Ever wondered how a young girl from a village in Limpopo could co-found a pioneering electric vehicle business in South Africa? Join us as we sit down with Ndia Magadagela, the visionary behind EverElectric, and unravel her inspiring journey from her roots in Africa's Eden to the forefront of electric mobility. India shares captivating stories of her childhood, the entrepreneurial spirit imbued in her by her parents, and the pivotal experiences that set her on the path to innovation.
Discover the meticulous planning and strategic pivots that helped India transition from a corporate career in mergers and acquisitions to launching a startup in the electric vehicle industry. Learn about the initial challenges of targeting the taxi industry, the clever pivot to logistics, and how India and her co-founders leveraged each other's strengths to navigate the ups and downs of their venture. This episode is packed with insights on the importance of having co-founders, mutual respect, and the dynamics of working together to overcome obstacles like high import duties and inadequate charging infrastructure.
We also delve into the unique challenges and opportunities for female entrepreneurs in South Africa. Ndia opens up about her arduous journey of raising capital, facing numerous rejections, and the eventual triumph of securing seed financing. Hear about the evolving landscape for manufacturing electric vehicles in South Africa, recent policy reforms, and the collaborative spirit within this emerging industry. This episode is a heartfelt testament to the power of perseverance, collaboration, and the remarkable impact of women in business. Don't miss this deep and enriching conversation that promises to inspire and inform.
Ndia, a Qualified Chartered Accountant, holds a B.Compt (Hons) degree in Accounting Sciences and a post graduate diploma in Auditing both from the University of Pretoria. She started her career at Deloitte in Pretoria after which she went into Development finance. She is an ex Senior Deal Maker at the Industrial Development Corporation where she spent 7 years and later became a Principal in Mergers and Acquisitions at the JSE listed Momentum Metropolitan Holdings.
In 2016 she was nominated for the Top employee in manufacturing divisions at the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa. She was named 2023 Leading Entrepreneur by the African Women Chartered Accountants (AWCA) and one of the Top women in Mobility in Africa for 2023. Ndia is a non-executive director on a number of Boards. She is a guest lecturer on Mergers and Acquisitions and has worked as a member of the Technical Advisory Panel to Infrastructure South Africa under the Department of Public works.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi there and welcome to another episode of African
Business Stories.
Africa is the only region inthe world where more women than
men choose to be entrepreneurs.
What this says to me is thatthe story of business in Africa
is the story of the Africanbusiness women.
So we are on a journey ofdiscovery to find these women
(00:23):
and tell their stories.
So we're on a journey ofdiscovery to find these women
and tell their stories.
On the show, we will hear fromfemale innovators and
entrepreneurs building andrunning businesses in Africa.
They will share the highs andlows of their entrepreneurial
journey and lessons learnedalong the way.
Some of these women you mayknow, and many you may not, but
(00:48):
I assure you that all theirstories are inspiring in their
own right.
My hope is that these storieswill inspire you to reach for
your dreams and leave a legacyfor generations to come.
It makes such a big differenceto us if you can rate, review
and share our episodes.
You can do this mainly on ApplePodcasts, and you can find us
on all podcast platforms Ifyou're in Africa.
(01:09):
Spotify is now available, socheck us out there and don't
forget to rate, review and shareOn the show.
Today I chat with IndiaMagadagela, co-founder of
EvElectric, an electric vehiclesas a service business focused
on driving the logisticsindustry in South Africa.
(01:32):
We talk about the impact ofbeing raised by entrepreneurial
parents, the calculated stepsshe took into entrepreneurship,
the value of having co-foundersintentionally looking for
opportunities and landing on theidea of electric vehicles as a
service.
She explained to me what it waslike being first to market in
(01:56):
the EV space and trying to raisemoney and educate the market
all at the same time.
Thank you to the team atPresidential Precinct for the
introduction and for all you doto empower African entrepreneurs
.
Let's get into it.
Welcome to African BusinessStories.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Thank you so much.
Thanks, Akiyogo, for having meAwesome.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I just wanted to start real quick to get to know
you a little bit before we jumpinto your business.
And I read that you're from theLimpopo province, which is like
the northern part of SouthAfrica, and I read that it's
such a beautiful place and somepeople have called it the
Africa's Eden, and so I wonderwhat it was like for you growing
(02:41):
up in such a beautiful,picturesque place.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, I really do come from a beautiful part of
South Africa.
It is the far north of thecountry, a province called
Limpopo, also known as Africa'sEden.
It really is the home of theKruger National Park, which is
one of the biggest parks in theworld.
We've got the big five there,so we've got a lot of tourists
(03:07):
that come to the province.
But I particularly grew up in avillage, in a village called
Hamashamba, and I remember justgrowing up on the dusty streets,
playing in the streets andbeing a very happy child, being
the youngest of five children.
I had an amazing upbringing.
(03:27):
I actually went to school inthat village until I was in
grade seven, which is like thelast year of primary school.
So high school is what I did ina boarding school in Pretoria,
but an awesome, awesomeupbringing in the village.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I read that both your parents were professionals and
they both then becameentrepreneurs, and I wonder what
memories you have from growingup and seeing them become
entrepreneurs and if that's hadany impact at all on your life
choices.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yes, most definitely so.
My dad was actually a healthinspector, my mom was a nurse
and actually when we wereyounger, my mom was stationed at
a clinic in the village, so weactually did live at the clinic
and then at some point, my dadapparently, as the story goes,
(04:19):
my dad presented the idea ofstarting a business to my mom.
We were five kids and my dadalways felt that at some point
in his life he would be anentrepreneur and he felt that at
that time it was the right time, and it was actually my mom who
stopped working first and wentto start the business and my dad
(04:41):
later joined.
I think it must have been ayear or so later.
It had a very powerful impacton me the fact that my parents
were entrepreneurs, because itactually happened very, very
early on in my life, and so thatwas the only life that I knew
it had the impact of.
You know, we were brought upsort of helping out in the
(05:03):
business.
We would come back from school,you would do your homework and
literally you would go help outin the store, whether it was
manning the cash register or youknow, one of my sisters was
always responsible for theaccounting and everybody had
something to do in that business.
So that was kind of thesocialization that I had, but
(05:26):
also with my parents startingbusinesses in the village and
you can imagine this is lowincome areas just for them to.
They were philanthropists.
They really were the kind ofpeople who were very concerned
with the community, were veryconcerned with the community,
and so it was so great growingup, growing up with so many
(05:48):
other people Like my house wasjust full of people, and my
parents took care of a lot ofpeople as we were growing up.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Do you know why your parents chose to send you to
boarding school and what wasthat like for you going all the
way to Pretoria?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So, look, I was born in the early 80s, so when I was
about to go to high school, itwas just after 1994, which is
when South Africa got ourindependence, and so the local
schools.
My parents felt that theywanted to give us what I will
(06:22):
term a better education, right,just because they really just
wanted us to have a differentlife from what they had.
And so when they looked around,there were not a lot of schools
in our area that could sort ofcater for what they were looking
for.
And so actually, all mysiblings went to boarding school
(06:44):
.
I was off to Pretoria, which isabout 400 kilometers away from
home, and that was at the age of13.
I mean, the first few monthswere really tough.
My older sister, the one thatcomes just before me, the fourth
, one of the five, she was inschool with me.
She's four years older, so wewere at school at the same time,
(07:06):
but it was really tough growing, um, those first few months.
But I think it taught me somuch about being independent,
about living with people, aboutjust being, you know, a
neighborly, neighbor, um, toanybody I say now that I can
live with absolutely anybodybecause of that experience, and
(07:29):
I'm fiercely independent becauseof it.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
I too went to boarding school so I see a lot
of value.
I mean, people talk about thedownsides of boarding school but
for me and a lot of my friends,I think you know the benefits
seem to outweigh thosechallenges.
But yes, I agree with you, itdoes teach you a strong sense of
independence.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, and the relationships you make when
you're in boarding school.
I mean, I've got friends thatI've known since I was 13.
And because we almost likefamily, because we grew up
together literally, yeah, yeah,I totally agree.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
So then you're now in Pretoria and I guess you decide
to stay there and go touniversity.
So talk to us about, about that, choosing your course and what
those years were like atUniversity of Pretoria.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So I mean, at some point I thought I was going to
be a doctor.
I was going to study medicine.
Um, just because I don't know,I think everybody probably most
people still kind of thinkthey're going to be doctors and
firemen, and then it changes.
But because my dad was abusiness person, I think he
exposed us a lot to likeentrepreneurship and also people
(08:39):
who were in entrepreneurship.
And so I remember my dadintroducing me to a chairman of
a bank, of a local bank whoserved on a board of a bank, and
saying talk to this person, heis an accountant, ask him what
it means.
And I had a conversation withthe old man, professor Phil Yoon
(08:59):
, and I thought oh, you can be achartered accountant, whatever
that meant.
Let me, you know, that's what Iwant to study and that's what I
went and I studied at theUniversity of Pretoria.
I did my undergrad there, mypostgraduate there, and you know
, I don't I don't regret it.
And I stayed in Pretoria evenfor my first job at Deloitte.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
You'd caught that entrepreneurial bug early, right
, because I hear that you had aside business while you were at
university.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yes, I did I did.
I used to buy and sell likebags and shoes that I would buy
downtown, and some knockoff bigname bags as well.
So I did that when I was invarsity and it was really
initially it was like to makeextra cash, but then I actually
realized that I enjoy it.
(09:51):
So you know, I did have my handat sort of the entrepreneurship
thing even earlier and sincethen I've actually also run
other businesses before Istarted the ones that I run now.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Talk to us about some of the other things you did in
your career before becoming anentrepreneur full-time.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah.
So after Deloitte, after Iqualified as a fully-fledged
qualified accountant, I thenwent to a local development
corporation so it's called theIndustrial Development
Corporation of South Africa andmy job there was what they call
the dealmaker, which isbasically somebody who receives
(10:33):
applications for funding forbusinesses and does due
diligence investigations andpresents them to credit
committees for a yes or a no.
So I really enjoyed that setup.
I was there for seven years andreally what I enjoyed about it
is because I was on the otherside from entrepreneurs.
(10:54):
Which is something that I loved.
It was hearing those ideas.
It was about seeing people kindof come with an idea and we
sort of help them raise fundingand we see the businesses grow
at times to become quite majorbusinesses and major employers
of people and also make animpact in the communities where
(11:14):
they perform their businesses.
So that was, you know, really ameaningful, impactful job.
But even when I was there, Iwas running an events business
on the side.
I was, you know, I was planningweddings and I was hiring event
equipment and so I always kindof had something, something
going on on the side even withthat.
(11:36):
But that learning out of thedevelopment finance institution,
I think also gave me a pictureof what the funding side,
fundraising side of businesswould look like.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So you've always done business on the side from
university and then even whileyou were working in the
corporate space.
So what made you feel like youwere ready to go all in, and how
did you arrive at what thebusiness idea would be?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, that's a very important question.
So you know, I think by natureI am risk averse and I know that
business people probably arenot supposed to be, but I'm very
kind of calculated, I will notjust jump into something.
So I knew that someday I willhave an idea that would allow me
to leave my corporate job.
But what actually happened isthat while I was still now doing
(12:30):
this development finance work,a friend of mine, who is now my
business partner, came to me andsaid but why don't we start a
consulting business?
We can do management consultingand you can bring your
expertise as somebody who hasraised funds or, you know, help
people raise funds.
I can bring my expertise,having been in the consulting
(12:52):
space, and we can do thistogether to stop over somewhere
and learn another side offundraising or like, just do
something else.
That would sort of give me afull basket of experience.
(13:12):
And so that's actually so.
I didn't leave immediately.
I sort of had a plan of at whatpoint I would leave.
So I still said I want to gointo the mergers and
acquisitions space and I want tojust understand how that works,
because, by definition, whatyou're saying we must go into
will require us to do some M&Aadvisory.
(13:33):
So then I left the IndustrialDevelopment Corporation and I
went and I did a job in mergersand acquisitions.
I was a principal there, one ofthe listed insurance companies
in South Africa.
I stayed there for two yearsbut while I was there I remember
thinking to myself I'd like tosave up a bit before, because I
(13:55):
always knew that, you know,after two years, like that's for
me, that was the time I put formyself me, that that was the
time I put for myself.
I'd like to have saved a bit ofmoney and I would like to, for
whatever consulting work we gointo, to at least be able to pay
a part of what I was carrying Iwas earning at the time, just
(14:15):
so that you know, when I go init's not um, with nothing.
I was very nervous about doingit that way and and so indeed,
two years in, I had saved up alittle bit and the consulting
business we had had a contractthat could at least cover us for
a year and I thought this isthe time now we do it.
(14:37):
So it was very calculated.
I wasn't one of those who kindof thought in three months I'm
leaving and that's it.
We'll see.
I wasn't one of those who kindof thought in three months I'm
leaving and that's it.
We'll see.
You know, we'll see whathappens.
I kind of thought about itquite a bit.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
So where does the idea for Everlectric then come
from?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
So my business partner, ben, is doing his
travels.
He's learning about Elon Muskat the time.
I mean, I'm talking aboutprobably 2017, 2016.
I also traveled, and I actuallytraveled to the States and I
saw electric vehicles at some ofthese places and even hybrids.
(15:18):
And I remember actually mybusiness partner saying what do
you think about electricmobility?
What do you think?
Do you think this is somethingthat will be a reality for us in
South Africa?
And I remember thinking, yeah,I actually saw electric vehicles
run in the US and even in SouthAfrica we had manufactured our
first electric vehicle.
(15:39):
It was called the Jewel back inthe day, so it was just
something that was starting tokind of you know, you were
hearing it in the news, you werereading about it, and I
remember my business partnersaying, but what shape or form
would it look like in the SouthAfrican context?
And we went through like asession of saying, but would we
manufacture electric vehicles?
(16:00):
Manufacture electric vehicles?
And we sort of thought aboutthat.
What would that take?
And we thought, maybe not.
What about taking electricvehicles that aren't already
manufactured and testing them inthe market and seeing whether
they work?
And, funny enough, we thenthought, ok, what is the
industry?
That would be like a lowhanging fruit, the first one
(16:22):
that we could approach, and wethought the taxi industry.
So in South Africa, the firstone that we could approach and
we thought the taxi industry.
So in South Africa, the taxisthat we have are 15-seaters and
they transport probably amajority of the population.
So in our mind we were thinking, if they transport a lot of
people and there's a huge volumeof these taxis, and then
(16:44):
probably that's the industry weshould uh go to first.
And then we thought but alsothey do a defined number of
kilometers because they have thesame, they travel the same
route um and electric vehiclesat the time were maybe doing 200
kilometers on a charge.
You know, now it's, it's changedand battery technology has
really improved and we thoughtwe are going to transition the
(17:07):
taxi industry.
That was the first thing we did.
I even remember our initialslide.
Decks were about taxi industry.
We went everywhere trying toget clients who would transition
their taxis to electric and itwas going.
It was not going right.
It wasn't.
The taxi industry was not readyat the time.
(17:27):
It's funny now in South Africathey've come out to say they'd
like to transition, but the ideareally came from what we saw
looking for opportunity.
I think that it was really justabout looking out for
opportunity and, for some reason, when you start thinking about
something, you start to see alot of it.
(17:48):
So, because we're alreadytalking about electric mobility,
we tended to hear a lot aboutthe whole concept and so the
taxi industry didn't take usseriously.
We didn't have taxis electrictaxis at the time 2017, 2018,
that we could take to market andwe decided, even at the we're
(18:10):
going to pivot, and that's howwe decided to then go with the
logistics industry, which iswhere we actually function now
as a business.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
So interesting and very, very fascinating because,
you know, sometimes people getstuck on their idea but the
moment isn't ready for that idea.
Talk to me a little bit moreabout benefits that you've found
from having a co-founder,because sometimes it could go
either way, you know, with withco-founders.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, you know, actually I've heard so many
horror stories about people thattry to form a partnership and
I'm always so grateful that Iactually met partners, that you
know we've got the same goals,we've got the same values and we
sort of we're very clear aboutwe respect each other, we are
(18:57):
clear about who has to do what,our responsibilities and.
But now actually looking back,even at the ideation stage, I
think it really helped that wehad differing views at the table
right.
It really helped that we couldlean on each other for ideas.
(19:18):
But we could also kind ofdivide and conquer right even
then.
And I say we pivoted from taxito the logistics industry so
flippantly and easily now but itwasn't that easy.
You can imagine.
We've put in the time, we'vetold our families that we are
(19:39):
going for the taxi industry andthen the next day you kind of
have to, you know, unscramblethat egg and start back from.
You know, go back to thedrawing board.
But really having partners hasbeen so beneficial, even like
from ideation to when we evenwere starting out looking for
(20:00):
seed funding, the ups and thedowns of business.
Uh, really it helps to lean oneach other.
There are times when I'm likecompletely tired and I'm like I
can't.
Why are we even doing this?
And and there are times whenI'm feeling very strong and I'm
um, you know my businesspartners can lean on me for, you
know, for that motivation.
(20:22):
But also we are able to dividethe work, we are able to kind of
run in different directions,come back and have have worked
on on things, but I think themost important thing is the, is
the mutual respect, is the, youknow, the understanding of, of
the strength.
Um and I see it more even nowbecause I think we are growing
(20:42):
up together in business weunderstand each other's
strengths.
So we let the one who's great atselling is selling and you go
forth and sell.
And the one who's good with PRdoes it.
The one who fundraisers and I'mnot saying that we leave all
the responsibilities to thatperson, but we know that they
(21:04):
lead that function.
Even if I do go out and sell, Iknow that my business partner
is like the you know thesalesperson and we support him
and we support each other.
And so far, so good.
And it's funny, akiego, we had afourth partner at some point
right at the beginning who westarted out with, but our
(21:25):
interests were not aligned andthey felt that they needed to do
something else.
It remains peaceful, but it wasclear from the you know.
They realized early on thatthis is not something that they
wanted to do and they exited.
And, looking back, I'm like youknow what they wanted to do and
they exited and, uh, lookingback, I'm like you know what.
(21:46):
We learned a lesson from thatand I think maybe that is what
made our relationship even, uh,stronger as partners.
Fantastic, and I don't alwayslike my partners.
I don't always like themsometimes but.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
But there's mutual respect there's mutual respect.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Sometimes, you know you want to box each other in
the, in the body, in theboardroom, but you get out and
you're friends again.
Right, you know you can behappy again.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
So, yeah, thanks for sharing that.
So now tell us about evelectric yes, our, our baby.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
So ev electric is a south african incorporated
company.
We lease electric vehicles tothe logistics industry.
So I say to people we are anelectric vehicle as a service
business.
We lease electric vehicles.
We couple that with charges.
(22:35):
So we will put down charges forour clients who would be
players in the logisticsindustry, and we also maintain
the vehicles and we provide themalso with a connected back end
and a driver-facing app just togive them a user experience that
takes the headache out of theadoption of electric mobility.
(22:58):
And I mean there's many reasonswhy we have decided to do it
that way, but the main one isjust looking at where South
Africa is in terms it's stilldeveloping policies around
electric mobility or evengreener mobility.
They're still chargingexorbitant import duties on
(23:38):
electric vehicles.
There's power issues that wecan talk about.
Vehicles.
There's power issues that wecan talk about.
So it was important that if wewant our client to transition
their fleet to electric, we needto provide them with a
fail-proof way to do so.
And this is exactly it.
Yeah, Interesting.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
So you went into this knowing the challenges that
existed already on the ground,but you still chose to go in.
Yes, it sounds like you builtwith these issues in mind.
What has adoption been like inSouth Africa?
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Very good question, akego.
So I mean people talk about youcoming up with your minimum
viable product and like findingwhat your client is looking for
and then selling that product.
This was exactly that right,because you know people will
create a product that nobodyneeds because they just think
it's such a great product.
This was exactly what ourcustomer in South Africa needs
(24:34):
for what the landscape lookslike, so we actually created
this product with that in mind.
So what problems were we tryingto solve?
So, firstly, the high importduties.
If you say to a fleet managerwho is my prospective client, go
and buy an electric vehiclewhich will cost you 40 percent
more than a normal vehicle thatyou would have used, they're
(24:57):
going to say no, but you knowwhat is in it for me.
And so because of that, then webought the electric vehicles,
put them on our balance sheetand leased them as a service to
the client.
But okay, so that took care ofthe vehicle.
So now the question would be butwhere am I going to charge this
vehicle?
What about the infrastructure?
(25:20):
Yes, south Africa charginginfrastructure is really
increasing in number.
Now, you know in later days,but when we were starting out
there were not that many, and sowe decided that we're going to
put down charging infrastructurefor our clients, but it will be
charging infrastructure thatwill be used by our clients
(25:41):
first and then other people canalso use the charging
infrastructure.
So we put down charginginfrastructure because our
client, in order for them toadopt to your question about
adoption they needed to ensurethat they've got a reliable
vehicle.
They can also charge.
And then there was the issue ofbut what about load shedding?
What about if there's a powerissue?
(26:03):
And that's when we sort ofcreated an intelligence around
charging.
So we are live in our vehicles,in our chargers.
The blackouts in South Africa,or you know what they call load
shedding, they are scheduled.
So you do know.
You even have an app that willtell you you won't have power
(26:24):
between time this and this time,have power between time this
and this time.
We've incorporated that into ourapp or into our back end, where
the client knows that in yourarea you're going to have load
shedding at this time andtherefore it's it's wise to
charge either before or after umthe we also are able to sort of
early warn our users, ourclients, that that you are
(26:49):
running out of range, you're notgoing to be OK for the day.
Therefore, go to this charger.
It's open, it's in this area,it's these number of kilometers
away from you.
So really, it was just the factthat business people,
entrepreneurs, exist to solve aproblem, and if there wasn't a
problem, there would be nothingto solve.
(27:11):
And so, even with thechallenges, we kind of thought
how do you build your solutionin such a way that there's no
headache for the client?
You'd rather worry about it,but give them a seamless service
.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
So I know that Woolworths was one of your first
clients and congratulations onthem, because they're a huge,
huge South African brand.
What has it been likeonboarding other clients in
South Africa?
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah, so Woolworths was one of our first clients and
DSV Woolworths and DSV, whichis the Danish delivery company,
and it wasn't that.
You know, on day one, they,they decided to go electric.
We first ran a proof of conceptwith them.
For two years, 24 months, weran two vehicles in their fleet
(27:58):
24 months two vehicles so, Imean, patience is key if you're
going to be an entrepreneur.
Really, we ran for 24 months andI think they really provided us
an opportunity to even refineour service offering to see that
(28:20):
it works on a small scale.
You know, two years might feellike it's a long time, but that
proof of concept is actuallywhat has moved them from just
being a proof of concept clientto being, you know, one of the
(28:41):
clients that we scaled quite alot with.
I mean, they're running theentire online deliveries with
electric vehicles that that wehave provided, so in in the
Joburg and Cape Town areas,right so, and they're growing
into into other major metros inSouth Africa.
And so you know, that proof ofconcept helped them to sort of
decide OK, we can move from thetwo vehicles to 40 or whatever
(29:03):
you know, or however the number,however the number.
But what that also gave us wasthe confidence that we can
replicate the solutions intoother fleets.
It also gave the marketconfidence that you know,
because now they see our names,kind of you know our name, kind
of moving around in their areas.
(29:25):
So since then, we have signed upthe likes of FedEx, we've
signed in South Africa, we'vesigned up the likes of Nightwing
.
We have signed up some of thesolar installers and guys that
run actual solar farms, because,you can imagine, they would
(29:46):
like their carbon emissions tobe kept at the lowest possible.
We've signed up companies inthe pharmaceutical industry as
well.
We've signed uptelecommunications as well.
Vodacom has purchased a vehiclefrom us, so you can see that
you know the clients are coming,and I can really attribute it
(30:07):
to the fact that we kind of hadthat initial testing and that
initial big brand, that sort ofsaid we believe in your, in your
, in your solution, and I meanpeople don't do these things out
of the only, out of thegoodness of their heart.
It's really about customerservice and it's also about the
fact that we are meeting theneed.
(30:28):
So I would like to believe thatwe are yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, yeah, you are.
You are so going back to yourinitial work that you were doing
and how that relates now.
You know I always like to askmy founders about access to
finance and funding.
You're in a totally differentplace today from where you
started, but what was it like inthe beginning, accessing
funding, with all thesechallenges?
(30:53):
You're building for a first tomarket product and in a market
that didn't really understandwhat electric vehicles as a
service was.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, it was.
It was not easy.
Honestly.
I could go starting out and youknow you can imagine I was
starry eyed thinking I've beenraising I mean, I've been in
funding all my life, so itshould go like that, it should
be easy.
And it was a nice wake up call.
I remember trying to raise froma PowerPoint presentation and an
(31:23):
Excel spreadsheet, likeliterally with no vehicle in
hand, kind of saying this iswhat we are going to bring, give
us a chance and give us themoney.
And we got a lot of no's.
You know I tell people whenthey ask that I used to keep a
folder of companies.
(31:44):
Or you know funders that wewould speak to.
This is commercial banks anddevelopment finance institutions
, venture capital, privateequity, friends and family and
everybody, and I think I stoppedcounting at 26.
That's like how many no's wegot initially.
And you know, at that point wehad put in our own money, you've
(32:06):
put on your life savings.
You're showing the skin in thegame.
But after, you know, talking toa couple of people, there was a
funder or family office thatbelieved in our offering and
they funded us for the firsttime for the seed financing,
(32:26):
together with our owncontribution as the founders and
they put in the money.
But then something that I thinkreally switched the funding
conversation was that whole 24months of a proof of concept,
right so?
as much as I say you would think24 months is a long time, but
(32:49):
that actually proved to.
You know, there's nothing likedata.
People could see that actuallythis thing has run.
We were showing them, we havedone x number of kilometers.
You can speak to our clientsbecause at that point we have um
, formed a relationship with ourclient, um, at that time it was
it was woo words, but there wasanother client as well that ran
(33:09):
a proof of concept.
But we also had one vehicle thatwe ran 10 day proof of concept
with, with anybody for free.
If you came to us and you werelike you want to, you want to
test this out, we would give youthe to test this out.
We would give you the vehiclefor 10 days and we would present
back to you what we saw interms of the data.
And so that was our sellingbefore we could get the funding.
(33:34):
After that proof of concept withthe data, with some clients
that had sort of said we aresigning on the dotted line, we
need X number of vehicles.
That's when fundingconversations became a little
bit easier.
So I think what I would say isfor as much as you can test out
(33:55):
something and have real data, itis much easier to raise funding
than when you are sort ofselling it out of an Excel
spreadsheet and a PowerPointpresentation and I know that I
mean it depends what kind ofbusiness somebody is in but, if
it is at all possible, ratherhave something to show for it,
(34:18):
because it is hard when peopledon't know what risk they're
taking, especially with newtechnologies like these.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
That's very interesting.
Thank you for that.
So, just more broadly, I knowthat South Africa is one of the
few countries on the continentwhere cars are manufactured and
at the moment you're bringing inthe vehicles you're using for
this service.
What do you think the landscapelooks like for manufacturing
electric vehicles in SouthAfrica?
Speaker 2 (34:44):
I think the day when we will start manufacturing
vehicles in South Africa iselectric vehicles especially is
closer than it was like when westarted.
We are starting to see somepolicy reform.
South African government tookout a white paper, which is like
a policy paper about what thepath will be for greening
(35:12):
mobility in South Africa, sothat came out late last year.
There are incentives that theywould want to give to
manufacturers who willmanufacture vehicles electric
vehicles in country.
So what it looks like in SouthAfrica right now is that about
(35:33):
70% of our production ofvehicles, of manufacturers in
the country, is for the exportmarket.
So I think there is anunderstanding that the export
markets being Europe, they wantto move to either electric or
greener vehicles, and so there'snow starting to be a move to
(35:57):
manufacturing locally so that wedon't lose the export market,
we don't lose that part of GDPand you can imagine the jobs
that come with that.
So when we started out, that wasnot a reality at all.
We went to every singlemanufacturer of vehicles
represented in our country andthey didn't see South Africa as
(36:18):
a market for electric mobility.
So it's another thing aboutbeing an entrepreneur that you
know.
If there's no like set outsilver platter way of saying you
know things will work.
You go and create.
You go and create your valueand you create your market.
And as we speak, now we arestarting to see an increase in
(36:40):
adoption of electric mobility inSouth Africa, and we are
starting to see the deliveryguys like the ones that we speak
to, or retailers likeWoolworths, or even the solar
guys that I was talking about.
They are starting to see theefficiencies that come with
electric mobility.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
So it's sooner rather than later.
So do you have any competitionin the market in South Africa?
You?
Speaker 2 (37:06):
know, I think it would be naive to actually think
that there is no competition.
I think you know, we see partsof it.
You know there's chargerinstallers in South Africa.
There are people who areactually leasing electric
vehicles, but a different classof electric vehicles were also
(37:27):
putting down charginginfrastructure.
So, and because the industry isso small, we tend to work with
everyone.
You know Everyone.
You know my vehicles can chargeat another charger provider's
(37:48):
charges if I direct my trafficthere.
So we, at this point, at thispoint, I'm seeing greater
collaboration between you know,the current players.
I think there's anunderstanding that the strength
in numbers, the pie, is bigenough.
But it's as if now everyone israllying behind um, this idea to
sort of make it work in in thecountry there's a lot of
lobbying also um, with, you know, with with policymakers.
(38:12):
We sit on all those platformsand it's almost like it's one of
those where, everywhere you go,you see the same faces and you
know that everyone this is theindustry in one room.
We can still fit in one room.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
That's fantastic.
For now, what's it like being afemale entrepreneur in South
Africa and what kind of supportsystem exists for female
entrepreneurs?
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yeah, look, I mean it is.
It's not easy.
We definitely in the minorityand I mean, ed, being a woman of
color, also being, you know,being an entrepreneur it's
really not easy, but more andmore I'm seeing programs that
are really being created tosupport the female entrepreneurs
(39:02):
and I've been a beneficiary ofsome of those programs or even
like, say, industry bodies thattend to want to, you know, help
with entrepreneurship, one ofthem being the Climate Finance
Accelerator that I was part ofas part of the UK government.
(39:22):
I'm speaking to you now.
I'm part of the presidentialprecinct, which, you know.
I'm in the United States at themoment attending a corporate
leaders program which reallystrengthens, you know, it's
entrepreneurs and businessleaders in one room, kind of
talking about what affects us,and those things allow for
(39:45):
greater collaboration.
Last year, the African WomenChartered Accountants also, you
know, honored me with an awardin business, and that has also
been something that kind ofgives you a tap on the shoulder
to say, you know, well done forhow far you've come.
Yes, I don't feel like you know, I feel like we've just started
(40:06):
, but honestly, those are someof the things that kind of help
you to think OK, we are on theright track.
The industry can see it, ourpeers can see it.
But having said that, it isreally hard, and I think it does
not.
The help does not get toeveryone, and so one of the
things that is really close tomy heart is, you know how they
(40:27):
say to whom much is given, muchis expected.
I'm trying to find ways, in mylittle way, of being able to
replicate that and give it toother women entrepreneurs who
might not have, you know, theopportunity to sit on some of,
to receive some of this supportthat I might have gotten.
(40:48):
I do feel that you know there'sa lot of incubation and support
at the early stages, but Istill feel that there's not
enough support in terms offunding.
People are still quite riskadverse, especially, I don't
know, I mean, in South Africa,for instance.
It is hard to kind of be in themiddle where you started and
(41:11):
you were incubated and supportedand then now you want to grow
and nobody wants to take therisk, and I think that is still
a reality, for even for me, evenfor my business looking ahead,
what?
Speaker 1 (41:23):
what do you think the next five years looks like for
evaletric?
Speaker 2 (41:27):
I think it looks like , uh like growth.
It looks like, uh, this wholeadoption story getting to a
wider audience, it, it.
It looks like delivery fleets,kind of you know, all all
realizing that this is actuallya solution that works, and I see
(41:47):
us growing in leaps and bounds.
But I also see us sort ofbackward integrating and maybe
also forward integrating,whatever that will look like,
but kind of thinking about thevalue chain of the business.
I think the first step wasreally to stimulate the market,
(42:08):
make sure that this is asolution that works and it makes
sense.
But now we're starting to thinkabout other parts of electric
mobility for South Africa andeven maybe for the continent
where you know where we couldreplicate this.
But something that is veryclose to my heart, and it's
(42:29):
something that I'm working onnow, is just the training of
skills in South Africa for whenthere is adoption of electric
mobility.
So at first it might be that wewould train for our own use,
but we would like to be a centerof excellence to train skills
for the industry as well, justbecause we are one of the first
(42:52):
movers.
So that is something that weare working on to put together a
program like that for skillstransfer and on-the-job training
for electric mobility.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Yeah, I wish you all the best with that.
So just in wrapping up, youknow I normally ask my guests to
reflect a little and giveadvice.
So, just in terms of reflecting, what would you say are some of
the most impactful things thatyou've achieved in building this
business in South Africa?
Speaker 2 (43:19):
You know, in reflecting, I really wish that I
was kinder to myself.
Through the journey.
I really think that I didn'tstop enough to actually look
back and think of how far we hadcome.
I think, you know, being a highachiever, I was always kind of
(43:41):
saying, you know I should behere, why am I still here?
And now I stop and reflectquite quite a lot.
I'm really proud of what theteam at Evelectric has been able
to achieve in a market likeSouth Africa, which, you know,
we literally were starting fromscratch with other industry
players, because we were not theonly ones starting from scratch
(44:01):
with other industry players,because we were not the only
ones.
But we are really proud that wecan now say that you know we've
got a fleet of more than 100vehicles, having started with
zero and then with five, andthen you know it keeps going up.
And so I look back and I'mreally grateful that that was
the case.
So I think in advice I wouldjust say you know, patience,
sometimes even the no's can begood for us, because they help
(44:25):
us to actually go back andreflect and refine.
The fact that the taxi industrynever took off is actually
something that I'm now gratefulfor, even though they've come
full circle and we can probablyservice them again.
But it helps us to think aboutthe logistics industry as a
result Probably would not havethought about it or would have
(44:46):
thought about it later.
But I'm also grateful for theno's because they've really
shaped who we have become.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
So if you could give one piece of advice to other
women building businesses inAfrica, what would that be?
Speaker 2 (45:00):
I would say allow yourself to collaborate more.
I would say, don't hold on tothis and think this is yours and
yours alone.
You will be amazed at themultiplier effect of having
other people at the table, kindof helping you with your idea,
but also latching on to whatother people are doing, because
(45:21):
that can just grow your business.
So that whole idea of you know,taking out your minimum viable
product and talking about it andselling it to whoever is
listening but also collaboration, I would say, is very, very
important.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
Thank you so much, india.
This has been an excellent,excellent conversation, thank
you.
Thank you so much, Akiga.
Thank you so much india.
This has been an excellent,excellent conversation, thank
you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for listening.
If you're not alreadysubscribed, please do so on
apple, spotify or wherever youget your podcast, and don't
forget to leave us a review sowe know how we're doing.
I'm akego okoye and you havebeen listening to african
(46:00):
business stories.
Hi there and welcome to another episode of African
Business Stories.
Africa is the only region inthe world where more women than
men choose to be entrepreneurs.
What this says to me is thatthe story of business in Africa
is the story of the Africanbusiness women.
So we are on a journey ofdiscovery to find these women
(00:23):
and tell their stories.
So we're on a journey ofdiscovery to find these women
and tell their stories.
On the show, we will hear fromfemale innovators and
entrepreneurs building andrunning businesses in Africa.
They will share the highs andlows of their entrepreneurial
journey and lessons learnedalong the way.
Some of these women you mayknow, and many you may not, but
(00:48):
I assure you that all theirstories are inspiring in their
own right.
My hope is that these storieswill inspire you to reach for
your dreams and leave a legacyfor generations to come.
It makes such a big differenceto us if you can rate, review
and share our episodes.
You can do this mainly on ApplePodcasts, and you can find us
on all podcast platforms Ifyou're in Africa.
(01:09):
Spotify is now available, socheck us out there and don't
forget to rate, review and shareOn the show.
Today I chat with IndiaMagadagela, co-founder of
EvElectric, an electric vehiclesas a service business focused
on driving the logisticsindustry in South Africa.
(01:32):
We talk about the impact ofbeing raised by entrepreneurial
parents, the calculated stepsshe took into entrepreneurship,
the value of having co-foundersintentionally looking for
opportunities and landing on theidea of electric vehicles as a
service.
She explained to me what it waslike being first to market in
(01:56):
the EV space and trying to raisemoney and educate the market
all at the same time.
Thank you to the team atPresidential Precinct for the
introduction and for all you doto empower African entrepreneurs
.
Let's get into it.
Welcome to African BusinessStories.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Thank you so much.
Thanks, Akiyogo, for having meAwesome.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I just wanted to start real quick to get to know
you a little bit before we jumpinto your business.
And I read that you're from theLimpopo province, which is like
the northern part of SouthAfrica, and I read that it's
such a beautiful place and somepeople have called it the
Africa's Eden, and so I wonderwhat it was like for you growing
(02:41):
up in such a beautiful,picturesque place.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, I really do come from a beautiful part of
South Africa.
It is the far north of thecountry, a province called
Limpopo, also known as Africa'sEden.
It really is the home of theKruger National Park, which is
one of the biggest parks in theworld.
We've got the big five there,so we've got a lot of tourists
(03:07):
that come to the province.
But I particularly grew up in avillage, in a village called
Hamashamba, and I remember justgrowing up on the dusty streets,
playing in the streets andbeing a very happy child, being
the youngest of five children.
I had an amazing upbringing.
(03:27):
I actually went to school inthat village until I was in
grade seven, which is like thelast year of primary school.
So high school is what I did ina boarding school in Pretoria,
but an awesome, awesomeupbringing in the village.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I read that both your parents were professionals and
they both then becameentrepreneurs, and I wonder what
memories you have from growingup and seeing them become
entrepreneurs and if that's hadany impact at all on your life
choices.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yes, most definitely so.
My dad was actually a healthinspector, my mom was a nurse
and actually when we wereyounger, my mom was stationed at
a clinic in the village, so weactually did live at the clinic
and then at some point, my dadapparently, as the story goes,
(04:19):
my dad presented the idea ofstarting a business to my mom.
We were five kids and my dadalways felt that at some point
in his life he would be anentrepreneur and he felt that at
that time it was the right time, and it was actually my mom who
stopped working first and wentto start the business and my dad
(04:41):
later joined.
I think it must have been ayear or so later.
It had a very powerful impacton me the fact that my parents
were entrepreneurs, because itactually happened very, very
early on in my life, and so thatwas the only life that I knew
it had the impact of.
You know, we were brought upsort of helping out in the
(05:03):
business.
We would come back from school,you would do your homework and
literally you would go help outin the store, whether it was
manning the cash register or youknow, one of my sisters was
always responsible for theaccounting and everybody had
something to do in that business.
So that was kind of thesocialization that I had, but
(05:26):
also with my parents startingbusinesses in the village and
you can imagine this is lowincome areas just for them to.
They were philanthropists.
They really were the kind ofpeople who were very concerned
with the community, were veryconcerned with the community,
and so it was so great growingup, growing up with so many
(05:48):
other people Like my house wasjust full of people, and my
parents took care of a lot ofpeople as we were growing up.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Do you know why your parents chose to send you to
boarding school and what wasthat like for you going all the
way to Pretoria?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So, look, I was born in the early 80s, so when I was
about to go to high school, itwas just after 1994, which is
when South Africa got ourindependence, and so the local
schools.
My parents felt that theywanted to give us what I will
(06:22):
term a better education, right,just because they really just
wanted us to have a differentlife from what they had.
And so when they looked around,there were not a lot of schools
in our area that could sort ofcater for what they were looking
for.
And so actually, all mysiblings went to boarding school
(06:44):
.
I was off to Pretoria, which isabout 400 kilometers away from
home, and that was at the age of13.
I mean, the first few monthswere really tough.
My older sister, the one thatcomes just before me, the fourth
, one of the five, she was inschool with me.
She's four years older, so wewere at school at the same time,
(07:06):
but it was really tough growing, um, those first few months.
But I think it taught me somuch about being independent,
about living with people, aboutjust being, you know, a
neighborly, neighbor, um, toanybody I say now that I can
live with absolutely anybodybecause of that experience, and
(07:29):
I'm fiercely independent becauseof it.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
I too went to boarding school so I see a lot
of value.
I mean, people talk about thedownsides of boarding school but
for me and a lot of my friends,I think you know the benefits
seem to outweigh thosechallenges.
But yes, I agree with you, itdoes teach you a strong sense of
independence.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, and the relationships you make when
you're in boarding school.
I mean, I've got friends thatI've known since I was 13.
And because we almost likefamily, because we grew up
together literally, yeah, yeah,I totally agree.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
So then you're now in Pretoria and I guess you decide
to stay there and go touniversity.
So talk to us about, about that, choosing your course and what
those years were like atUniversity of Pretoria.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So I mean, at some point I thought I was going to
be a doctor.
I was going to study medicine.
Um, just because I don't know,I think everybody probably most
people still kind of thinkthey're going to be doctors and
firemen, and then it changes.
But because my dad was abusiness person, I think he
exposed us a lot to likeentrepreneurship and also people
(08:39):
who were in entrepreneurship.
And so I remember my dadintroducing me to a chairman of
a bank, of a local bank whoserved on a board of a bank, and
saying talk to this person, heis an accountant, ask him what
it means.
And I had a conversation withthe old man, professor Phil Yoon
(08:59):
, and I thought oh, you can be achartered accountant, whatever
that meant.
Let me, you know, that's what Iwant to study and that's what I
went and I studied at theUniversity of Pretoria.
I did my undergrad there, mypostgraduate there, and you know
, I don't I don't regret it.
And I stayed in Pretoria evenfor my first job at Deloitte.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
You'd caught that entrepreneurial bug early, right
, because I hear that you had aside business while you were at
university.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yes, I did I did.
I used to buy and sell likebags and shoes that I would buy
downtown, and some knockoff bigname bags as well.
So I did that when I was invarsity and it was really
initially it was like to makeextra cash, but then I actually
realized that I enjoy it.
(09:51):
So you know, I did have my handat sort of the entrepreneurship
thing even earlier and sincethen I've actually also run
other businesses before Istarted the ones that I run now.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Talk to us about some of the other things you did in
your career before becoming anentrepreneur full-time.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah.
So after Deloitte, after Iqualified as a fully-fledged
qualified accountant, I thenwent to a local development
corporation so it's called theIndustrial Development
Corporation of South Africa andmy job there was what they call
the dealmaker, which isbasically somebody who receives
(10:33):
applications for funding forbusinesses and does due
diligence investigations andpresents them to credit
committees for a yes or a no.
So I really enjoyed that setup.
I was there for seven years andreally what I enjoyed about it
is because I was on the otherside from entrepreneurs.
(10:54):
Which is something that I loved.
It was hearing those ideas.
It was about seeing people kindof come with an idea and we
sort of help them raise fundingand we see the businesses grow
at times to become quite majorbusinesses and major employers
of people and also make animpact in the communities where
(11:14):
they perform their businesses.
So that was, you know, really ameaningful, impactful job.
But even when I was there, Iwas running an events business
on the side.
I was, you know, I was planningweddings and I was hiring event
equipment and so I always kindof had something, something
going on on the side even withthat.
(11:36):
But that learning out of thedevelopment finance institution,
I think also gave me a pictureof what the funding side,
fundraising side of businesswould look like.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So you've always done business on the side from
university and then even whileyou were working in the
corporate space.
So what made you feel like youwere ready to go all in, and how
did you arrive at what thebusiness idea would be?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, that's a very important question.
So you know, I think by natureI am risk averse and I know that
business people probably arenot supposed to be, but I'm very
kind of calculated, I will notjust jump into something.
So I knew that someday I willhave an idea that would allow me
to leave my corporate job.
But what actually happened isthat while I was still now doing
(12:30):
this development finance work,a friend of mine, who is now my
business partner, came to me andsaid but why don't we start a
consulting business?
We can do management consultingand you can bring your
expertise as somebody who hasraised funds or, you know, help
people raise funds.
I can bring my expertise,having been in the consulting
(12:52):
space, and we can do thistogether to stop over somewhere
and learn another side offundraising or like, just do
something else.
That would sort of give me afull basket of experience.
(13:12):
And so that's actually so.
I didn't leave immediately.
I sort of had a plan of at whatpoint I would leave.
So I still said I want to gointo the mergers and
acquisitions space and I want tojust understand how that works,
because, by definition, whatyou're saying we must go into
will require us to do some M&Aadvisory.
(13:33):
So then I left the IndustrialDevelopment Corporation and I
went and I did a job in mergersand acquisitions.
I was a principal there, one ofthe listed insurance companies
in South Africa.
I stayed there for two yearsbut while I was there I remember
thinking to myself I'd like tosave up a bit before, because I
(13:55):
always knew that, you know,after two years, like that's for
me, that was the time I put formyself me, that that was the
time I put for myself.
I'd like to have saved a bit ofmoney and I would like to, for
whatever consulting work we gointo, to at least be able to pay
a part of what I was carrying Iwas earning at the time, just
(14:15):
so that you know, when I go init's not um, with nothing.
I was very nervous about doingit that way and and so indeed,
two years in, I had saved up alittle bit and the consulting
business we had had a contractthat could at least cover us for
a year and I thought this isthe time now we do it.
(14:37):
So it was very calculated.
I wasn't one of those who kindof thought in three months I'm
leaving and that's it.
We'll see.
I wasn't one of those who kindof thought in three months I'm
leaving and that's it.
We'll see.
You know, we'll see whathappens.
I kind of thought about itquite a bit.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
So where does the idea for Everlectric then come
from?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
So my business partner, ben, is doing his
travels.
He's learning about Elon Muskat the time.
I mean, I'm talking aboutprobably 2017, 2016.
I also traveled, and I actuallytraveled to the States and I
saw electric vehicles at some ofthese places and even hybrids.
(15:18):
And I remember actually mybusiness partner saying what do
you think about electricmobility?
What do you think?
Do you think this is somethingthat will be a reality for us in
South Africa?
And I remember thinking, yeah,I actually saw electric vehicles
run in the US and even in SouthAfrica we had manufactured our
first electric vehicle.
(15:39):
It was called the Jewel back inthe day, so it was just
something that was starting tokind of you know, you were
hearing it in the news, you werereading about it, and I
remember my business partnersaying, but what shape or form
would it look like in the SouthAfrican context?
And we went through like asession of saying, but would we
manufacture electric vehicles?
(16:00):
Manufacture electric vehicles?
And we sort of thought aboutthat.
What would that take?
And we thought, maybe not.
What about taking electricvehicles that aren't already
manufactured and testing them inthe market and seeing whether
they work?
And, funny enough, we thenthought, ok, what is the
industry?
That would be like a lowhanging fruit, the first one
(16:22):
that we could approach, and wethought the taxi industry.
So in South Africa, the firstone that we could approach and
we thought the taxi industry.
So in South Africa, the taxisthat we have are 15-seaters and
they transport probably amajority of the population.
So in our mind we were thinking, if they transport a lot of
people and there's a huge volumeof these taxis, and then
(16:44):
probably that's the industry weshould uh go to first.
And then we thought but alsothey do a defined number of
kilometers because they have thesame, they travel the same
route um and electric vehiclesat the time were maybe doing 200
kilometers on a charge.
You know, now it's, it's changedand battery technology has
really improved and we thoughtwe are going to transition the
(17:07):
taxi industry.
That was the first thing we did.
I even remember our initialslide.
Decks were about taxi industry.
We went everywhere trying toget clients who would transition
their taxis to electric and itwas going.
It was not going right.
It wasn't.
The taxi industry was not readyat the time.
(17:27):
It's funny now in South Africathey've come out to say they'd
like to transition, but the ideareally came from what we saw
looking for opportunity.
I think that it was really justabout looking out for
opportunity and, for some reason, when you start thinking about
something, you start to see alot of it.
(17:48):
So, because we're alreadytalking about electric mobility,
we tended to hear a lot aboutthe whole concept and so the
taxi industry didn't take usseriously.
We didn't have taxis electrictaxis at the time 2017, 2018,
that we could take to market andwe decided, even at the we're
(18:10):
going to pivot, and that's howwe decided to then go with the
logistics industry, which iswhere we actually function now
as a business.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
So interesting and very, very fascinating because,
you know, sometimes people getstuck on their idea but the
moment isn't ready for that idea.
Talk to me a little bit moreabout benefits that you've found
from having a co-founder,because sometimes it could go
either way, you know, with withco-founders.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, you know, actually I've heard so many
horror stories about people thattry to form a partnership and
I'm always so grateful that Iactually met partners, that you
know we've got the same goals,we've got the same values and we
sort of we're very clear aboutwe respect each other, we are
(18:57):
clear about who has to do what,our responsibilities and.
But now actually looking back,even at the ideation stage, I
think it really helped that wehad differing views at the table
right.
It really helped that we couldlean on each other for ideas.
(19:18):
But we could also kind ofdivide and conquer right even
then.
And I say we pivoted from taxito the logistics industry so
flippantly and easily now but itwasn't that easy.
You can imagine.
We've put in the time, we'vetold our families that we are
(19:39):
going for the taxi industry andthen the next day you kind of
have to, you know, unscramblethat egg and start back from.
You know, go back to thedrawing board.
But really having partners hasbeen so beneficial, even like
from ideation to when we evenwere starting out looking for
(20:00):
seed funding, the ups and thedowns of business.
Uh, really it helps to lean oneach other.
There are times when I'm likecompletely tired and I'm like I
can't.
Why are we even doing this?
And and there are times whenI'm feeling very strong and I'm
um, you know my businesspartners can lean on me for, you
know, for that motivation.
(20:22):
But also we are able to dividethe work, we are able to kind of
run in different directions,come back and have have worked
on on things, but I think themost important thing is the, is
the mutual respect, is the, youknow, the understanding of, of
the strength.
Um and I see it more even nowbecause I think we are growing
(20:42):
up together in business weunderstand each other's
strengths.
So we let the one who's great atselling is selling and you go
forth and sell.
And the one who's good with PRdoes it.
The one who fundraisers and I'mnot saying that we leave all
the responsibilities to thatperson, but we know that they
(21:04):
lead that function.
Even if I do go out and sell, Iknow that my business partner
is like the you know thesalesperson and we support him
and we support each other.
And so far, so good.
And it's funny, akiego, we had afourth partner at some point
right at the beginning who westarted out with, but our
(21:25):
interests were not aligned andthey felt that they needed to do
something else.
It remains peaceful, but it wasclear from the you know.
They realized early on thatthis is not something that they
wanted to do and they exited.
And, looking back, I'm like youknow what they wanted to do and
they exited and, uh, lookingback, I'm like you know what.
(21:46):
We learned a lesson from thatand I think maybe that is what
made our relationship even, uh,stronger as partners.
Fantastic, and I don't alwayslike my partners.
I don't always like themsometimes but.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
But there's mutual respect there's mutual respect.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Sometimes, you know you want to box each other in
the, in the body, in theboardroom, but you get out and
you're friends again.
Right, you know you can behappy again.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
So, yeah, thanks for sharing that.
So now tell us about evelectric yes, our, our baby.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
So ev electric is a south african incorporated
company.
We lease electric vehicles tothe logistics industry.
So I say to people we are anelectric vehicle as a service
business.
We lease electric vehicles.
We couple that with charges.
(22:35):
So we will put down charges forour clients who would be
players in the logisticsindustry, and we also maintain
the vehicles and we provide themalso with a connected back end
and a driver-facing app just togive them a user experience that
takes the headache out of theadoption of electric mobility.
(22:58):
And I mean there's many reasonswhy we have decided to do it
that way, but the main one isjust looking at where South
Africa is in terms it's stilldeveloping policies around
electric mobility or evengreener mobility.
They're still chargingexorbitant import duties on
(23:38):
electric vehicles.
There's power issues that wecan talk about.
Vehicles.
There's power issues that wecan talk about.
So it was important that if wewant our client to transition
their fleet to electric, we needto provide them with a
fail-proof way to do so.
And this is exactly it.
Yeah, Interesting.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
So you went into this knowing the challenges that
existed already on the ground,but you still chose to go in.
Yes, it sounds like you builtwith these issues in mind.
What has adoption been like inSouth Africa?
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Very good question, akego.
So I mean people talk about youcoming up with your minimum
viable product and like findingwhat your client is looking for
and then selling that product.
This was exactly that right,because you know people will
create a product that nobodyneeds because they just think
it's such a great product.
This was exactly what ourcustomer in South Africa needs
(24:34):
for what the landscape lookslike, so we actually created
this product with that in mind.
So what problems were we tryingto solve?
So, firstly, the high importduties.
If you say to a fleet managerwho is my prospective client, go
and buy an electric vehiclewhich will cost you 40 percent
more than a normal vehicle thatyou would have used, they're
(24:57):
going to say no, but you knowwhat is in it for me.
And so because of that, then webought the electric vehicles,
put them on our balance sheetand leased them as a service to
the client.
But okay, so that took care ofthe vehicle.
So now the question would be butwhere am I going to charge this
vehicle?
What about the infrastructure?
(25:20):
Yes, south Africa charginginfrastructure is really
increasing in number.
Now, you know in later days,but when we were starting out
there were not that many, and sowe decided that we're going to
put down charging infrastructurefor our clients, but it will be
charging infrastructure thatwill be used by our clients
(25:41):
first and then other people canalso use the charging
infrastructure.
So we put down charginginfrastructure because our
client, in order for them toadopt to your question about
adoption they needed to ensurethat they've got a reliable
vehicle.
They can also charge.
And then there was the issue ofbut what about load shedding?
What about if there's a powerissue?
(26:03):
And that's when we sort ofcreated an intelligence around
charging.
So we are live in our vehicles,in our chargers.
The blackouts in South Africa,or you know what they call load
shedding, they are scheduled.
So you do know.
You even have an app that willtell you you won't have power
(26:24):
between time this and this time,have power between time this
and this time.
We've incorporated that into ourapp or into our back end, where
the client knows that in yourarea you're going to have load
shedding at this time andtherefore it's it's wise to
charge either before or after umthe we also are able to sort of
early warn our users, ourclients, that that you are
(26:49):
running out of range, you're notgoing to be OK for the day.
Therefore, go to this charger.
It's open, it's in this area,it's these number of kilometers
away from you.
So really, it was just the factthat business people,
entrepreneurs, exist to solve aproblem, and if there wasn't a
problem, there would be nothingto solve.
(27:11):
And so, even with thechallenges, we kind of thought
how do you build your solutionin such a way that there's no
headache for the client?
You'd rather worry about it,but give them a seamless service
.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
So I know that Woolworths was one of your first
clients and congratulations onthem, because they're a huge,
huge South African brand.
What has it been likeonboarding other clients in
South Africa?
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah, so Woolworths was one of our first clients and
DSV Woolworths and DSV, whichis the Danish delivery company,
and it wasn't that.
You know, on day one, they,they decided to go electric.
We first ran a proof of conceptwith them.
For two years, 24 months, weran two vehicles in their fleet
(27:58):
24 months two vehicles so, Imean, patience is key if you're
going to be an entrepreneur.
Really, we ran for 24 months andI think they really provided us
an opportunity to even refineour service offering to see that
(28:20):
it works on a small scale.
You know, two years might feellike it's a long time, but that
proof of concept is actuallywhat has moved them from just
being a proof of concept clientto being, you know, one of the
(28:41):
clients that we scaled quite alot with.
I mean, they're running theentire online deliveries with
electric vehicles that that wehave provided, so in in the
Joburg and Cape Town areas,right so, and they're growing
into into other major metros inSouth Africa.
And so you know, that proof ofconcept helped them to sort of
decide OK, we can move from thetwo vehicles to 40 or whatever
(29:03):
you know, or however the number,however the number.
But what that also gave us wasthe confidence that we can
replicate the solutions intoother fleets.
It also gave the marketconfidence that you know,
because now they see our names,kind of you know our name, kind
of moving around in their areas.
(29:25):
So since then, we have signed upthe likes of FedEx, we've
signed in South Africa, we'vesigned up the likes of Nightwing
.
We have signed up some of thesolar installers and guys that
run actual solar farms, because,you can imagine, they would
(29:46):
like their carbon emissions tobe kept at the lowest possible.
We've signed up companies inthe pharmaceutical industry as
well.
We've signed uptelecommunications as well.
Vodacom has purchased a vehiclefrom us, so you can see that
you know the clients are coming,and I can really attribute it
(30:07):
to the fact that we kind of hadthat initial testing and that
initial big brand, that sort ofsaid we believe in your, in your
, in your solution, and I meanpeople don't do these things out
of the only, out of thegoodness of their heart.
It's really about customerservice and it's also about the
fact that we are meeting theneed.
(30:28):
So I would like to believe thatwe are yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, yeah, you are.
You are so going back to yourinitial work that you were doing
and how that relates now.
You know I always like to askmy founders about access to
finance and funding.
You're in a totally differentplace today from where you
started, but what was it like inthe beginning, accessing
funding, with all thesechallenges?
(30:53):
You're building for a first tomarket product and in a market
that didn't really understandwhat electric vehicles as a
service was.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, it was.
It was not easy.
Honestly.
I could go starting out and youknow you can imagine I was
starry eyed thinking I've beenraising I mean, I've been in
funding all my life, so itshould go like that, it should
be easy.
And it was a nice wake up call.
I remember trying to raise froma PowerPoint presentation and an
(31:23):
Excel spreadsheet, likeliterally with no vehicle in
hand, kind of saying this iswhat we are going to bring, give
us a chance and give us themoney.
And we got a lot of no's.
You know I tell people whenthey ask that I used to keep a
folder of companies.
(31:44):
Or you know funders that wewould speak to.
This is commercial banks anddevelopment finance institutions
, venture capital, privateequity, friends and family and
everybody, and I think I stoppedcounting at 26.
That's like how many no's wegot initially.
And you know, at that point wehad put in our own money, you've
(32:06):
put on your life savings.
You're showing the skin in thegame.
But after, you know, talking toa couple of people, there was a
funder or family office thatbelieved in our offering and
they funded us for the firsttime for the seed financing,
(32:26):
together with our owncontribution as the founders and
they put in the money.
But then something that I thinkreally switched the funding
conversation was that whole 24months of a proof of concept,
right so?
as much as I say you would think24 months is a long time, but
(32:49):
that actually proved to.
You know, there's nothing likedata.
People could see that actuallythis thing has run.
We were showing them, we havedone x number of kilometers.
You can speak to our clientsbecause at that point we have um
, formed a relationship with ourclient, um, at that time it was
it was woo words, but there wasanother client as well that ran
(33:09):
a proof of concept.
But we also had one vehicle thatwe ran 10 day proof of concept
with, with anybody for free.
If you came to us and you werelike you want to, you want to
test this out, we would give youthe to test this out.
We would give you the vehiclefor 10 days and we would present
back to you what we saw interms of the data.
And so that was our sellingbefore we could get the funding.
(33:34):
After that proof of concept withthe data, with some clients
that had sort of said we aresigning on the dotted line, we
need X number of vehicles.
That's when fundingconversations became a little
bit easier.
So I think what I would say isfor as much as you can test out
(33:55):
something and have real data, itis much easier to raise funding
than when you are sort ofselling it out of an Excel
spreadsheet and a PowerPointpresentation and I know that I
mean it depends what kind ofbusiness somebody is in but, if
it is at all possible, ratherhave something to show for it,
(34:18):
because it is hard when peopledon't know what risk they're
taking, especially with newtechnologies like these.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
That's very interesting.
Thank you for that.
So, just more broadly, I knowthat South Africa is one of the
few countries on the continentwhere cars are manufactured and
at the moment you're bringing inthe vehicles you're using for
this service.
What do you think the landscapelooks like for manufacturing
electric vehicles in SouthAfrica?
Speaker 2 (34:44):
I think the day when we will start manufacturing
vehicles in South Africa iselectric vehicles especially is
closer than it was like when westarted.
We are starting to see somepolicy reform.
South African government tookout a white paper, which is like
a policy paper about what thepath will be for greening
(35:12):
mobility in South Africa, sothat came out late last year.
There are incentives that theywould want to give to
manufacturers who willmanufacture vehicles electric
vehicles in country.
So what it looks like in SouthAfrica right now is that about
(35:33):
70% of our production ofvehicles, of manufacturers in
the country, is for the exportmarket.
So I think there is anunderstanding that the export
markets being Europe, they wantto move to either electric or
greener vehicles, and so there'snow starting to be a move to
(35:57):
manufacturing locally so that wedon't lose the export market,
we don't lose that part of GDPand you can imagine the jobs
that come with that.
So when we started out, that wasnot a reality at all.
We went to every singlemanufacturer of vehicles
represented in our country andthey didn't see South Africa as
(36:18):
a market for electric mobility.
So it's another thing aboutbeing an entrepreneur that you
know.
If there's no like set outsilver platter way of saying you
know things will work.
You go and create.
You go and create your valueand you create your market.
And as we speak, now we arestarting to see an increase in
(36:40):
adoption of electric mobility inSouth Africa, and we are
starting to see the deliveryguys like the ones that we speak
to, or retailers likeWoolworths, or even the solar
guys that I was talking about.
They are starting to see theefficiencies that come with
electric mobility.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
So it's sooner rather than later.
So do you have any competitionin the market in South Africa?
You?
Speaker 2 (37:06):
know, I think it would be naive to actually think
that there is no competition.
I think you know, we see partsof it.
You know there's chargerinstallers in South Africa.
There are people who areactually leasing electric
vehicles, but a different classof electric vehicles were also
(37:27):
putting down charginginfrastructure.
So, and because the industry isso small, we tend to work with
everyone.
You know Everyone.
You know my vehicles can chargeat another charger provider's
(37:48):
charges if I direct my trafficthere.
So we, at this point, at thispoint, I'm seeing greater
collaboration between you know,the current players.
I think there's anunderstanding that the strength
in numbers, the pie, is bigenough.
But it's as if now everyone israllying behind um, this idea to
sort of make it work in in thecountry there's a lot of
lobbying also um, with, you know, with with policymakers.
(38:12):
We sit on all those platformsand it's almost like it's one of
those where, everywhere you go,you see the same faces and you
know that everyone this is theindustry in one room.
We can still fit in one room.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
That's fantastic.
For now, what's it like being afemale entrepreneur in South
Africa and what kind of supportsystem exists for female
entrepreneurs?
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yeah, look, I mean it is.
It's not easy.
We definitely in the minorityand I mean, ed, being a woman of
color, also being, you know,being an entrepreneur it's
really not easy, but more andmore I'm seeing programs that
are really being created tosupport the female entrepreneurs
(39:02):
and I've been a beneficiary ofsome of those programs or even
like, say, industry bodies thattend to want to, you know, help
with entrepreneurship, one ofthem being the Climate Finance
Accelerator that I was part ofas part of the UK government.
(39:22):
I'm speaking to you now.
I'm part of the presidentialprecinct, which, you know.
I'm in the United States at themoment attending a corporate
leaders program which reallystrengthens, you know, it's
entrepreneurs and businessleaders in one room, kind of
talking about what affects us,and those things allow for
(39:45):
greater collaboration.
Last year, the African WomenChartered Accountants also, you
know, honored me with an awardin business, and that has also
been something that kind ofgives you a tap on the shoulder
to say, you know, well done forhow far you've come.
Yes, I don't feel like you know, I feel like we've just started
(40:06):
, but honestly, those are someof the things that kind of help
you to think OK, we are on theright track.
The industry can see it, ourpeers can see it.
But having said that, it isreally hard, and I think it does
not.
The help does not get toeveryone, and so one of the
things that is really close tomy heart is, you know how they
(40:27):
say to whom much is given, muchis expected.
I'm trying to find ways, in mylittle way, of being able to
replicate that and give it toother women entrepreneurs who
might not have, you know, theopportunity to sit on some of,
to receive some of this supportthat I might have gotten.
(40:48):
I do feel that you know there'sa lot of incubation and support
at the early stages, but Istill feel that there's not
enough support in terms offunding.
People are still quite riskadverse, especially, I don't
know, I mean, in South Africa,for instance.
It is hard to kind of be in themiddle where you started and
(41:11):
you were incubated and supportedand then now you want to grow
and nobody wants to take therisk, and I think that is still
a reality, for even for me, evenfor my business looking ahead,
what?
Speaker 1 (41:23):
what do you think the next five years looks like for
evaletric?
Speaker 2 (41:27):
I think it looks like , uh like growth.
It looks like, uh, this wholeadoption story getting to a
wider audience, it, it.
It looks like delivery fleets,kind of you know, all all
realizing that this is actuallya solution that works, and I see
(41:47):
us growing in leaps and bounds.
But I also see us sort ofbackward integrating and maybe
also forward integrating,whatever that will look like,
but kind of thinking about thevalue chain of the business.
I think the first step wasreally to stimulate the market,
(42:08):
make sure that this is asolution that works and it makes
sense.
But now we're starting to thinkabout other parts of electric
mobility for South Africa andeven maybe for the continent
where you know where we couldreplicate this.
But something that is veryclose to my heart, and it's
(42:29):
something that I'm working onnow, is just the training of
skills in South Africa for whenthere is adoption of electric
mobility.
So at first it might be that wewould train for our own use,
but we would like to be a centerof excellence to train skills
for the industry as well, justbecause we are one of the first
(42:52):
movers.
So that is something that weare working on to put together a
program like that for skillstransfer and on-the-job training
for electric mobility.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Yeah, I wish you all the best with that.
So just in wrapping up, youknow I normally ask my guests to
reflect a little and giveadvice.
So, just in terms of reflecting, what would you say are some of
the most impactful things thatyou've achieved in building this
business in South Africa?
Speaker 2 (43:19):
You know, in reflecting, I really wish that I
was kinder to myself.
Through the journey.
I really think that I didn'tstop enough to actually look
back and think of how far we hadcome.
I think, you know, being a highachiever, I was always kind of
(43:41):
saying, you know I should behere, why am I still here?
And now I stop and reflectquite quite a lot.
I'm really proud of what theteam at Evelectric has been able
to achieve in a market likeSouth Africa, which, you know,
we literally were starting fromscratch with other industry
players, because we were not theonly ones starting from scratch
(44:01):
with other industry players,because we were not the only
ones.
But we are really proud that wecan now say that you know we've
got a fleet of more than 100vehicles, having started with
zero and then with five, andthen you know it keeps going up.
And so I look back and I'mreally grateful that that was
the case.
So I think in advice I wouldjust say you know, patience,
sometimes even the no's can begood for us, because they help
(44:25):
us to actually go back andreflect and refine.
The fact that the taxi industrynever took off is actually
something that I'm now gratefulfor, even though they've come
full circle and we can probablyservice them again.
But it helps us to think aboutthe logistics industry as a
result Probably would not havethought about it or would have
(44:46):
thought about it later.
But I'm also grateful for theno's because they've really
shaped who we have become.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
So if you could give one piece of advice to other
women building businesses inAfrica, what would that be?
Speaker 2 (45:00):
I would say allow yourself to collaborate more.
I would say, don't hold on tothis and think this is yours and
yours alone.
You will be amazed at themultiplier effect of having
other people at the table, kindof helping you with your idea,
but also latching on to whatother people are doing, because
(45:21):
that can just grow your business.
So that whole idea of you know,taking out your minimum viable
product and talking about it andselling it to whoever is
listening but also collaboration, I would say, is very, very
important.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
Thank you so much, india.
This has been an excellent,excellent conversation, thank
you.
Thank you so much, Akiga.
Thank you so much india.
This has been an excellent,excellent conversation, thank
you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for listening.
If you're not alreadysubscribed, please do so on
apple, spotify or wherever youget your podcast, and don't
forget to leave us a review sowe know how we're doing.
I'm akego okoye and you havebeen listening to african
(46:00):
business stories.
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