Exclusive Interview: Featuring Werner Blum of Nomad Life Elements

In an interview with Africa Talks Business, Werner tells us about how he went from being a lover of sports to venturing into business.

Tell us more about you and how your Journey Started, the company, and how its journey started.

Hello, I am Werner Blum, 41 years of age. A natural sportsman starting with athletics and moving into the likes of rugby, cricket and my first love – tennis. When I discovered the Sunday newspapers (Rapport and Sunday Times) my parents bought, I found a liking in the financial section, stocks and bonds specifically. My memory recalls sitting in front of the television set, watching a Wimbledon final and comparing stocks from the previous Sunday to this sunday. My mom was a respected primary school teacher and my dad a clinical psychologist. I quickly learned from both parents how to work with and understand people, social skills and personal cues. Helping people and companies does come naturally. Connecting the past dots led me down the path of becoming a founder and entrepreneur. 

I do consider myself an underdog, my journey started late and by Grace i do want it to continue, i am also bootstrapping, and this is a daily reminder that hard work, no matter the daily input will get you to success. Through all this, I understand the desire of brands to be the best, as individuals we do that each and every day, actively and diligently crafting our personal brand and showcasing it via the various online platforms. There is great value and revenue in this space and I intend to maximise the exposed opportunity. 

My company, Nomad Life Elements, was registered and we opened the doors as a boutique consultancy firm. Our first client was in the distribution business of niche trail running products out of Europe. Part of the agreement was brand building which I found enjoyment in. The idea of SumOne was pencilled out in many personal idea sessions, hypothesis and assumptions were made until I became publicly vocal about my idea, choosing my friends and family that would give me objective feedback. This all took place in the 2nd year of Covid-19, where the urgency surfaced that something needs to be done to help people have another universal form of income and when another pandemic strikes, people are not stranded without an income for themselves and their families. I proceeded to join the Founder Institute South Africa Winter 2023 cohort, this was going to be the idea validation I required – industry veterans picking at your beloved idea. There were small pivots done during FI but after intense work from course mentors, I did graduate and with the base cemented for a future company that will not only influence finance, insurance and banking but also crossing international investment borders.

What impact does the company hope to make in Africa?

I am looking to give every citizen of Africa a financial voice and means, that is dictated by their personal work efforts and savviness. People in Africa are industrious and driven, they just need the support to achieve the goals they set out for themselves. The continent and her people are open to new technologies and the adoption rate is high and this falls into our favour. 

What impact do you hope to make in the world?

When the recipe is done right, and you can already see that in the world of brand and branding, used correctly,  every person in the world can benefit from themselves and others around them, it comes down to their capacity to monetize and share, which should collectively be a positive for the greater good of mankind and put more control into the hands of people. Think about global borderless finance and investment for people by people.  

What challenges are being faced by the company at the moment.

I am a non-technical founder, meaning I have no programming experience. Programming is something that I struggle with, but that will change in the future. What I am currently doing is using low-code and no-code platforms as an introduction to the languages I need to use in my platform. This is enabling me to build the MVP, as Nassim Taleb said in his book, you need skin in the game, I intend to give abundantly.  This is taking longer than I initially envisioned but you have to work the process. I also foresee certain financial regulatory constraints, specifically the classification of securities.

How is the company unique from competition?

At present, we are in such a niche space and matter of fact I would not want it any other way. But fractional ownership of assets and securities are in its infancy. Technology is moving at a monstrous pace and I think it is out pacing the trust in these new technologies. When these two can be merged from inception, greater adoption will be evident when you blur the lines between life and the digital world.

Who is your company looking to partner with?

We are identifying law firms and sports agencies that will be shortlisted for their services and players of different sporting codes to onboard via their respective agencies. I view both these future partners as vital to the adoption of the concept. 

Contact: www.linkedin.com/in/werner-blumVisit: www.nomadlifelements.com

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