OFFEE TIME WITH GILBERT Today’s coffee comes with a heavy heart. Sometimes life brings news that stops you in your tracks. When you hear that one of your Loved one —is facing a serious illness, what do you do? The truth is, you don’t always know. You feel frightened. You feel sad. You ask questions that nobody can answer. Being strong doesn’t mean pretending that it doesn’t hurt. It means lighting a candle. Saying a prayer. Standing beside them. And choosing to make every conversation and every shared moment count. Today, I am rooting for that loved one . I am praying for him, speaking positively with him and looking forward to sharing many more conversations together. If someone you love is going through a difficult time, don’t wait for the perfect words. Call them. Listen to them. Pray with them. Remind them that they are loved. Life is fragile—but it is also precious. Stay hopeful. Treasure the moment. It’s magical to be alive. — Gilbert Nobrega The Professor & Me

🚙 THE PROFESSOR & ME My father was a Peugeot man. For his first 30 years in South Africa, he hardly drove anything else. He owned Peugeot 204s, 304s and 404s—but his real favourite was the Peugeot 404. At one stage, we had three Peugeot 404s at home. Each son would drive one to the market, collect fresh stock and deliver it to our different fruit and vegetable shops. But one Peugeot 404 LDV became a family legend. My father bought that bakkie when it already had approximately 400,000 kilometres on the clock. Most people would have thought it was finished. The Professor saw a workhorse. That Peugeot eventually travelled more than 800,000 kilometres—carrying fruit, vegetables and the weight of a growing family business. It wasn’t fashionable. It wasn’t new. But every morning, it got up and went to work—just like my father. 🌿 THE PROFESSOR’S WISDOM A good workhorse doesn’t need to look impressive. It just needs to keep showing up. MY TAKE Today, people are always chasing the newest car, newest tool or newest opportunity. But success is often built with what you already have—used properly, maintained carefully and worked consistently. YOUR TURN What car did your father—or your family—swear by? — Gilbert Nobrega The Professor & Me

☕ COFFEE TIME WITH GILBERT GUERRILLA MARKETING — THINK SMARTER, NOT BIGGER During my years working in Mozambique, I witnessed one of the most unusual marketing campaigns I had ever seen. Big companies normally spend fortunes on billboards, magazines and brand advertising. But one Scotch whisky distributor decided to do something completely different. Instead of spending its advertising budget on traditional media, it placed the product directly into the hands of the ladies selling goods in the local street markets. Every morning, the whisky was supplied to them on consignment. They could sell it during the day and pay for the stock the following morning. But there was another clever—and controversial—part to the strategy. The distributor sent people into markets such as the Mercado do Xipamanine in Maputo to ask specifically for that whisky and buy bottles from the street vendors. Occasionally, someone would stop their car, request the brand and reward the seller with a generous tip for having it available. Suddenly, the vendors believed customers everywhere were looking for this particular whisky. Before long, the brand was displayed on street corners across the city. More people saw it, more people asked about it, and genuine demand began to grow. Within eight or nine months, it had become a leading seller. I wouldn’t recommend copying every tactic used in that campaign today. Creating artificial demand raises important ethical questions. But the business lesson stayed with me: You don’t always need millions to make people notice your product. You need creativity, visibility and a deep understanding of how your market behaves. When you cannot outspend the big companies, you must learn to outthink them. Sometimes the strongest marketing campaign isn’t created in a boardroom. It is created in the mud, the dust and the streets—where the real customers are. That was one of the greatest marketing lessons I learnt during my Mozambican years. My takeaway: Don’t complain about the budget you don’t have. Become resourceful with what you do have.

📚 THE PROFESSOR & ME THE FRUIT NOBODY ELSE HAD Sometimes the best business opportunities start with a very small problem. At Fruit Shop Café, we were known for selling top-quality fruit and vegetables. We sold pawpaws, but there was always a problem. Not every pawpaw ripened at the same time, and customers would often pick them up and press them to see if they were ripe. Sometimes, by the time they put them back, the fruit was already damaged. Then my father heard about something different. Pepinos. They were like a smaller version of a pawpaw, and my father met a farmer who was producing export-quality pepinos for the European market. Dad built a relationship with him. Every so often, the farmer would send us 10 or 20 boxes. And something interesting happened. People started coming to us specifically for them. We became one of the few fruit shops in our area where customers knew they could find pepinos. The florists especially loved them. People making fruit baskets and arrangements would come to Fruit Shop Café for the pepinos, together with our top-quality apples, pears and other fruit. We weren’t trying to be the biggest fruit shop. But we had something different, and we had quality. And people remembered us for it. 🌿 THE PROFESSOR’S WISDOM You don’t always need to sell what everybody else is selling. Sometimes one unusual, quality product gives people a reason to come specifically to you. ☕ MY TAKE Today we’d probably call it a unique selling proposition. My father didn’t call it anything. He simply saw an opportunity, found the right supplier, built the relationship and gave customers something they couldn’t easily get elsewhere. And once those customers came through the door for the pepinos, they didn’t only buy pepinos. They saw the rest of the quality we offered. That’s a business lesson I’ve never forgotten: Give people a reason to walk through your door. Then give them a reason to come back. 💬 YOUR TURN Have you ever discovered a small product or idea that unexpectedly became a big seller in your business?