Shot at redemption pays off in end

Prison stint the catalyst for Luvuyo’s success as photographer, speaker

By Cindy Preller
prellerc@ timesmedia. co. za

HUSTLING has always been a part of who Luvuyo Ngxiki is. He has turned this self-confessed hustling talent into the most positive sense of the word through hard work and entrepreneurship, after ending up in jail due to a life of crime. Ngxiki, 35, who today is the owner of iinkumbuzo Photography and also works as a motivational speaker through his company Next Chapter, got mixed up in crime at a very young age. By the age of 17, he had been in prison four times and at the age of 20 he was sentenced to 11 years in prison. While he speaks little of this life of crime, other than saying it involved car theft all over the country, Ngxiki said it was in prison where he decided to turn his life around. “I came in and out of prison but when I was serving time, I realised that I did not want to die in there,” Ngxiki said. “In the beginning, I wanted to prove to a girlfriend who broke up with me, that I would make it as a successful businessman. After a while, I did it for myself.” One of the hardest things in turning his life around was writing matric at the age of 25, after dropping out of school 10 years prior at the age of 15. But Ngxiki said once the studying bug bit him, he simply could not get enough of improving his vocabulary and writing skills – reading books and studying whatever material he could get his hands on in prison. His natural entrepreneurial talent also came in handy in the seven different prisons where he served out
his sentence. He ran a small business selling phone cards to inmates, saying there was no other way to describe prison life, than to say that it truly is run like the mafia. Once outside the confines of prison life, after being released at the age of 27, he faced more challenges: this time in dealing with the prejudices of people in the outside world, who judged him because of his criminal record. He stayed with his mother, Nomonde Mgoduka, for two years before moving out on his own. For the seven years he was in prison, his mother – whom he described as “simply awesome” – also
supported him by sending him a regular allowance. “To this day, I still do not have a CV. “Complaining about not getting a job would not make any difference, and my only option was hustling. I realised there was a demand for helping youngsters with motivational speaking and also a big need for photography in the city,” Ngxiki said. Even though Ngxiki’s criminal record was expunged last year through a formal process followed through the Department of Justice, he has remained “his own boss” as an entrepreneur and this year even made it onto the prestigious list of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber’s Top 40 under 40 Achievers. He enrolled for a LLB degree in 2012 at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University but because his skills – either photography, training or public speaking – demanded him to work in order to earn an income, he postponed his studies. Ngxiki has not given up on his dream of achieving his law degree, and he will this month enrol through the University of South Africa to complete the degree on a part-time basis while working in Port Elizabeth, where he has a growing reputation as a sought-after freelance photographer for covering anything from a business to traditional event. He has been married to Nolundi for five years and the couple live in Swartkops Valley.

LUVUYO’S SUCCESS TIPS:

• Find a solution for what people are in need of or complaining about, and then determine if they would be willing to pay for the service.
• Let people know you for one thing – and when they need something in your line of business, your name would be among the top three names that comes to mind.