The book Hunting The Dragon retraces the journey of entrepreneur Iain Buchan’s from a struggling businessman to spectacular success

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

This is not only a story of resilience in business and leadership, but a story of failure and learning from failure to make a remarkable comeback. In fact this  one of the most spectacular business comebacks in corporate South Africa in rent years.

This is the story of businessman entrepreneur Iain Buchan who put his story nicely into a book that many will definitely find inspiration from. One does not have to be an entrepreneur or a business person to be inspired by this powerful memoir.

Published by Burnet Media Imprint: Mercury and distributed by Jacana Media this memoir which retails at R 320,  starts with a powerful quotation from Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons For The 21st Century.

“In the 21st century, you can hardly afford stability. If you try to hold on to some stable identity, job or world view, you risk being left behind as the world flies by you with a whoosh. To stay relevant, not just economically, but above all socially, you will need the ability to constantly learn and to reinvent yourself, certainly at a young age like 50. To survive and flourish in such a world, you will need a lot of mental flexibility and great reserves of emotional balance.”

Here is the story: Many entrepreneurs struggle for years to make their businesses thrive. They crash and burn – and Iain Buchan’s journey is no different. It was only after a profound personal transformation in his mid-40s that Iain could begin to work his way towards real and long-lasting success, in business and in life.

Hunting The Dragon isn’t just a memoir or business book. It is a truly eye-opening account of what it means to struggle and transform to achieve real success in life through leadership. Together with his three children and inspirational team, Iain has put personal growth at the front and centre of their business, The Unlimited, which generates phenomenal success through its unique Dragon Hunter people-development programme.

The programme’s aim is to develop people into leaders. It’s not to “grow sales” or to get into new markets. At its absolute, fundamental core, The Unlimited’s strategy is to grow leaders, which in turn grows the business.

The natural outcome is a better, more successful, bigger, stronger, more diverse business.

About the Author

 Iain Buchan was born in Transkei and schooled in Durban. After studying engineering at university and completing his national service, he climbed the corporate ladder before starting a number of businesses, most of them failed, but they eventually led to his great success, The Unlimited. Today Iain and his three children are closely involved in the running of The Unlimited, which generates phenomenal success through its unique Dragon Hunter people-development programme. In 2008, Iain founded The Unlimited Child, now the biggest Early Childhood Development group in the world, operating more than 3,300 crèches in sub-Saharan Africa. For more information go to https://theunlimitedchild.org/. Iain played rugby for Western Province Under 20, has walked to the South Pole and climbed Mt Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica.

If you need inspiration whether you are an entrepreneur struggling to get their idea to work, whether you are a person aspiring to make a difference in other people’s lives, you do not need to look further than Hunting The Dragon, Iain’s inspiration journey from a struggle to get it right in business to spectacular success. The book is available in all good bookstores throughout the country.