Eko Fresh at its performance in Bielefeld. In addition to tips for founding a company, there was also a rap best-of. Founders Foundation
Crises have always been part of his career, says rapper Eko Fresh. At the startup conference Hinterland of Things in Bielefeld, the 39-year-old recently spoke to founders and investors about his not always straightforward path as an entertainer and to entrepreneurship. As a child of Turkish guest workers, he had to find himself in his teens. His early rap talent didn’t protect him from bad contracts – he was once kicked out of a record label because his music didn’t fit. His debut album “I’m young and need the money” stormed the charts in 2003. In his early 20s, Eko Fresh, whose real name is Ekrem Bora, says he has already “grown out of the scene”. “Broken times” followed, as he says in retrospect.
Believing in himself helped him, he says. Today, the rapper compares writing and producing albums with founding a start-up: “You always start from scratch.” On stage, he advised the young founders to stick to their ideas and not to “chat in” with others. to permit.
Eko Fresh didn’t just come to the Hinterland conference to give out smart tips. He was also concerned with establishing contacts for his startup Liefertürke himself and finding potential financiers. With his company he wants to digitize Turkish supermarkets. But just like other delivery services, he hasn’t had it easy with his business lately. The man from Cologne remains convinced of the potential of the ethnic food market. In general, he wants to be a role model for others with his “migrant-owned business”.
In an interview with Gründerszene, he talked about how Eko Fresh looks at the past few weeks and what plans he has for Liefertürke. The interview took place in a tiny house on the fringes of the event.
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Eko, you’ve been a rapper since you were a teenager. Today you lead your startup Liefertürke, are a podcaster and play in series. Why all this at once?
Of course, it’s difficult to maintain a work-life balance. Otherwise, I really enjoy my job. The startup world came last for me, but there are parallels to the music industry – for example I started my own label. Also learning how to build a business and with what ethics. I’ve done that over and over again, every time I’ve produced an album. It’s like a mini startup. Through my many jobs I’ve also met people and word has got around that I’m a sociable and enterprising rapper who is open to new things. My attitude has a lot to do with it, I enjoy projects and I like making money from them (laughs).
Is it part of the hip-hop business these days to start your own labels and be an entrepreneur? We’re also seeing this with other rappers like Capital Bra and Shirin David, who are launching their own iced teas and pizzas.
I think it’s part of today, yes. I’m happy for the new generation of rappers who are now starting to produce products. In the 90’s, when I started, there wasn’t that open-mindedness towards rap. For people coming from the brand side, we were unpredictable, it was another world for them. They didn’t even consider working with us.
Later it was the same people who wanted to show up with rappers and have them as testimonials. First we had to bring rap and business together. So that’s how I came up with the idea of saying, “Hey wait a minute, I make other people’s brands cooler all the time. How about if I was there from scratch.” There are also different models, for example, that you only do advertising or that you own the product. You also always have to consider how much time and effort you want to invest. I always have new ideas about what I want to do.
Namely, which ones?
I don’t want to reveal much yet. But I think ethnic food is something where people trust me. Just because of my background. I was just a testimonial for Ayran for the Müller dairy. But I can also imagine doing something of my own in this area.
In which direction should this go?
Probably towards Turkish food. There is simply trust there – both in the Turkish community and in German families who say: “Hey, I know Eko, I’ll try that.” As one of the well-known German-Turks, I’m happy to represent that.
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How do you choose your business partners? You founded Liefertürke with your former music video producer Malic Bargiel.
I often work with my “Day Ones” and very rarely let new people into the team. If so, then it’s like a marriage process where I spend months looking at how the person is doing. We all have a limited lifetime. It starts with asking yourself who you want to spend time with and also what their agenda is. You have to check if this suits you. At Liefertürke, we all come from the same hood and for us the startup is a learning process that is not yet complete.
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What are you planning to do with Liefertürke?
Our idea is to help the ethno food market and run family businesses online. However, the idea has not yet been thought through to the end. For example, we are currently considering developing an app and completely withdrawing ourselves as an intermediary. In this way, retailers could make their delivery business even easier. Because we watch the market and see how difficult it is for delivery services after the big bubble.
That’s right. Grocery delivery services in particular have recently been struggling with financing problems: Gorillas was taken over by Getir. Other providers, such as the ethnic delivery service Yababa, have filed for bankruptcy. How is the situation for Liefertürke?
Because we weren’t as big as the others who already had huge investment rounds, we were able to observe from the outside and learn our lessons. Yababa going bankrupt wasn’t good for us. You might think that it’s great for us that our biggest competitor is gone. However, this was not helpful, especially with regard to investors. That is why we are still in the process of developing our idea, we firmly believe in it and in the ethno market. We also want to keep an eye on the community and support it. That’s why we wanted to get a supermarket from our former Hood Köln Kalk as the first shop.
Instead of running your own food warehouses like Flink or Gorillas, you use existing capacities: local Turkish grocers. Is this an advantage because it is less capital intensive?
Yes, that’s the reason why we can build our startup like this, because we didn’t need that much capital and could get started right away. From the first order we made profits for the shops, but also for ourselves. Nevertheless, Liefertürke remains a test balloon.
Are you still planning to expand to more cities, or have priorities changed?
It’s simply a matter of getting it done with four people – preferably with an investor. We’re going to have talks about that now.
You are the father of a son: What lessons from your life as a self-made entrepreneur would you like to pass on to him?
You always want to achieve something better for your child than you had for yourself. I want my son to grow up without knowing the existential angst that I’ve had all my life and that still drives me to this day: I’m somewhere different every day, constantly doing new things. Of course, this is also due to my background, that I have worked with my back to the wall for large parts of my life. For me there was only the way forward. I give my son more peace of mind, that ideally he already has property that makes his life easier. In general, he is the smarter and prettier version of me.
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Do you still remember what you bought back then with your first fee?
Yes, that must have been hip-hop clothes. It probably would have been smarter if I had bought a property in Berlin-Kreuzberg back then, but I was still too young and wild.
Do you have the feeling that as a German-Turkish entrepreneur you always have to be a role model? for an entire community?
With my public appearances I have been trying to break down prejudices for umpteen years. I have often been the first with a history of migration to try this and that in the media. It has to be the same in the startup area. There must also be role models there that people follow, and you see, he was able to handle the background right up to the exit. But it’s not just about origin, but about social classes in general.
In August you will launch your new album. Why are you making music again alongside the startup?
To be honest, I’m sometimes surprised that there’s still a demand for it, because I wasn’t really rapping anymore. It was always the case that I had to rap something for a show or a corporate song. During the recording in the studio, I noticed how great it actually is and how much I missed it. That’s also the reason why influencers and footballers all want to be rappers. It’s a thrill you can’t get anywhere else. With a little bit of detachment, I can say that acting and filming are more of the orderly work. You go there in the morning and can switch off in the evening – unless you have to learn a text. Rap is totally freestyle, you have to do it yourself. Just like a startup.