Comic hero’s superpower: a head for business
Up-and-coming property magnate has a fun way to teach entrepreneurship to youngsters
AT this rate, Andile Dube is going to be big. At just 27, he is a rising property developer, buying and fixing up hijacked buildings in inner-city Johannesburg with his 20-something partners.
But unlike most landlords, Dube’s dreams go beyond profit. He wants to inspire poor young South Africans to become their own bosses — with a comic book.
Dube has just published the first edition of Young Hustla. The comic’s hero is Tshepisang, a desperate Soweto kid who dodges the traps of despair and crime to become an entrepreneur. Dube convinced some of South Africa’s leading storytellers to make his project happen: the art work is by Loyiso Mkize of Supa Strikas fame, and the storyline is by Coal Stove Pictures, which wrote the hit dance movie Hear Me Move. “It’s been an incredibly long journey of three years. I was reduced to tears when we finally went to print.”
Young Hustla was a tale of individual heroism, but the social message was urgent, said Dube.
“Our society is telling young people to go to university and JUST PICTURE IT: A cartoon strip from ’Young Hustla’ showing Tshepisang find jobs, but nobody is creating these jobs. At varsity, I saw people sleeping in lecture halls to get an education and better life. But this promised land is no longer there.
“Entrepreneurship could be the key — but it’s not well taught. At universities and colleges, we are taught the theory, not the practice. So we’re trying to steer them in the right direction.”
Dube is the son of teachers, and grew up in Stanger, Kwa Zulu-Natal, where he cut his business teeth selling sweets to schoolmates.
He came to Joburg to get a BCom degree at the University of Johannesburg, then worked briefly at Hewlett-Packard in IT sales.
But his inner magnate wouldn’t shut up, so he and some friends formed a company to buy a Rosettenville property at a bank repo auction, raising a bond to do so.
“We made a profit from the rental from day one, and kept on buying properties.
“Nobody taught us, but you can learn these things. If you’re told ‘Don’t do X!’, you don’t have to make the same mistake. Tshepisang’s story in Young Hustla will show readers what not to do, as well as what to do.”
Dube’s plan for Young Hustla is to publish a weekly online series to build a readership, which would lure sponsors and advertisers. The print version will be distributed by borrowing LIFE ON THE EDGE: Property developer and entrepreneurship coach Andile Dube published a comic book aimed at young entrepreneurs The Big Issue’s model, with street vendors making a 50% profit on each copy sold. And Dube has started workshops for aspiring entrepreneurs in Maboneng, adding practical guidance to the Young Hustla dream.
In the long term, Dube envisions editions of Young Hustla elsewhere in Africa, and an animated TV series.
“I’ve always been a big cartoons fan. Biker Mice From Mars, Dragon Ball Z, Lucky Luke, Hulk, Spider-Man, Mighty Ducks — I can go on and on!”
He says ambitious young people can fall victim to “Facebook Syndrome” — the myth that great companies were created overnight.
“All you see is an IPO [initial public offering] of billions, but there was a lot of work and sleepless nights and sacrifices to get to that point.
“The entrepreneurship mindset and the business itself are two separate components.
“The mindset has to be there first. Suppose your business plan is rejected, and you say: ‘This isn’t for me, I’m giving up or going back to the corporate world.’ That’s not entrepreneurship. You don’t do it because you want to — you do it because you need to.”
Our society is telling young people to go to university and find jobs, but nobody is creating these jobs