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ArchiveJanuary 5 2009

Nathan Reddy, South Africa

Occupation: Graphic designer.Age: 39
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Nathan Reddy is a leading South African graphic designer. He is a founding partner of one of the country’s biggest design agencies, Grid, and epitomises a new generation of South African leaders.

With a career spanning back to 1990, Mr Reddy has faced innumerable obstacles to carving out a successful career in design in South Africa. “The biggest challenge I faced in establishing myself was pre-election in 1991. Cracking into the design industry in South Africa proved very difficult then, even though I had qualified as a professional designer,” he says.

Once he got his break, however, Mr Reddy made the most of it. He spent three years in his first design job, often working up to 18 hours a day, and eventually gained the confidence to start his own company.

“After 1994, the new South Africa was ready for me,” he says. He has won numerous awards and is chairman of The South African Graphic Design Council (Think) as well as an executive director of the advertising and marketing body Creative Circle.

His former clients have included such international brands as leading South African bank Standard Bank, car makers BMW and Nissan, mobile phone company MTN, fast food giant McDonald’s, drinks giant Coca-Cola and oil firm Mobil.

The secret of success in an African environment is competitiveness, says Mr Reddy. “In order to have the edge, you constantly have to come up with innovative ways and ideas to be ahead of the competition. Relationships and having talent work together. I found that without great relationships, great ideas seldom get sold, and having a great relationship with no talent seldom works out.”

As to how Africa is perceived abroad, Mr Reddy says that the rest of the world is often too busy addressing its own problems to see the good in Africa. A largely negative international media does not help either: “If only the world would give her a chance, Africa has a lot of wisdom to offer the present world,” he says.

Nathan Reddy’s African hero: Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.

“I know this is a cliché, but Nelson Mandela. Close second is Desmond Tutu.”

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