It was my goal to give back. I fought for many things, I paved the way for many things, I learned how to achieve something, says Levente Jánosi, whom Erdély met as Nexon Levi.
Today, almost everyone knows the electric shepherd, and it is not only popular among farmers, but also among children, parents, and young adults.
Its success in Transylvania is largely linked to Nexon, as Levente Jánosi shared a lot of information about it with his followers in a few years. But how did the Nexon electricity supplier empire start from Nyárádköszvényes, a small settlement in Székelyföld? And how did a young person manage to appeal to a large part of the Hungarian society before the age of thirty by presenting a simple economic tool?
We visit Levente Jánosi, the initiator of everything, who not only shows us his six giant tents - from production to warehouses and shops - but also sits down for a coffee with us and tells us honestly about his life. Among other things, about that
he comes from a simple livestock family, as a child he worked in the forest and fields with their horses, which he raised together with his parents and brother, and it was not uncommon for him to look after the animals himself. He also experienced the hardships of the village lifestyle, the tedious work in the fields and deprivation.
Hundreds of thousands of people follow Jánosi Levente on social media, his company, Nexon, became popular and a well-known Transylvanian, Hungarian enterprise in 2-3 years; It was founded in 2017, which has been strongly built around the family ever since. I was lucky enough to see how the empire was built from almost nothing, since I myself am from Nááradkozvényés, and every villager was surprised when the tents and buildings began to grow like mushrooms, one after the other, and the business began to expand physically as well. Today, there is so much construction that it connects the main road with Ácsok Street, two parallel parts of the village that were far apart until years ago.
Those who saw from the outside what was happening around the house of Leventé Jánosi were surprised. However, those who followed and helped him from the inside also experienced that the business was not played with ease, but at the cost of hard work, many sleepless nights, days spent taking notes, self-knowledge and invested energy.
In the course of our conversation, Nexon Levi admits that he knew since childhood that he would make a living by making electric shepherds, but since his family comes first, he wanted to build everything in such a way that not only he, but also his brother and parents could make a living from it. At the moment, he is right where he once dreamed: his brother, Attila, is a programming engineer and the company's IT manager, and his mother and father run the DIY business, which is a subsidiary of Nexon.
"I longed to connect because we worked enough. We struggled a lot in the field, in the forest, we had a share in everything. I wanted a new living situation for my family, and since that was all I wanted, it came together”
- he tells me in a haunted way. To make sure that the business is family-oriented, you can also visit the DIY store next to the main road, where his mother sells in the presence of cats, which makes the image of the building even nicer.
Even when mother and son talk to each other! "It's very cold, his mother," says Levi, who caught a cold as we walked from the first tent to the last, before his mother puts a cat in his hand to let his son warm up. The short scene also proves what Levi emphasizes several times: respect and care characterize their family's relationship.
But how did you manage to build all this? And why was it founded by the electrician?
In his childhood, Levente Jánosi - known to almost everyone as Nexon Levi - often looked after the family's horses, which were used for agricultural work in the summer. 20-30 years ago, they didn't work in the fields with tractors, the farmers solved everything with the help of horses. If the animals were not to be scared of wild animals, then they were worried about them wandering off, so the child, who, being the youngest, had the most unpleasant task, decided to invent something to keep the horses in one place.
"At that time, we didn't know electric shepherds at home, even though they were already used abroad. Perhaps one of our acquaintances brought home one, which somehow reached our family. I watched and studied the structure until I managed to put together our first electric shepherd from disassembled parts.
– he recalls the reason that led to the production of electric shepherds and the first memory that connects him to production.
He proudly adds that the farmers in the area still use the electric shepherd he made when he was a child, long before he graduated from the automation course. He managed to buy back the very first one, which is still functional, even though it was made sometime in 2011.
When asked how they can grow so spectacularly, since the Transylvanian farming community as a target group is finite, sooner or later everyone will be equipped with an electric shepherd, and then what will happen to his work, he simply answers, "they were prepared for this, we have ideas ". In fact, this justified the improvements, which the Nexon has in abundance.
They were the first electric shepherds company in the country to rethink the structure and create remote-controlled electric shepherds that can be monitored and controlled from the comfort of your home. All based on his research and ideas.
As he says, he studied at the Elektromaros Szaklíceum in Marosvásárhely, in the field of automation, in order to learn all the tricks of electric shepherd production, while from night to morning he made his plans, wrote down everything that could bring him closer to the creation of a protective and guarding farm device that can be controlled from the comfort of home. Today, these innovative devices are made in Nyárádszözvény, at the heart of everything, and what machines cannot do, is made functional by human hands through soldering and tinning.
In order to understand why the human presence is important, he does something that is rarely seen from him: he puts you in a secluded corner of the workshop, picks up a soldering iron, and gets to work. As he works, memories flood him, he recalls how he started, what he learned at school, and how much he always loved the fumes of soldering tin.
Later, we also learn that the ideation and executive work takes place on the floor above the workshop, and that the career of influencer Nexon Levi unfolds from the office - it also shows us how many different cameras, microphones and lights he has at his disposal in order to produce quality content. Although his TikTok platform requires short and edgier videos, he also likes to have long conversations because, according to him, it allows his personality to develop more.
He admits that, in order to prevent anyone from forming a superficial image of him, he tries to build his media appearances around social responsibility: this is why most of his videos are "instructional", i.e. he shares practicals on assembling electric shepherds and information about their operation. His followers know what to pay attention to when placing an electric shepherd, how to stretch the cord and ribbon, what kind of device is suitable for different types of animals, but he also shares with them that he is happy to donate if he feels the need, he organizes Nexon Days, from which a large amount of income is also donated to charity donates to a goal.
"It was my goal to give back. I fought for many things, paved the way for many things, learned how to achieve something. It worked for me, that's why I want to return it, I want to tell you the recipe, I want to help. I'm not selfish, I help people unless I can. My mission is specifically this: electric shepherding is my small company, but it is equally important for me to help others to progress"
- he puts it, and we have the impression that he has realized "the American dream", or at least the Transylvanian dream, which makes him a role model in the eyes of many.
It has been visible for some time now that the electric shepherd is trendy in this country these days, which is also thanks to Nexon's online activities. The 27-year-old popularized farm tools while representing a completely unique style. If you look at it, you wouldn't tell that it serves pet owners, it overrides all stereotypes with its appearance.
"I know where I started from and the path I took to get to where I am today. After all this experience, I can decide what I do, and I feel that my decisions are appropriate and well-founded. Every step I take is conscious, even the way I dress. Behind my awareness lies the fact that I always do what I love and feel good about it."
- he adds by way of explanation, emphasizing that he has many pages and tries to show everything to his followers.
But he doesn't see his own uniqueness in the way he dresses, but rather in the fact that what he does, he doesn't do it for money, but for progress and success. As he says, he likes to see the results, to follow how he achieves his dreams. He also tries to encourage his followers not to give less than that: to live not for money, but for personal success, because happiness comes when one realizes one's wildest dreams. In this case, it was to reach an independent state, thanks to which his family is happy, no longer without.
"I have achieved this, so I dare to continue to dream, if you like, even bigger ones: my five-year plans include Nexon going global. And we would create the Nexon Academy to encourage the youth to study and develop themselves. If someone else has achieved this, why can't Nexon Levi?"
- he asks, and we smile, because we have a feeling that the young man who started with horses and built an empire of electric shepherds can succeed in this too.
