Glen Legodi, 23, wants to cultivate a culture of reading among his peers. Glen Legodi, 23, wants to cultivate a culture of reading among his peers.
Johannesburg - In the State of the Nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa implored the nation to read and invest in massive reading campaigns for children.
“Any reading is the basic foundation that determines a child’s educational progress through school, through higher education, and into the workplace,” Ramaphosa appealed to the nation.
A young bookworm from Limpopo, Glen Legodi, 23, didn’t need persuasion from the president to cultivate a culture of reading among his peers.
Armed with a passion for books and sharing knowledge, the budding entrepreneur and human resources practitioner opted to self-publish his first book - Time And Success - instead of waiting on established publishers.
As the title suggests, this self-help manual is aimed at youth and shares tools on how they can best manage time and achieve success - academically and in any other aspects of their lives.
“People see time differently, and don’t acknowledge that what we do with our time today contributes to our future success - irrespective of how we actually define success.
“The book was also meant to inspire the youth to value their time and change the way they see time.”
His influence came from his former Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) residence manager, Thapelo Lekala, also an author and motivational speaker who shared valuable principles of success with Legodi during their student years.
The young entrepreneur
admitted he always wanted to be an author and revealed that an anthology of poetry he compiled while in high school was his first attempt at getting published.
“People just don’t respect time and this is displayed in social settings such as weddings and funerals. There is a perception that there is a different time for Africans, and that is very concerning to me because we all have the same time,” said Legodi, who opened his first business - a mobile company - when he was 21.
In recent times, Legodi’s interests evolved from colourful poetry to practical business tips. He hoped his book would inspire his peers to consider the entrepreneurship route as opposed to merely becoming job seekers.
He further explained that his book was also aimed at helping young people understand key values of time management, the importance of hard work - all these presented in a language that is easy to grasp.
The book, he explained, would be highly beneficial to anyone who struggles with regular tasks and feels demotivated and calls for a positive mindset.
It took Legodi five months of research before writing the book. Once the book was finalised, Legodi was unable to convince publishers and distributors to help him realise his dream of circulating printed copies of Time and Success in major bookstores.
A digital disruptor, he opted to circulate electronic copies of his book via social media, using Twitter handle, @timeandsuccessbook.
Through his first book, Legodi, hoped to inspire young South Africans to be highly driven and stop feeling entitled and believe in the notion of an overnight success.