Dr. Juran van den Heever:
Narrative-first branding
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Audio Title: Narrative-first branding
Description: “Everybody says, ‘I want my dream to come true.’ I can make your dream come true.” These resolute words belong to Dr Juran van den Heever, a fervent brand builder and out-of-the-box thinker.
“Everybody says, ‘I want my dream to come true.’ I can make your dream come true.” These resolute words belong to Dr Juran van den Heever, a fervent brand builder and out-of-the-box thinker.
After being confined by societal restraints during his high school and university years, Juran now believes he has finally discovered his life’s mission: building new brands and seeing them come to life.
Identifying as more of a pioneer and business starter than a long-term operator, Juran acknowledges that finding his current path took time.
“When I went to university, I thought I studied the wrong thing. Now I realise I didn’t, it just took me ages to get where I am now.”
His brand-building revelation occurred when someone approached him with a business idea and no idea where to begin.
“Somebody came into my office and said, ‘I have an idea, and I don’t know what to do with it.’ I got goosebumps. I’m like, ‘I’m here to help you!’”
These moments, now quite frequent, remain his driving force.
Juran van den Heever
Vision to Victory: Empowering brands, uplifting communities, transforming Africa | Chief Marketing Officer | Fio Capital | | "We help ENTREPRENEURS Grow"
It's not just a logo
While discussing his love of branding and storytelling, Juran said, “It all starts with a brand story. All the companies out there have a story. To establish your brand, you need to get your audience to understand why you are doing it, what it is that you do, how you do it, and especially why. And then you’ll realise that every entrepreneur out there… has a purpose.”
He explains that branding is a whole package, not just a logo and colour scheme, and most importantly, making a difference in the spaces that you work in.
– Juran van den Heever
“It’s understanding the brand concept, understanding the narrative, building the brand - and the brand is more than [a logo, typography and font]. It’s the whole message; how do you speak, what is it that you are speaking, what are the keywords, what’s the message, what’s the tone of voice, to whom do I speak, to whom do I not speak.”
Furthermore, he said that most entrepreneurs tend to focus on the work they need to do instead of the story they need to tell, and this is their biggest handicap.
joining The fio team
Two years ago, Juran joined Ajay with the dream to start Fio Capital, whose main mission is to help entrepreneurs grow. “Within Fio Capital we started getting ideas of building subsidiaries, focusing on different elements in an entrepreneur’s life.”
According to Juran, strength lies in teamwork. “Don’t try to do it alone – connect with other people. You will realize that entrepreneurs and business people are all like-minded people; they are like you. So they want to connect, and some of them want to help.”
When asked about his biggest accomplishments, he replied;
“I think, seeing all the brands I’m busy with coming to life. It’s like a seed that grows; you see it. That’s really- every one of those companies is an accomplishment. If I see it work and it happens, and it goes, and it’s really doing what it’s supposed to; it’s changing lives or it’s making money, or whatever it’s supposed to do, but it works – that’s an accomplishment.”
forward focus
But Juran’s business success is not solely molded by his career. “I think it’s an honor to be a father of three. And that stands out as the best thing that happened to me. Because now you have this responsibility for this person, and it’s a big responsibility; bigger than any business you have to run. The second was receiving a PHD at the University of Pretoria. It’s not just receiving it, it’s working very hard, and I had three children already.”
Juran’s plans don’t involve stopping at building brands. “In the future, I would like to write a book about brand and storytelling.”
Besides the book, Juran would like to be known as one of the biggest brand builders in Africa. “I started this conversation by saying a brand is a story, and so it’s me getting the narrative of this brand across successfully.”
Juran explains that in 20 years from now, he would like to be remembered as someone who built big, life-changing brands.
A few of the brands he is currently intensely involved in is Fio Media, Fio Connect Café, and Med-e-Screen.
“People out there see success as money. What you have is the equivalent of your success. I don’t see it like that.”
– Juran van den Heever
Juran sees success as when you set goals for yourself and achieve those goals. “It might not have brought in one penny, but you were successful because you achieved those goals.”
Teagan specialises in Copywriting, Public Relations, Social Media Marketing and Blogging. Teagan uncovers the deeper “why” behind every venture. She believes that every person and project has a unique story, and nothing excites her more than transforming these narratives into compelling content that demands to be shared with the world.
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