James Espey: A life well lived, while wearing many hats

Your favourite Gucci-clad revolutionaries pay thousands of rand per bottle to be seen sipping on his most famous and exclusive creations, while your average college students generally tear through at least a few bottles of his more budget-friendly ideas per month.

Very few realise that the mastermind behind all their most coveted spirits simply considers himself to be “the son of a policeman from Zambia, who was fortunate enough to go to a good school in Cape Town”.

And while he was responsible for bringing the world exclusive brands like Bailey’s Irish Cream, Talisker Single Malt and, perhaps the most famous, Johnnie Walker Blue Label and Chivas Regal 18-year-old whiskies, he considers his proudest achievement as being part of a much lesser known mental health awareness NGO.

James Espey has worn many hats in his 75 years. From a “humble background with no money”, he was granted an Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth ll of England.

Espey started working in the grocery trade in South Africa shortly after finishing school in Cape Town, but quickly made his way through the ranks of marketing and retail, and introduced canned cold drinks into the country after earning his MBA, which he refers to as a “Master of Bugger All”, and two PhDs.

James Espey the connoisseur. Picture: The Last Drop Atelier – Father/Daughter Evening

His stories emphasise the importance of luck, but also sometimes stubbornness, in creating a legacy.

An example of this is the story of how Malibu, which is currently the world’s second-biggest selling liqueur, came to be.

Originally conceptualised by one of his close friends, Peter Fleck (Springbok Robbie Fleck’s father), with whom he worked at Gilbey’s South Africa, the “Caribbean Rum” in the distinctive white bottle was originally called Coco Rico.

In 1978, they had to find a way to convince the world that a coconut flavoured rum, created in the then pariah-state, South Africa, could be an international success.

Along with their other friend, Tom Jago, the three decided to give the rum some international appeal, by changing the name to Malibu, adding the slogan “It comes from paradise and tastes like heaven” and arranging a sneaky product launch in the Caribbean, to further add to the idea that the drink originated in the Islands, rather than in Cape Town.

It was this same persistence which led to the creation of Chivas Regal 18-year-old.

While employed at Chivas Brothers, he went against the company founder’s wishes and pushed through the exclusive whisky, ultimately costing him his job.

While the whisky became a massive success, Espey’s life seemed to fall apart.

“I got fired when I was 55, and I had a breakdown. I had to educate my children, and suddenly I had no money, and I didn’t know how to cope and deal with the future,” he explained during a conversation in which it was almost impossible to get a word in edgewise.

“I ended up in hospital, and I had eight electro-convulsive therapy treatments (ECT). They’ve got this crazy movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It’s nothing like that. It’s much more simple, and it saved my life. It rebooted my brain.”

Shortly thereafter, his fortunes also received a reboot.

In 2003 he met a young man from his old school in Cape Town who had the idea to create a secure cloud and risk management service for corporate IT Systems and e-mail.

With Espey’s financial backing, network of contacts, and mentoring, this became Mimecast Limited, which was eventually floated on the Nasdaq in May 2016 and now has a valuation of $1.8 billion (about R23.8 billion) and employs 950 people worldwide.

Meanwhile, Espey also became interested in what he now considers his greatest passions, mental health education and philanthropy.

He is involved in the Shaw Mind Foundation, which fights the stigma attached to mental health issues, while providing support to sufferers.

“I usually say it takes 10 years to build a solid brand. I want to build this one in five. I’m 75 now, and when I’m 80, I want the Shaw Mind Foundation to be the most dynamic mental health charity in the world.”

His passion for mental health also extends to that of the country’s psyche as a whole.

He ends by reading from a handwritten quote from Nelson Mandela, which he carries in his jacket pocket.

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived.

“It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”

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