Retail & Finance
bedius Nkuna (36) is undoubtedly one of the most admired people in his Meadowlands, Soweto neighbourhood. As the owner of Cool Apple Dude, he specialises in the repair and maintenance of Apple products such as iPads, iPhones and MacBooks.
Getting to work with one of the leading brands and its sleek products must make him the envy of his peers and young tech enthusiasts alike.
Nkuna is the winner of the retail and finance category of the Township Entrepreneurship Awards.
The technology sector is one of the key growth sectors identified by the Gauteng government to drive the growth of the City Region strategy. The sector is skills intensive and thus requires investment in trading and skills development.
“After graduating in computer science, I further studied PC engineering, where I got introduced to a group called Penguin, which specializes in Linux/Unix,” says Nkuna.
Nkuna says he then acquired the Linux/Unix certificate which got him interested in the Apple Macintosh Operating System. His then-girlfriend Ayanda, now his wife, bought him a second- hand book called Mac for Dummies, which he studied to get an insight into the platform. He then studied to become a certified Apple specialist engineer.
After working for Apple for about seven months, Nkuna discovered the gap and saw the undisputed growth of the Apple brand, started his business in 2012 working alone. As the business it employed two IT graduates as contract employees. It now has four employees.
Nkuna describes the company as being very selective, strategically aligning itself with companies that are the drivers of innovation in their industry segments.
Nkuna says the biggest challenge was getting clients to trust the company and bring their business to a township back room. To overcome this reluctance, Nkuna started doing callouts to large enterprises and to the homes of clients.
Ayanda used her design background to create a corporate identity for the company, as well as sourcing business for the business from her colleagues.
Nkuna says that being small made keeping stock at hand a cash flow challenge, and thus he modified his pricing by charging a deposit.
His horizon stretches far beyond Soweto, even beyond South Africa. “My target is every Apple user on the continent,” he says, hoping to use Apple’s position as one of the world’s leading brands and most profitable companies as a springboard for his own ambitions.
To keep his costs low, and thus his services affordable, Nkuna says he avoids renting space at malls and employs locals who can walk to the repair centre rather than spending large amounts on transport.
The success of Nkuna’s business in a location such as Soweto illustrates the dynamism and disposable income in the township.
It also shows the opportunities that can be found in serving the appetite for high-end, sophisticated products — like Apple’s — that can be found in South Africa’s most cosmopolitan township.
— Thebe Mabanga