When we hear the word ‘recession’, it’s easy to start panicking about the future. Given that South Africa is officially in a recession, it’s probably a word you’ve heard a fair bit, too.

Here’s the thing about South Africans – we always manage to make it through by being creative and tenacious.

To help you stay motivated, and you give you a little ray of good news, here’s an inspiring story about one such South African, who is going after what he wants and investing in his future.

Lethu Mlonzi shared his story in a recent blog post. He’s a drama student with a passion for acting, an entrepreneur, and the founder of a budding media company.

His story starts in his grandfather’s shop:

“I am the second of five children, born in Port Elizabeth though I grew up in Mthatha and Cape Town. I would help out at my grandfather’s shop during school holidays.” Although he may have made for a great shopkeeper, Lethu had other ideas growing up in his maternal granddad’s shop.

It was in his youth when the acting bug bit him. While studying drama in university, Lethu was lucky enough to score roles on SABC1’s Divers Down.

“Since then I have done shows such as Interrogation Room, Stokvel, and Generations.”

He recently took a step back from acting to create a media company with a partner, but plans to return to acting one day. For now, he is focussed on excelling as a businessman in the media and manufacturing space.

Success doesn’t come without sacrifice, When asked what he’s had to sacrifice in pursuit of his goals, Lethu had the following to say:

While Lethu may have the taste for good food, he appears more hungry for knowledge and investing lately. “I look up to Robert Kiyosaki, Warren Buffett, and my cousin (shout out to Asanda).”

“I have a sweet tooth so my weakness is buying sweets and anything that tastes good. So everytime I get a craving to take that money [I want to] invest it. I have tried but failed, but I will try until I can achieve it.” Lethu then continued “I have become aware to change my mindset about investing because EasyEquities made it fun, enjoyable, and hassle-free.”

First thought – how much money can you really invest by redirecting those sweet tooth funds, and isn’t it just gobbled up by the fees many investing platforms charge?

Second thought – maybe investing isn’t a great idea in our current economic climate?  Nah, wrong. Take it from Lethu, who wants to Thrive in his business portfolio, well-being and happiness.

TeamEasy at EasyEquities lives by the mantra that it’s important to wake up every day and get involved in the different lives around you by making a difference.

It’s the driving force behind Thrive, an initiative that makes investing easy, affordable and accessible, even if like Lethu you’re in the middle of starting a new business or making some financial changes.

By easy, we mean a few clicks, By affordable, we mean ZERO BROKERAGE FEES.

Thrive is, simply put, the EasyEquities loyalty program with EasyEquities’ ultimate goal being to democratise investing and empower financial freedom for all.

Thrive does this by reducing the cost of investment to zero, and also educates investors by walking you through the process step by step so that your investment skills grow over time.

The Thrive50 shares that you can invest in are made up of 25 South African and 25 International shares and ETFs that are most popular among the EasyEquities community.

See for yourself – the likes of Visa, Alphabet (Google), Apple, Facebook, Amazon and big local names are all there:

As a Thrive member, you complete an activity every month, and that reduces brokerage fees to zilch. This month’s activity requires you to refer a friend – why not spread the love, right?

There’s also the added bonus that, as part of the loyalty program, one lucky participant could win R500 000 in their Tax-Free Savings Account.

Take a look to see just how easy it is to earn benefits:

Visit the EasyEquities home page for more information and start thriving today.