Pedzi Mawande is the Managing Director and co-founder of The Community Co, a multi-ward winning body corporate management and consultancy company, managing over $1billion in prestige property. He’s also a client of The Fitting Room with a very unique take on style. We recently sat down for a chat to learn more about his background and his favourite wardrobe items.
What was your key driving force to become an entrepreneur?
I finished a double degree Bachelor of Business, majoring in HR and international marketing. When I finished it was just the start of the global financial crisis. At that time, no one was hiring. No one needed an HR manager, and no one was spending money. Knowing how economic trends are cyclical, I knew I didn’t want this to happen again so I started looking into property. I landed on body corporate management because, essentially, a body corporate is like running a small business in itself. You have a balance sheet, you have different funds and you have roles similar to the corporations. You need to sit with the decision makers and talk to people. That was about 11 years ago.
How do you define success in your career?
My success was getting over fear of failure by remembering that failure is the only constant. How do you know what works, if you don’t know what doesn’t? And be prepared as possible. You don’t just say you’re going to do something and you don’t have a business plan. You haven’t looked at the market yet. You don’t even know who your market is. You don’t know how you’re going to acquire customers. At least give yourself that opportunity and go through the due diligence.
We heard you have quite an impressive sneaker collection (hundreds)! Where did that start?
I think it just stems from when I grew up in Zimbabwe. You know, I had two pairs of shoes. You had your school shoes and then you had your Sunday sneakers, which you would clean down after every wear. So having the opportunity to live here and have access to things financially now…….Shoes are one of the things I just love.
Do you have a favourite pair?
All my sneakers! Particular brands I have pursued since I was a kid. Nike has always dominated and I grew up watching Michael Jordan so Jordans of course? Then moving into my PlayStation days, playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater, so I have a lot of skateboarding like SBS.
Do you find yourself following fashion trends?
That’s a very interesting question. I had an interesting experience in The Fitting Room actually. I was getting some jeans altered and a gentleman asked me if I was on Instagram? I said no. He asked if I had Facebook. I said no. The only social media I have is Linkedin, and it’s for business. So I’m not influenced by social trends. I like what I like. I see what I like. And then I try to make it my own……maybe with a bit of Kanye or ASAP Rocky spin.
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