Kidfluencers are coining it

He has worked half his life, is registered with Sars, has investments, regularly turns down offers from global firms wanting to buy the rights to his videos — and earns more than his mom.

Desmond Koolen is just eight and a grade 2 pupil at St David’s Marist. But he hasn’t let his age get in the way of building a career for himself.

Last month he picked up 27 medals at the South African Championships of Performing Arts, and will next year be heading to Los Angeles to represent the country in the world championships.

On social media, he goes by lifeaccordingtodesi, he’s known as Desi and is a typical Generation Alpha. 

Born from 2010 onwards, Generation Alpha is the first group to grow up in a fully tech-immersed world, and they’re already redefining everything about the future while not yet old enough to vote. Many are already doing their own thing, making big money on social media and in business. “We adopted Desi in 2020 when he was three,” his mom, Adele Koolen, told the Sunday Times.

“Because I was already very active on social media, I started including him in my stuff because he just loved the camera. Then Covid hit and brands were looking to do sponsorships and I wanted to break Desi out of my socials so we created his own. 

“One evening I posted on TikTok a video I took of him walking on the stage at school singing I Feel Good  — and things just went crazy as it got more than 2-million views.” 

And the work began flowing in, as more of Desi’s material went viral. A voice clip of him advising Springbok captain Siya Kolisi to pass the ball was played on Jacaranda and led to him meeting the team. He started getting invitations to MC big events for clients such as Cricket SA and Pam Golding.

He was invited to open for comedian Schalk Bezuidenhout, he’s done filming for the SABC and Nickelodeon, charges R12,000 for a video and now rarely takes on work engagements that pay less than R15,000. “People don’t really understand, but he doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do,” Koolen said.

“He works only with brands that appeal to him, and all the stuff we post is just normal life — snapshots of stuff we would be doing anyway. People think he doesn’t have time to be a kid, but he actually does. He’s just naturally funny and loves being in front of the camera.” 

She said all the money Desi earns was paid into his own savings account. She adds her own charges to the client bill only when there’s a lot of editing, filming or other work. “We don’t take a cent from Desi. Our family is fortunate. My husband has a successful business and I have my own job, so there’s no need,” Koolen said.

“What Desi does is up to him. He loves performing and he’s never star-struck. Like when we were invited to the launch of Cheslin Kolby’s foundation, my husband was mortified when Desi dragged him over and said ‘Hey Drikus, meet my dad’,” she said, referring to Johan Koolen’s introduction to UFC world champion Drikus du Plessis. 

Asked how he felt about being a taxpayer, Desi told the Sunday Times: “If I ever get to meet Uncle Cyril, I am going to tackle him so hard and tell him he shouldn’t be taking money from little kids.” 

In the meantime, everything he earns is going into savings for when he finishes school and buys a red Ferrari.

Another young voice creating a career for herself is Bontle Ndhlovu of Centurion, who published her first book when she was seven. Mom Refilwe Ndhlovu said Bontle was born with a love for reading, and once she started reading on her own, she developed the strong view that children’s books should be written by children.

“I told her there are only a handful of children in the world who have written books, but if she feels strongly then she should think of a story and write one herself,” she said.

Bontle did just that, and they distributed it to people they knew. It was a hit, so Refilwe withdrew from her savings and self-published the book which was delivered in hard copy the day before Bontle turned seven. “It’s a really great feeling,” said the now-11-year-old, who has just written her third book and is in her second stint of being selected for H&M’s global role model.

“H&M offered to publish the new book but we decided to rather have them fund the reprinting of the first book, which is now available in isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho and Afrikaans. as well as English,” Refilwe said.

All the money she earns from her book sales go into a savings fund used to finance the publishing of more books. 

Another phenomenon is when celebrity parents create social media accounts for their babies, sometimes even before they’re born, and it’s paying off. 

One such person is Khumo Panda, daughter of fashion pioneer Mome Mahlangu of the reality show Cream Cartel and comedian and TV personality Tol A$$ Mo. The couple also starred in their own reality series, Mo Love. 

Khumo, 10, has a burgeoning business bearing her name, her own line of children’s Afro hair products Moringa, is active on social media and has endorsement deals with numerous big brands. “Khumo is a brilliant kid. She was born on TV during our reality show, so she’s been a household name since day one. Her first campaign was with Huggies when she was a few months old,” her proud dad told the Sunday Times. 

Though reluctant to talk about how much money Khumo is making, he said, “If I had to take a guess, I’d say it’s probably well over R300,000.” 

Another big sensation is eight-year-old “Klein Kwagga”, who shot to fame after a video clip of him dancing at his sister’s school concert went viral. It was picked up by media around the world, and even saw Hollywood actress Viola Davis sharing it with her 12.3-million followers. 

Dirkco Jansen van Nieuwenhuizen is a farm boy from Balfour who rarely gives interviews as his parents want their little boerseun to remain firmly grounded. So they tasked agent Dora-Mari Bosch of BW Models to be his manager, and all his earnings go into a savings account for his future. 

“It’s hard to understand how everything happened. We don’t know who filmed the video, or who posted it, but it went out without his parents' consent and the whole thing just blew up overnight,” Bosch said. 

Viewers noticed Klein Kwagga was wearing Boerboel Wear — his favourite tight-fitting boere khaki outfit — and people trying to track him down called the business and ended up speaking to Bosch. “I called Kwagga’s mom to tell her what was happening, and she just said ‘What video?’ and ‘What does viral mean?’,” Bosch told the Sunday Times, describing Kwagga’s family as down-to-earth farm people who live “far from everywhere”, and know little about technology and social media. 

Like other kidfluencers, Klein Kwagga has drawn a huge following, been offered numerous partnership deals, starred in TV commercials and even became a mascot for the Springboks.

A highlight was earlier this year when he was invited, along with mom Mercia, to appear on the Kelly Clarkson Show after pre-recording his renowned “Hello Kelly” post in which he speaks English and tells her he thinks they could be good friends. 

“A Kwagga is like a zebra, but we call it a horse with pyjamas on,” he said, explaining his nickname, in a post that has been viewed millions of times. 

Futurist and trend analyst Dion Chang of FluxTrends, who has been following GenZ closely, is now monitoring the emergence of Generation Alpha. “About 2.8-million of them are born every week; they will number 2-billion by the end of this year, and financially savvy brands are targeting them,” he said.

“Their formative years happened during the pandemic, so they know about lockdown, germs, global issues and they understand a polycrisis. They’re not intimidated by adults and generally see themselves as equal. 

“Their parents posted their first pregnancy scan on social media, so these kids have digital footprints that started before they were born — practically with a phone in their hand. They learnt to navigate screens before they could put their shoes on.” 

Communication and tech strategist Loren Phillips says Generation Alpha people are generally critical thinkers with alternative views. As an example, she referred to a 12-year-old girl who was worried about donating her long hair to Locks of Love because of her concern about potentially being linked by the presence of her DNA should the recipient of her hair commit a crime. 

“We adults just don’t think like that at all,” she said.