BACKSTORY: Shaun Fuchs of Centennial Schools

What’s your one top tip for doing a deal?

Honesty. My best tip is to always be honest and transparent and to have the best integrity that you can at every stage of a business deal.

What was your first job?

At 15 I started a photography business with a friend. We didn’t follow the traditional route of my other school friends by finding a job in retail or waitering — instead we chose the entrepreneurial route and started off by taking photos of pupils and sports teams and, later, matric dances. The matric dance photography turned out to be very lucrative for us and we even moved on to family events and the like.

What is the one thing you wish somebody had told you when you were starting out?

How to manage my money better. When you are young, especially as an entrepreneur, you have the tendency to waste money. I think it’s definitely a flaw in our schooling system that we don’t teach effective money management to students.

If you could fix only one thing in South Africa, what would it be?

The education sector — if we can get that right we would certainly be able to fix a host of other issues.

What’s the most interesting thing about you that people don’t know?

I actually wanted to be a lawyer and not a teacher, but my parents couldn’t afford university. I did, however, get a full scholarship to study teaching and that’s how I became a teacher — the rest is history.

What’s the worst investment mistake you’ve made?

Not doing enough homework and research on an investment and relying on my gut feel instead.

What’s the best investment you’ve ever made? And how much of it was due to luck?

The best investment I have ever made was starting Centennial Schools. For me, there has been no luck in this process but rather an alignment with the people I have met along the way. Many of them have become investors, which has led to the great growth of the school.

What’s the best book you’ve read recently and why did you like it?

A book by Ted Dintersmith called What Schools Could Be. It covers his journey of travelling for six months and visiting schools. He interviewed teachers and interrogated curricula to understand why the education system was failing and how to improve it. What I loved about this book is that I found so much alignment with what we were already doing in our school when he presented the research of how to improve the system.

What is the hardest life lesson you’ve learnt so far?

That, ultimately, people will disappoint you. You have to realise that we all have our flaws, but it’s how we rise above those disappointments to make meaningful change.

What phrase or bit of jargon irks you most?

Anything politicians say.

What is something you would go back and tell your younger self that would impress them?

That you’re going to make mistakes and that’s absolutely OK.

If you were President Cyril Ramaphosa, what would you change, or do, tomorrow?

I would instruct the minister of education to engage with all stakeholders in education and revise the curriculum and the way we teach our students to better future-proof them.