
10:27 because I'm the best at what I do I
10:29 promise you you come against me you will
10:31 not win win that's amazing and if you if
10:32 and if you come against me and win then
10:33 I'm willing to concede you know what you
10:35 were better at this let me try something
10:37 else that's what we need to do to really
10:40 build this country that's you that's you
10:42 you you're one in a million you really
10:43 are I mean you've got this passion
10:44 burning inside of you you've got a mind
10:47 no don't look at me like that cuz you
10:49 not many people that are like you and
10:50 there are some people that are a little
10:53 bit you know they own that spaza shop
10:55 and they work tirelessly every single
10:57 day they approach for more funding they
10:59 don't get it they want to expend they
11:02 don't get it um their women sitting
11:04 beaing and they are so talented nobody
11:06 recognizes that Talent nobody Taps into
11:08 it and allows them to empower their
11:11 families 100% weing somewhere along the
11:13 line someone's not helping because the
11:15 let me just this I feel very passionate
11:17 about this I think the biggest lie we
11:19 ever sold that was ever sold to black
11:21 people specifically and I can only speak
11:23 for blacks because I'm black the biggest
11:24 lie that was oversold to black people
11:26 was this thing about small business I
11:29 hate the term hate it absolutely hate it
11:30 you know my mother belongs to a Stockell
11:32 she's been in it for 30 years the
11:34 Stockell 30 years ago when she joined
11:35 the Stockell there was a bank that was
11:37 formed called Absa around the same time
11:39 a stock fell is a group of people who
11:41 come together put money together in a
11:43 depository and later take the money and
11:44 loan it to each other well that's
11:45 exactly what a bank does what do you
11:47 think my mother's stock fell value is
11:49 today very little how big is Absa listed
11:51 on the stock exchange so the the first
11:52 thing we have to do to get the
11:54 conditioning right is to teach black
11:57 people that actually stop thinking small
11:58 you can start small but don't think
12:00 small you know there's no difference
12:01 between the mama who runs as pzza shop
12:04 and shoppr right both are the same you
12:06 have a business in a physical building
12:08 branding at the front and stock that our
12:09 customers come and byy every single
12:12 morning so it's about us realizing we
12:14 have to do the small things to start
12:16 doing the big things and state
12:18 institutions by the way and this is
12:21 important state funding institutions
12:23 have to stop looking for the easy way
12:24 out you know in this country it's easier
12:26 to get money to open a franchise than it
12:28 is to start a real business why because
12:30 franchises don't lose money it's a
12:31 franchise steers gives you the formula
12:34 and say go and open there sell that at
12:36 that price but what's entrepreneurship
12:37 now if you're telling me what Burger I'm
12:39 a sell and at what price and by the way
12:40 you control my till and at the end of
12:42 the month I give you 20% of my money
12:43 where's the entrepreneurship in this how
12:45 am I really creating intergenerational
12:47 wealth if I'm just giving more money to
12:49 Kevin hedwick I'm not let's be honest
12:52 about it give people money to start
12:54 their own things and if they fail then
12:56 let's be honest about the fact that we
12:58 failed and keep doing it the africanas
12:59 did it after they took part from the
13:02 British the Jews did it in Israel we
13:04 need to do the same thing which is just
13:07 do the hard work ABS absolutely I love
13:09 your way of
13:12 thinking I'm tired for you yeah I your
13:16 brain is moving okay just quickly we're
13:17 going to we're going to take a break
13:19 here on the program and afterwards we'll
13:22 uh tell you how VY is giving away 40 um
13:24 in inviting applicants for uh 40
13:26 businesses but I I'll tell you about
13:28 that in a in a short while Ry thank you
Chrome Extension