The Mail & Guardian recently released its Top 200 Young South Africans for 2021 which features some of the most influential individuals who are making their mark in their respective industries.

Radio Islam had the opportunity to speak to one of the list makers, Ziyaad Plaatjies who developed Iloveza.com about six years ago.

Plaatjies co-founded the initiative with his wife and coined it as an “information highway” and online store, he says #theafterfajrgrind is the mantra by which they live and work.

“The after fajr grind is currently our ethos here at Iloveza.com , it’s a hashtag that we use and we been using it since we started the business. Its to remind people that you need to remember Allah when you start the day and you read your fajr salaah and then you go out and work, so its working hard after dawn,” says Plaatjies.

The hashtag is open to anyone who wants to make use of it, it’s a great mantra to adopt says Plaatjies, which shows we are one Ummah.

Last year Plaatjies held the After Fajr Grind Awards for SMME’s that saw at least 30 businesses benefit from R1 million rand worth of digital marketing.

The idea behind Iloveza.com is, which started in 2015, is to showcase everything good about South Africa and the unique talent we have here.

“We basically want to empower, the businesses, the entrepreneurs, the youth and the women of South Africa to reach the levels they want to and give them the exposure that they rightly deserve for their services and their products here in South Africa,” says Plaatjies.

Plaatjies team consists of himself, his wife, and their young son, the trio travel throughout South Africa promoting businesses and experiencing what South Africa has to offer, for Plaatjies, its something he fully enjoys, while it also strengthened the relationship between husband and wife.

“Its basically become a lifestyle, its become one so whatever we do, we love what we do and we do everything for the pleasure of Allah, so we just wake up in the morning, we make our salaah… we work around our salaah, so whatever we doing, wherever we are in the country.”

Plaatjies advice to anyone contemplating a risk out there, is if its something you’re passionate about and you know you’re doing good, or benefitting people go for it.

“I believe if you have a passion for something, it makes it easier, so I have passion for this, my wife has a journalism degree, I have a business degree and we put it together to create a digital marketing advertising agency, so just go for it but always remember that you need to ask for guidance,” says Plaatjies.

According to Plaatjies, “The road to the information highway is still under construction,” we can expect big things from Iloveza.com in the near future.

Listen to the full interview here: