Peter Scott of Mr Video

We have all seen those bright red and yellow lights flashing invitingly from some shop corner, calling us to snuggle down for the evening with a pizza and a movie. Wherever you look there seems to be another Mr Video outlet popping up, adding convenience to an already well-recognised concept.

Founder and Executive Chairman Peter Scott was a teenager when he began a lifelong love affair with movies, his first job being as an usher at a local cinema, working weekends for no pay just to see the movies! He nurtured this passion as a student, taking up a job at a video store, often working long hours for no extra pay just to be surrounded by the videos that he loved.

It was at age nineteen, having helped his boss in two subsequent stores, that opportunity knocked, when the owner decided to sell the store. With only R500 to his name, Peter offered to buy 600 movies at R10 each, persuading the owner to give him six months to pay off the debt. He used this stock to open his first video store, but with no capital behind him he found himself doing the designing: "I had to build the video shelves myself, which ended up somewhat skew! I even painted them blue with an old can of paint that I found in my father's garage!" His first night open was a great success, but ended on a sour note when the shop was broken into during the night and all the takings were stolen out of the till. As if that wasn't enough, Peter was called up for national service three days later, and was forced to leave the store in the hands of his then girlfriend (now his wife), Anneleen. After five months in the army, Peter was transferred back to

Cape Town and managed to organise a sleep-out pass, working in his store at night. A year later he borrowed R5000 from his father to expand, and soon had two more stores, and in the next three years he bought out his only remaining competition - the beginning of things to come!

Peter was only 23 when he tired of his business, selling all his stores and retiring with his wife to live a life of leisure in Knysna. This was not to be, however, as Peter soon saw a severe lack of decent video shops in the surrounds, and so the dream to open another bigger, better video store started edging its way into his conscience. He followed through on this dream in March 1994, opening his first Mr Video outlet in Claremont, Cape Town, soon following with two more stores. Within the next four years Mr Video generated an annual turnover of more than R50 million (currently over R150 million!), having gone the franchise route in 1996.

Peter attributes his success to a number of factors, the most important being that every cent made is put back into the business to continually grow and improve on it. He also travels regularly overseas to keep up to date with international trends, and now offers not only video rentals, but also DVD's and Sony Playstation Games. He also stresses the importance of maintaining good relationships with franchisees, calling the group "one big happy family."

Peter enjoys his spare time with his wife and two children, and is also an avid collector of celebrity autographs, and has a number of well-known signatures displayed in his head office. He has plans to expand on his already 130 strong franchise group, and is positive about the way forward.