SaySay.Love lived a life driven by profits, but is now Cape Town-based, with a great passion to pursue a more inspired and purpose driven life. An avid lover of South Africa after an early retirement as a successful entrepreneur at the age of 50, SaySay.Love recently launched his first solo exhibition in Cape Town this past month.
Entrepreneurship is one of the most noble, yet challenging career paths, one that is not necessarily suited to everyone. When you have been a successful entrepreneur with an impressive track record in venture capital, property development, and investment industries, letting go is perhaps the most difficult thing to do.
Joerg Duske, a retired businessman, who is now a Cape Town based artist known as SaySay.Love, says that there comes a time in every successful entrepreneur’s career when you are faced with a decision. The choice one faces is to either continue chasing profits, or to take the leap of faith and leave the world of business for the next generation. For SaySay.Love the choice to embrace his passion of creating and building a more meaningful life, focusing on noticing the beauty of life and to give back to society, was simple.
On changing career paths, he says that the transition does not need to be as frightening as it seems, and that this is a great opportunity to build a legacy with greater impact.
“As humans we are generally fearful of change, yet change is the only constant. However, knowing that you’re stepping into something deeper, a journey that has the ability to impact others for the better, makes it somehow less daunting.”
He says that entrepreneurs who plan on leaving the world of business to pursue a greater, more inspired purpose should ensure that they share their knowledge with future generations. This, he says, is what he seeks to achieve through his passion for art and photography.
“We all have the ability to change other people’s lives and circumstances. As a businessman driven by profits in my previous career, I believe it is not only a need, but a responsibility to ensure that knowledge is passed on to the next generation, “says SaySay.
According to the Real State of Entrepreneurship Survey 2017, which was undertaken by the Seed Academy, more than half of people who run their own businesses in South Africa are youth which shows a real need for ‘outgoing’ entrepreneurs to share their skills to equip the youth with solid business knowledge.
SaySay states that his latest endeavor, in which he partnered with Cape Town based charity, Lalela, to promote arts education in underprivileged communities, is a way of inspiring the youth to appreciate art and photography and perhaps even to make a career out of it. But most importantly, SaySay also seeks to use art to communicate social concerns.
Related Story
His upcoming charity exhibition, ‘The Gift of Water’ is such an event, which will be used to highlight the beauty of water as a message behind the water shortage in Cape Town, as well as to drive an appreciation for this precious commodity.
“Water, in itself, contains so much beauty. If we could all take the time to really see this, we’d be half way there to conserving it.”
For more information on the artist and his latest exhibition, visit SaySay.Love
by 