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REDDY,STEADY,
There are two types of people in the world – those
who see problems and those who see opportunities.
Vivian Reddy is one of the latter.
Umhlanga Ocean's Daytime View
As a young electrician in apartheid South Africa, he struggled
there was no Mr Edison, but by that time the quality of the
to hold down a job because he just wasn’t subservient
work spoke for itself – without an accent.
enough. So, with R 500 and a bakkie he went out on his
own. He got a few jobs, hit a few bad debts and managed to
The rest is a classic rags-to-riches story involving hard work,
get by – just – but he was struggling to get decent contracts.
perseverance, excellent customer service, technical expertise,
And then he hit on the inspired idea of changing the very
and an adamantine can-do attitude. We asked him what his
Durban-Indian-sounding Reddy Electrical to the super-white-
secret was, what sort of advice he would give to entrepreneurs.
wasp-multinational-corporate-sounding Edison Power. When
callers asked to speak to Mr Edison, they’d be told he was
He is a great believer in the CANEI principle. It stands for
not in the office. It wasn’t long before customers realised that
Constant And Never-Ending Improvement, and it doesn’t come