After quitting music to taste waters from the mainstream business, musician turned entrepreneur Vladimir Le-Roy Winkler, also known as Quido, says getting where he is now is a dream come true.
Youth Corner caught up with the flourishing entrepreneur, who is using his trials and tribulations to empower young people and aspiring entrepreneurs.
“Being an entrepreneur has been a rollercoaster – I have been broke, cash flow rich, dumbest, most experienced and broke again. The cycle continues. We live and learn,” he said. He added that although he has experienced it all in the business industry, his hard work and keenness paid off.  

Born and bred in Windhoek, Quido left the music industry, hoping to one day prosper in other sectors of business.
According to him, the beginning was an uphill climb; many of his businesses failed and some ideas did not materialise.
“Formally, I started in 2013 with an online men’s shoe store. It was ahead of its time, I guess. Lesson learnt – timing plays a big role. If you are too early or too late to the market, you might fail,” stated Quido, who said the online store closed after selling all the stock; however, it taught him about research and finding out what is in demand.

After a short while, Quido tried out vending machines – snacks and drinks, hot beverage vending machines and water dispensers, which, according to him, went well.
In 2017, Quido bought Street Cuisine, a popular restaurant in Town.
“Did I learn lessons from this? I mean, it is part and parcel of any business cycle. Unless one grew up in such a business. That’s the only way you would learn – through experience. I became a 50% shareholder at the time and I only had N$500.00 as a contribution – shows you don’t really need money but you need to be in the know-how and skilled to a degree while networking with the right crowd,” he expressed.
 As if that’s not enough, in 2018, Quido also started a school, Waka Pre-Primary, which started as a daycare and now has grade lower primary. Its goal is to have a fully-fledged school with affordable but quality education.

Among numerous businesses that the 30-year-old owns is a lounge in the CBD, Tipsy Rabbit Hole, and he also specialises in digital services, such as web design and graphics.
If there is one lesson the young man would like to teach his fellow youth is: “You don’t need to have money to make it in life”. She made reference to his mother, whom he said started selling bottles for milk many years ago to make ends meet.
“We are all creators by default; you are meant to create value out of nothing. So, find what you enjoy doing, see how you can leverage and make money from it if money is your end goal,” he urged. 

He also said creators were meant to barter, and they need to work together with what they have and where they are.
One of his lessons is to remain focused and not spread oneself. He said, “I am now trying to consolidate my entities and channel the focus.”
“We need to share more ideas with the right people; we need to work together intentionally – we need to create valuable ecosystems with our people. That way, it will become conducive for more growth in any angle of life. Whether you are a sportsman or creative, there are always synergies,” he concluded.
– ashikololo@nepc.com.na