From strength to strength

Vladimir ‘Quido’ Winkler is known for his intensity both in the corporate world as well as in the music industry.
ELIZABETH JOSEPH
Elizabeth Joseph

Music industry game changer turned revolutionary entrepreneur



Right after matriculating from Windhoek High School, after moving between schools, Winkler jumped straight into business. He has always had an entrepreneur’s eye. From selling books, tickets and sweets this taught him that he had to hold his own most of his life.

Apart from his music career from which he stepped back, he has embarked on other exciting business ventures such as being the founder of the GMG group of companies. He is also a member of the Youth Entrepreneurs Group (YEG).

“By no means defined by my current titles,” Winkler says because he does not want to be known or classified under any of his titles.

He describes himself as a ‘well-blended human cocktail raised in the heart of Windhoek, Soweto’ and says that he has always been a hustler from the earliest memories he holds of himself.

His journey to success

Fast forward 061 Music and Quido made some industry strides. During this time he and his team managed to get multiple nominations and awards. “My music career came to a slow end when I ended up in hospital due to marijuana ‘overuse’ and I had already stopped alcohol four years prior to the incident.

I had an epiphany and post this event I decided to drop the mic and focus on my other dreams - Entrepreneurship. I am a four-time varsity drop out, however I teach myself through internet and reading,” Winkler says.

He is currently in the business of employing others and building enterprises. The CEO and founder of GMG group of companies where his job entails running several companies. Winkler also oversees and steers the ship of these companies.

“From human resources, operations, marketing and management - my tasks vary from day to day, but overall my team and I are in charge of running day to day activities of the companies,” he further adds.

He jumped ship into fulltime entrepreneurship in January 2016 following his drop out from the Namibia University of Science and Technology.

One of the biggest challenges he has experienced in his career to date was realising that he has a limiting belief and already moulded mind-set.

“Personally, I have and I am still re-wiring my thinking. This would be my biggest challenge. Life is made of the journey and that the destination isn’t the biggest satisfaction,” he says.

He says his biggest weakness is doing many things simultaneously and at the end not accomplishing any.

“I would also love to see more successful partnerships between us youth. “Alone we can go fast, together we can go far” African proverb.” Winkler said.

The success story

Some of his biggest career accomplishments stretch from learning Chinese/Mandarin and winning several awards in China, wining a NCRST N$500,000.00 award for a concept, starting Street Cuisine and starting Umbuso – their convenience company just to mention a few.

“From earning a gross income of 160,000 per year working at MTC to employing +30 people, and an annual turnover of 6.5Million. We are making a difference.

Freedom from money and corporate mental enslavement can topple all the accomplishments above – it’s a game I tell myself,” he says.

He loves and is passionate about living life without boundaries of ‘our social and environmental circumstances’.

“I love starting up things and building things from nothing (brands, businesses or ideas) into opportunities that can expand our thinking.

Young me’s, I would strongly suggest that we start reading as early as possible. Do, do and do more - in whatever law abiding direction possible. It is only through doing that we discover life is full of opportunities. Don’t take yourself too serious - life is fun. Learn every day, we need to keep the inner child in us by staying In touch with our imaginations and keep dreaming.” he says.

They are currently busy with developments at Street Cuisine with a total rebranding and makeover.

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Namibian Sun 2024-09-21

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Rugby Championship: Australia 28 vs 31 New Zealand LaLiga: Deportivo Alaves 2 vs 1 Sevilla | Leganés 0 vs 2 Athletic Club | Real Betis 2 vs 1 Getafe SerieA: Hellas Verona 2 vs 3 Torino | Cagliari 0 vs 2 Empoli European Championships Qualifying: Stoke City 1 vs 3 Hull City English Championship: Stoke City 1 vs 3 Hull City Katima Mulilo: 20° | 36° Rundu: 22° | 37° Eenhana: 18° | 38° Oshakati: 18° | 37° Ruacana: 18° | 36° Tsumeb: 22° | 35° Otjiwarongo: 15° | 33° Omaruru: 15° | 35° Windhoek: 15° | 31° Gobabis: 12° | 32° Henties Bay: 11° | 21° Wind speed: 18km/h, Wind direction: NW, Low tide: 07:11, High tide: 13:35, Low Tide: 19:41, High tide: 01:54 Swakopmund: 13° | 15° Wind speed: 21km/h, Wind direction: N, Low tide: 07:09, High tide: 13:33, Low Tide: 19:39, High tide: 01:52 Walvis Bay: 11° | 20° Wind speed: 21km/h, Wind direction: N, Low tide: 07:09, High tide: 13:32, Low Tide: 19:39, High tide: 01:51 Rehoboth: 11° | 32° Mariental: 12° | 34° Keetmanshoop: 11° | 31° Aranos: 11° | 33° Lüderitz: 13° | 21° Ariamsvlei: 10° | 30° Oranjemund: 14° | 30° Luanda: 22° | 24° Gaborone: 12° | 25° Lubumbashi: 19° | 35° Mbabane: 8° | 12° Maseru: 4° | 17° Antananarivo: 11° | 32° Lilongwe: 19° | 30° Maputo: 14° | 22° Windhoek: 15° | 31° Cape Town: 11° | 24° Durban: 13° | 18° Johannesburg: 6° | 19° Dar es Salaam: 23° | 30° Lusaka: 19° | 29° Harare: 13° | 28° Currency: GBP to NAD 23.26 | EUR to NAD 19.53 | CNY to NAD 2.48 | USD to NAD 17.5 | DZD to NAD 0.13 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.28 | EGP to NAD 0.35 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.65 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.16 | RUB to NAD 0.19 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 131.91 | USD to AOA 927.77 | USD to BWP 13.17 | USD to EGP 48.46 | USD to KES 128.48 | USD to NGN 1593.37 | USD to ZAR 17.41 | USD to ZMW 26.45 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index Same 0 | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1831.97 Down -0.38% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 14246.86 Up +0.44% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 30937.69 Up +1.96% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 9651.25 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 622.23/OZ UP +1.35% | Copper US$ 4.31/lb DOWN -0.0032 | Zinc US$ 2 884.80/T DOWN -0.23% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 74.74/BBP DOWN -0.0019 | Platinum US$ 976.09/OZ DOWN -0.0067 Sport results: Rugby Championship: Australia 28 vs 31 New Zealand LaLiga: Deportivo Alaves 2 vs 1 Sevilla | Leganés 0 vs 2 Athletic Club | Real Betis 2 vs 1 Getafe SerieA: Hellas Verona 2 vs 3 Torino | Cagliari 0 vs 2 Empoli European Championships Qualifying: Stoke City 1 vs 3 Hull City English Championship: Stoke City 1 vs 3 Hull City Weather: Katima Mulilo: 20° | 36° Rundu: 22° | 37° Eenhana: 18° | 38° Oshakati: 18° | 37° Ruacana: 18° | 36° Tsumeb: 22° | 35° Otjiwarongo: 15° | 33° Omaruru: 15° | 35° Windhoek: 15° | 31° Gobabis: 12° | 32° Henties Bay: 11° | 21° Wind speed: 18km/h, Wind direction: NW, Low tide: 07:11, High tide: 13:35, Low Tide: 19:41, High tide: 01:54 Swakopmund: 13° | 15° Wind speed: 21km/h, Wind direction: N, Low tide: 07:09, High tide: 13:33, Low Tide: 19:39, High tide: 01:52 Walvis Bay: 11° | 20° Wind speed: 21km/h, Wind direction: N, Low tide: 07:09, High tide: 13:32, Low Tide: 19:39, High tide: 01:51 Rehoboth: 11° | 32° Mariental: 12° | 34° Keetmanshoop: 11° | 31° Aranos: 11° | 33° Lüderitz: 13° | 21° Ariamsvlei: 10° | 30° Oranjemund: 14° | 30° Luanda: 22° | 24° Gaborone: 12° | 25° Lubumbashi: 19° | 35° Mbabane: 8° | 12° Maseru: 4° | 17° Antananarivo: 11° | 32° Lilongwe: 19° | 30° Maputo: 14° | 22° Windhoek: 15° | 31° Cape Town: 11° | 24° Durban: 13° | 18° Johannesburg: 6° | 19° Dar es Salaam: 23° | 30° Lusaka: 19° | 29° Harare: 13° | 28° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.26 | EUR to NAD 19.53 | CNY to NAD 2.48 | USD to NAD 17.5 | DZD to NAD 0.13 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.28 | EGP to NAD 0.35 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.65 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.16 | RUB to NAD 0.19 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 131.91 | USD to AOA 927.77 | USD to BWP 13.17 | USD to EGP 48.46 | USD to KES 128.48 | USD to NGN 1593.37 | USD to ZAR 17.41 | USD to ZMW 26.45 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index Same 0 | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1831.97 Down -0.38% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 14246.86 Up +0.44% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 30937.69 Up +1.96% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 9651.25 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 622.23/OZ UP +1.35% | Copper US$ 4.31/lb DOWN -0.0032 | Zinc US$ 2 884.80/T DOWN -0.23% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 74.74/BBP DOWN -0.0019 | Platinum US$ 976.09/OZ DOWN -0.0067