Yashwin Bagwandeen

Yashwin Bagwandeen, 35, started his first business at the age of 12. His grandfather was an entrepreneur, so you could say it runs in the blood.

He’s been running GAME OVER for the past three years, and has over 20 years experience in the industry. The company designs, programmes and manufactures arcade game machines, which are leased throughout South Africa. His clients come in all shapes and sizes – from kid-friendly restaurants to TV production houses.

Retro games arcades ooze cool. Whether you’re a Donkey Kong-playing 10 year old or a TV production house looking to up the style stakes in an ad or TV show. But few people were filling this niche and custom building consoles to their clients needs.

That was until GAME OVER arrived on the scene. Yashwin explained the Eureka moment behind building his business:

“As a kid I was always fascinated with how things worked. Opening up my toys and trying to modify them eventually led to my first business at 12 years old. I modified my home game console to work in an arcade video game machine and began selling them. A few years later, my brother and I developed the world’s cheapest record-to-cd jukebox conversion and got it featured in Euroslot, the European industry trade magazine. Since then I’ve learned various programming languages and now develop my own games, which I supply to untapped niche markets that I’ve discovered.”

GAME OVER designs and programmes custommade arcade game software and hardware. They supply these to big corporate clients to add to their ‘chill out rooms’. Or to individuals who can’t resist the latest boys’ toys for their home. They also sell them to kid-friendly restaurants, event managers, interior designers and marketing companies, not to mention TV production houses for use in adverts, TV shows, movies and after-show parties.

Business is going well for GAME OVER. But how are they planning to take it to the next level? Yashwin explains “Since we are manufacturing innovative video game machines at a fraction of the cost of those currently on the market, we will be seeking out exporting opportunities to rest of Africa, the UK and the USA.”

Yash would appreciate advice on a number of topics:

- How to begin selling advertising, both on external gaming consoles and within actual games.

- As a programmer of his own games, how to approach government and non-governmental organisations to create games that carry educational messages about Malaria, TB, HIV and AIDS and sex education.

- How to approach pharmaceutical companies to sponsor games that educate young people on the illnesses their drugs treat.

- How to protect his software against intellectual property theft.

- Have some tips? Then emai them to: advice.southafrica@thebransoncentre.org

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