Many entrepreneurs are dropouts; even more are involved in businesses that have little to do with what they studied at school. However, this does not mean they are ignorant; they are the type of people that are continually striving to learn new things. We are living in an age of snooze, you lose.
To avoid being obsolete, and to stay ahead of the pack, African entrepreneurs need to keep up to date with market trends, new technologies, and automation systems that can expedite productivity. Without doing this it will be difficult to remain relevant.
Today, the need for the accumulation of knowledge is more pressing than ever before. What you know now is likely to be out of date within a few months.
With this in mind, it is important to ensure you gather all the information you can as often as possible. Without this, you cannot improve your business – and if you are not getting better, you are getting worse.
Competition is voraciously getting better. Whatever business you are in now, you must offer more a year from now to stay competitive.
It is crucial to note that acquiring information alone does not change anything; otherwise everybody would be rich, happy and healthy. Information on its own won’t suffice; it is what you do with the information that will help you achieve your goals.
There are different ways to keep learning, such as short-term training, on-the-job training, long-term training, reading, or sharing ideas with experienced people. Keep in mind that education is not a one-off experience, rather an ongoing process.
Successful entrepreneurs attach themselves with individuals who either know more than they do or understand things that are in a different field to what they know.
Most entrepreneurs are from the school of hard knocks. We learn through trial and error, from experiences that helped us develop the fortitude to face market-related challenges with unequivocal courage. It builds a spirit inside of us that we use to assure ourselves we will make it no matter what.
According to Brian Tracy, you need to be exposed to new information six times to absorb it at a subconscious level. Once there, you’ll use it automatically.
Mark Lamberti, Founder of Massmart and CEO of Imperial Holdings, has a library at his house. When you talk to Lamberti, he’ll tell you his dedication to learning has been an asset in growing three major African companies, Massmart, Transaction Capital and Imperial Holdings.
Lamberti is not alone. If you visit the wealthiest entrepreneurs in your country, it is likely that each one will have a library at their home. It’s the same with the wealthiest men in the world; Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have an enormous appetite to read.
So, here comes the billion-dollar question: did most wealthy entrepreneurs become successful then buy books, or did they buy books then become successful? I think we know the answer.
One thing I find fascinating about the top entrepreneurs is that they love reading biographies of other successful people, whether in business, sports, politics, or entertainment. Those stories are of great interest to them as long as the person succeeded in spite of the odds stacked against them.
Today, we have a plethora of seminars and conferences – it is useful for an entrepreneur to frequently attend sector-specific events to increase your knowledgebase about your field.
Formal education is often focused on theoretical concepts, instead of being task- or problem-solving orientated; business schools need to work around this. The best institutions invite business leaders to be guest lecturers, or take students on fieldtrips to the best companies that their modules and courses cover.
Continuous learning is key to giving your business an advantage over others. However, true success lies in applying what you have learnt faster than anyone else.

Entrepreneurs and The School Of Hard Knocks

When a 10-year-old Dimitri Hadjipaschali started playing computer games his parents scoffed at the idea. Hadjipaschali was housebound, after breaking his ankle skateboarding, when he discovered his brother playing a game called Counter-Strike. This proved to be an existential moment on crutches; gaming became Hadjipaschali’s life.
“I just needed a crosshair and Counter-Strike was the game I kind of stuck with. I decided I was going to be a full-time gamer when I joined [eSports team] Bravado in 2008&#8230; I was doing it full time, trying to win competitions. Every time it came to a tournament I was trying to win. Every time I would come in second or third it was the worst day of my life for me. That’s when I knew,” he says.
Eight years later, Hadjipaschali is one of the rising stars in the next online craze in Africa. In bedrooms across the continent a generation of professionals is playing electronic sports, or eSports, for a living.
Competitive online gaming draws millions via streaming websites and where as much as $20 million can be at stake. It’s a bit like the Olympics for geeks and eSports has its own disciplines. Hadjipaschali is the captain for Bravado’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, or CS GO, team.
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This is a first-person shooter game where a team of five tries to thwart bombers. In tournaments, teams play off in a best-of-three taking turns to attack and defend. The more games you win, the stronger your team becomes.
CS GO is one of the most popular games in South Africa. Globally it is the fourth highest-earning eSports game, with 5,396 professional players competing for $19.16 million in prizemoney at 1,710 tournaments, according to esportsearnings.com.
In Africa, this multi-million-dollar eStory is just beginning. The competition in South Africa is fierce. For years, gamers have battled for a few spots in international competition. That’s where the money is.
This is why Hadjipaschali is at a team boot camp in the cold hills of Meyersdal, south of Johannesburg. The team is here to train for the Electronics &amp; Gaming Expo (EGE) in Cape Town. On the line is a shot at the international arena – an all-expenses-paid spot at the Electronic Sports World Cup and a chance to win $75,000, in Paris at the end of October.
“If we don’t take first place [in Cape Town] we don’t know when this opportunity will come again,” he says.
It’s going to be a long night for the team. On any given day, Hadjipaschali practices nine hours a day, often finishing at dawn. This weekend, with the promise of Paris looming, they will push even harder.
“A boot camp is for us to be more focused, to get more work done. It forces us to work when we are next to each other.”
It has been an historic and lucrative year for eSports in South Africa.
From Johannesburg is Barry ‘Anthrax’ Louzada, one of the old hands – which doesn’t take too long in this business. Involved in the industry since 1999, Louzada is called the South African godfather of eGaming. He slogged it out for 10 years as a competitive gamer around the world.
“Two years ago, you were at maybe a R100,000 ($7,000) total cash prize money for an event, because there was only one event a year. Now you are looking at over R2 million ($142,000) in just one year,” says Louzada.
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These days Louzada is a shoutcaster, in English that means he gives live commentary on the sport.
“When I started out, it was a case of people driving around going to each other’s houses [barbequing] and LANing (network gaming). The internet wasn’t workable in this country for us to actually do any sort of online competing or playing. Now you have got hundreds and thousands of people coming to conventions,” he says.
As Louzada’s days as a competitive gamer are ending, Hadjipaschali’s are just beginning. If you saw Hadjipaschali walking down the street you wouldn’t think he was one of the top online gamers in the country. But those in the know ask for his autograph. For Hadjipaschali it’s more about the rush than the cash.
“In the beginning you can feel that pressure, that big match temperament, where you are not at the comfort of your own home behind your computer at your desk. When you are at home your hands aren’t shaking and it’s easier to play.”
Hadjipaschali’s next step on the road to fame and dollars was at a tournament in the cavernous Cape Town International Convention Centre on July 29. The team strolls in with the ease born of years perfecting their craft. They set up their computers, log in, huddle, and put on their headphones. Once the headphones are on, says Hadjipaschali, they won’t see anything but the screen.
With a crowd of almost a hundred cheering them on, it takes two hours to win their quarterfinal against a team called Energy. The players get up, shake hands and then make their way back to their hotel for some rest.
Hadjipaschali isn’t the only professional gamer in his family. His older brother Andreas, who founded Bravado, also had his shot. Now the team’s manager and coach, Andreas is even more determined to see South African gamers on the international scene.
“You only have one or two options, to make do with what qualifiers we have got [in South Africa] or we go overseas and we try qualify over there, but it gets really expensive. To go overseas, for five days with five players with accommodation, food, drinks we spent easily over R150-R170,000 (around $12,000). It’s different if you are living in Europe and there are qualifiers there all the time.”
Although the industry is booming, it’s not easy for the players of Bravado to play professionally. The team practises online every night. This is to accommodate players like 17-year-old Aran Groesbeek, who is still in school. His parents will allow him to play only once he has finished his homework. Ashton Muller, 24 years old, works part time as a manager at his father’s construction company. He dropped out of university to focus on gaming.
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Robby da Loca spent a year in Sweden, the mecca of CS GO, trying to make it. But, with the high cost of living in Europe and having to work part time, he fell short and returned to South Africa. Da Loca is so captivated that when he first started playing, he would sneak onto his brother’s computer to play with his earphones off, so he could hear if his brother came home.
The final member is Ruan van Wyk, a qualified industrial engineer living in Port Elizabeth.
In Cape Town, the competition moves on to its final day. The atmosphere is intense as Bravado huddle before their semifinal. The auditorium is packed with fans. Shoutcasters blast their commentary. Behind the players is a giant screen, where the action is shown. Thousands more watch online. Bravado scores a crushing victory to get to the final.
South Africa has drawn the attention from teams around the world. One of those is Anthony Nell, manager of the South African branch of international brand Flipsid3 Tactics.
“What [Flipsid3 Tactics] are interested in is the player development in South Africa. They are looking for good players that are from parts of the world untapped by the rest of the world,” says Nell.
If you thought that gamers couldn’t earn a salary you would be wrong. Nell says even basic salaries for a player in a reserve league and lower would be around $5,000 a month, excluding prize money and endorsements.
The most lucrative eSports game is Defense of the Ancients 2 (DOTA 2). It attracts total prize pools of $86.7 million. At The International 4 in August, the crowdfunded prizes locked at $20.7 million and the winners, Wings Gaming, from China, walked away with $9.1 million for a week’s work.
Africa might not have as much cash to spare, but the pressure in Cape Town’s final is intense. Hadjipaschali and his team win a contested first set against their rivals, Carbon eSports, from Cape Town, who are playing at home.
Bravado suffers from nerves in the second set, throwing away an eight-point lead as Carbon force a decider. Ten minutes before the crucial final round that will make or break this team, Hadjipaschali gathers outside for a pep talk.
“Play calm and play smart,” he says.
The talk pays off and Bravado wins the final round clinically. The team leaps from their chairs shouting. The elation on their faces is priceless. It’s not the Olympics, nor the World Cup; but for these players it’s just as important. Hadjipaschali is so overwhelmed he cries.
“This is unreal. It may not seem like a lot to people, but this is what most of us do full time,” he says.
Ahead of Hadjipaschali and his team lies Paris and a possible $75,000, and that’s just the start.
How many more young men and women from Africa are going to go out on the international stages in search of millions, earning a living in a way their parents would surely fail to understand. Check your kids in the bedroom.

You  Can’t Get The Kids  Off The Computer

With almost a year until the Olympic Games in Rio, athletes are preparing to perform on the world’s greatest sporting platform. Our weeks are not measured by days but by number of training sessions. Citius, Altius, Fortius is not just the Olympic motto, it is our lifestyle and we are doing everything to become ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’.
Our training and competitions have been improving, quietly, over the past three years. Like gladiators working hard in the dungeons, we have been building our strength, shaping our bodies, and preparing our minds. As the time draws near for us to perform in front of billions, curiosity rises among the crowds, eager to know what they can expect to see.
Science in sport has increased dramatically and the older, more brutal, Spartan ways of training have been superseded by smarter methods of quality rather than quantity. Brute strength alone does not have a place in modern day competition. The athlete of today requires natural talent, an inborn competitive nature, instinctive decision-making abilities, and the strength of mind to continuously overcome difficult challenges.
In addition to the above, athletes need a passion for their sport and dedication to training. Over the last few years, I have been religiously building a strong physical foundation. My workouts have focused on full body and functional exercises to develop a base that will be strong enough to withstand the next phase of my training – perfecting my race. I don’t believe I have ever swum my perfect race and I am beginning to believe one can never swim a perfect race, but I aim to be as close to perfect as possible. This means every tiny detail must become as natural as breathing: the split-second explosive start, fast turns, efficient strokes, perfect technique and powerful kicking. There is no time to think what must be done; it should have already been done.
For this to happen every hour of the day must be accounted for. This includes:
Swim training: 50-60km per week
Gym Workouts: 4-6 hours per week
Other Workouts (Barre Class): 2 per week
Nutrition: 5 meals per day (plus snacks)
Sleep: 7-8 hours per night
Rest: 1-2 hours of sleep per day
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Unbelievable goals will be set to increase our failures, destroy our confidence, and reduce us to tears. We will be hammered into shape and mentally manipulated by our coaches to push us past our breaking points. It is physically demanding. Sleep is essential. I always arrive early, day after day to face the same grueling beat down. I will be drained by the thought of how much there is still to do and drained by my coach’s rigorous requests. But, suddenly, I will get the goal we are after and the tears will stop, the pain will go away, and my confidence will skyrocket. Then, my coach will tell me to do it all over again.
Athletes can generally handle pressure extremely well but as the Olympics approach, stresses need to be managed. They have to be reduced as these can have big impacts on our focus. Creating a good entourage will help manage these pressures, increasing the possibility of success. This includes:
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My friends and family helping to take the pressure off by having fun
My coaches ensuring I have the best program to follow
My teammates challenging me and keeping me focused
My sponsors ensuring I have the tools necessary to train and compete
My fans encouraging me
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It is because of this support; my passion and experience, that I have managed to go from no ranking to top 20 in the world this year. I even swam my fastest time in one of my events, breaking the African record, but this is still not good enough. I have to get stronger, I have to get leaner, and I have to be fitter than I have ever been in my life and that is just to make it into the semi-finals.
Enhanced training techniques, fierce competition, and the quest for glory have created athletes who are swimming faster, jumping higher, and performing stronger which could make the Rio Olympics quite possibly the most exhilarating Games ever; and I will be a part of it.

Drained, Weeping And In Pain Towards The Gain

It would seem Rolene Strauss’ life is full of second chances. Perhaps that’s why she has an abiding philosophy: “Everything happens twice, the first time in your mind and then in reality.”
As a child, she imagined herself one day winning the Miss World pageant. They would call her name, place the crown on her head and she would float on stage smiling and waving like a queen.
At age 22, it happened. For real.
From a petri dish to the world stage, it has been an interesting journey.
“I’m a test-tube baby,” says the beauty from Volksrust, Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Her mother, a nurse, had struggled to conceive. After five years and several failed attempts, she and Strauss’ dad, a doctor, turned to modern medicine, deciding to give fate a second chance.
In 1992, Strauss was the product of the first successful EIFT in-vitro fertilization procedure in the medical facility at the University of the Free State in the Free State province of South Africa.
As destiny would have it, ironically, after high school, this was the world Strauss would come back to, to study medicine.
“I’ve always wanted to be a doctor. Maybe because of the fact that I was a test-tube baby, maybe because of the fact that my parents were very passionate about health,” she says.
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Climbing Trees
A year after she was born, Strauss’ parents naturally conceived her younger brother, who her mother Theresa says was “sent from heaven”, while her daughter, who she calls Lolla, was mischievous and climbed trees as a child.
“Rolene was adventurous…and even as a child, the person with the strongest will and mind we knew. She excelled in everything she did. The way we remember Rolene, as a curly-haired girl, is the exact way she is today. Just a little more mature,” says Theresa.
In 2011, 19-year-old Strauss acted on her dreams, took a leap of faith and entered the Miss South Africa competition.
Paledi Segapo, a judge on the Miss South Africa 2011 panel, describes Strauss as a “late bloomer”.
“When she entered [for the first time], she didn’t seem like a strong contender, very innocent and fragile,” said Segapo in an interview on eNCA.com in December last year.
That first time, Strauss was placed in the top five.
“I remember standing there and when they didn’t call my name it was almost a relief,” she had said in an interview with Top Billing last year.
No, this was not the end, but a new beginning. Strauss thereafter enrolled for medicine at the University of the Free State.
In her fourth year, she put her studies on hold and gave her beauty pageant dream another shot. More confident and well-prepared, this time she took home the crown (March 2014).
There was more to come.
The Miss South Africa competition was merely a dress-rehearsal for the world stage.
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Cool as a breeze
In December 2014, Strauss embarked on an even bigger journey as one of 120 contestants at the Miss World pageant in London. The contestants from around the world were all vying for the diamond-sapphire-turquoise crown that would place them in history books alongside the likes of Aishwarya Rai (Miss World 1994) and Nigerian Agbani Darego (Africa’s first black woman to win Miss World in 2001).
Strauss smiles as she thinks back to her time in London.
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“The thing I will always remember from this experience is the different cultures I got to experience. We ate Thai food every night in [Maeya Nonthawan Thongleng] Miss Thailand’s room. The US is very popular for their sweets, so Miss USA [Elizabeth Safrit] brought a lot of sweets for us to try… Miss Australia [Courtney Thorpe] was probably my best friend – people actually said that we look alike. It’s so funny because she’s amazing at doing make-up and I was good at doing hair so we helped each other for the final.”
On the night of the pageant, Strauss was as cool as a light breeze on a hot summer’s day.
“I was so relaxed. I had the same feeling I had on the Miss South Africa stage. I remember looking into the audience, I saw my parents there. My mom was very relaxed but my dad was so stressed…I wouldn’t say I expected to win but I was ready.”
That night, Strauss took home the Miss World crown and became the third South African to win the competition. Past winners were Durbanite Penny Coelen in 1958 and Anneline Kriel in 1974.
Strauss floated on stage, wearing a light pink off-shoulder gown. The crowd’s gaze fixed on her treasured crown, no one had even noticed her Miss South Africa sash had slipped to the bottom of her dress.
“It was a childhood dream that came true and as big an honor as it is, it is still a responsibility&#8230;But it’s also not the destination; it’s the beginning of a new journey,” she says.
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A New life
While some may think beauty pageants are merely platforms to objectify women, Strauss sees it differently.
“If you look at beauty, it fades. What we are working on is a legacy that will last beyond our lives. If you really look at what Miss World has achieved in raising millions of dollars for charities, you’ll see that we’re making a big difference in people’s lives.”
After the London win, she arrived in Johannesburg to a hero’s welcome as thousands of fans, celebrities and supporters gathered to welcome South Africa’s newest pride.
Many who followed her journey on various social media platforms felt they already knew her.
“As soon as I hit the ground in South Africa, it has been quite hectic. I expected a few people to be there but not at all as it was. They had a choir singing. One of the girls who I gave a wheelchair to during my reign as Miss South Africa was there. I’m overwhelmed by the support.”
After hours of photographs, handshakes, hugs and gifts, Strauss sat through a number of press interviews at The Maslow Hotel in Sandton.
When it came to the final interview of the day, you wouldn’t have blamed her for wanting to kick off her heels, slump on the couch and replay recorded responses from her previous interviews.
Yet, when she opened the door of her hotel-room for this interview, she showed no signs of fatigue. She shone in a short bright yellow dress, sparkling heels and the crown intact on her head. What’s her secret?
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Fan Of A Princess
“I actually do my own hair and make-up which comes in handy because I don’t always have someone. I have someone who helps with styling, Werner Wessels, and he’s been helping me [from] before I became Miss South Africa. My style is kind of the way you tell a story without people being able to speak to you. My style icon is Princess Kate Middleton,” she says.
At the end of 2015, when Strauss’ Miss World reign ends, it will be back to medical school, university lectures, late-night study sessions and patients.
“It’s part of who I am, part of what I want to be. I want to be able to practice and I also want to start a business that focuses on women’s health…I like the holistic approach to women’s health and my health because I believe that your mind and body are interlinked and connected so if you look after you mind you automatically look after your body, also vice versa.”
Before she hits the books, Strauss has an exciting year ahead traveling to 50 countries, starting with China, India and the Philippines. She will also be working on various ventures including the ‘Beauty with a purpose’ project that raises money for humanitarian projects across the world and, as stated on her blog, a biography titled Life is a Garden.
“In life, you get a lot of platforms to do good, to reach for your dreams and have a positive influence on other people’s lives as well. Whether it’s through education, being a doctor, or others have the platform of being good at sports. That way, I’ve received the platform of Miss World and I’m going to use it to do good,” says Strauss.
Diplomatic passport in hand, her heels in her bag and the crown never too far away, she is ready to make the most of all the chances life has gifted her.

184A9133

The Second Chance That Changed Her World

When she was nine, Zuriel Oduwole, who lived in Los Angeles, entered into a history competition that challenged students to make a short documentary on a revolution. As the youngest participant, Oduwole proved that age is nothing but a number.
This was more than just a competition for Oduwole. Of Nigerian-American heritage, she was born in Los Angeles in the summer of 2002, and had lived in Paris and Hong-Kong with her parents. She has been fascinated by Africa for as long as she can remember. This project was an opportunity to educate herself further and show why the continent had fascinated her so.
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While Oduwole’s sixth grade classmates planned projects that looked at California or the United States, she wanted to go further. With her parents’ support, she chose Ghana as a country with a well-documented revolution. She traveled to the West African nation, where she interviewed two men who had ruled the country for many years—Presidents John Rawlings and John Kufuor.
Oduwole’s documentary was given plaudits for originality.
Following the success of the project, a year later, the 10-year-old Oduwole started to make documentaries about African political and business leaders, who are making a difference in their countries.
She now has an impressive CV, which features interviews with some of Africa’s most prominent figures—President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, business magnate Aliko Dangote and a few more.
“I like to do many things, like interview people to find out how they see things, especially presidents of countries, to find out what they are doing to help their citizens. I was excited to interview President Uhuru Kenyatta in May, because he is the newest elected African leader. I asked him questions like how he plans to bring his country together after a tough election, and how it feels being elected to a position his father [held] many years ago,” says Oduwole.
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Interviewing President Sirleaf was particularly meaningful to her, because she was the first female president in Africa.
“She encouraged me to study hard and to pursue my dreams, [she said] that I can be anything I want to be. President Joyce Banda of Malawi told me the same thing too, when I interviewed her last year.”
She also enjoyed speaking to the president of Nigeria.
“His interview was unique because he laughed when I asked him how much good luck his name has brought to Nigeria, but he answered in detail, so that was very nice. He is really cool too, and I like his hat.”
While it proved to be an exciting time for her, Oduwole’s trips to Africa opened her eyes to many harsh realities, it spurred her interest to get more involved. She decided to cast her net wider by championing a program called “Dream Up! Speak Up! Stand Up!” with the help of the prestigious Lagos Business School and the US Consulate in Lagos, earlier this year.
“I am very interested in the girl child and the things they face in Africa. As you know, the girl child always gets [fewer] resources in Africa compared to the boy child and that is not fair. I spoke to students in some schools in Lagos about the need for the girls to dream big and speak loudly on important issues. I also wanted them to know that the girl child can do the same as the boy child, if she is given the opportunity to try. Girls are just as creative as boys,” she says.
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Oduwole has ambitions of becoming an athlete and competing at the Olympics. She has a flair for literature and would like to write children’s adventure books. Unlike most girls her age, she has an interest in robotics.
“But when I get older, I want to be the president of the United States. When I say this, people say ‘Why don’t you want to be the president of an African country, where you are from?’ Well, I tell them that I have to think smart. If I am the president of an African country, I might be able to affect my country, or maybe two countries. But if I am the president of the United States, I am going to be able to affect the United States, and many other countries in the world, especially in Africa. I have to [make] policies that help Africa and the United States too.”
Oduwole, the oldest of four children, was home-schooled by her mother and other home-school teachers. She belongs to a private schooling system that enables students to attend events and projects outside of school, while preserving a traditional classroom interface. At 10 years old, she is in the seventh grade—two grades ahead of the average 10-year-old child in the United States.
She has visited more than a dozen countries and is fluent in English and Mandarin. She’s currently working on developing her Nigerian languages, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa. Oduwole believes her travels and lessons provide an opportunity to represent Africa to her peers in the United States.
“I always tell my friends in school back in California that Africa is not bad at all, and there are some nice things there. Sometimes, they don’t believe me when I say there are malls in Africa. So, with my documentaries, I hope to rebrand Africa by showing the rest of the world positive things about Africa,” she says.
With all her activities on the continent, there is a bigger picture for Oduwole. She would like to see the children of Africa going to school rather than selling wares on the streets.
“They need an education so they can have good jobs when they get older, especially the girl child. I am really hoping that with the interviews I do with presidents, they would see that an African girl child like me is doing things that girls in their countries can do also.”
Oduwole is doing her part and hopes that with her mission, she can be a big voice of change on the continent.

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