Larry Smith has always had an interest in technology, creating, and fixing electronics. He studied Computer Systems Engineering at CUT, and today runs several businesses that offer internet services within his community.
“While studying, I learned how to nurture my entrepreneurial skills, and how to turn my products into money,” said the owner of UDY Net. “It was always within me to be in business and create my own destiny.”
His first entity was established in 2005 when he provided hardware support to his immediate community, schools, and small businesses in the Heidedal area. “What inspired me to do it was the need. People had to go to town with a big box on their lap and they had to look for assistance. There were no such services in our area.”
Larry started working from his parents’ garage and developed his businesses from there.
“As technology progressed, the need for communication, connecting to other devices and the worldwide web became a need, and in 2013 I built my first tower and transmitted signals so that I could provide services to people in my area.” He started providing internet services to his immediate community.
It became an essential service within his community, and he now provides internet to rural and underserviced communities in the Free State, and his experiences have inspired him to build and develop business models to cater for the lower LSM in the townships and rural areas as well as other business people in these communities.
Larry enjoys combining his travel for work with travelling for leisure, as well as playing golf to blow off steam.
Text: Warren Hawkins
