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In the second one episode of The Drum’s Exit Right podcast, the previous Publicis South Africa boss and founding father of Habari Media and Machine explains why leaving promoting was once just the beginning of the journey.
Exit Right isn’t simply some other industry podcast. It’s a sequence about what occurs when founders let pass in regards to the adrenaline rush of marketing their businesses and the existential fog that may practice. Hosted by way of Mike Silver, the sequence explores what it method to stroll clear of one thing you constructed, the peculiar limbo of post-sale lifestyles and why such a lot of marketers in the long run to find themselves again at sq. one – beginning once more.
Episode two tells the tale of Adrian Hewlett. In the South African company scene, Hewlett’s CV is as stacked as they arrive: founding father of Habari Media, co-creator of Machine, and later CEO at Publicis South Africa. But after years of chasing scale, he discovered himself yearning one thing smaller, slower and extra grounded.
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“I just care about the planet being better off,” he says. “And I also want to be involved in a business that treats people well and can really stand proud of the lifestyle we afford our staff.”
That industry grew to become out to be Sealand, a Cape Town-based model emblem that turns waste fabrics into high-end luggage and attire. It wasn’t a calculated pivot; it was once a intestine really feel. He first noticed the surfy, rugged, mission-driven emblem on Instagram, then invested in it and now leads it as CEO.
But getting there wasn’t precisely easy. After leaving Publicis, Hewlett attempted taking part in non-public fairness, making an investment in a handful of small companies along buddies. “I wasted both money and time,” he admits. “It turns out I’m not that guy. I’m better on the inside, sleeves rolled up, building something.”
That hands-on mentality has powered Sealand’s enlargement ever since. Hewlett talks candidly in regards to the transition from overseeing masses of personnel and flying to Paris for community conferences, to individually calling the financial institution and chasing retail gross sales from scratch.
“It was a real awakening,” he says. “You go from having a PA and a finance team to literally doing it all yourself again.”
And but, he wouldn’t have it every other approach. Sealand’s ambitions are rising, with plans to enlarge into London and the USA and a transparent imaginative and prescient of the place the logo stands: subsequent to Patagonia and Cotopaxi, however proudly made in South Africa, with its personal design language and tale.
Throughout the episode, Hewlett displays on management, failure and the significance of timing. “You’ve got to know when time is your friend and when it’s your enemy,” he says. “The mistake we make as entrepreneurs is thinking it’s always the latter.”
He closes the dialog by way of sharing one of the crucial absolute best bits of recommendation he by no means took, ignoring a startup promoting ringtones within the early 2000s, a marketplace he disregarded as “rubbish.” The founders went directly to make tens of millions.
If episode one with Robin Skidmore tackled the emotional weight of an go out, Hewlett’s episode digs into what comes after: the liberty, the missteps, the wish to create and the enjoyment of creating one thing with objective.
Listen to the overall episode now on The Drum’s podcast Hub or anywhere you get your podcasts.
