By Tatum Whiting
We met up with 26 year-old Brennan Wright, entrepreneur and digi cutie from Cape Town. Brennan is the CEO of Diggit, South Africa’s first online community providing students with all the information they’ll need, on one perfectly-pink platform.
Diggit.co.za acts as your digital notice board where students can search for accommodation, a tutor, textbooks or even that much-needed job! We sat down with the mastermind.
Tell us more about yourself…
I studied at UCT and did a Business Science degree. I love business and outdoor activities. I’m intrigued by different business modules and saw a gap in the market.
What was your inspiration behind developing this website? Were you still a student?
It was about a year since I graduated when I started my own developing company. Aware that I was still young; I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and took the jump. I was aware that everybody was moving to the web.
Is there a particular reason you focused on students as your demographic?
Students (the youth) are on the web all the time.
What characteristics/ experiences best prepared you for this venture?
Reading! Although nothing can really prepare you for something like this, other than just doing it. You never really know what you’ll encounter, but that’s part of the challenge.
Describe your typical day: I wake up at 6, go to the gym and reply to emails. I meet interesting people and run the company. I work closely with the marketing team, development and design teams and investors. My office is basically Vida and my lounge. It’s not really a 9-5 job, but it depends on the day. There’s not really much free time, seeing that we’re a start-up company.
So how would you describe Diggit?
It basically takes the social side of what Facebook offers, where you get to create your own profile, and adds to the selling point of the services Gumtree provides, making it safer to use.
About the pink… were you initially focusing on females?
There’s a bunch of reasons behind the pink. Pink is shocking, it’s a fun colour and gets people talking. We wanted to get people talking about the pink website. Also, if you have something that girls like, guys follow. We realised girls are a big influence in our society so we like pink. Right now we do have an even split of girls and guy users.
Do you have any tips for choosing a career?
What would you do even if you weren’t getting paid for it? You’re young, find out and meet people who do what you’re interested in doing. Make an effort to find out what your passion is.
What advice do you have for tech-savvy 17’ers?
You guys are in the right space! This is where it’s all happening. Come work for us! We needs some girls at Diggit… girls dig it!
This isn’t for you if… You don’t like the fast-paced lifestyle. Overall, this is a broad industry and it caters to a lot of types of people.
Find Diggit on Facebook, Twitter, or check out their website!
