Yogan Naidoo

Yogan Naidoo is the CEO and founder of two distinct businesses: Business Solutions Africa and Black City Records.

His journey began in the small town of Isipingo, near the South Coast of Durban, before moving to Chatsworth, which he considers more formative to his upbringing. Chatsworth, according to Yogan, was a “vibrant, gregarious, and socially active” environment, despite being a working-class district. He recalls his time at Apollo High School in Chatsworth, where he was expelled for student activism along with about 30 others in his matric year. Despite this setback, Yogan and his fellow activists were able to write their matric exams at another school, earning exemptions that allowed them to continue their education.

Yogan went on to study industrial psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand and subsequently won the Wits Business School New Venture Creation Award. In the early 2000s, he was awarded the prestigious Nelson Mandela Scholarship, which took him to London to complete his MBA. “I met Madiba twice, once at the Dorchester Hotel in London, and secondly at his foundation in Houghton. It was just magical,” he recalls. Reflecting on this experience, he notes, “That was a turning point in my life in terms of taking business a lot more seriously.”

He now looks forward to pursuing a PhD, though balancing life, business, and studies presents its own challenges.

Yogan’s first job was as a bellhop at the Malibu Hotel on Durban’s promenade during the December holiday season. He recalls this experience with a sense of irony, given his slight frame at the time. “If you think I’m thin now, I was super skinny then, and I was having to lug all this luggage all the way up to all those rooms,” he says, highlighting the physical demands of the job.

A PASSION PROJECT
Currently, Yogan’s two businesses are as different as they are complementary. Business Solutions Africa is a project management and consulting firm that has been operating for around 20 years. The company focuses on interrogating the business cases for both public and private sector projects. Yogan attributes his success in this field to his “analytical mindset and structured approach to business,” which has enabled him to articulate business cases effectively and deliberate the viability of various ventures.

Black City Records, on the other hand, is a passion project that Yogan founded to fulfil a long-held dream of working in the music industry. “My first choice of a career would have been a musician, but you just couldn’t create a healthy income to support a family,” he explains. The Black City Records team focuses on producing world-class music for both national and international audiences. Yogan is the principal songwriter and works closely with a co- producer, and the label has already seen success with two number-one hits on East Coast Radio. “That’s an achievement I’m particularly proud of because I felt a bit vindicated in the sense that we are on the right path,” he says. All of this comes together with a phenomenally talented team of committed individuals.

Despite his achievements in music, Yogan recognises that he’s “too old now to be hanging around in clubs at midnight.” Instead, the company focuses on nurturing young talent, writing and producing music, and helping artists like Gwyn, who he describes as “inspirational” due to her work ethic and vision.

TRIUMPH AND DISASTER
The best advice Yogan has ever received is to “take the emotion out of it.” He elaborates, “Don’t take things personally... the people that succeed are the people that remain calm.” This advice has helped him maintain a level-headed approach to business, especially in challenging situations. He references a line from Rudyard Kipling’s poem If: “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.” For Yogan, understanding that both triumph and disaster are part of the same journey has been key to his success.

One of the toughest challenges Yogan faced was when he and his wife bought a coffee shop in Montclair Mall. Initially, they believed it to be a thriving business, but soon realised they had “bought a lemon.” Yogan recalls sitting at home on the 25th of the month, with no money in the bank and numerous bills to pay. This experience taught him “the power of negotiation” and the importance of resilience and discipline. Despite the initial setbacks, they managed to run the business for seven more years before selling it and taking a well- deserved nine-month holiday.

Yogan believes in reminding his teams of their purpose, especially when facing challenges. “Why are we doing this? Why are we here?” are questions he frequently asks his team. He emphasises the importance of the impact their work has on communities, particularly in creating jobs in a country with a 64% youth unemployment rate. “There’s nothing better than calling somebody and telling them, ‘You’re now employed,’” he says.

BE KIND
The youth he works with, particularly their dreams, aspirations, and optimism despite challenging circumstances, provide Yogan with much inspiration. “There’s a narrative about our youth that is sometimes misleading, but that’s not the case with the majority of the youth that we’ve met,” he asserts. He is also inspired by the resilience of people in his community, who “wake up every day, no matter how overwhelming those circumstances are, to get up, go look for a job or start a business.”

Looking ahead, Yogan is optimistic about the future of business in KwaZulu-Natal. He is inspired by the “political maturity” he sees in the province and the renewed sense of energy in the business community. “I’m particularly inspired by the Government of Provincial Unity,” he says, noting that despite the challenges, the investment into the province is “just exponential.”

Yogan’s motto is simple: “Be kind.” He explains, “You have no idea what anybody is going through in their lives and what they bring to the workplace.” For Yogan, kindness is not just a personal value but a guiding principle in his approach to business and life. ‘Life is short,’ he concluded.