Fighting for a business driven by passion

Iyaloo Olavi Nyau, known as Olavi to most, is a 23-year-old that spent most of his life in Windhoek, a place he says had a lot of influence on him, but comes from Ongwediva where his sense of self, and hunger for business was formed.
As of 2012, Olavi has been the owner of Lens View Media, a multimedia company in Ongwediva, offering diverse multimedia services at a competitive price.
Lens View Media is a company that offers a variety of multimedia services, on which some include, photography, online and TV commercials, and graphic design.
“I started my business in 2012 after I had bought my first camera, after working a holiday job for which my aunt had paid me some money. After that I started wondering why I was in school as my idea for my life had always been to be a businessman,” Olavi told The Zone.
After he acquired his first camera, Olavi started to do some free shoots all over Windhoek as well as when he was on holiday in the north, just to get people to know about him, and to gain some exposure. “In the beginning I wanted to work for people so that I could learn all that I needed to, because at the start of this, I didn’t really know much.
“At the beginning I didn’t want to charge people because I didn’t know what I was doing really, I just wanted to learn as much and as fast as I could,” he said.
For the two years that he was in Windhoek, he did a couple of music videos with some Namibian artists, and he also shot a few debates for the African Union. He was shooting as an assistant contractor, a job he didn’t mind doing, taken that he was very focused and wanted to see his dream of businessman go from dream to reality.
Olavi registered his business in August 2014 August.
That is when Olavi says he solidified his intentions to become a businessman, where before that he was just working for his passion. “Since I was a child I always wanted to own my own business on the side to supplement whatever it was that I was doing in formal employment,” he shared with The Zone.
He says he remembers a quote that would change his thinking, and make him really consider how serious he was about following his dreams. “The quote reads: ‘If you don’t ever want to work a day in your life, then do what you love.’ That quote changed my entire perspective on life and work,” Olavi remembers.
The struggle Olavi remembers, was between going to school and leaving to start his own business, a time he says was difficult to live through, but was a big part of the process of starting his own business.
“I was doing photography at the same time that I was in school. That meant that I was really only giving parts of myself to both, a feeling that wasn’t what I saw myself feeling and experiencing. As a result my marks had dropped and my business was not growing as fast as I would have loved it, I needed to make a decision,” he said.
Olavi, who says his parents are ‘my mother and four aunts’, says that they have continued to support him to this day, and this is one of the reasons that he is able to keep a level head, and continue chasing his dream of one day building a multimedia empire.
He made the decision to leave school at the end of 2014, but didn’t really tell anyone. By the time that March had rolled around, he had enough questions coming around about when he was returning to school, a question that was often answered with a chilly silence.
“But by the time that the questions started coming in, I had enough time to be able to say that this is what I wanted to do, and that, at the time, school didn’t fit into that plan.”
He says that there was resistance as first, but immediately, when Olavi announced his intentions of being a young businessman, he already started getting some serious support from his friends and family, who continue to support him.
Olavi says that after that, he was completely single-minded in his efforts to grow his business at any cost necessary. “I use all, and by all, I mean all, the money that I get, whether it was from my parents or a client, to buy one more item, and another, that I need for the business. I am always thinking ahead and doing the most with the little that I had then,” he shared with The Zone. In 2014 then, Olavi says, the ‘hustle’ really started and that is when he decided to start making his dream of a multimedia empire a reality.?
Since the start of the business officially in 2014, Olavi has been joined by two business partners.
When The Zone asked Olavi whether there is social cause that he is passionate about, he surprised with his simple yet eloquent response, saying he believes that those that are a step ahead should help those that are behind them so that each one has someone that can help them on to the next stage of their journey.
“If there is market day at a school, then I try and sponsor a child some of the materials that he or she might need to be able to participate and make money from the goods sold. This way, that child is able to make some money to make some more money with, and that is how we take each other to the next level,” Olavi told The Zone.
He says that the one thing that most people, initially, don’t know about him is that he is an open, friendly person. “Most of the time people tell me that I look rude or unfriendly. I don’t know whether I am ugly, or burned by the sun, but that is not the case… I guess I just have a serious face,” he laughed.
He says one of the challenges of being a young business person, besides cash flow, is the fact that he is only 23, and was even younger by the time he started his business.
“Sometimes you go to someone and you can see the doubt in their eyes, when I come and introduce myself as Olavi. But after time, people start seeing your work, and they want more, and that is when the referrals roll in.”
The Nekwaya family of Etuna Guest House in Ongwediva have exposed him to varying opportunities and have created new business opportunities for him that continue to add value to his life as a young person and to his business.
He adds, “I also met a man called Juuso Panduleni from Excellent Training Solutions that has been a mentor for me over the course of this journey, a man that had taught me how to effectively and efficiently run a business that can bring the returns that it needs to. He also taught me to be considerate about how to use certain resources.
“I also want to acknowledge that I have friends around me that I can really depend on and this has made the entire process more bearable, and I would like to extend a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to them. Even something as small as toilet paper, if you keep wasting it then, you keep spending money on it. You have to take care of the things that take care of you.”
He says the dream for his business is to one day own a multimedia house that does all forms of production and can put an ad, or movie, and or song together from the in-house staff as opposed to having to hire someone from outside to do the job, he shared.
He says the business is profitable, but that there are already holes and needs that need to be filled. Olavi encouraged other young people that want keep pushing for their dreams, whether they are in school or running a business, saying that nothing worth doing is easy, and that you are the only one that decides how far you get to reach.
Lens View Media is based in the north, Ongwediva more specifically, and Olavi can be reached either on [email protected] or 081 397 8705.

Keith Vries