Colorful baskets ready for sale

The Baskets Holding Them Together

Charles Oronsaye started out with a career in law and music before the fashion business, and is now painstakingly growing his brand to craft couture for all Africans.  



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Charles Oronsaye chose fashion as a career not because he was passionate about it, but simply because he didn’t want to become a lawyer. A rebel since his early years, he tried his hand at various professions, including music. 



“I wanted to prove to my parents that I was not a good for nothing,” says Oronsaye. 



And that is exactly what he did. His original dream was to study in Malaysia but due to his parents’ break-up, an outcome of financial misfortune, Oronsaye had to find other ways to make ends meet.



“My dad wanted me to go into the sciences but I never liked it because I was more interested in the arts. My dad said if I was going to the arts, I should go to the apex, which is why I studied law at the University of Benin. I wanted to explore three things: music, law and computer science.” 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">&#8220;I saved a little and with my uncle&#8217;s money, I decided I was going to start a fashion business, but I didn&#8217;t know how.</blockquote>



Music turned out to be his first love. Oronsaye created his
alter ego, Tony Cream, and began taking part in music competitions and even got
shortlisted as a finalist to be an MTV video jockey. The popularity he gained
from his creative endeavors landed him a gig on the local radio station where
he began to leverage his position as an intern to make ends meet while still
pursuing a law degree at university. 



“I got exploited on the radio. I was not getting paid because there was a culture that you don’t get paid as an intern and I worked there for two years without being paid,” says Oronsaye. 



But what he lost in earnings, he gained in a strong fan
following. With an audience of about 5,000 followers on Blackberry Messenger at
the time, Oronsaye decided to monetize his platform. His opportunity came when
his uncle gave him N100,000 ($276) to complete his final year at university.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2019/10/02/owning-the-african-narrative/">Owning The African Narrative</a>



“Growing up, I still had a sense of fashion. I could tweak everything I saw to my style and people would love it. I understood early that almost all ideas are not original. I saved a little and with my uncle’s money, I decided I was going to start a fashion business, but I didn’t know how.”



The plan was simple. Oronsaye noticed there was a need for
personalization in the fashion industry. He knew that fueled by social media
and the Generation Z effect, luxury was rapidly becoming not about what you
have, but who you are, and all that helps you project that image. 



Buyers in 2010 no longer wanted monogrammed collections of
expensive things, but instead, unique pieces that offered them exclusivity.
Thus, Tony Cream Fashion was born. Oronsaye’s idea was thus: “So, I will go to
the market and ask ‘who is the best person here’, and I say ‘this is my idea,
can you do this for me’ and they say ‘ok’. I would ask ‘how much will they
charge and I will double the price on the one condition, that ‘you will train
me also’.” 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="637" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7938-1-1024x637.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42435" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7938-1-1024x637.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7938-1-300x187.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7938-1-600x373.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7938-1-768x478.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7938-1-1536x955.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7938-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



With over 5,000 contacts, Oronsaye had no need for a physical store. He would simply take the photos of his new creations and post them online, and the orders would come thick and fast.



“I started making money and kept developing from the online
base to real-time base. People began to know me but people needed to have a
brick-and-mortar place where they could find me. I couldn’t do it in Benin so I
needed to go to a place where I could flourish, so I moved to Lagos,” says
Oronsaye.



Lagos is currently one of the most exciting fashion
destinations in Africa, with the likes of Michelle Obama, Solange, Beyoncé and
Lupita Nyong’o all supporting Nigerian designers. 



To thrive in this competitive environment, Oronsaye had to
create a bigger vision. And Africana Couture was born.



“So, I took my iPad and my [photo] collection that I shot myself, and I would go to luxury hotels like Sheraton and Oriental, and I would approach everybody I met that I felt was my ideal client. When I approached them, I would say ‘hey, this is what I make’. Of every ten people, five would give me their cards and three would order and maybe two or one out of empathy, would make an advance payment to just support me.”



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/life/2019/10/31/conscious-fashion-so-much-more-you-can-do-with-discarded-clothes/">Conscious Fashion: ‘So Much More You Can Do With Discarded Clothes’</a>



His formula worked and soon, people began to talk about Oronsaye’s products. The business, which began on Blackberry Messenger, is today on course to become an established Nigerian fashion brand with the opening of its flagship retail store in Abuja.



“We are launching our Africana X which will be the Africana experience store. Because couture is quite expensive, I built a brand of kaftan that’s more affordable but without the same level of detailing&#8230; The goal is to build stores across Africa and change the narrative, which is clothes for Africans by Africans,” says Oronsaye. 



Pieces are from $400 for a bespoke kaftan and Oronsaye has
added new creations including an innerwear line as well as his own fabrics. But
the journey has not been easy. 



Like many industries in Nigeria, Oronsaye is plagued by the
power crisis as well as a lack of technical knowhow in the sector and negative
consumer behavior.



“The average African will give value to Gucci and Zara
because they come from overseas but then when it comes to you, because they can
see your label, they begin to devalue you.” 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="803" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7913-1-803x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42436" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7913-1-803x1024.jpg 803w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7913-1-300x382.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7913-1-600x765.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7913-1-235x300.jpg 235w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7913-1-768x979.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7913-1-1205x1536.jpg 1205w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_7913-1.jpg 1506w" sizes="(max-width: 803px) 100vw, 803px" /></figure>



In spite of all these challenges, Oronsaye is more
determined to provide quality products with a global vision.



“Africana means Africa is beyond the jungle of lions and
mountains. “Africa is a spirit. I chose Africana because I have a vision to
clothe Africa in the long run.”&nbsp;

Photo Credit George Okoro1

Haute And Happening

“There is no greater asset to Africa than its youth,” a statement that has been repeatedly proclaimed, but the continent still has a long way to go. Despite robust economic growth over the past two decades, a 1 percent increase in growth between 2000–14 was associated with only 0.41 percent growth in employment. This figure suggests that employment stood at less than 1.8 percent a year, far below the nearly 3 percent annual growth in the labor force. If this trend continues, 100 million people will join the multitudes of the unemployed in Africa by 2030.



With this in mind, researchers, youth representatives, business leaders,
and policymakers have joined over 350 stakeholders in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt,
to significantly move the needle on youth empowerment.&nbsp; 



The annual African Economic Conference (AEC), is jointly
organized by the African Development Bank, the Economic Commission for Africa
and the United Nations Development Programme, to discuss pertinent issues
affecting the continent. 



The 2019 AEC is held in Egypt and hosted by the
Bank on the theme; “Jobs, entrepreneurship and capacity development for African
youth” and runs from 2-4 December.



Turning the youth bulge into opportunities has been
the focus of the African Development Bank’s game-changing approach to job
creation, entrepreneurship, and capacity development. In recognition of the crucial
role that entrepreneurship plays in the creation of high-quality jobs, the Bank
developed its Jobs for Youth in Africa (JfYA) Strategy&nbsp;(2016-2025). The
Strategy aims to create 25 million jobs for African youth over the next decade as
well as equipping 50 million youth with a mix of hard and soft skills to
increase their employability and their entrepreneurial success rate. 



The impact is already being felt. Since its launch
in 2016, over $20 billion has been invested by the Bank across 318 projects.
These investments are directly making a difference in the African youth skills,
entrepreneurship, business development, and job creation.



In parallel and working closely with its partners,
the Bank is helping strengthen entrepreneurship ecosystems in Africa. &nbsp;The flagship Youth Entrepreneurship and
Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund&nbsp;(YEI MDTF) program provides&nbsp;interventions
that equip the African youth, women-led start-ups, and micro, small, and medium
enterprises (MSMEs) with skills and financial support to run bankable
businesses. 



The program also assists regional member countries (RMCs)
in their implementation of economic and social reforms toward job creation. 



In just one short year, the Trust Fund’s resources leapfrogged
from USD4.4 million (in 2017) to almost USD40 million (in 2018). By providing
technical assistance through enterprise support organizations and financial
institutions, the Fund is anticipated to reach more than 480 youth-led startups
in Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Togo, and Zimbabwe.



The Bank has also been very active on the education
front, supporting higher education institutions to deliver innovative training
curricula that are adapted to the changing demand of the labor market and the private
sector. &nbsp;Academic incubators—also known
as innovation centers of excellence, have been established. 



One great example of success is the &nbsp;African Institutions of Science and Technology
(AIST) Program, whose mission is to deliver quality postgraduate education and
build collaborative research capacity in various fields of Science,
Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI). With funding from the Bank, a
total of 1,477 PhD and MSc students have graduated, out of which 676 are women.
Additionally, a total of 35 partnerships have been brokered with the private
sector to enhance the quality and relevance of research.



Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has
also been acknowledged by the Bank as one of the main drivers of human capital
development alongside enhanced basic education that generates knowledge and
skills more broadly. As such, the Bank’s TVET project in Tanzania, has bolstered
TVET and teacher education with an investment amounting to $52 million. The
expected outputs include expanded infrastructure of 13 institutions targeting
about 8,000 trainees, expanded and extensive use of ICT in instruction at 53
institutions, and increased capacity for teaching, policy formulation, planning,
and quality assurance.



The insights and thoughts provided by other African
stakeholders, youth representatives, and political leaders on the debate on
youth jobs, skills, and entrepreneurship capacities during the AEC 2019 are
immensely important in helping the continent move forward. 



Now, more than ever, we must listen to the voices of the African youth.



&#8211; Hanan Morsy, Director, Macroeconomic Forecasting and Research at the African Development Bank Group.

WhatsApp Image 2019-11-30 at 07.51.13

Op-Ed: Fostering Jobs, Entrepreneurship, And Capacity Development For African Youth: The Time For Disruption Is Now!

As part of FORBES AFRICA’s ongoing eighth anniversary celebrations, we present a CEO Rhetorical Analysis by Anahita Negarandeh, a Harvard University Extension School student, on FORBES AFRICA’s founder and publisher, Rakesh Wahi. The CEO Rhetorical Analysis researches and analyzes the rhetoric — the effective messaging or speech — of a CEO and global business leader. The values chosen to explore in the CEO’s rhetoric are a key part of this article.



This
rhetorical analysis examines the messaging of Rakesh Wahi, Founder of CNBC
Africa and FORBES AFRICA. By consulting with approximately 10 executives from
Wahi’s global team, this rhetoric examines four of his leadership values such
as courage and determination, collaboration, passion for education, and
equality. 



Courage and determination 



Wahi
is a well-respected global businessman based in Dubai and South Africa who has
been involved with approximately 20 corporate development projects. He
continues to grow his establishments in more than 25 offices around the world.
As a leader in media, IT, telecoms, and education, Wahi has built companies in
22 countries, employing over 1,000 employees. Prior to moving to the UAE, Wahi
served in the Indian Armed Forces for approximately nine years and was awarded
the Vishisht Seva Medal by the President of India in 1985 for distinguished
services to the country in peacetime. During his army service, at age 23, he
was part of India’s second base establishment in Antarctica where a near-death
experience changed his life. 



“But I realized at that age that life is not something you take for granted, therefore, whatever you want in this world, you have to set out to achieve it. At the end of the day, you are either there or not there; if you are not there, and if there are unfulfilled dreams, they will always be unfulfilled.” (Wahi) 



READ MORE: <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2016/10/01/5-minutes-rakesh-wahi/">5 Minutes With Rakesh Wahi</a>



Wahi’s
executive team members, who have known him for approximately 20-30 years,
believe this statement. Based on four personal interviews conducted for the
purpose of this analysis with Wahi’s global leadership team, Wahi “lives this
statement in his everyday life” (Martin). Many acknowledged that he is continuously
determined to fulfil his dreams. Lars Jeppesen, Wahi’s Co-Founder of Tech One
Global, states that “Wahi dreams and then puts all efforts to pursue the
dreams… he is still building universities, creating new businesses, and pursues
his dreams” (Jeppesen). Wahi is known to thrive on challenges and never gives
up on achieving his goals even when faced with obstacles and challenges. 



A
leader’s personal life experiences and adversities play a major role in one’s
values and ethics. In Wahi’s case, facing death at a young age motivated him to
pursue his dreams to become realities. This is an admirable value for
entrepreneurs, especially the younger generation. As a role model, Wahi teaches
them to never give up despite challenges. 



Collaboration &amp; Importance of People 



Wahi
has learned valuable business lessons from his experience in the army, most
importantly, the core lesson taught in the military about the importance of people
and looking after them. His 2016 autobiography, Be a Lion, dedicated a section to The Importance of People.
Books have had a great impact on Wahi, specifically the philosophy of reason
from Ayn Rand while he was fighting for his life from the military
life-threatening incident. As an advocate in the influence of others, he
reiterates in his book, “That it is difficult to achieve anything without the
involvement, commitment, loyalty, and assistance of others. When you come
across a person with whom you can see a future, you must grasp the opportunity
and mutually make the most of it.” (Wahi Ch. 1, location 173, par. 4) 



Wahi executes his philosophy in numerous examples throughout his career, especially one with Daniel Adkins who is now CEO of Wahi’s Transnational Academic Group Middle East. When asked to describe a situation reflecting Wahi’s collaboration with and valuing people, this quality has directly been experienced, Adkins states, “I am probably the best possible example of this philosophy.” (Adkins). He describes his hiring experience entering the organization in late 2009 and rise from the most entry level position at one of Wahi’s Dubai-based universities, Murdoch University, to now CEO for the Middle East operations. 



“Throughout
this entire process, Wahi has provided both direct mentorship and mentorship by
example and has made sure that I did the same for my entire team, which has
produced fantastic organisational results including no turnover with regret for
six years.” (Adkins) 



READ MORE: <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2019/03/01/the-most-defining-aspects-of-our-lives/">The Most Defining Aspects Of Our Lives</a>



As
stated in Lancaster University Ghana’s Senior Management biography, Wahi’s
“core focus is on long term corporate and leadership development through
building strong management teams”. Adkins reiterates this statement in an
interview: “Wahi absolutely lives this philosophy and demands it from his
entire management team… the people are the business and there is nothing more
important” (Adkins). 



Wahi
is known to have a special gift and skill to find loyal people and never
hesitates to show appreciation to people’s loyalty. Wahi learned this quality
from his role model parents, a father who was a military, corporate, and family
hero and a mother who was not only Mother Teresa’s friend, but a genuine giver
in life. In other words, Wahi is a “go back to your roots leader” (Al
Abadilah). Wahi was brought up in a giving family and now gives back as a
leader. Because of the people-oriented philosophies followed in his
organizations, employee turnaround rates are phenomenally low. Everyone is
treated like family and the principles presented in Ken Blanchard’s book, Gung-Ho!, are lived by
management. 



Wahi’s
philosophy about collaboration and importance of people is truly refreshing in
a CEO and business leader. In today’s individualistic world, leaders like Wahi
who dedicate a major part of their leadership role to importance of people is a
rare finding. Such values must be celebrated and promoted in all aspects of
business worldwide. 



Passion for education 



As
a sought-after speaker at educational institutions on leadership and
entrepreneurship, Wahi received an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Science from
the International University of Management by the Minister of Education of
Namibia. He was also appointed as an IATF2018 Goodwill Ambassador by The Trade
Finance for Africa. He personally learned and continuously teaches patience to
other entrepreneurs in emerging markets. In an interview with CNBC Africa, The Entrepreneur’s
Entrepreneur: Rakesh Wahi,about his book Be a Lion, Wahi
shares he is “extremely passionate about education”. His vision is to set up
educational centers of excellence across Africa incorporating new innovative
industries such as online and hybrid aspects of education with traditional
classroom environment. He has mentored many people in his leadership journey,
but believes mentorship benefits both parties as he states in an interview with
CNBC Africa: “Within a group, you always learn from each other. Mentorship is
not a one-way journey, you learn every day from your peers, subordinates,
seniors… If you are a student, you will remain a student all your life. You
must be like a sponge, no matter your age.” (Wahi) 



According to Adkins and Martin, executive partners at Wahi’s educational business sectors, Wahi lives his statement daily. Not only does he mentor his staff, he also learns from those on his team whether they are junior level or senior. Wahi has created a business culture amongst all sectors in a way that everyone learns from one another. 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="681" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Rakesh-Wahi-035-681x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42238" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Rakesh-Wahi-035-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Rakesh-Wahi-035-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Rakesh-Wahi-035-600x902.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Rakesh-Wahi-035-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Rakesh-Wahi-035-768x1155.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Rakesh-Wahi-035.jpg 1277w" sizes="(max-width: 681px) 100vw, 681px" /></figure>



“There
is no rank in the discussion. It is both intuitively understood and explicitly
expressed that everyone’s ideas deserve equal consideration and we have made
company-altering decisions based on input received from junior team members
when those ideas turned out to be the best… It is absolutely the culture.”
(Adkins) 



Jeppesen,
now Co-Founder of a tech enterprise with Wahi, states in an interview, “Wahi
has been my mentor since we met 17 years back… Later, when we co-founded Tech
One Global, he was leading our board and mentored me personally as the CEO.”
(Jeppesen). 



The
culture of learning and mentorship from one another has saved the business in
an example of a termination deal of one of Dubai’s university partnerships with
a junior member of the team’s approach. This is proof that critical decisions
are made, as a group despite rank levels. An important aspect of Wahi’s work is
helping the leadership team rise to the next level. 



Equality 



Wahi’s
decision to launch FORBES WOMAN AFRICA was to provide a platform for women
entrepreneurs’ stories and the overwhelming waitlist of these stories in FORBES
AFRICA. 



“The
main reason was that as a startup magazine, FORBES AFRICA was overwhelmed with
a waiting list of stories from 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa; by virtue of
women having a late head start in the business world, the stories were largely
dominated by men who had done great things to transform Africa.” (Wahi) 



In a short period of time, the magazine has risen to be the material of choice for inspirational women stories, with fantastic content being produced. Equality is discussed in an article by FORBES WOMAN AFRICA, Celebrating Five Years with The Founder and Publisher: Rakesh Wahi. 



“We
have discussed the trials and tribulations of women in the workplace and become
a champion for equality. The word ‘equality’ is a living value for us at the
ABN Group and I am so proud that we have been able to personify our values
through affirmative action.” (Wahi) 



READ MORE: <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2019/04/01/equality-as-a-living-value/">Equality As A Living Value</a>



According
to a partner of over 35 years, Rajiv Podar, “Wahi has always respected and
admired hard-working women and a firm believer of equality at workplace and
home… Most of his senior colleagues are women too” (Podar). In an example from
a former female executive at one of Wahi’s first ventures 20 years ago in
Dubai, Maha Al Abadilah discusses the value of equality she experienced as a
woman working with Wahi. “I have never experienced anything that distinguished
a man and a woman, nothing but full respect and treating us with our pure
qualifications and titles.” (Al Abadilah.14:19). 



Wahi
repeatedly demonstrates his firm belief in his statements amongst his team
members. When a decision is to be made for an important matter, all team
members discuss as equals. “It is both intuitively understood and explicitly
expressed that everyone’s ideas deserve equal consideration.” (Adkins).
Evidently, not only the value of equality is present within his ABN Group
amongst women in the workplace, but also amongst all employees. Gender and rank
are clearly not considered in any team discussions and decisions. 



Conclusion 



Wahi’s leadership approach and personality embodies unique values such as a life-changing incident, the collaboration and importance of people, a passion for education, and equality. As he was personally approached for research purposes of this analysis, he promptly welcomed connections with over 10 executives and partners of his global team who were all eager to help. Research results and personal interviews with warm responses from his team members and partners portray all qualities examined in this analysis positively. Wahi lives his statements and is a true people-oriented leader. 



Works
cited: 



Adkins,
Daniel. “Re: Business Paper Inquiry &#8211; Harvard University.” Received by Anahita
Negarandeh, 12 Dec. 2018. 



Africa,
Forbes Woman. “Celebrating Five Years With The Founder &amp; Publisher: Rakesh
Wahi.” Forbes Africa, 27 Sept. 2018,
www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2018/09/27/celebrating-five-years-with-the-founder-publisher-rakesh-wahi/.




Al
Abadilah, Maha. “Phone Interview, Rakesh Wahi Analysis” Voice recorder. 18 Dec.
2018. 



Bandyopadhyay,
Somshankar. “Military Lessons in Entrepreneurship.” GulfNews, 15 Mar.
2017, https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/books/military-lessons-in-entrepreneurship-1.1994221.




Bishop,
Chris. “Re: Chris Bishop CNBC Africa.” Received by Anahita Negarandeh, 12 Dec.
2018. 



CNBC
Africa. “Rakesh Wahi Reflects on CNBC Africa&#8217;s Decade of Broadcasting.” CNBC
Africa, CNBC Africa, 1 June 2017, www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2017/06/01/rakesh-wahi-reflects-on-cnbc-africas-decade-of-broadcasting/.




CNBC
Africa. “The Entrepreneur&#8217;s Entrepreneur: Rakesh Wahi.” CNBC Africa, 4
Nov. 2016, www.cnbcafrica.com/news/special-report/2016/11/04/be-a-lion/. 



Jeppesen,
Lars. “Re: Business Paper Inquiry &#8211; Harvard University.” Received by Anahita
Negarandeh, 12 Dec. 2018. 



Lancaster
University Ghana. “Rakesh Wahi Chairman.” Lancaster University Ghana,
www.lancaster.edu.gh/our-faculty-details.php?id=45. Accessed 8 Dec. 2018. 



Martin, Gary. “Re: Business Paper Inquiry &#8211;
Harvard University.” Received by Anahita Negarandeh, 12 Dec. 2018. 



Naicker,
Roberta. “Re: Business Paper Inquiry &#8211; Harvard University.” Received by Anahita
Negarandeh, 12 Dec. 2018. 



Podar,
Rajiv. “Re: Business Paper Inquiry &#8211; Harvard University.” Received by Anahita
Negarandeh, 12 Dec. 2018. 



Vettath,
Malavika. “Global Entrepreneur Rakesh Wahi: &#8216;I&#8217;ve Been a Very Bad Personal
Investor&#8217;.” The National, The National, 25 May 2018,
www.thenational.ae/business/money/global-entrepreneur-rakesh-wahi-i-ve-been-a-very-bad-personal-investor-1.733606.




Wahi,
Rakesh. Be A Lion. Penguin Books, 2016. Kindle eBook file. 



Wahi,
Rakesh. “Re: Business Paper Inquiry &#8211; Harvard University.” Received by Anahita
Negarandeh, 12 Dec. 2018.

Rakesh Wahi

Analysis: The Values That Make A CEO

Stephan Eyeson started a basketball business at the age of 19. That venture failed, so he tried the data business instead. He is working and playing hard.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



First, the facts.



Africa has a data problem. For all the talk about data being
the new oil, the continent comprises about 12.5% of the world’s population but
only accounts for less than 1% of research output, according to global
information and analytics firm, Elsevier. 



And Survey 54, an AI mobile survey platform solving the problem of data collection on the continent, wants to offer a solution. Founded by Stephan Eyeson, Survey 54 focuses on providing good quality data essential for governments and private businesses to accurately plan, fund and evaluate their activities.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2019/10/02/owning-the-african-narrative/">Owning The African Narrative</a>



“Data in Africa is such a prevalent problem, in a sense of
when you are going to start up a business, it is hard for you to get consumer
data on say ‘how many people eat out in Lagos every day? what is the
transactional value? what are the types of things that people eat? what do they
want to eat etc?’ All these things are available in the West but for people who
want to move into Africa for business, how do they get their data to make their
decisions and how do we make it really easy for them and not just for a startup
but for even governments and larger businesses,” says Eyeson.



Fresh out of a master’s program in innovation and management from Loughborough University in the United Kingdom (UK), Eyeson joined Survey Monkey, an online survey development cloud-based software as a service company, as part of the team responsible for building their enterprise function in London as well as looking after customers in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). After learning the ropes, he decided to branch out to start his own company to offer a more robust and tailored solution for the African market.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"> &#8220;For people who want to move into Africa for business, how do they get their data to make their decisions and how do we make it really easy for them?&#8221; </blockquote>



“The problem around data in Africa and emerging markets is a
massive one. So, for us, it’s about how do we become a data platform not just
for a company but for governments to help them understand their people easier.”



Data is the first step. Then you need intelligence around
that data to enable you to make objective analysis that will shape your
decision-making process, as well as provide the foundation for policy-making
and budgeting.



“Instead of hiring an agency to go to Ghana and do a face-to-face interview, for example, we look at how governments can get mobile data faster and then how they are able to manipulate that data to get the results they need,” says Eyeson.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2019/10/07/the-100-trillion-opportunity-the-race-to-provide-banking-to-the-worlds-poor/">The $100 Trillion Opportunity: The Race To Provide Banking To The World’s Poor</a>



Due to the dearth of knowledge, Eyeson’s unique
understanding for the data space is relied on by many startups and larger
businesses who depend on his expertise to drive results in Africa. 



“Stephan has great expertise in strategy and high-level
corporate business development. Survey 54 has and will be instrumental for
companies to make decisions within Africa and emerging markets, making it
easier to use and understand consumer data. A platform like Survey 54 is
essential for companies operating on the continent,” says Nana Adomako, head of
UK &amp; Ghana growth at Taptap Send.



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Born to Ghanaian parents in London, Eyeson’s first stint at entrepreneurship began in his early years at university, when his dream to become a professional basketball player was shattered.



“I had a scholarship into America for basketball and that
scholarship was taken away due to some technicality with my results so I
couldn’t go and so I started a basketball business instead when I was 19. It
helped Americans play in Europe and Europeans play in America. I made the
system easier. So, players paid a monthly fee to get seen and coaches paid to
get access to talent.” 



But unfortunately, the business failed to take off because the market was not big enough for Eyeson to remain profitable. 



The data business, on the other hand, is huge: worldwide
revenues for data and business analytics are forecast to reach $189 billion
this year and $274.3 billion by 2022, according to technology market research
firm IDC. Even though Survey 54 is in its first full year of business, the
company has already secured contracts with multinationals like Colgate, amongst
many others.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2019/04/30/a-germ-of-an-idea/">A Germ Of An Idea</a>



“I was one of Survey 54’s first clients and it has been a
pleasure watching Stephan grow the company into what it is today, working with
some of the world’s largest brands. 



“There is a significant lack of data in the region so the
need for a sophisticated data insight product is essential and I believe
Stephan’s mission-driven leadership style will enable the company to become one
of the largest software businesses driving investments to the content,” says
Yvonne Bajela, Principal and Founding Member at Impact X Capital.



The company has recently secured a spot on the coveted
Startupbootcamp platform in Cape Town. While Survey 54 is trying to secure a
first-mover lead in data on the continent, challenges remain. As the company
scales, they will need to overcome the language barrier across the African
continent and learn to interpret data by bringing the cultural context into the
surveys organizations are seeking.



Eyeson has his eyes set on moving into the US markets as a
long-term plan, but for now, the goal is transferring the abundant and
ubiquitous asset of data in Africa into millions for his startup.

BYRIGBY-990

Having A Ball With Data

South African filmmaker and producer, Kutlwano Ditsele, takes pride in re-telling the African narrative in a way that empowers and represents the continent as progressive. There’s also always a twist in the plot. 



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



“A Japanese man on holiday with his wife in South Africa falls in love with a…”



An incomplete idea is stored and filed away in the digital
pages of a smart phone. 



The author is not only a creative director but also the
co-founder of South African production company, Seriti Films. 



By merging his passion for celebrating African stories through film and television with entrepreneurship, Kutlwano Ditsele’s story is on its way to a happy ending. 



 READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2019/08/14/the-maverick-in-tech/">The Maverick In Tech</a>



He debuted his career as a filmmaker with a music video for
South African mega-star AKA in 2010, shot in the heart of Johannesburg’s
Central Business District.



The initial production cost was a humble R20,000
($1,360).&nbsp; 



A serendipitous bicycle race on a Sunday afternoon saved
them from paying heavily to close off certain main roads and public areas
downtown, during the filming of the music video. 



Ditsele recalls the silence and how the emptiness edified
the aesthetics of AKA’s song, Victory Lap. 



An artist owning the streets of the country’s economic and
financial hub for a day, even if it is by chance, opened a world of
opportunities for Ditsele, who was propeled into the limelight after the video.




Today, ideas constantly fall on his lap, even when he is on
the move. 



As he scrolls through his phone, he stumbles upon a
never-ending list of ideas he forgot existed (such as the one at the beginning
of this story). With surprise, he recites various plot lines. 



“Crime family show, three sisters and a kid brother with a grandmother… Whenever I am on a train, plane, car or even a jog, a small idea will come into my head,” he says.  



 READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/personal-finance/2019/09/30/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/">‘The One Thing I Want To Do Before I Die’</a>



Kutlwano’s relationship with film goes back to when he was
eight years old; setting up a make-shift cinema for his cousins at their family
home in the mountainous parts of Rustenburg, in the North West province. 



Despite limited resources (television and electricity), what
little exposure they had to the enchanting effect of those screens would
inspire the young Ditsele and his cousins to re-enact those scenes, with him
assuming the role of the director. 



“Your responsibility is for that single mother who wakes up
at 4 o’clock in the morning, who has to get water outside, boil that water, get
the kids’ food ready, get on a train for an hour or two to be the first to get
into the office and having to leave at three or four o’clock, to sit in front
of the television at eight in the evening, to forget about her problems for the
hour,” he says. 



Intellectual property is a commodity in the local film
industry that leaves filmmakers like Ditsele working twice as hard to build a
name and fix the misrepresentations that were previously normalized before
African filmmakers had the means of production. Globally, the industry has
created more opportunities for black filmmakers. 



In 2005, Ditsele was awarded the opportunity to study at the
New York Film Academy. 



The cultural exchanges he shared with students from
Singapore, Indonesia, China and Brazil taught him that filmmaking is not only
about learning in class but exploring one’s environment. 



Learning in Hollywood placed him in a privileged position when he returned to South Africa in 2008. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"> “Your responsibility is for that single mother who wakes up at 4 o’clock&#8230;to forget about her problems for the hour.” </blockquote>



He took it upon himself to re-tell the African narrative by
documenting positive representations of the continent. However, this becomes a tightrope
walk for local film producers who need to ensure their work has commercial
appeal. 



A contemporary challenge is that story-tellers, like
Ditsele, have to compete for a seat in the mainstream industry.



“It is more about the African narrative other than just the
South African narrative. I think that it is hard for us to ignore that the
biggest propaganda machine, America, is in the films. How we view America is
from everything they have done. 



“Aliens are coming, and America will save them (humans). They have told this incredible narrative about themselves and it has gone out into the world. The narrative around Africa has been quite the opposite. A narrative of poverty, jungle, primitive and they keep telling that narrative and they shy away from progressive stories,” he says. 



The filmmaker highlights that although the local industry
developed over the last 25 years, the number of those waiting in line remains
high, and those who fortuitously manage to float to the top and become brands
are few and far between.&nbsp; 



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2019/09/11/side-hustles-the-entrepreneur-employees/">Side Hustles: The Entrepreneur Employees</a>



Despite being behind the camera, Distele says there are
industry inhibitors that prevent creatives from owning their intellectual
property. 



In a bitter twist of irony, many local stars who are
celebrated far and wide will die without a cent to their name to the extent
that their families are forced to crowdfund for burial costs.



“What you create is owned by someone else and they can make
as much money as they want. I think it is wrong because Picasso should decide
how much his painting is worth, not somebody else,” he says.



A simple idea, like the 2018 South African Film and
Television Awards (SAFTA)-nominated production, The Herd, achieved immense
commercial success as the story lines are often merged with the topical issues
of the day.&nbsp; 



For Distele, South African productions about love, power and
wealth are an example of how the production company keeps the African narrative
relatable to all viewers. For instance, the plot twist of a young girl thrust
into power in a modern world; cultural ceremonies are portrayed in a way that
the millennial audience can immerse themselves in.



The proliferation of social media and digitalization has
given the audience agency to comment in real time and engage and be critical of
the content given to them and directors like Ditsele are paying close
attention.

KutwanaD_GL

Owning The African Narrative

Entrepreneurs have a pivotal role to play in Africa’s unemployment crisis. Today over a third of the continent’s young workforce (those aged 15-35) are unemployed. Another third are in vulnerable employment. By 2035, Africa will contribute more people to the workforce each year than the rest of the world combined. By 2050 it will be home to 1.25 billion people working aged.



To absorb these new entrants, Africa needs to create over 18 million new jobs each year. Governments need to put in place policies that drive economic growth and competitiveness. These in turn, will enable the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is important because they currently play a significant role in low-income countries, representing nearly 80% of jobs. They are also responsible for 90% of new ones created each year.



The challenge for countries is how to support the growth of SMEs. Various African governments have experimented with ways to help address the US$140 billion funding gap for startups and SMEs. For example, one approach has been to set up entrepreneurship funds.



Based on my experience of watching their performance over the past 18 years, I would issue some words of caution. Some entrepreneurship support models work better than others. And how they are set up – particularly the governance structures put in place to manage them – is key to their success, or failure.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Funding gap</h2>



Access to financing is consistently listed as the biggest obstacle to business for SME’s in African countries. They often face double digit interest rates from local banks. And venture capital penetration is still extremely low. Top end 2018 estimates put it at about $725 million for the whole continent.



To tackle the problem, African countries continue to start new entrepreneurship funds. In July 2017 Ghana launched the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan. The aim is to provide integrated national support for start-ups and small businesses.



Almost a year later, Rwanda secured a $30 million loan from the African Development Bank for the establishment of the Rwandan Innovation Fund. This will focus on investments in tech-enabled SMEs.



As new funds are started, African countries must look to the successes and failures of both global and regional funds to replicate best practices and avoid common pitfalls. African governments should explore replicating models similar to Small Enterprise Assistance Funds and the USAID backed enterprise funds. Both include robust investment selection criteria for funds.



In doing so, African government-backed entrepreneurship funds would operate as fund-of-funds – where a fund invests in another private equity or venture fund rather than directly in businesses themselves – as do many development finance institutions globally such as the UK’s CDC or FMO of the Netherlands.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">The what and the how</h4>



The fund of funds structure creates an arm’s length relationship between the government agency that houses the entrepreneurship fund and the businesses that eventually receive investment. In between, sits a professional fund manager that earns the majority of its income from making good investments, growing companies and exiting them after a period of five to seven years. In this way, there are natural disincentives for corruption and market-based selection criteria for the entrepreneurs who receive investment.



How the fund managers are selected also matters. To ensure true investment independence from the government, fund managers and board members must be chosen in a transparent and competitive process. And once selected, representatives of the government entrepreneurship fund agency can sit on the investment committee for oversight purposes but should respect the fund managers’ independent decision-making.



There are examples of funds being set up without the necessary independent, accountable fund managers. One is the YouWin program in Nigeria. Created in 2016, it was set up to help youth entrepreneurs grow businesses. But senior civil servants handed out awards to friends and relatives.



Government supported fund managers through the FoF model can also catalyse additional investment. By operating in markets and sectors often ignored by traditional private equity funds, Small Enterprise Assistance Funds and enterprise funds have mobilized additional capital for investment-starved companies. African government-backed entrepreneurship funds could do the same by participating in blended finance deals with development finance institutions, social-impact investment funds, local banks and other market players to back growing firms.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Measuring success</h4>



While not actively managing the funds’ portfolio investments, governments have a key role to play in guiding the funds priorities. Priorities may vary by country and given Africa’s growing rates of unemployment, funds should prioritise job creation by evaluating investment on key performance indicators. These would include the number of jobs created per dollar invested, indirect jobs created per dollar invested, and average salary of job. In addition to job creation, governments can direct funds to focus on specific sectors either in need of increased capital or high-growth areas in local economies.



Beyond establishing investment criteria, government-backed funds should prioritise rigorous measurement of investment results and long-term data tracking to inform future investment decisions. The UK British Bank regional growth fund found the cost per job created varied considerably by project from £4,000 to over £200,000. It concluded that a better allocation of funds could have led to thousands more jobs created for the same resources.



Data driven investments can not only lead to a better results, but further curtail issues around potential mismanagement of funds.



Tackling Africa’s job creation challenge requires innovative thinking and initiatives that support private sector-led growth. Looking to the model of Small Enterprise Assistance Funds and enterprise funds, African governments can spur local ecosystems and drive new private capital to regions today seen as unfriendly or too risky to outside investors.



Properly structured investments today could yield much larger dividends tomorrow.



-Aubrey Hruby; Senior Fellow, Africa Center, Georgetown University



&#8211;The Conversation



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Entrepreneurship Funds In Africa: Distinguishing The Good From The Bad

It’s early evening at a five-star hotel in Accra in Ghana, where a group of delegates from the European Union and Ghanaian government are meeting to discuss bilateral trade agreements. In the elegant lobby, an attendant mans the helpdesk, trying to resolve the queries of agitated guests who seem unimpressed with the long queues.
At one end of the room, a group of camera-toting journalists saunter aimlessly waiting for an opportunity to snap Ghana’s economic power brokers as they arrive.
Shortly after 7.30PM, the vice president of Ghana strolls in with his security detail and in one stroke, the lobby is bustling, flashes pop like corn and requests for sound bites are hurled in the air.
As the frenzy reaches a feverish pitch, we leave the commotion and make our way past an impressive art piece of Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, part of the collection of over 1,500 pieces of art in the hotel. Our destination is the fifth floor where we meet Bozoma Saint John, Silicon Valley darling and Uber’s Chief Brand Officer since last year.
Hired to turn Uber back into a brand people love, Saint John has a daunting task ahead. The company has been hit with a number of scandals and allegations which led to the resignation of CEO Travis Kalanick last year, and the #deleteuber campaign.
In South Africa, Uber drivers have had several clashes with taxi drivers prompting the company to hire private security forces to protect them.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/technology/2017/08/29/ubers-ceo-pick-adds-pressure-resolve-boardroom-brawl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ: Uber’s CEO Pick Adds Pressure To Resolve Boardroom Brawl</a>
On meeting her, thoughts of Saint John’s herculean task are replaced with impressions of her imposing yet warm personality. Towering at five foot eleven, even without her pink stilettoes, which she teams with a silver jumpsuit, braids and earrings made of Ghanaian Adinkra symbols, her presence is hard to ignore in any room, which can surely be an advantage in the male-dominated corporate space.
“So a good friend of mine called me to come to the Consumer Electronics Summit in Vegas saying they were having a cool kids’ dinner and he needed me to be there. So I stroll into the dinner and Arianna Huffington is sitting there. She looked at me and she said you are the most interesting person in the room right now, what is your name? She told the CEO of JP Morgan Chase who sat next to me to get up and she sat down and said tell me everything about yourself and that is how our friendship started,” says Saint John.
That conversation with Huffington (a founder of The Huffington Post) led to an introduction to Kalanick in Huffington’s home in Los Angeles.
“At the time Uber was going through a lot of challenges and she was on the board and she asked me what would I do. I told her about my experiences taking Ubers and she said you should meet Travis Kalanick. She invited us to her house and what was supposed to be a meet and greet turned out to be a whole day of conversation and brain-storming ideas.”
And the rest is history. Saint John’s list of qualifications, which includes the former head of Music and Entertainment Marketing at PepsiCo and head of marketing for Apple Music, made her the woman for the job. She is one of the few black women to land a senior position at a billion-dollar company. For Saint John, that comes with both positives and negatives.
“If you want to shine like a diamond, you have to be willing to get cut and there has been lots of cuts along the way, in small ways and in big ways. The small ways are about the micro aggression, the comments people make about you and the doubts about your talent; the assertion that your greatness is by accident. It takes a toll on you and your spirit and your self-confidence.
“So having to constantly remind yourself that I am actually talented at this and I do this better than anyone else. In the beginning, people will often remark like, ‘you celebrate yourself so much on Instagram’, but I’m like who else is going to do it? Then all of a sudden, other people start joining the bandwagon and praising the work I do and I’m like ‘I told you I was great’,” says Saint John.
The big cuts along the way have been the most life-changing for Saint John; like losing her husband to cancer in December 2013, four days before his 44th birthday.
“I had never considered that we could die early. It was only six months between his diagnosis and his death so it was not enough time to prepare. Our daughter was only four years old. After his death it really shook me. I was afraid because I did not know if there was ever going to be a recovery in my confidence. Not confidence in work because I knew I could do the job but confidence in life.”
But she turned what was her worst day into her best asset and developed a new philosophy in life.
<div id="attachment_35873" style="width: 693px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35873" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-35873 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/bozoma-3-683x1024.jpg" alt="" width="683" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/bozoma-3-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/bozoma-3-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/bozoma-3-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/bozoma-3-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/bozoma-3-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/bozoma-3.jpg 1211w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" />Bozoma Saint John. Photo supplied.</div>
“It absolutely lit a fire in me to say that, we don’t know how much time we have and I am going to be great today. I am not waiting for 10 years or 15 years to be great; I am going to be great right now. All the dreams have to happen today, not tomorrow!”
It is that philosophy that Saint John brings to her daunting role at Uber while challenging the world via her Instagram page to #watchmework.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2015/10/01/young-over-qualified-and-a-woman/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘Young, Over Qualified And A Woman!’</a>
“Uber is facing several challenges but I think the addition of Bozoma who happens to be black, a woman and an immigrant is a very strategic move by the brand to help fight some of the negative publicity the company faced last year and that worked. Obviously it helps that Bozoma is an accomplished marketing professional who has a solid track record with some of the world’s prestigious brands,” says John Tawiah, an economist in Ghana.
For Saint John, this is more than a job. It’s about sending a very clear message to three distinct audiences.
“The first is my daughter who I really want to embody for her, what a role model can be. I hope she is going to see the things that I do and that become The Normal for her and she will do better than I have. The second audience is African women and black women. That we can show up as ourselves and still succeed. We don’t need to be like anybody else and I can show up in cornrows, weaves and still be able to let my work speak for itself.
“We talk about cultural appropriation all the time so I find it important to send that message. We need to see each other and know it is ok. The third audience is to show the world that there is an inner intelligence beneath this exterior that we have and you are in charge of your own success.”
Saint John is no stranger to hard work and breaking boundaries. Her innovative ideas at PepsiCo led to the company’s foray into the music festivals and big deals with powerhouse celebrities like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. In spite of the media buzz and speculation about Uber’s future, the lady who calls herself “superexecumummy” is ready to roll up her sleeves and show the world just how great she is, today.

bozama

Uber’s Chief Brand Officer – ‘I Am Going To Be Great Right Now”

The best way to experience Rwanda’s business environment is to take a walk up Kigali’s immaculate central business district (CBD) or down the small shopping streets of Kacyiru.
The ‘land of a thousand hills’, with its sprawling green valleys and vistas, has seen many ups and downs in its history, but this is a nation visibly on the move – more construction cranes the size of skyscrapers, more global hotel brands setting up, and a classy convention center that lights up the night sky in rainbow colors.
Beneath this veneer is a hardworking young population eager to be protagonists of their country’s progress.
At the Union Trade Centre, a popular hub for young coffee-lovers and mall-hoppers in Kigali’s CBD, Mois, an entrepreneur in his mid-20s running a shop selling African bric-a-brac, welcomes you with a smile that makes the afternoon sun pale in comparison.
He points to his gleaming jewelry collection – contemporary pieces made out of what looks like brass, but isn’t.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/technology/2018/03/26/heroes-in-the-sky/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Heroes In Rwanda&#8217;s Sky</a>
Mois makes them himself, out of used padlocks from the scrapyard, and old coins, which he melts and upcycles into jewelry. His creations are in demand in the US and the Netherlands, he says.
A qualified civil engineer, he has more knowledge about alloys and metals than most jewelers.
“I have a proper professional degree,” says the unassuming Rwandan. “But what I do now is my passion, one that makes me money, and helps the co-operatives I work with.”
<div id="attachment_35731" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35731" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-35731" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Mois-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="400" />Mois (Photo by Irankunda Yves Jean Sauveur)</div>
While the country records growth of 8%, it’s this spirit of “not just money, but meaning” that echoes through the contoured landscapes of Kigali.
In the heart of Kacyiru, down KG 5 Avenue, are more examples of small, medium and micro enterprises – one-storied shops that have survived for decades.
From a 71-year-old grandmother who helms a grocery store to the starry-eyed salesgirl selling cheap moccasins, and charming salons, gaming bars, resto-bars and Afro-chic boutiques, the street is a smorgasbord of experiences and a subset of Rwanda’s informal economy.
Off the same street and on to a dirt road, we meet Jacques Nkinzingabo, a “street photographer” sporting dreadlocks and a hat. The red-brick building we meet in has a large exhibition space out at the back by a patch of lawn where Sawa, Nkinzingabo’s adorable German Shepherd pup, is goofing around.
On the studio’s white walls are numerous photographs recording Rwandan life.
Nkinzingabo was born a week before the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, and as a photographer, wants to now portray “new Rwanda” to the world. His visitors are mostly tourists who book on vayando.com, to meet with the country’s skilled entrepreneurs, instead of visiting the standard tourist attractions.
“The image that tourists have of this country is Hotel Rwanda,” says Nkinzingabo, referring to the hit 2004 film on the Rwandan genocide.
“But I want to reframe the country to show where we come from; I want to show them how we live, dress, cook and lead our daily lives.”
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2013/10/01/rwanda-inc-rules-land-thousand-cranes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Rwanda Inc. Rules In The Land Of A Thousand Cranes</a>
Since signing up with Vayando over two years ago, Nkinzingabo says it has helped him connect with tourists and locals. He makes about $300 a month on average through this partnership.
Scott Wilhelm, Vayando’s co-founder, is an American who has been in Kigali three years now. A social entrepreneur from Chicago, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador until 2006.
With his business partner Jason Seagle, he set up Vayando, “a tool for curious travelers and a marketplace for entrepreneurs”. Rwanda appealed to them for its “stability, security and progressive approach”.
Tourists, mostly from America and Europe, book the experience online, at about $100 per customizable experience, and meet at the Kigali city centre – “by the elevator outside of Nakumatt”.
“We take them to places they wouldn’t go, to neighborhoods within the labyrinth close to town. These are people looking for meaningful experiences,” says Wilhelm.
<div id="attachment_35732" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35732" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-35732" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Jacques-Nkinzingabo-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" />Jacques Nkinzingabo (Photo by Irankunda Yves Jean Sauveur)</div>
Those like Nkinzingabo are a part of Vayando’s trusted network of entrepreneurs.
“Jacques sets the price and gets 100% of what he asks for. We add 30% for our charges. It’s an alternative revenue stream for entrepreneurs and primarily, a networking opportunity,” says Wilhelm.
“We drive bookings to entrepreneurs… we want them to have a 13th month of income.”
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2018/03/15/something-to-wine-about-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Something To Wine About</a>
A short drive away is the bustling Gisozi, and the assaulting smell of wood and paint – this is the area that sells woodwork, construction materials and hardware.
<div id="attachment_35733" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35733" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-35733" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Irenee-Gumyushime-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="450" />Irenee Gumyushime (Photo by Irankunda Yves Jean Sauveur)</div>
As you walk up an uneven road, with deep tyre marks in the mud, you pass cows and curious onlookers. This is the rustic route Vayando customers take to meet Irenee Gumyushime, known as ‘Magic Hands’ in these parts.
There are broken pieces of glass and wood shavings on his dusty shop floor. Gumyushime is crafting a bed out of pinewood. He acquired a diploma in civil engineering but chose to be a carpenter.
“They say I touch the wood and it turns to wonder,” beams Gumyushime. He can speak English which is a boon for Vayando’s overseas customers wanting to hear about the 29-year-old entrepreneur’s life.
“This shop mainly caters to expatriates,” he says. “They bring their own ideas and I customize furniture for their spaces. I get to meet international tourists, and make some money on the side. They learn from me; I learn from them.”
Walking back to the city center, more heartening stories unravel along the way, even as Rwanda’s informal economy winds down after a long, productive day.

Land Of A Thousand Ideas

It’s a business that people hardly knew existed 20 years ago. It is also not for the faint hearted. Some call it the business of death, but it is broader than that. Murders, suicides, and decompositions are just some of the scenes that Eileen de Jager and her sister, Roelien Schutte, attend to most days.
Their business, Crime Scene Clean Up, started 17 years ago, when Eileen and Roelien saw a need to start a business that would save people from the trauma of having to clean up crime scenes of their loved ones or friends.
“We discovered this idea after we saw one of our neighbors had to clean her daughter’s suicide scene. We decided we needed to do something to change this,” says Eileen.
When the sisters started out they used to travel to scenes around the country with a minibus equipped with everything, including a kitchen sink.
“The only thing we were short of was a shower,” Eileen chuckles.
Today, the business employs about 32 people and has nine branches across South Africa. The Blood Sisters, as they are popularly known, started the business with only practical experience. In a challenging and demanding field like this, the sisters felt a need to further their skills by studying. Roelien and Eileen’s husband, Francois, who is the CEO of Crime Scene Clean Up, went for waste management courses, while Eileen studied environmental health.
Studying further was important to grow the business.
“Having the knowledge and professional skills to do the job enabled us to understand this work better,” says Francois.
<div id="attachment_35413" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35413" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-35413" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/forensic-cleaners-879-e1519719102499-300x200.jpg" alt="Crime Scene Clean Up Eileen and Francois de Jager" width="500" height="333" />Eileen and Francois de Jager (Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla)</div>
They are the last to arrive at a crime scene. Eileen says they do their job so thoroughly it can be difficult for law enforcement officials to extract evidence afterwards.
Crime scenes vary in nature – some are more suited to a woman and others a man.
“Women are usually labeled as cleaners in a household, hence I never found it difficult to adapt, but sometimes there’s an emotional attachment that we sometimes leave behind,” says Eileen.
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Before becoming entrepreneurs, Francois, Eileen and Roelien had nine-to-five jobs. Francois was a motor mechanic, while Eileen was a foreign exchange trader. Despite the blood and gore, Eileen says crime scene cleaning can be easier.
“What I am doing now is less stressful than what I used to do when I was in the corporate space,” says Eileen.
An ordinary day of work can border on the bizarre for these entrepreneurs. One day, Francois called Eileen while she was at a scene, wearing her mask and bloody gloves in the middle of a cleaning operation, to ask what she wanted to eat for supper.
“Can you imagine how ridiculous this is,” the couple say simultaneously, as they share a chuckle.
This profession is no laughing matter though. According to Eileen, cleaning a crime scene without professional help may lead to respiratory problems and post-traumatic stress.
“You must be compassionate and this field must be something that you want to do,” Eileen warns.
There is also bureaucracy to deal with. After fighting for years for their business to be recognized by the law in South Africa, the three say they still have to fight every year for their renewals.
“Like any other business in the country, there are fake ones that register for the same business and mess it up, making more problems for us with the government,” says Francois.
Eileen, Roelien and Francois aren’t just in this business to make millions, they’re also working hard to bring tranquility to a troubled period in someone’s life.
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<h2>This Woman Could Save Your Life</h2>
It’s a sunny August morning in Midrand, 30 kilometers north of Johannesburg. In a calm, yet busy, environment sits a crew responsible for despatching the emergency services that could save your life.
Nokonwaba Mgcoyi, a 35-year-old mother of two, has been working for the 10111 center – a 24-hour crime reporting call center – for more than 10 years. Today, she takes us through how the center operates.
The Gauteng regional centre, where Mgcoyi works, is South Africa’s largest. It caters for the 12 million people that live in the Gauteng province.
It’s a faceless profession, which some have seen as non-functional for decades. Though it is not listed under essential services, it is crucial for the public.
“10111 has become part of my life as I spend 80% of my time serving the public through the center,” says Mgcoyi.
Women are sometimes perceived to be vulnerable and incapable of handling pressure, but Mgcoyi seems to be calm and confident while on duty.
Mgcoyi deals with trauma on a daily basis, including domestic violence, accidents, murders, robberies and gang violence. The call center’s agents, like Mgcoyi, deal with up to 200 phone calls a weeknight and as many as 10,000 on a weekend night.
Although the public constantly complains about the effectiveness of the 10111 center, Mgcoyi says they work very hard in a challenging job.
“For us it takes up to 10 minutes to take a call and despatch a van. What happens after that is up to the police,” she says.
“10111 has two divisions, the call center that answers the calls, and the despatching department that despatches the vans according to the location of the emergency.”
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A lack of resources can make a difficult job even tougher.
“A shortage of vans in police stations is one of the major problems that we face,” she says.
Hard decisions also have to be taken. Mgcoyi has to prioritize emergencies according to their importance.
“We categorize the emergencies from alpha complaints, which are known as priority number one, down to the least threatening situations. This helps in ensuring that high priority crimes are given preference.”
In South Africa, where a high crime rate is the norm, and the roads are perilously dangerous, the service that people like Mgcoyi offer is vital.

The Profit That Comes From Gore And Grime

For centuries women have outgrown the roles which they were previously bottled in, but they seem to be struggling to conquer the entrepreneurial sphere.
The numbers don’t add up. Why are there fewer female entrepreneurs and what’s hindering them?
If you look at the FORBES list of billionaires you’ll notice there are fewer women than men on the list and even fewer of those women are self-made billionaires (56 globally in 2017) – a considerable number have inherited their wealth.
Madam C. J. Walker is someone I hold in high esteem. She is regarded as the first female self-made millionaire in America and the world&#8217;s most successful female entrepreneur of her time. She did this despite being an African-American in the late 1800s, into the early 1900s, in a racially segregated country at the time.
On our continent, we have Folorunsho Alakija from Nigeria who has made billions from a clothing business and then venturing to oil.
There is a vast difference between what an entrepreneur is passionate about and what is commercially viable. It could be for this reason you find many women gravitating to sectors such as fashion, training, consulting, cosmetics, and their fascination with social entrepreneurship.
Passion is key and there is nothing wrong with those sectors, but we need to start graduating to the next level of pragmatism and what’s possible for all humankind.
It can&#8217;t be a trend that ladies married to successful entrepreneurs usually go into philanthropy.
I’m deeply concerned about what is transpiring, for I believe women are equally or more competent than men. Women need to shatter the perception that they blossom in smaller companies whereas men tend to run bigger companies.
However, women are successful despite facing many challenges that their male counterparts don’t. Women have to balance both family life and building a business. They are also less likely to get funding.
As equal rights were granted to all, women were able to integrate into fields they would have not necessarily occupied before. However, many still feel that one could be more effective running your own business if you didn’t have to deal with kids.
With regards to women struggling to find funding, Donna Kelley, lead author of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2012 Women&#8217;s Report, states that, “Women are less likely to receive venture capital funding. The fact that those making the investment decisions are primarily men can be an influencing factor.”
Much of the reasons associated with the lack of representation of women is due to the roles assigned to gender is primarily biological. Women are seen as caring and house-based individuals whereas men are seen as decision-making and dominant individuals. This perpetuates itself in numerous business sectors.
It is even more of a challenge when you’re coming in as a female having to give direction to males that may not appreciate it.
In the business world, women are often not taken seriously or, even worse, merely reduced to a potential sex partner. Many meetings are converted to flirting sessions – and if the lady does not cooperate, she stands a chance to lose the deal. This results in women developing mistrust, and working even harder to avoid being seen as ‘sleeping their way to the top’.
Instead of hindering women in business, let them excel and dominate sectors where they are often underrepresented and yet overachieve. &#8211; Written by Paul Mashegoane

Women Need The Freedom To Achieve Greatness

Unemployment is one of Africa’s biggest headaches. According to the World Bank, in the next 10 years, 600 million new jobs &#8211; that&#8217;s about half the population of Africa &#8211; are needed to keep the planet working and happy.
The International Labour Organization estimates that the number of unemployed youths in sub-Saharan Africa stands at 11.6 million. Another study, by the African Centre for Economic Transformation, claims that almost half of the 10 million graduates churned out every year from more than 668 universities in Africa do not get jobs. That means millions of young, restive and discontent Africans are educated well enough to know what they are missing out on. The unintended consequence of this is many of the youngest and brightest are looking for more than just jobs.
“With the rise in graduate unemployment, more and more graduates are reassessing their career options and looking for more entrepreneurial career paths,” says Franklin Cudjoe, President and Founder of the IMANI Center for Policy and Education.
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The dynamics of the employment game are changing fast, according to Cudjoe.
“We have several things that young people are looking for when they graduate from university these days. For example, Generation Y graduates are generally less motivated by money, and more focused on making an impact as well as having greater independence in their work,” he says.
As a result, there has been an upsurge in the number of start-ups across Africa. According to FORBES, African tech start-ups raised $129 million in funding in 2016, resulting in a 16.8% increase in the number of successfully funded start-ups from 2015. A 2016 Disrupt African Tech Start-ups Funding report shows that South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya remain the three most popular investment destinations on the continent, with over 80% of secured funds.
“Jumia has raised over $200 million, iROKOtv another $16 million and Konga $38 million, and the number of success stories just keeps rising. This year Andela closed another round of funding which saw investment from Mark Zuckerberg. So, given the current challenging economic climate, it seems entrepreneurship is the way to go for many young people,” says Richmond Quarshie, Founder of Goldsmiths Capital, a private equity firm in Ghana.
For Stephen Emenike Kamalu, a 23-year-old graduate from Madonna University in Rivers State, Nigeria, and an Associate Tax Analyst for American multinational conglomerate General Electric (GE) in Nigeria, both entrepreneurship and gainful employment can be beneficial for millennials.
“For me I think the most important thing for young people is finding your path. So if your path is aligned with having a career, then that is what you have to do. You have to build yourself along that path because you need to have self-fulfilment and for those who feel they have to do their own thing, then that is what they should also do,” he says.
“Employment is along my career path. I plan to have a professional career so that is in line with the path I have chosen for myself and I wanted to get the necessary skills and knowledge to take me along that path and take me to the next level. I am doing both and I can balance it because I feel once I get my experience in my nine-to-five I can also start a side business.”
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His opinion conflicts with that of Chuks Anyaduba, Co-Founder of TOG Media.
“I started my own company about four years ago after I left university, so I would say I know a thing or two about entrepreneurship, but in my opinion traditional employment might be a better path for many young people. Running your own business might lead to more money, greater freedom and a chance to follow your passion, but employment provides invaluable experience in a safe environment. You get to learn on the job without every day being a battle to keep your company afloat,” he says.
Anyaduba believes the allure of doing what you like as an entrepreneur does not take into account the value of a multi-discipline experience.
“Most entrepreneurs start a business in things they have a passion for. If the person likes music, they start an entertainment business, and if someone is a fitness fanatic, they open a gym, but to get the business off the ground most entrepreneurs spend a majority of time selling and marketing which leaves no room to learn other skills. In employment, you get to try different roles and different sectors and delegate to those who are good at certain jobs to excel,” says Anyaduba.
Fredrick Aghuno is a 22-year-old multimedia designer, popular for creating wearable art, 3D backdrops, luxury art and papier-mâché. He is the founder of Dricky Stickman, a company he started after university last year. His opinion about employment is marred by his father’s experience.
“My dad did a nine-to-five for years and when he retired the company still owed him around N75 million ($210,000). Entrepreneurship is what is going to move this nation forward. I believe if people my age are able to find a vocation you can really boost the economy and drive growth,” he says.
Aghuno’s passion for art began in London where he learned graffiti from the age of 12. With the help of his fashion designer brother, Frank Aghuno of fashion brand Fruche, he launched his creative line to merge art with fashion.
“I wanted to experiment for a while so I thought how can I merge graffiti with the things I love. I decided to try graffiti on clothes because nobody could tell me I was defacing my clothes. I initially didn’t want to sell. The plan was to just do it for myself and take pictures for social media but I got my first order from another designer and from then more orders started coming in,” says Aghuno.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entreprenuers/2017/12/14/situation-forced-entrepreneur/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: &#8216;Situation Forced Me To Be An Entepreneur&#8217;</a>
Despite dreaming of becoming a professional football player, Aghuno’s goal is to expand his fashion business.
As more and more students come to the unsettling realization that they aren’t guaranteed a job after graduation, those who are innovative are creating new opportunities for themselves.
“In today’s world, you can’t rely on anything or anyone to make you successful. You have to be accountable for your own career and create your own path,” says Jeffrey Manu, Founder of Manu Equity, a start-up based in Silicon Valley.
“Hundreds of colleges offer entrepreneurship courses and employers are starting to understand the importance of that type of education. More employers are actually looking for students with entrepreneurship experience when hiring simply because students who have an entrepreneurial mindset have what it takes to thrive in an extremely competitive environment,” says Manu.
The statistics are also stacked in favor of entrepreneurship.
“When you look at most of our most respected entrepreneurs of our time, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison and Travis Kalanick are all college dropouts who have gone on to become billionaires. Why would anyone not want to become an entrepreneur?” asks Quarshie.
This is the big question. In the face of growing unemployment, millennials are changing their approach to the world of work. The changes that are disrupting traditional business models are the tip of the iceberg and if the next generation wishes to succeed in the new world, they will need to carve a new path and just maybe say goodbye to the nine-to-five model.

Entrepreneurs Born Or Made?

Karlie Kloss is sitting in a glass-walled SoHo office holding court with five teenage girls. Over video chat with several more, they are brainstorming how to support scholars of Kode With Klossy once class is out. The teenagers are all graduates of Kode With Klossy summer camps, an initiative by Kloss’ education nonprofit that aims to teach girls the basics of computer programming.
In her off-duty uniform of a Planned Parenthood T-shirt, black jeans and Gucci loafers, the 6&#8217;2&#8243; supermodel listens intently. One young woman wearing a white Kode With Klossy top suggests a custom app for students to communicate through. Kloss nods and encourages more ideas. Perhaps Kode With Klossy could upload lesson videos for scholars to look back on, or start a newsletter with events and internships. Another girl in glasses says she posts tricky coding problems on Snapchat and scholars from her camp offer solutions.
As the meeting concludes, Kloss hugs the girls before rallying them to put their hands in for a cheer. &#8220;Klossy Posse!&#8221; they shout in unison.
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A 36-time Vogue cover girl is an unlikely candidate to launch a charity that has taught more than 500 young women how to code. But the 25-year-old has leveraged her giant social audience &#8211; some 12.6 million followers across platforms &#8211; to grow a burgeoning nonprofit that aims to balance the scales of software engineering’s gender disparity.
&#8220;I didn&#8217;t go into this with the plan to build an education nonprofit,&#8221; says Kloss, a member of the 30 Under 30 Class of 2018, over vegan cupcakes and cookies in her Manhattan office. &#8220;I really went into all this out of my own curiosity of wanting to learn what the heck coding was, because it was building massive enterprise value for people in a short period of time.&#8221;
Her first taste came in 2014, when she signed up for a two-week boot camp at adult-education company the Flatiron School in Manhattan to learn the basics of computer programming. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t actually know who she was,&#8221; says Avi Flombaum, cofounder of the Flatiron School, who taught Kloss’ class. &#8220;She was the best student in that group and I was surprised by how enthusiastic she was.&#8221;
Kloss covered the basics of Ruby on Rails, a popular web development framework. But she quickly noticed that her classes weren’t gender equal, an imbalance that mirrored the tech workforce. &#8220;I was curious, why are there not more women in this space?&#8221; recalls Kloss. An idea for how to help took form: &#8220;I realized, here I am with this platform and reach to young women across the country and around the world,&#8221; Kloss explains. &#8220;If I could just help a handful of girls that would be really meaningful.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_34682" style="width: 330px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-34682" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-34682" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Karlie-Kloss-INSIDE-234x300.jpg" alt="Karlie Kloss " width="320" height="410" />Karlie Kloss (Photo by Jamel Toppin)</div>
In 2015, Kloss spent more than $20,000 to personally underwrite 21 scholarships for teenage girls to the Flatiron School’s two week pre-college coding class &#8211; the very class she had taken the year prior (Flatiron School matched the donation).
But she was itching to do more. Last summer, Kloss took the initiative in-house, launching her own two-week summer camp for teenage girls aged 13 to 18 in New York, Los Angeles and her hometown of St. Louis. Kloss helped pick candidates, design the curriculum and select teachers; its graduates have gone on to win hackathons and land places at Ivy League universities. In June, the program expanded to 12 cities across the U.S., with plans to grow further.
Adults are also included: Last July Kloss launched a year-long online scholarship with the Flatiron School that selected one woman every month to enroll in its full stack web development course. And while other nonprofits with similar missions, such as Girls Who Code and Black Girls Code, are far more established, Kloss&#8217; reach brings her objective to millions.
To date, funding for Kode With Klossy programs has come from Kloss herself and the brands she poses for. According to a familiar source, Kloss has personally contributed into seven figures to Kode With Klossy since 2015. She has also redirected a slice of her modeling contracts with companies such as Adidas, Swarovski and Express to fund and support Kode With Klossy. Ford&#8217;s STEAM Experience — an initiative focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines as well as the arts, part of the car maker&#8217;s philanthropic arm — lent additional support to this summer’s camps.
Such initiatives are sorely needed. Half a million more jobs related to computers are expected to be added by 2024. Though 74% of high school girls are interested in STEM, women only earned 18% of all undergraduate computer science degrees in 2015. That impacts employment, especially among minorities: Women made up just over a quarter of the tech workforce last year, though African-American women comprised a mere 3% and Latina women counted for only 2%.
&#8220;There are so many young women who really could change the world with this kind of opportunity, girls who self-select out because they don&#8217;t see others in the industry that look like them,&#8221; says Kloss.
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The daughter of an emergency room physician, Kloss&#8217; favorite subjects as a child were math and science. Had she not been discovered at a charity fashion show in a mall, aged 13, she might have become a doctor or a teacher, she says. Instead, she booked her first advertisement in 2007; that same year she landed her first major runway show, walking for Calvin Klein.
Her career quickly took off, but it went into overdrive with the advent of Instagram. Thanks to social media, says Kloss, &#8220;I could be seen as well as heard.&#8221; As her followers swelled, her fees increased. She premiered on Forbes’ highest-paid models list in 2014 banking $4 million pretax; this year, her contract earnings soared to $9 million in the 12 months prior to June 2017.
&#8220;When social media arrived, models came back into the spotlight because now everyone could see what was behind the velvet rope,&#8221; says Maja Chiesi, SVP at IMG Models, the agency that represents Kloss. &#8220;The next evolution is brands wanting the full, 360-degree sense of who these women are&#8230; They want women with a voice.&#8221;
Enter Kloss, who has long presented herself as more than just a pretty face. In 2012, she started a charitable cookie line called Klossies with Manhattan dessert spot Momofuku Milk Bar; the treats donated to meals for children with each purchase. After taking the odd night class at New York University, in 2015 she enrolled (mentor and supermodel-turned-philanthropist Christy Turlington wrote her recommendation letter). With her busy schedule, she has opted for approximately one class a semester, so far notching credits in creative writing and feminism.
She is eager to expand her platform through a YouTube channel, launched in 2015, that documents her travels and baking forays. Next up: A talk show, Movie Night with Karlie Kloss, airing on the Disney-owned Freeform in December.
All of it serves to raise awareness for Kode With Klossy. As she focuses on the nonprofit, she has pared down her modeling contracts to the most lucrative partnerships. Today, says Kloss, she works with &#8220;partners that really are excited to work with me because of not just what I look like, but because of what I stand for.&#8221; It makes sense that her bookings have shifted from conventional beauty and fashion to tech; she can be seen in recent advertisements for electronics giant Samsung and website builder Wix.
For now, the aim is to grow quickly and cost-effectively. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been thinking about Kode With Klossy like a startup,&#8221; says Kloss. The nonprofit&#8217;s team is lean, with Kloss, her manager, business partner and SVP of SB Projects Penni Thow, five full-time employees and consultants plus help from three members of her management.
And, Kloss says, she is just getting started.
&#8220;I plan on building a big business at some point, too.&#8221;
Startups, you’re on notice.
&#8211; Written by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-ga-track="contrib block byline">Natalie Robehmed</a>, FORBES STAFF

Karlie Kloss – Coding’s Supermodel

Bank On This Man

Many people are living in silent desperation, hoping to achieve something better from their careers. They go to work, going through the same routine day in, day out, yearning to become entrepreneurs.
I think most established companies will be surprised by how many of their employees want to resign to start their own thing.
Unsurprisingly the key motivator for this is a need to make more money. Another reason that drives many successful entrepreneurs to embark on this journey is an unquenched need to come up with something better than what is currently in the market, or identifying a niche they can exploit better than most.
Adrian Gore, the Founder of Discovery Holdings, jumped ship because of an innovative product he had in mind, and look at what Discovery is today.
However, be careful of the fallacy that making your own money is simple. Forex trading is a good example – many lose thousands of dollars in their attempt to create an additional income with this market. They are attracted by the lifestyle these traders show off on Instagram and YouTube – the majority of which are fake – and burn their fingers trying to replicate the supposed success.
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For people around the world there are generally three great regrets in life. The education they did or didn&#8217;t get, the people they marry and the careers they find themselves in. Regarding careers, many are constantly looking for a way out. Venture capitalist Peter Thiel talks about the conundrum of a job at a Wall Street firm: while people outside want to get in, those inside want to get out.
Let me address the differentiation between being self-employed and being a high impact entrepreneur. Being self-employed is where your business cannot exist without you, like a doctor running a practice. True entrepreneurs put systems and structures in place so the business will operate with or without them.
The same thing working professionals set out to get, is often the same thing that stops them from starting their own business – money. Other hurdles include the fear of losing a stable income, the uncertainty of what kind of business to start, and a lack of confidence in themselves to pull it off. Only the brave jump ship; and they stick with it in  tough times and periods of abundance.
The solution for companies is to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit within their organization. New ideas shouldn’t be seen as a threat to bosses; innovation does not mean that colleagues are gunning for your position in the company. New ideas need to be debated. Those that are rational and viable should be explored rather than suppressed – therefore the concept of being an intrapreneur with your current employer comes with the advantage of having many resources to fall back on.
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Entrepreneurship should not be considered a side hustle. I agree with the notion that it&#8217;s ideal to jump ship once your business starts generating an income that can sustain your monthly expenses, because you don&#8217;t want to ask for your job back, with your shoulders slumped and head down.
Anyone going into entrepreneurship should understand there is lack of sympathy in business; there are no pity parties in this game. You can&#8217;t claim that life has done you wrong; no one is buying that kind of nonsense. Don’t try to get people to feel sorry for you – this is not a talk show.
If you want something better, go and get it. But be prepared to work hard for it. &#8211; Written by Paul Mashegoane

Tag: Entrepreneurship

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