Can you spare €1 million?

It all started with the money for his Confirmation. By age 24, Niall J. Mellon was a self-made millionaire. Now he has just given €1 million to a housing project in South Africa. Why? 'Why not?' he says

It is  Niall J. Mellon's first newspaper interview, and the 35-year-old, Dublin-born property developer and pub owner is a little stumped by his first question. Why has he decided to give €1 million to a housing project in South Africa?

"Why?" He thinks about it. "Why?" He ponders the question some more. "Why not, I suppose."

It doesn't appear to be false modesty, or a delay while he searches for a neat soundbite, but is just that he hasn't been asked to explain his reasons before.

"I've never really thought about an awful lot of this."

His donation is the cornerstone of a project aiming to raise €4 million in order to build 450 houses in a Cape Town township. It is being done on behalf of worldwide charity, Habitat for Humanity, which originally envisaged building the houses over 20 years, but with Mellon's help, hopes to complete them in three.

Cape Town is also Mellon's home for half the year. "Having grown up in Ireland during the 1980s, I identified with the current state South Africa is in. It is heavily in debt, there are so many obstacles to succeeding. I used to drive past the townships on a daily basis and see the reality of life there, knowing the difference my money could make. I'm part of an Irish business community that has been enormously successful over the past couple of decades, and I felt it was my responsibility to help."

The most obviously ostentatious thing about Mellon today is the building we're sitting in. His offices are tucked away behind Taylor's Three Rock, a giant of a pub on the edge of Rathfarnham. He also owns the Henry Grattan pub and a Rathmines nightclub, but this, he says, is the place he is "most proud of". It claims to be the country's largest thatched building, and boldly advertises nightly Irish music sessions which take place under the shadow of three giant rocks hanging from the ceiling.

Push him and he'll admit that they might not pass any geological authenticity tests.

The pub was built in a mere 16 weeks, despite his being told that it would take at least 60. A decent omen, then, for the Cape Town project.

His career, though, has been one of acceleration. It began with his Confirmation day, when he used his £120 to buy three boxes of fire extinguishers, then asked his father to drop him off in Tallaght where he sold them door to door. So successful was he that he had to rope in fellow classmates to sell them under the promise of a commission. They turned out to be slightly less driven than he was.

"It all ended in a bit of a fiasco. They got bored of selling them and started spraying each other. I'll never forget the 10 of us covered in that stuff."

Was it his first profit or his first loss? "I broke about even on that one."

Attending Coláiste Eanna in Rathfarnham, at 13 he took a job in Delaney's Pub, Templeogue, and worked there until he was 19, learning a few things about dealing with adults that school could not teach him. "I grew up quickly."

After a year as a filing clerk in Lombard and Ulster bank ("I couldn't stand it") he set up Mellon Financial Services in 1988 and began investing in property in Dublin, rapidly building a hefty portfolio, branching out into UK property and mortgage services.

He marvels at his own progress, shaking his head at the memory of speaking at an industry gala dinner just before the main guest, then Minister of Finance Bertie Ahern. He was still only 24.

It was about then that he made his first million, although he claims not to remember the moment he looked at his bank account and saw the six noughts for the first time.

"Money was never really the issue. In business, I've found that you're usually under so much pressure that you have no real chance to enjoy the fruits of it all, or sit on the laurels of your success. I think that the only people who really get the real thrill of becoming millionaires are Lotto winners. They get to experience it overnight."

He is not one to be screaming around the city in a new Ferrari. And does he have any vices? "I suppose I enjoy the craic with the lads."

He admits, then, that this foray into the media spotlight is a little uncomfortable for him. "It's new to me. I've no real interest in self-promotion. I'm really just a young businessperson lucky to have achieved some success. If I can inspire others to give . . ."

Hearing this, his hiring of a PR company to publicise his generosity might appear a little suspicious. But he has already been a quiet donor to several charities over the past decade, doing sponsored walks and sending several South African children through college, while also funding schoolteachers there.

He shows photographs of himself handing over cheques to particular groups, but asks that they are not named.

"My motives for bringing a PR company in were very clear. I'm looking to other Irish people to help with this project, and without a lot of help from a lot of people, it will not be a success."

It is, he feels, entrepreneurs' "obligation to do something worthwhile with their money. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a lifestyle, but that success should be balanced by doing something real and tangible with it."

Launching the project under the enormous thatched roof last week, he received an immediate, unexpected response when property developer Paddy Kelly threw in the grand, if quirky, sum of €999,999.99 to the project. The developer of much of Dublin's Smithfield area, Kelly has also offered to donate €150 from each apartment sold, matching a scheme Mellon has put in place in one of his UK developments.

"Niall is right when he talks about the need for leadership," says Kelly. "If I'd done what he had, I might have said nothing - but in life example is important. The power is in the collective, whether its builders, banks or whoever. It will spur others on."

Early next year, a group led by Mellon and RTÉ presenter Des Cahill will travel to the Imizamo Yethu township and spend 10 days kick-starting the work. Needing 150 builders for the Cape Town trip, Mellon has already received over 200 phone calls.

"We'll work hard, but play hard too. It's not a pilgrimage."

Last week, the builder of a scheme of apartments under construction next to Taylor's Three Rock, overheard talk of the project during his lunch break and announced that he would not only build but also pay for two of the houses.

Mellon is delighted, but not surprised. "The Irish haven't forgotten how difficult their own past was. We are still remarkably generous people."

For more details, contact the Habitat for Humanity office in Belfast: 048-90243686 (use 028- from the Republic)