Gamede reaping rewards
RESILIENCE PAYING OFF AFTER YEARS OF TOILING
HIS first business was selling airtime in his first year as a student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).
But today, Sanele Gamede, is a proud owner of an IT and a personal development company and is also studying towards a Master’s degree in cultural and media studies at UKZN’s Howard College .
However, becoming a businessman was not a choice for Gamede, he was forced by circumstances.
Coming from a poor background led him to starting a business to survive on campus.
“I started because I needed to raise money to buy things such as toiletries, food and airtime,” said Gamede.
However, he later realised that he was good at selling and took it seriously and grew his business.
“In 2012, after getting an on-campus residence I made my bedroom my business room,” he said.
He opened a tuck shop in his room and sold sweets, snacks, airtime and cigarettes to students.
He used to carry his stock on campus when attending classes but he said this got him in trouble with the campus security because it was not allowed.
“Due to my persistence in selling illegally around campus and in my room, the university decided to grant me space to sell in 2013. I also started selling fruits and that made me more money,” Gamede said.
It is the same year that Gamede also registered his IT company. He said when students started asking him where they could repair their computers he saw a business opportunity that he could exploit.
His IT company did not do as well as he had expected and he closed it down for a while, but his tuck shop still made money for him.
Running a tuck shop on campus came with its minor challenges of being ridiculed by other students, but did not bother Gamede.
“I was a laughing stock all over campus, people thought I was not a student only to be surprised when they saw me in class,” he said.
“Some students did not know my name and they called me “airtime” or “Nkukhuziyakhalelana,” the name of my tuck shop.”
However, Gamede no longer runs his tuck shop on campus but is planning to go back to running his IT company on campus. He is still waiting for the go-ahead from the university management to grant him space to run his business.
In the meantime he works off campus with a person with IT experience who does computer repairs. Gamede pays that person a commission for each computer fixed.
“I was never good in IT and computers so I decided to form a partnership,” said Gamede. He also says he works with IT students who help him in his business.
Recently, Gamede won the 2016 KZN Young Achievers Award in the IT category for his IT company, Ilada Technologies.
“Winning the award means that someone is seeing what I have been doing and they recognise my work. It means that the sky is the limit,” he said.
He said because people always asked him about everything around campus, especially first-year students, this prompted him to also open his development company called Career Master.
He said his coaching programme includes career guidance, life, business and sales coaching.
nmacupeb@sowetan.co.za