Customising a future
A local car enthusiast talks to The Zone about his passion for customising vehicles and how the youth should be proud of the careers they chose for themselves.
After he was retrenched from his previous job at a retail shop, Freddy Dawid had no idea what to do. Left with nothing to do he went to one of his friends, Alois Greifeneder, who works in the auto-tuning industry and started helping him repair cars. This is where his story starts.
“After I matriculated at Eldorado Secondary School I worked at a local retail store for a few months before I was retrenched. I also managed to get two other jobs at logistics companies in 2016 but they closed down and again, I was left on the streets. During that period I did nothing, I was just home,” narrated Dawid. He says he met Greifeneder through friends who used to get their cars customised by him and it was during that time that he was offered a job to work for him. “I met Alois through my other friend. I used to visit his shop on a regular basis and was interested in the kind of job that he was doing. I learnt a lot from him by watching him work on cars and then I started assisting him until he made me an offer,” said Dawid.
Dawid has been making a name for himself in the local auto-tuning industry for his unique take on vehicle customisation and tuning. “I can do a lot on vehicles, but my speciality is sound-tuning and also modification of vehicle characteristics that improves its overall performance. Or it can be some design modification that changes the vehicle's look,” says Dawid. He says he deals with lighting, detailing changes on vehicles and exhaust systems. “I also deal with Zenon, sleek detailing and I am also responsible for making sure clients make payments. I handle the marketing part of our business too,” said Dawid.
Dawid is grateful that he gets to wake up and live his dream every time he works on vehicles. “I really enjoy this job, a few years ago I was concerned about my future but now I’m really happy about the place I am in and you can actually see it in the kind of work I do and the visual representation of my work,” expressed Dawid. He says every day as a car tuning specialist is a learning curve and describes his job as a “kid in a candy” shop type of job. “Every day you learn something new. The experience you pick up from this job can benefit you for a lifetime and every day presents a different kind of knowledge, undertaking and adventure. You also get to learn from other people around you. That is the best part about what I do” said Dawid.
He emphasised that jobs like his which allow people to rely on their own make it possible for people to be self-reliant. “This job is very interesting; sometimes working on a vehicle by myself I learn a lot about it and you find out a lot of other fascinating things which no one else can tell you or which you can read in a book. I can do so much with my hands and therefore I am self-sustaining, “said Dawid. He believes that if more youth focused on practical and functional jobs that would curb the high unemployment rate. “All your documents and papers such as degrees and diplomas are very important but the best job for me is working with your hands. There are too many youth with degrees but they are not doing anything and they are left on the streets. However, if you can work with your own hands to create something you will not rely on anyone to offer you a job, you create it yourself,” said Dawid.
The auto-tuning enthusiast says he believes in working with other youth on the street and says he is passionate about philanthropy work. “We have this belief system at our work that we offer help to people who need it. When someone asks for N$10 we do not give it to them but what we can give do is give him an opportunity to work with us and keep him off the streets… that is one thing I have learnt from my friend Alois,” said Dawid.
He encourages the youth to focus on working on their dreams and to make them a reality. “There are too many people who are talented but they are all at graveyards around the country. While you are still young and talented there is so much you can do. There is so much we can learn from each other as young people and we need to collaborate to excel in what we do,” said Dawid.
He says one of his biggest dreams is to make sure that he gets a bigger workshop so that he can work on more vehicles and make more people happy through what he does. “I want us to open a bigger and better workshop than the one we are currently operating from. Hopefully in the near future we also get to open more branches across town and focus on satisfying more people through the customisation and tuning jobs that we do,” said Dawid.
Shona Ngava
“After I matriculated at Eldorado Secondary School I worked at a local retail store for a few months before I was retrenched. I also managed to get two other jobs at logistics companies in 2016 but they closed down and again, I was left on the streets. During that period I did nothing, I was just home,” narrated Dawid. He says he met Greifeneder through friends who used to get their cars customised by him and it was during that time that he was offered a job to work for him. “I met Alois through my other friend. I used to visit his shop on a regular basis and was interested in the kind of job that he was doing. I learnt a lot from him by watching him work on cars and then I started assisting him until he made me an offer,” said Dawid.
Dawid has been making a name for himself in the local auto-tuning industry for his unique take on vehicle customisation and tuning. “I can do a lot on vehicles, but my speciality is sound-tuning and also modification of vehicle characteristics that improves its overall performance. Or it can be some design modification that changes the vehicle's look,” says Dawid. He says he deals with lighting, detailing changes on vehicles and exhaust systems. “I also deal with Zenon, sleek detailing and I am also responsible for making sure clients make payments. I handle the marketing part of our business too,” said Dawid.
Dawid is grateful that he gets to wake up and live his dream every time he works on vehicles. “I really enjoy this job, a few years ago I was concerned about my future but now I’m really happy about the place I am in and you can actually see it in the kind of work I do and the visual representation of my work,” expressed Dawid. He says every day as a car tuning specialist is a learning curve and describes his job as a “kid in a candy” shop type of job. “Every day you learn something new. The experience you pick up from this job can benefit you for a lifetime and every day presents a different kind of knowledge, undertaking and adventure. You also get to learn from other people around you. That is the best part about what I do” said Dawid.
He emphasised that jobs like his which allow people to rely on their own make it possible for people to be self-reliant. “This job is very interesting; sometimes working on a vehicle by myself I learn a lot about it and you find out a lot of other fascinating things which no one else can tell you or which you can read in a book. I can do so much with my hands and therefore I am self-sustaining, “said Dawid. He believes that if more youth focused on practical and functional jobs that would curb the high unemployment rate. “All your documents and papers such as degrees and diplomas are very important but the best job for me is working with your hands. There are too many youth with degrees but they are not doing anything and they are left on the streets. However, if you can work with your own hands to create something you will not rely on anyone to offer you a job, you create it yourself,” said Dawid.
The auto-tuning enthusiast says he believes in working with other youth on the street and says he is passionate about philanthropy work. “We have this belief system at our work that we offer help to people who need it. When someone asks for N$10 we do not give it to them but what we can give do is give him an opportunity to work with us and keep him off the streets… that is one thing I have learnt from my friend Alois,” said Dawid.
He encourages the youth to focus on working on their dreams and to make them a reality. “There are too many people who are talented but they are all at graveyards around the country. While you are still young and talented there is so much you can do. There is so much we can learn from each other as young people and we need to collaborate to excel in what we do,” said Dawid.
He says one of his biggest dreams is to make sure that he gets a bigger workshop so that he can work on more vehicles and make more people happy through what he does. “I want us to open a bigger and better workshop than the one we are currently operating from. Hopefully in the near future we also get to open more branches across town and focus on satisfying more people through the customisation and tuning jobs that we do,” said Dawid.
Shona Ngava
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