Thembani Biyam was appointed Head of Strategy &amp; Monetisation for OLX South Africa when he was only 28. Now, as the Head of Growth at Orderin, one of the top three online food delivery companies in South Africa, he is responsible for strategic projects, product, design and growth marketing. He speaks about his best and worst investment experience. 



What do you splurge on?



Definitely
food; it’s the way to my heart. Then travel. Then tech toys, mostly photography
and videography stuff like drones and stabilizer sticks for shooting vlogs. I
love vlogging and editing for fun.



What has your worst investment blunder
been?



My
best and worst experience was investing in cryptocurrency. I got in late but
bought some Bitcoin and Ethereum, and my investment grew about 350% in six
months. Problem is, it crashed real quickly too. I got a lot of it out in time
but lost a lot of it as well.



If you had to work but didn’t need the
money, what would you choose to do?



Develop
high school, university and professional basketball in South Africa to, at
least, the European level. It’s the one thing I want to do before I die. I was
an aspiring basketball player in high school but there were no proper
structures in place to fully develop and the options for me to play professionally
didn’t exist. I want that for my kids.



Where do you not mind waiting?



At
home. If I am out in the world, I hate waiting for anything. 



Fast food or home cooking?



Home
cooking anytime. But fast food delivery every now and then doesn’t hurt (especially
if it’s from Orderin).



Do you own anything you consider
priceless?



Nothing
material. More memories and perspectives.



Should people work for money or
fulfilment?



Both.
We all have to eat and do nice things, right? Those things cost hard-earned [money].
I would say, if you can continually optimize your career towards work that
provides a combination of both, but increasingly nearing fulfilment versus
money, that would be a win.



READ MORE | &#8216;<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2019/05/01/worth-millions-and-billions/">Worth Billions and Millions</a>&#8216;



What kind of debt is okay?



The
type that is income generating is the ‘most’ okay. Robert Kiyosaki talks about
debt that generates income like property loans, business loans, and even credit
card used for positive income-generating activities. Then, there are scenarios
where you may really need debt to bail you out, but hopefully, you have savings
and liquid investments for that. Then, there is a grey area around things like
cars, phones etc. For this category, I would say, just make sure you can afford
it from your income.



Do you follow a strict budget?



I
do my absolute best to. There are some ‘treat yourself’ months sprinkled in
there.



Would you rather never be able to
express yourself accurately or always have to say the exact truth?



I
always have to say the exact truth. A world of never being able to be a little
colorful and fun in expressing myself would be a dark world.

‘The One Thing I Want To Do Before I Die’

Dinesh Patel had a solid plan: go to the United States (US), play professional golf and win a PGA tournament. His dream took shape when he earned a sport scholarship to study at Florida State University. When he got there he realized that it was going to be tough.
“It’s incredibly competitive and I don’t think that I was good enough, to be honest. But I also don’t think that I wanted it badly enough&#8230; Those guys are good, they work so hard and they were willing to sacrifice so much more than I was willing to sacrifice,” he says.
Patel, the son of a doctor and teacher from Durban, South Africa, decided to focus on his business studies but flirted with the idea of a career in the music business. In his final years at university, he worked as a campus label representative for Warner Brothers’ Electro Records.
“You throw parties and you get access to all the new music and you basically build these artists on a street level.”
When it came down to a career, Patel followed the money. His first job was in Atlanta where he worked as a senior consultant for Deloitte.
“On the day I joined, I think I knew that this wasn’t for me. But it was a great training ground because you learn so much about reading financial statements and understanding the mechanics of business.”
Two years later, he worked as a banker, at the peak of the financial crisis, for Goldman Sachs in New York.
It was here that Patel came across the innovative virtual canteen, Seamless. Patel made use of Seamless to order food on the nights he worked late in the office. The company initially focused on corporates but when they branched out, catering for everyone, business boomed. The concept of Seamless remained at the back of Patel’s mind and resurfaced years later.
After 10 years in the US, Patel returned to South Africa. He had many job offers and pursued his own business ventures but struggled to find his feet.
Through it all, he kept hearing his parent’s voice ringing in his head.
“Dinesh, first you wanted to be a golfer, now you’re not a golfer, then you wanted to be an accountant, now you’re not an to accountant, then you wanted to be a trader, now you’re not a trader, then you wanted to be an actor, well now you’re not an actor. What do you want? Can you just stick to something?”
Tired and on the brink of giving up, Patel experienced his epiphany. It came while he was lounging on his parent’s couch, in Cape Town, and the conversation was about dinner. It came down to two options: chicken from Nando’s or pizza from Panarottis.
“That’s when I immediately thought ‘there must be more options, if we had Seamless here it would be so good.’”
That night, Patel dashed out to meet Joseph Okleberry, who would become an investor. He had relocated from the US to South Africa to work as an internet strategist for Naspers. Okleberry brought his expertise of the web to the table.
Their conversation went something like this: “Joe you used Seamless, I used Seamless. Do you think something like this would work in South Africa?”
Okleberry was keen on the idea and the two men spent the rest of the evening drawing up the plan for OrderIn – an online food ordering service. It would partner with companies that offered delivery and customers would pay restaurant prices. In return, OrderIn would charge restaurants 8%.
Patel spent the next three months researching. He sent a proposal to Jason Finger, the founder of Seamless in the US, who jumped in.
“Jason brought in his development team from Seamless so we had all of their experience to build OrderIn from scratch. We used their experience and avoided some of the mistakes they had made. It was fascinating to see what a website that does a quarter million orders a day looks like,” says Patel.
Hennie Booysen, who worked for Skype in London and is also a co-founder of Groupon, joined the team as a co-founder. He brought his expertise in the e-commerce space.
With the help from an investor at Naspers and a hedge fund in New York, OrderIn secured the capital.
Patel formed a team of five who worked on the website for eight months, from a house in Camps Bay in Cape Town. As the launch neared, there were nerves.
Then the first order rang in.
“Everyone freaked out! We were like ‘oh my gosh there’s actually an order,’” says Patel.
The customer, who was working late at Investec, had a craving for sushi. Everything was running as planned. The order appeared on the OrderIn system, the machine at the sushi bar had printed the receipt and the customer received notification that the order would take 45 minutes. There was only one problem; the sushi bar had no delivery man.
“I raced from my house to the restaurant, picked up the food and dropped it off at the customer,” says Patel.
The guy told Patel, dressed casually, that he didn’t look like a delivery guy. Patel spun the story that as the first customer he received a special delivery from the founder and CEO.
Although OrderIn has had its fair share of hiccups, it has not deterred them. By next year, they would have signed 650 restaurants.
Patel says many overlook the cost of staff, maintaining a website and customer service when calculating profits.
“A lot of guys coming into the market are pricing themselves very cheaply, one to three percent. But the reality of it is that’s not a sustainable business model.”
When it comes to business, the 32-year-old founder and CEO of OrderIn doesn’t worry much, as he relies on the expertise of his team.
“I’m always the stupidest guy in the room. My investors and our team are so much smarter than me, that makes running a business so much easier.”
From sportsman to banker and now online food, Patel is happy he kept moving forward.
“I’ve always had this hustle. I want to do something on my own; I want to create something… When you are in a large corporate environment you don’t feel like you’re in control and as an entrepreneur, I think you want to feel like you are in control. You want to feel like you’ve got a say in your destiny.”
So, if at first you don’t succeed, try everything, try anything but try, try and try again.

Tag: OrderIn

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‘The One Thing I Want To Do Before I Die’

‘I’m Always The Stupidest Guy In The Room’