BACKSTORY: Avesh Singh of TransUnion

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

There must be openness, honesty, integrity and transparency at all times. 

 What was your first job?

I worked as a telemarketer in a call centre. 

How much was your first pay cheque, and how did you spend it?

R600 a month. That pay cheque was for basic survival — to pay the rent and live. There was no money or time for a fancy meal or clothes.

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

I wish someone had told me that you’ve got to bite the bullet and make tough decisions early. If you delay them, you are just prolonging the agony.

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

I would increase the focus on education. It is a way out of poverty, crime and corruption. 

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

I’m really good at pool. It sometimes takes me two shots to clear the table. In my younger days, I earned some of my transport money by playing pool.

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

I think most South Africans have a story to tell about a builder or contractor they’ve called in to build their home or attend to some renovations, only to be swindled out of their cash. I was young, in my 20s, and I made the mistake of paying “the builder” all the money upfront. He disappeared. 

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

Buying my current home. It’s a stone’s throw from the school my daughter has gone to from grade R to grade 12.

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

Choose your friends and the people you have fun with very wisely, especially when you are younger. Learning to cut out people who are along for a free ride, and doing so quickly, becomes very important.

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

You are going to travel all over the world and live in different countries that the younger version of you would struggle to believe.

Was there ever a point at which you wanted to trade it all in for a different career? And, if so, what would that career be?

I always dreamt of being a doctor, specifically a surgeon. I didn’t have the means to study. Then I started working to try to build up the cash reserves to do so, but promotions and the money came with the hard work I put in, and that was that. I ended up only completing my master’s at age 43.

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

I would make education more accessible to more people. It fosters critical thinking that moves businesses and economies forward.