essentials
weFix founder Alexander
Fourie has shifted the tech
business paradigmWords by Simamkele Matuntuta
Photographs by Teri Robberts
Nurtured
back
to life
24 GQ.CO.ZA OCTOBER 2017
MAN OF THE MOMENT
self-proclaimed
risk taker,
impulsive doer
and internal
optimist, Alexander Fourie
built a franchise that has,
a decade later, become South
Africa’s leading smart device
repair hub, weFix.
Soon after realising his
entrepreneurial aptitude at the
age of 18, Fourie set up a host
of mini businesses, trying his
hand at music promoting and
band tour management. ‘I had
a stupid self-confi dence, where
I could simply talk my way into
getting things done,’ he says.
But it wasn’t until he refused
to part with his broken iPod,
which was deemed ‘impossible
to fi x’, that the groundwork for
his now successful business
was laid out. He taught himself
how to fi x it through YouTube
tutorials and then went on to
fi x university friends’ broken
iPods. Word-of-mouth and
a simple advertisement led to
an increase of clients, and with
that iFix was born.
Now relaunched as weFix
and boasting 36 stores with
over 300 employees across the
country, the 29-year-old feels
grateful and fortunate to have
built a remarkable business.
Fourie admits that it hasn’t
been an easy journey, but
despite being listed as one