Vivian Reddy | |
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Born | Vathasallum Reddy 22 February 1953 |
Known for | Founder of Edison Power Group and Oceans uMhlanga Development |
Website | www.vivianreddy.com |
Vathasallum "Vivian" Reddy (born 22 February 1953) is a South African businessman from KwaZulu-Natal. He is the founder and chairperson of the Edison Power Group, an electrical company, and he also has business interests in casinos, healthcare, financial services, and property development. [1]
Reddy was born on 22 February 1953 in Greenwood Park, a suburb of Durban. [2] He was designated as Indian under apartheid. His father was a teacher and he was the youngest of nine children. At the age of 16, he was selected to represent South Africa at a Boy Scout Jamboree in Japan, where he met Neil Armstrong, his adolescent hero. [3] [2]
After finishing high school, Reddy enrolled at Springfield Training College, but he decided a fortnight later that he wanted to be an electrical engineer. [2] After he was fired from his engineering apprenticeship, he founded Reddy's Electrical, an electrical contracting firm; [2] he apparently began the firm with only a R500 loan and a borrowed bakkie. [3]
Reddy's Electrical was later renamed as Edison Power. [2] The company frequently did business with the state, including in a series of contracts for the procurement of smart electricity meters in the City of Johannesburg. An independent investigation concluded in November 2013 that there was no evidence of irregularities in a R1.25-billion contract between Edison Power and City Power. [4] However, a subsequent forensic investigation, commissioned by the City of Johannesburg in 2017, concluded that one of the related contracts was irregular and did not comply with "legislative and administrative" regulations. [5]
Reddy is also known for his personal and business links to former President Jacob Zuma. [6] [7] He joined Zuma's political party, the African National Congress, in 1990. [8]
Reddy is involved in several South African charity initiatives such as the Orphans of AIDS Trust Fund. [9] He has donated substantially to various community projects such the Wingen Heights Secondary School building project [10] and donating R6 million to the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality to build a clinic.[ citation needed ] He treated the residents of Bayview, Chatsworth to a Diwali celebration in commemoration of 150 years of Indian settlement in South Africa since 1860.[ citation needed ]
Reddy and his first wife, Mogi Naidoo, share three children, Yavini, a paediatrician, Shantan, and IT student Kuber.[ citation needed ] In 2003, [2] he married his second wife, Sorisha Naidoo, who is a media personality, actress, and cast member of The Real Housewives of Durban. They have two children together: a son, Saihil, and daughter, Kalina. [11] In 2021, following a dispute at the Press Ombudsman, the Daily Maverick published an official apology to Naidoo for "insinuating that she had married him [Reddy] for his money". [12]
For his 60th birthday in 2013, Reddy spent R10 million on an extravagant celebration at his home in Umhlanga with 150 close family, friends and prominent political figures. [13]
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Reddy has achieved the following awards: [14] [15]