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Elliot (“Ellie”) Salkow (1953 to 2021), the founding father of Ellies Electronics, is without doubt one of the most outstanding business leaders we misplaced this yr. His low profile, non-public and down-to-earth nature might be the rationale not many individuals took discover when he handed away in August.
But the corporate he created grew to become one of many driving forces behind the proliferation of broadcasting in South Africa. The success of Ellies Electronics noticed him develop into some of the influential people in South Africa, with the Sunday Instances naming him among the many high 10 wealthiest South Africans within the know-how sector in 2013 — among the many likes of Koos Bekker, Johann Rupert and Brett Levy.
I met Salkow seven years in the past, when my enterprise curiosity in tv content material spilled into know-how. He was very completely different to most different outstanding folks I attempted to method.
To me and others he interacted with, he was approachable, and made it straightforward for folks to talk to him.
On information of his passing, the corporate’s inner round fittingly described him as “a beneficiant spirit and somebody who noticed the perfect in everybody”. He made it straightforward for anybody to suggest and focus on new concepts with him as he had little curiosity in people’ private standing.
As I learnt extra about him, the story of his private strife and his battle in opposition to all odds to construct Ellies maybe explains his easy and human-centred lifestyle.
Salkow began Ellies Electronics in 1979 after spending two-and-a-half years as a gross sales consultant at Aerial King. He operated from his storage and bought aerials from the boot of his automotive.
One family at a time
When the corporate established its first workplace in Finish Avenue in Johannesburg, it had solely two workers. Rooting itself because the provider and installer of tv aerials, and later satellite tv for pc dishes and decoders, Ellies helped the penetration of tv in South Africa one family at a time.
After a number of relocations and changes, the corporate ultimately settled at its iconic premises in Eloff Avenue, which contains The Pyramid Convention and Venue Centre.
All through his profession, Salkow was conscious of quickly altering technological developments, and constructed Ellies Electronics as an agile and versatile machine able to responding to the continually fluctuating market situations.
He lived by this mantra, a lot in order that he was typically quoted as saying that “getting a good suggestion to the market as we speak is healthier than getting an ideal concept to market in a month’s time”.
In 2019, Salkow grew to become a non-executive director at Ellies and relinquished. A yr later, he left the corporate, permitting new blood to spearhead its reinvention.
True to the desires of many, his legacy has outlived him. Colleagues and workers of a few years affectionately describe him because the founder, beloved mentor, chief and pioneer whose legacy lives on inside everybody on the firm.
For the person who funded his research by promoting mirrors and doubling as a supply man when he misplaced his mother and father, Salkow epitomised the spirit of entrepreneurship by means of self-drive. Rising his firm to a listed entity, he has lived to encourage many. At this time, it’s not doable to talk about South Africa’s broadcasting know-how historical past with out Ellies Electronics. For this, he has earned a spot in historical past.
Lefa Afrika is the director of Afriprime, a tv content material distribution firm based mostly in Johannesburg. He writes in his private capability.
This text was first printed on TechCentral right here, and republished with permission
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