Fantasy Festival driven by three young entrepreneurs

Late last year, three budding entrepreneurs staged their first event for upcoming artists, musicians and actors, when they hosted the first-ever Fantasy Festival in Windhoek. Specifically targeting a young audience, the Fantasy Festival was well-received and supported by local fans. With this year’s Fantasy Festival being their first major event, Louw du Toit, Moses //Garoeb and Jean Emmery Ngabo-Shingiro, instantly turned from dreamers to young and motivated entrepreneurs who understand the role of risk-taking in order to prosper. The Fantasy Festival was held at the Action Arena on 13 December 2014, where artists across the country had a platform to showcase their talent to the capital’s audience.

The concept for the event was sparked in 2012. “We put a two-year plan in action, sourced the funds by ourselves and [organised the event] ourselves,” said du Toit. “We did a lot of campaigning as well,” said //Garoeb, adding that the majority of the money came from their own savings. “We literally took the small amount of money we had and we threw it into this.” They also received some help from about eight investors, all of whom they were able to repay, while taking a small profit afterwards. “We didn’t know, structurally, [what] had to happen,” said //Garoeb. According to du Toit, they learned from scratch after high school since none of them had studied business, events management or marketing. “I guess events planning is all about risks. If you aren’t willing to take the risk, you can’t reap the rewards,” said du Toit. Du Toit believes that they could not have had a better team than the one they assembled this year. “For three months we weren’t making any income,” he said. “We were doing this because it’s our passion. The entertainment industry is so large and we need to find a place. We can’t all be rappers, we can’t all be producers. We have found our place, and that is creating a platform for the artists.”Du Toit, //Garoeb and Ngabo-Shingiro are planning to continue with this project in 10 years to come, and are set on turning their brand into a full, three-day festival in the near future.