If you get light headed when it comes to profound Latin translations then you may want to take a seat.
‘Primus Inter Pares’ meaning ‘first among our peers’ is the mantra for Headboy Industries Inc and its captain, Ludwick Marishane. There is nothing more profound than being able to say entrepreneurship rocks with a real living, breathing local-is-lekka example. And Ludwick is THE man.
This 21-year-old “opportunity obsessed” entrepreneur founded Headboy Industries in 2007 to “create products that solve the world’s most difficult problems and make them available to everyone”. Whoa, no lightweight statement!
But it’s one partnered by determination and a very real drive for success. Take its flagship product, DryBath; the world’s only bath substitute lotion that is an affordable product that offers a no fuss alternative to bathing. Somehow I think his peers are sitting up and taking a keen interest as we speak.
At this tender age Ludwick has gone global as a Google Zeitgeist winner; Global Student Entrepreneur Awards Champion 2011; Singapore Global Competition winner; African Leadership Academy Anzisha Prize winner and Brightest Young Minds Alumni and Cape Town Entrepreneurship Competition winner.
But how did it all start? As a child his dad ignited his entrepreneurial passion. That combined with his love of science allowed him to push the envelope in high school and come up with different inventions. In Grade 9 he formulated his own biodiesel fuel and invented a healthy cigarette; and in Grade 10 he authored a mobile dictionary and attempted to publish a nationwide security magazine. You know…typical Grade 10 stuff. I think not!
In terms of offering student entrepreneurs words of encouragement, he suggests that one finds what you love doing and put all your effort into pursuing it. To literally do as much as you can on your own yet always ask for help when you need it. He encourages the embracing of failure, because one will only ever experience it if you give up, not if you try and fail to succeed.
He’s quoted in the Huffington Post as saying, ”I plan to use the title of Best Student Entrepreneur in the World to start the world’s first entrepreneurship league and to roll this out globally over the next five years. I am dedicating my life to enabling the world’s youth to follow their dreams, and I urge other entrepreneurs to do the same … by first following their dreams.”
Se will certainly be tracking the growth of this intrepid innovator going forward.
