Describe a day in the life of Alex Fourie

I plan, strategise, organise and manage my two businesses, iFix and RiCharge. A day in my life would consist of a morning surf / gym session, followed by e-mail catch-up, usually followed by 2 to 3 meetings, followed by a planning session, followed by another day close email session, [and] ended off with a cool sunset mission.

What do you love about what you do?

I wake up every morning full of passion/ideas and I get to do them. That’s probably the best part.

What are you most proud of?

Every day is a gift. I’m proud of being able to live the life I want whilst substantially influencing people's lives.

What are you working on currently?

iFix is opening 2 more branches within the next month. Furthermore we’re launching a lifestyle accessory brand which will initially be exclusively available from our stores. Also, we’re diversifying into other brands and are starting to focus on Samsung as well. For RiCharge, we’re working on expanding our network locally and helping our overseas partners to align with the telecoms brands in their territories.

How does what you are involved in contribute to the world/South Africa?

I’ve always had the philosophy of “only do/make cool shit”. iFIx contributes to the world by saving people time and money. Since our inception we’ve done more than 60 000 Apple Repairs. Imagine if all those people just had to go and buy new devices. Imagine the unnecessary cost element. Imagine the effect on the environment. Also, we’ve saved countless hard drives from total failure, saved full thesis’ from being delete.

RiCharge contributes by providing a much needed service (especially in rural Africa) and at the same time providing the opportunity to generate income for the entrepreneur. The compact little business changes lives 1 charge at a time. Especially since our machines can be solar driven as well, this has the potential to revolutionise small businesses in Africa.

How did you get where you are?

I’ve always been an entrepreneur. Even before university I’d been involved with projects. After school I did the standard old UK work thing. Whilst there I arranged tours for some of SA’s biggest bands to come and play shows in the UK. This was one of my first ventures. Then at Uni I started selling zippo’s to the residences for beer money. I launched SA’s first online music download store with partners in 2006 (www.Rhythmmusicstore.com; now closed though). And started iFix in 2007. I started iFix because my iPod broke and I couldn’t get it fixed through the traditional channels. They told me to throw it away. My iPod was at the centre of my life then as I’d listen to music on my way to class so I was disgusted that I was expected to just throw my baby away.

I then went online, bought a part on eBay and fixed it myself by watching a YouTube video. My friend's iPod broke and I did the same thing. This happened a few times and I placed an ad in the Cape Ads. Suddenly I was getting 15 phone calls a day of people that had the same problem. I employed a buddy of mine that was studying engineering and we started doing repairs for people. Six years later, iFix employs 40 people, we service 4000 clients a month and we’ve saved thousands of rands for our clients. I then started RiCharge in 2011 from the frustration of constant low battery life on my phone. A year of product development later we had our product finished and we’ve currently got clients in seven countries throughout the world.

What is the biggest challenge you face in your line of work?

The biggest problem I face is being recognised for what we’re doing and getting to the right people. We have hit so many dead ends with projects as the larger corporate uptake gets stuck in bureaucracy. Corporate SA should really start taking note of entrepreneurs such as myself as we’ve got solutions that they are paying millions of rands for at fractions of the price. But it’s a case currently of ‘my buddy/brother’ getting the contract because ‘my brother’ owes me a favour. Never mind if it’s good for the company or society.

Corporates need to start taking note of entrepreneurs and stop handing out contracts just to friends of friends or brothers of brothers.

How do you overcome this?

Never give up. I’ve never had any backing from the corporate world and we just keep on doing what we’re doing. If you believe enough in yourself nothing can stop you.

Any professional highlights?

Several. Having the opportunity to open a store in Melrose Arch. Being flown out to Nigeria to see how international our product (RiCharge) has become and seeing the change it’s making to those people's lives. Also, receiving emails from my staff thanking me for the opportunities that I have given them really has been one of my highlights.