From curing hangovers to becoming a self-help Genie

It was after a hectic night out with friends that led Llewellyn Devereaux to invent the first anti-hangover shooter, and now, years later, the inventor, speaker, and author is on a path to nurture the magic in people, through his company The Genie Group.

Growing up as a talkative child in Centurion, Devereaux, 32, was raised by parents who encouraged him to believe he was not limited nor bound from achieving anything he put his mind to.

“My mother was the fearless one and my dad was the one who had the finesse and put things in order and made sure things were done right… Those two combinations were infused into me and growing up, I had always known that I am not limited,” he says.

After completing his matric at Sutherland High School in 2006, however, he failed his first and second year at the University of Witswatersrand, while continuously changing courses which he found totally uninteresting.

“The courses I was doing I wasn’t interested in. I failed because I wasn’t applying myself and I was enjoying life and women. From there I had to take some time out in 2009 to pause and figure things out. In 2010 I went back to fully do Economic Science,” he explains.

In that year, he wrote his first complete book titled Live, Love, Whatever. This taught him to roll with the punches and deal with disappointment, as the self-help book was rejected by publishers.

Devereaux was told he needed to be a speaker in order to tap into the relevant market first.

This led him to using YouTube to his advantage by posting videos on topics which interested him such as ‘the truth about money’, ‘the value of time’ and philosophy.

And it was while still a student, enjoying typical student pastimes like drinking and clubbing, that Devereaux started pondering a way of dealing with the terrible effects of alcohol. On a Monday morning after a “hectic night” in 2012, he and his friend decided to invent a cure for hangovers.

“We had class that morning at 8am. I realised this is not life. With my background of managing promotions and campaigns, I had a lot of connections with nightclubs and I saw we could make something premium that looks good for the club.”

Llewellyn Devereaux. Picture: Supplied

After speaking to his doctor, a biochemist, a pharmacist and searching for help online, Devereaux finally met an expert who created a formula for the product.

“I told him I no longer want a headache and that feeling in my tummy and dehydration… It was first called Sober Up, but my friend Khaya said we should name it Lohocla, which is ‘alcohol’ spelt backwards.”

And now, those who say nothing good ever came from a night of partying have to swallow their words, since a seven-year journey has seen Lohocla become available nationwide at Pick ‘n Pay stores.

Now he has gone from curing hangovers, to being invited to give talks and hosting seminars from 2019 in partnership with Tsogo Sun.

He has also finally penned his first published book, The Mastery Code, which he describes as an “important book written for desperate times” and summarises the importance of unlocking one’s mindsets to achieve “self-mastery, money-mastery and purpose”.

The book encourages the reader to unlearn, learn and re-learn behaviours which he says often leads people to “self-sabotage potential progress”.

“I wanted what I wanted and everything I learned, I realised I learned it in hindsight. I only understood what I did after I did it. I went through things the hard way. That is why the book helps people get things quicker.”

Devereaux now runs the Genie Group, an entity which aims to harness and support innovators like himself and to bring out their inner “magic”.

“I want to harness and unleash the magic people have in them. Which is why it’s called the Genie Group. I am going to develop and fund and invest in those products and people to be able to grow them in a way and to develop their ideas to be put out there into the world. People will not be applying with CVs but with ideas.”

It’s still early days, but he is confident that something magical will eventually spring out of this new venture, and who knows? It might even happen while out partying and enjoying his current successes.

rorisangk@citizen.co.za

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