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Sean Barber's brand Rockets creates employment through his lifestyle empire
The Rockets founder dreamt of being a sports star as a child, but when life happened, he dusted himself off, tried again and now he runs one of SA's biggest lifestyle brands.
From restaurants to barbershops and record labels, he has been instrumental in Kelvin Momo's and DBN Gogo's soaring music careers.
The multiple award-winning Barber has hosted masterclasses for leading financial institutions.
A rugby injury when he was 14 crushed Sean Barber's dreams of a successful sporting career, steering his life towards a different path from what he had envisioned.
Reflecting on this redirection, the chartered accountant-turned-hospitality and entertainment wizard told City Press that the experience had opened his eyes to what the adults meant when they said you don't always get what you want in life.
Heeding the call to open one door when another closed, the Rockets founder's interest in hospitality was sparked by the years he spent in Wimbledon Village in London in the UK. The area is known for its coffee shops, cafés and restaurants that serve its vibrant community, in addition to being famous for the iconic Wimbledon Tennis Championships, of course.
Barber's Rockets empire is not just a restaurant chain but a lifestyle brand including clubs, rooftops, salons and the Dance Africa Record label. Some of the features inside the eateries even include soundproofed clubs and cinemas.
In the spirit of Youth Month, Barber explained the importance of teaching young people that a dream derailed was not the end of the world. He said that the future was not determined by one dream and reminded the youth that they were allowed to change their dreams.
'It's good to have different dreams and to pursue them. But the most important thing behind any dream is to realise that, without passion, no dream makes any sense. So, the lesson is, do what you love, do what you're passionate about and then chase it down with everything you have,' he added.
He walked City Press through how Rockets' success kicked off with corporate lunches before introducing the salons. This was done as part of his vision to steer people away from seeing Rockets as just a food joint but an all-encompassing lifestyle brand. He remembered a client telling him how the establishment had captured him.
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'I had lunch at Rockets Express. After work, I went for a haircut at Rockets Man and then I went for dinner at Rockets Bryanston,' the client had said.
Barber described his establishment as enhancing and incorporating elements of luxury and ease into what one would consider a normal day
'The move into music and to Dance Africa has been just an extension of that. It's a lifestyle brand and a big part of that is entertainment. So, everything just made sense around it and that's why we pushed,' he explained.
Among the young artists whose careers Rockets has helped accelerate are Kelvin Momo and DBN Gogo.
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'I was introduced to both when no one knew who they were. In 2020, Kevin was still a producer, just starting to DJ . ..we gave him a platform to be heard across all the venues and he was an incredible talent. DBN Gogo [Mandisa Radebe] as well, rather than the beginning, you know, no one would know who she was when she was getting on the decks,' he recalled.
He described Rockets Media as a label to collect that content to sell to certain media houses, which sparked the idea to incorporate a recording studio as a platform to discover young talent and showcase it.
'We go right to the beginning of music creation ... creating and recording songs and then adding voiceovers into them,' he beamed.
Rockets employs more than 400 young people and books an incredible 300 DJs per month.
There are thousands of people whose lives we've hopefully positively impacted, whether it's been employment with us and developing their skill set in whatever job they have and enhancing them, enabling them to put Rockets on their CVs.
Sean Barber
Barber's entrepreneurial journey has resulted in multiple awards and being a guest speaker at the GQ and Standard Bank SA Business Masterclass. He said he wanted to continue inspiring future entrepreneurs by sharing the experiences and challenges that have turned his passion into an empire.
