Recent economic performance has been influenced by scientific advances and technological change. The ability to create and disseminate knowledge has become a major source of competitive advantage, wealth creation, and quality of life improvements. The growing impact of information technologies (ICT) on the economy and society, the rapid application of recent scientific advances in new products and processes, a high rate of innovation across countries, a shift to more knowledge and rising skill requirements are some of the main features of this transformation.
It has been over a year since Aux God, a company that specializes in manufacturing Bluetooth speakers, was founded. Daniel Mahlayeye, the founder of Aux God and an accountant by profession, has always had a passion for entrepreneurship from a very young age.
Embedding his love for entrepreneurship, innovative thinking, and technology is the best way he expresses his fondness for entrepreneurship, this is what initially gave birth to the company Aux God.
Aux God products include Bluetooth speakers that are useful in everyday life, these speakers allow one to charge their device while doing everyday activities such as listening to music, this is accomplished by either placing the device on top of the speaker or using a charging port. Another cool feature of these speakers is that they include a built-in watch.
He realized that his product had the potential to grow into something big when he was at a party and there was loadshedding, he had his speaker with him at the time and was able to charge people's phones while also playing music, since then, he has been continuously improving the product and developing new products with similar capabilities.
The magnitude of South Africa's unemployment rate is a national crisis that feeds two of the country's major socioeconomic challenges, poverty, and inequality. Mahlayeye's vision is to simply create businesses that will employ the youth, create legacies, and ultimately leave a legacy for his family.
Currently he has directly employed one person who is responsible for taking orders and dispatching, indirectly there are 30 people who are employed and responsible for manufacturing and producing Aux God’s products.
Since Aux God is a new business in the market that is rapidly growing, the biggest challenge Mahlayeye has faced so far in his journey in Entrepreneurship is scaling as a result of the high demand and low supply. An obvious challenge for Mahlayeye in selling luxurious products in South Africa is that the economy is filled with people earning less and there isn't a lot of disposable income since a large number of the population is people who are struggling to make ends meet.
Another challenge he has faced is finding outlets to sell the products, He has found a solution to this obstacle through recently securing an e-commerce plug with Takealot which is a platform that has boosted his sales.
South Africa is a country that is not up to date when it comes to adopting new technologies, this presents the challenge and opportunity for Mahlayeye to rectify this perspective.
“What drives me is teaching people about what's out there and showing people new technologies that can make their lives easier, find what you love and pursue it so that you never feel like you are working, if you're doing what you love it doesn't matter if you're sleeping at 2am and waking up at 4am,you will feel fulfilled while doing it and you will actually realize more opportunities are available in expanding and growing”
Lastly, when not busy pushing the brand what do you do to keep sane? “Since I’m an accountant, and entrepreneur, I was mostly swamped doing my postgraduate through Wits Business School – by the way the marks just came out and I passed, he confirmed with a smile. And thanks to my wife and two sons who really helped me stay grounded. When I’m not on the paper chase, I’m normally at home trying to be the best dad to my six-year-old and my ten months old”