In his early 20s, Zareef Minty’s ZRF Holdings manages many subsidiaries that hold equal value. “We pride ourselves in the concept of diversification as our core strategy. We have a clothing, talent, consulting, management, events, distribution and construction company, all run concurrently. The concept of diversification comes into play where they all aid and assist each other through shared contacts lis and networks,” says this young entrepreneur. He aims to attract retailers to his clothing company in 2018. Minty also invests in selected ventures and people with good business ideas. “I like to invest in things that I know I can directly influence and ensure it is a success. However, I have met hundreds of people with brilliant ideas. The only issue had been their mindset and because of that the business would fail. I choose to invest in people. It’s the best way to guarantee a return. I personally love investing in stocks and property.” His advice to potential entrepreneurs with marketable ideas, without start-up capital, is to be honest about the idea. “If you think it is a brilliant idea but nobody wants to invest, it probably is not that great an idea. It is about creating great ideas that can be achieved realistically. That is the complex part.” Minty prefers not to magnify his failures during interviews. He says his failures have always been limited because he chose to learn from others before attempting something risky and limit those failures – even though he has lost on a number of occasions. As an author, lawyer and running a consulting company, Minty maintains that time management is key to juggling his diary. His advice to young South Africans is to create more local brands. “I have a mentor, DJ Sbu, and we are constantly discussing the concept of creating new products but it goes far beyond that.” He says every time you see a brand like Armani or Versace being sold in Sandton, the reality is that South African money is making its way abroad, with negative results for our economy. “We need to look at what young people are doing out there. We don’t have our own brands in the country, the ones we have are monopolised. When consumers buy our own brands it will bring 80% to 90% into our economy,” Minty concludes.
‘I choose to invest in people. It’s the best way to guarantee a return’