Nine Yards – Old Mutual Corporate’s small business magazine (November 2020)

nine yards ISSUE 1 2020

KNOW-HOW

HELPING ENTREPRENEURS TO GO THE DISTANCE

PLUS

30+ INSIDER TIPS

HOW TO GET UNSTUCK EXPERTS ANSWER REAL SMALL BUSINESS QUESTIONS

THE ONE THING ENTREPRENEURS NEED IN TOUGH TIMES

GET INSURANCE THAT IS TAILORED TO YOUR UNIQUE BUSINESS NEEDS. All businesses face risk – ranging from obvious ones like storm damage, theft and fire; right through to group personal accident. This is why our small-business insurance can be tailored to meet your unique requirements, whether you are a doctor, florist, veterinarian, plumber or pharmacist, we’ve got you covered. With our value for money and tailored offering, you will get peace of mind to focus on growing your business.

The time is now to protect and progress your business.

For more information about our business insurance solution, speak to your broker or visit www.ominsure.co.za

All products are underwritten by Old Mutual Insure.

Old Mutual Insure Limited is a licensed FSP and Non-Life Insurer.

contents NOVEMBER 2020

OLD MUTUAL Editor Gugu-Lisa Zwane-Johnson Project Manager Charlene Murphy Project Assistant Hayley de Vos

The warm-up

Old Mutual is a licensed financial services provider.

6

Nine Yards is published for, and on behalf of, Old Mutual Corporate by John Brown South Africa.

10

30 MINUTES WITH… Wandile Zondo of Thesis Lifestyle

johnbrownmedia.co.za

12

9 TOOLS THAT WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER These resources will help you to save time and money

EDITORIAL Consulting Editor Kelda Lund Deputy Editor Charles Thompson Features Editor Erla Rabe Copy Editor Linda Scarborough Art Director Anelia Gates Managing Editor Meagan Kuhn

IN SHORT Inspiration, recommendations and interesting facts and figures

Get set 14

SHOW ME THE MONEY Finding the funding you need

18

A REALLY BIG IDEA One platform that allows you to apply to many funders? You bet

20

RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS MADE EASY Read up on a new financial management app for SMMEs – it’s free

Production Blue Ink Media Print Management Point Printed in November 2020 Tandym Print

22

YOUR 9-POINT LEGAL CHECKLIST The most important things to get in writing

Contributors Mandy Collins, Karen Dudley, Mandy Freeman, Nic Haralambous, Claire Kolbé, Lere Mosieane, Laura-Ann Tomasella, Mosidi Seretlo, Helen Ueckermann, Mark van Dijk and Annelize Visser

Keep going

Copyright © 2020 Old Mutual. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Some of the articles in this publication contain forward-looking statements with respect to Old Mutual’s plans and performance, and wider economic factors.

By their nature, all forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances that are beyond Old Mutual’s control. As a result, actual financial conditions may differ materially from the plans and expectations set forth. Old Mutual undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements referred to in this publication or any other forward-looking statements that it may make.

While all precautions have been taken to ensure accuracy of information, neither Old Mutual nor John Brown South Africa can be held liable for inaccuracies, injury or damage that might occur.

30

FAMILIES THAT WORK TOGETHER As with any other business, ground rules matter

32

9 WAYS TO STREAMLINE YOUR BUSINESS What you can, and should, outsource and delegate

MANAGEMENT Managing Director Lani Carstens Group Content Director Justine Drake Account Director Delicia Krause

The opinions and views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Old Mutual.

COVER Photographer Austin Malema Make-up Artist Nakita Oosthuizen, Red Hot Ops Illustrator Studio Kronk

24

PROFILE: YOCOCO’S SINENHLANHLA NDLELA Spreading the love one vegan ice cream at a time

Taking the lead 34

WHERE TO FROM HERE? Four entrepreneurs asked, four experts answered

38

ULTIVATING BRAND AMBASSADORS C How to encourage your staff and customers to spread the word

40

9 THINGS I WISH I KNEW ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA How to make social media work for you

The home stretch 42

BUSINESS IS A HUMAN THING Start-up owners tell what gets them through tough times

46

BEWARE THE 24/7 Learning to hustle smarter, not harder

48

AS ONE DOOR CLOSES… The view from the end of the line

ISSUE 1 2020 1

Please let me know what you’d like to see more of and what you’d like to learn more about. I’d love to hear from you. Reach me at nineyards@ oldmutual.com 2 ISSUE 1 2020

elcome to Nine Yards, the first issue of our first magazine dedicated to all things SME in South Africa.

As a small-business owner and entrepreneur, I am sure the importance of start-ups in our economy is not lost on you. After all, 98.5% of all businesses in the country are SMEs. To quote a recent McKinsey article, ‘SMEs are the lifeblood of South Africa’s economy’. But then the authors went on to add – and here comes the really important bit – ‘…and also most at risk’.

After Covid, it feels a little obvious to point this out to someone who has lived this ‘risk’ every day since the lockdown began. Plus, being the lifeblood of the economy might sound like a lofty ideal when you are struggling to continue being the lifeblood of your staff and own family. This is why we wanted to create a magazine that puts entrepreneurs front and centre. You will see that most of our writers are themselves entrepreneurs. Because who knows the business and challenges of being a small-business owner better?

Why Nine Yards? First, it’s a nod to the adage that running a business is a marathon and not a sprint. Then 2020 came along and turned the experience into an endurance race that required everyone to dig even deeper. When we had to find a name for our new magazine, the saying ‘the whole nine yards’ therefore came to mind as a way to convey just how much of everything – grit, perseverance, courage and tenacity – is required to run a new business.

On the upside, marathons allow us to see the human spirit in action through the camaraderie among runners. Competitors they may be, but they first and foremost are trying to accomplish something together.

Stay safe, stay strong Gugu-Lisa Zwane-Johnson Editor

PHOTO: MATT PHOTO

W

MARATHONS ALLOW US TO SEE THE HUMAN SPIRIT IN ACTION.

editor’s letter

foreword

PHOTO: SUPPLIED

BIG BUSINESSES HAVE A HUGE ROLE TO PLAY IN DEVELOPING SMES.

A

lthough we are still living in the immediate reality of the Covid-19 crisis, businesses – big and small – are already looking to the postpandemic future. The world we will live in in 2021 will be quite different to the world we knew in 2019.

As one looks ahead, many of the things that might be challenges for large corporates could be opportunities for SMEs. Smaller businesses tend to be nimbler by nature, SMEs can respond faster to change, SMEs have fewer employees to manage and less of a legacy to overcome. That’s an advantage that small-business owners should be leveraging.

But SMEs also have challenges, as we saw in 2020. They’re more agile, but more fragile. Their cash reserves aren’t as deep as their corporate contemporaries’. And when the economy wobbles – and, boy, did it wobble this year! – small businesses tend to feel that pinch the most.

At the same time, the Covid-19 lockdown to an extent has levelled the playing field by accelerating the move online. Whether you have a large head office in Sandton or run your business from your garage or guestroom, none of this matters online. What clients and customers see are your website and your social media feed – and everyone’s websites and feeds display in the same way.

The flip side of this is that most SMMEs do not have the capital – or the 24/7 in-house capabilities – to invest in new technology continuously. Instead, they have to innovate. Bringing them into the big-business value chain could unlock that potential. (Turn to p16 to find out how Old Mutual is doing this through our Enterprise Development Fund.)

We believe that big businesses have a huge role to play in developing SMEs. Corporates need to revisit their supply chains, procurement practices and supplier onboarding to lower the barriers that prevent small suppliers from securing business with larger clients.

We need a shared-value approach, where we grow the market and develop more partnerships between small businesses and large businesses.

It will be in everybody’s best interests.

Prabashini Moodley Managing Director, Old Mutual Corporate

ISSUE 1 2020 3

contributors As a young boy in Venda, did you ever think that you’d one day be a photographer?

‘I think about this a lot, especially when working with people I used to watch on TV as a kid in Tshiozwi. I’m always in awe of how far I have come. I never thought I’d be the person I am today.’

Your biggest business lesson? ‘Make sure you have everything on paper. It’s exciting to start a business with friends, but when things start to go wrong, you soon realise that you should have outlined people’s roles and responsibilities.’

Your Twitter handle is @ShyRonnie. What’s that about?

‘I didn’t have access to the internet until I was at varsity, where I was introduced to The Lonely Island, a musical trio who were comedians on SNL. They did a song with Rihanna called Shy Ronnie, and I just loved his character in the video and the song.’

LERE MOSIEANE Lere, the man behind Lere’s Shoe Shine Experience, talks brand ambassadors on p38.

How do you define success?

‘The real question to ask yourself is how much money is enough. Once you have a number in your head, commit to it.’

What has the national lockdown taught you? ‘I realised that I was living beyond my means. I only had an emergency fund for two months.’

Has any good come from being forced to close your business? ‘Seeing that my business is resilient and my customers committed to our well-being. Being forced to quieten my mind and surrender to the universe. It was a gift.’

What next? ‘I have reached the stage where I feel I have developed a legacy business. This is my gift to my family and my society. That’s it. For now.’

4 ISSUE 1 2020

CLAIRE KOLBÉ Claire helps businesses to optimise their processes and lists what you can, and should, do on p32.

You’re always so positive.

How do you manage it?

I have my moments as we all do, but I find negativity draining and prefer to surround myself with positive people. My mental well-being is very important for me to be able to function optimally and I guard it quite carefully.

Why accounting? I was really good at it at school and felt it would allow me to help people (especially business owners) to get more from life instead of living month to month.

Which paperwork mistake do most SMEs make? Often people short-change their finance function by appointing someone because they are cheap, only to end up with huge problems and compliance issues. Another is leaving everything in their bookkeeper’s or accountant’s hands and not actively engaging with their reports and numbers. This can lead to bad decisions.

MOSIDI SERETLO Marketing strategist Mosidi tells how she learnt to work less and enjoy more (p46).

Three things you love about being an entrepreneur… ‘My daughter finds me at home after school. I determine my own day. I work on amazing brands with awesome clients.’

What would you like your daughter to learn from you? And which habits don’t you want her to adopt? ‘That she is loved.

I want her to learn it’s okay to make mistakes; they teach you more than being perfect. That you must try your best. To believe in something bigger than yourself. To be grateful and live a life based on gratitude. To be kind to the less fortunate.

‘I want her not to be a people-pleaser and not to be insecure about things, especially her body.’

What’s on your to-do list? ‘My business is small and I would love to have one or two retainer clients and expand into other countries, but right now I am good.’

PHOTOS: SUPPLIED

AUSTIN MALEMA Austin shot Sinenhlanhla Ndlela for our cover story on p24.

The Warm-up

The five biggest reasons online shoppers abandon their carts + ‘I quickly learnt that you don’t need to have a higher education to start your own business.’ + 9 tools that will make your life easier

In short NEWS, REVIEWS AND PREVIEWS

EVENTS

OPENING SOON! A HOT NEW CREATIVE COLLAB

Join Heavy Chef’s monthly events, livestreams and Q&As – hosted online (because Covid) around the country – and get insights from fellow entrepreneurs as well as Africa’s top leaders and creatives.

Paul Simon will always be ‘Paul Simon of YDE’ to South Africans even though he sold the business a number of years ago and went into very different directions afterwards. Now he is building an emporium of another kind as a showcase for SMMEs in the lifestyle, food, fashion, streetwear, wellness and beauty business.

As you read this, Paul and his partners, Arie Fabian, who built up the Fabiani brand, and Old Mutual Property are putting the finishing touches to the first EGG store. EGG – or We are EGG, to give the company it’s full name – will combine a bricks and mortar store, e-commerce and an interactive consumer app to help small creators and designers reach a larger audience.

The first EGG store will open in Cavendish Square, Cape Town, on 26 November, to be followed by The Zone @ Rosebank and Bedford Centre in Johannesburg, and Gateway Mall in Durban.

heavychef.com/events

weareegg.co.za

ATTEND: HEAVY CHEF

6 ISSUE 1 2020

do it the warm-up

5 REASONS ONLINE SHOPPERS ABANDON THEIR CARTS THE BOOK EVERY BUSINESS OWNER MUST READ COMPILED

BY ABED TAU (TRACEY MCDONALD PUBLISHERS) That’s a bold promise for any book, but with 48 authors – including the likes of Dave Duarte, Bonang Mohale, Allon Raiz and Happy Ntshingila – as contributors, this one certainly delivers. Over its 300 pages, some of South Africa’s leading business minds share ideas and experiences – and, crucially, solutions to the challenges today’s entrepreneurs face. And make no mistake: the business world has changed dramatically in 2020, making this a time for acceleration, adaptability, agility and adjustment. The book’s subtitle says it all: ‘It’s Time for Different’.

E-commerce has emerged as one of the winners of the coronavirus lockdown, but getting customers from cart to checkout is not as easy as clickety-click. Here are the main reasons why shoppers abandon their online carts, according to Payflex, a South African buy-nowpay-later online store.

53%

Discovering extra costs at checkout, e.g. shipping

Having to create an account

23%

A long/ complicated checkout process

Not being able to see/calculate the total cost upfront

17%

31%

20%

Not trusting the site with credit card information

BOOK CLUB ISSUE 1 2020 7

BOOKMARK

Catherine’s Weekly Greeting Catherine Wijnberg, CEO of SME incubator Fetola, shares her insights and experiences of small-business development in South Africa.

The posts are short and sharp (just how we like ’em), and formed the basis of her new book, Sheep Will Never Rule the World (Quivertree). catherinewijnberg.com/weekly-greeting

PODCAST

NETWORK AND CONNECT ONLINE Nsbc.africa The National Small Business Chamber (NSBC) offers all entrepreneurs the opportunity to learn, network and connect with 141 000 small businesses throughout Africa.

Sign up for their newsletter to receive invitations and buy tickets to these two popular online events.

• Webinar Wednesday takes place every second Wednesday and discusses topics such as building a business, trading across borders and access to financing.

• Breakfast Connect, held every second Friday, is a B2B networking event where you can learn from top speakers and network with fellow entrepreneurs, potential funders, possible customers and industry experts.

Smesouthafrica.co.za ME South Africa is one of South Africa’s best-known resource hubs for small S businesses. In September this year, they launched Serv, a B2B marketplace.

Serv, as the name suggests, is aimed at service providers in these five overarching categories: accounting, business services, development and design, IT and marketing. It therefore serves as a directory of small professional service providers.

A basic free subscription includes a listing on the platform, a photo album (you upload your photos yourself), access to their lead-matching programme and e-mail and live chat support. A standard subscription, which includes links to your social media, costs R125 per month. The top-tier listing, at R200 per month, allows you to, among others, write articles on SME Africa.

8 ISSUE 1 2020

Founders For more than 140 weeks, Marc Andreessen has been reading a biography a week, all of entrepreneurs. You’ll find all the usual suspects – Walt Disney, Jeff Bezos, Henry Ford – but you will also meet Samuel Zemurray, who built an empire on bananas, IKEA’s Bertil Torekull, and John Romero and John Carmack who shaped the gaming industry. Andreessen, too, has an impressive CV, which includes co-authoring Mosaic, the first widely used search engine. founderspodcast.com

YOUTUBE Behind the brand Bryan Elliot interviews global entrepreneurs of the calibre of Simon Sinek, Seth Godin and Dwight Schrute to find out what makes them tick, and what advice they would give to entrepreneurs like you. youtube.com/BehindtheBrand

INSTAGRAM 6amSuccess Need some #InstaInspo? Here’s a great place to start, with a daily wake-up call to inspire and energise you. Sure, some of the messages are a bit twee, but it’s hard to argue with the wisdom behind them. instagram. com/6amsuccess

PHOTOS: GALLO IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES, FREEPIK AND SUPPLIED

BLOG

do it the warm-up

‘ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE NOT INVESTED IN THE BUSINESS LIKE YOUR EMPLOYEES. YOU BELONG IN THE COST CATEGORY OF THEIR BALANCE SHEETS AND THEY ARE CONTINUOUSLY LOOKING FOR EFFICIENCY AND COST-EFFECTIVE OPTIONS WHEN DECIDING WHERE TO SPEND THEIR MONEY.’ LERE MOSIEANE

INSIDER QUOTE

WHA T’S

Turn to p38 to read Lere’s article on turning your customers into brand ambassadors.

U O Y

CHE? I N R

WHILE SOUTH AFRICA HAS A NUMBER OF EXCELLENT GENERALISED SMALL-BUSINESS INCUBATORS, YOU MIGHT PREFER THE LASER FOCUS OF SOMETHING MORE SECTOR-SPECIFIC. TRY ONE OF THESE…

1 AGRICULTURE Speak to the MASDT incubator, which provides comprehensive, integrated support to emerging farmers in remote rural areas. masdt.co.za

2 FOOD & BEVERAGE Dig into Smorgasbord, which invests in and creates market opportunities for earlystage food businesses. smorgasbord.co.za

3 MANUFACTURING The SEDA Ekurhuleni Base Metals Incubation Programme, known as Lepharo, offers training and mentoring to startups in the engineering and manufacturing industries. lepharo.co.za

4 ADVERTISING If you’re starting up a black-owned advertising business, look no further than The Creative Counsel’s incubator programme. creativecounsel.co.za

ISSUE 1 2020 9

30 minutes with Wandile Zondo SELF-TAUGHT SELF-STARTER WANDILE ZONDO BEGAN HIS START-UP JOURNEY IN 2005 WITH HIS OWN STREETWEAR BRAND, THESIS LIFESTYLE. WE PINNED HIM DOWN FOR A QUICK-FIRE Q & A.

Why the decision to become an entrepreneur?

‘Most people finish matric and go on to get a tertiary education. I didn’t have that opportunity.

Instead, I worked at Edcon as a shop assistant. It was there that the spark came to start my own business.

I quickly learnt that you don’t need to have a higher education to start your own business. Since high school, I’ve read many self-help books, and many of them shared the same sentiment: it’s not about having an education to start your own business, it’s about having a plan.’

Why a fashion brand?

‘In the early 2000s, there weren’t many local clothing brands in South Africa. Street culture was a huge global phenomenon and many young people were starting their own brands. It sparked a flame inside me; I knew I wanted to open a shop in Soweto and build a brand that would represent us – the youth.’

Where did you learn about fashion?

‘I don’t think fashion is something you can learn. I’ve always had a keen interest in buying second-hand clothes because I wanted to look different. Streetwear

10 ISSUE 1 2020

q&a the warm-up

is meant to be unconventional – there are no rules.

Really, I was just a kid from the hood who wanted to express himself. Streetwear allowed me to do it.’

Did anyone teach you about the business side of things?

‘I’m completely self-taught. I read everything I could.

I always tell kids that Google is your friend. Whatever you need, if you take the time to research it, you’ll find the answer. Not having a ton of education made me less afraid of failing. If you don’t know what rules exist, you don’t worry about bending or breaking them, and end up writing your own rules.’

How did you raise capital to get Thesis Lifestyle off the ground?

‘While working at Edcon, I saved as much as I could.

I took accounting at school and that definitely taught me how to budget. I kept track of how much money I had that I could put towards the business. Plus, back in 2005, credit was pretty easy to come by. I jumped at the opportunity and took out R10 000 on a credit card.

I was also fortunate that two of my cousins were willing to invest R20 000 each.’

Thesis Lifestyle – why the name?

‘My former partner, Mangaliso Mbitshana, and I were hanging out with a friend who was studying computer engineering at Wits. He kept saying that he needed to submit his thesis. Eventually we asked, “What’s with this thesis?” He explained that it is a paper you write on a subject you have researched. That’s when we realised that we had been buying second-hand clothes and researching streetwear all this time. It was obvious that our name should be Thesis Clothing, which later evolved into Thesis Lifestyle.’

WRITER: MANDY FREEMAN. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED

What mistakes have you made that you’re glad you made?

‘I’ve made many along the way, but a big lesson has been that a business doesn’t grow if you’re not involved in it on a day-to-day basis. You shouldn’t be in love with the idea of owning a bus, you should be in love with driving the bus.’

A BUSINESS DOESN’T GROW IF YOU’RE NOT INVOLVED IN IT.

Where to find Wandile thesislifestyle.co.za

Do you have a clear-cut idea of success?

‘I’m still on my journey towards success. Part of that is waking up and pursuing the same dream day in and day out. Success is also about making sure that the store is always open. There have been days when we didn’t make a cent, but in 15 years we never closed the doors. In the past two years we’ve never had a zero-sale day. That’s huge for me – especially in retail. Even if we just make one sale in a day, that’s success.

What is your greatest fear?

Turning out to be nothing. I overcame that by becoming something. I wanted people to look at me and see a person who had done something and become someone; to see someone who came from nothing and achieved great success.’

Any advice for would-be business owners?

‘It might sound clichéd, but you have to have a passion.

Passion overrides boredom, failure and giving up.

Nothing will ever replace hard work and dedication. If you’re not willing to work hard, forget it.’

Did Covid-19 hurt your business in a big way?

‘Looking back, I realise we’ve been building a business that is Covid-proof. Yes, we had to close during Level 5 of the lockdown, but we had built enough cash reserves over the years to see us through that difficult period. We were able to keep paying staff salaries and our rent. That was a huge achievement for me. When we reopened, it was business as normal.

‘When I compare last year’s numbers to this year’s, we’re in an even better position now and business is better than it was then. I believe part of our secret is in keeping our doors open no matter how hard it gets, except, of course, for the first few weeks of lockdown.

What’s next?

For me personally, it’s about learning to strike a balance in my life when it comes to family and business. On the business side, it’s about continuing to grow the brand. Our goal remains the same: to open more stores. We launched an online store in September 2019 and it has gained a lot of traction in a short time. We also have to work at adjusting our business to align with where the world is headed.

ISSUE 1 2020 11

the warm-up know-how

9 tools that will make your life easier

TRELLO Trello is a user-friendly app for managing tasks, workflows and projects. You can even use it to organise your day or track the time spent on a task. (Hello, time management!) trello.com/en

TIME IS MONEY WHEN YOU’RE RUNNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS, AND FREE (OR INITIALLY FREE) RESOURCES LIKE THESE CAN HELP TO SAVE YOU BOTH.

CANVA Use Canva’s easy-to-use drag-anddrop function, layouts and templates to design professional graphics. On the free version, you’ll find more than 8 000 templates from social media posts and business cards to brochures and presentations. Once you’re happy with your design, simply download it as a PDF, JPEG or PNG file, even an MP4 animated video. canva.com

UNSPLASH At some point you’ll need highresolution stock images for your website or marketing material.

All photographs on Unsplash are free to use, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes. The only exception?

You can’t resell them or use them to start a similar service. unsplash.com 12 ISSUE 1 2020

EVERNOTE You’ll never need another Post-It or notebook with Evernote. Use it to write down notes, ideas or to-do lists, or simply to save photos and links in the cloud.

Plus, Evernote can be accessed from any device. evernote.com

GOOGLE ALERTS Another handy tool, Google Alerts sends an email every time your business or brand is mentioned online. You can also set it up for specific keywords or to monitor your competitors’ online presence. google.co.za/alerts

VERTEX42 This is your one-stop shop for templates – whether you need an Excel spreadsheet, calendar or Word template, such as a business plan or letter. Vertex42’s templates are supported in Google Sheets, OpenOffice and Microsoft Word. vertex42.com

SME TOOLKIT SOUTH AFRICA SME ToolKit South Africa is a free online resource for small businesses that provides information, resources and online training. Topics range from conducting an interview to franchising. smetoolkit.businesspartners.co.za

WRITER: MANDY FREEMAN

WAVE A 100% web-based app, Wave offers free invoicing, accounting and receipt-scanning software.

There’s also a mobile app, available on iOS and Android, that allows you to scan invoices and receipts. waveapps.com

LASTPASS Tired of having to reset your passwords umpteen times because you cannot remember them? Using LastPass means you only need to remember one password – for LastPass itself.

It also has a password generator to help create more secure passwords. lastpass.com

Get Set Set Get

Nimagnit, quamet, veritem sinvenit liquos auditis rae ducimus sit excerferum nosam inctus aut laborionsero que quo ius aut pero voluptata culparum illoreperist quate natempore, sinciae viduciatur ad modignis intur?

‘Once you know what you want to do, have done your research and drawn up a business plan, where do you go to find capital?’ + ‘The beauty of SMEgo is that it does away with having to submit 10 or 20 applications, one at a time.’ + ‘This new business app gives owners a simple financial overview of their business’s finances.’ + Your 9-point legal checklist

Show me the money SO, YOU HAVE A DREAM TO START A BUSINESS AND BUILD SOMETHING FROM THE GROUND UP. THAT REQUIRES MONEY. SOMETIMES A LOT OF MONEY. WHERE DO YOU START?

By Helen Ueckermann

INVESTORS, BE IT A BANK OR A FINTECH DISRUPTER, LIKE TO INVEST IN THINGS THAT THEY KNOW AND UNDERSTAND. TALKING TO FUNDERS WHO DON’T UNDERSTAND YOUR INDUSTRY IS UNLIKELY TO GET YOU THE MONEY YOU NEED. 14 ISSUE 1 2020

capital get set

I THE PERCENTAGE OF SME LOAN REQUESTS UNDER R250 000 2018 FinFind South African SMME Access to Finance Report

44%

t is no secret that while there are business ideas aplenty, access to finance is notoriously difficult to find. Whereas some start businesses in the knowledge economy and can get off the ground with a laptop and a table in their own homes, others need more.

Once you know what you want to do, have done your research and drawn up a business plan, where do you go to find capital?

2 START-UPS, 2 OPTIONS Gerhard Potgieter, owner of two Mieke’s Cottage & Antiques outlets, started his furniture-restoration business in his garage almost 30 years ago. When he turned 50 in 2012, he resigned from his full-time job to follow his heart.

‘By then our house was full of restored pieces and as my incredulous wife looked on, I almost emptied it and moved the pieces to an old house in Albertskroon, Johannesburg, where I opened our first shop. I bootstrapped the business by taking it slowly and gradually building up my stock and client base. I was mostly debt-free, which made it so much easier to sleep at night while getting the business off the ground,’ he says.

Mo Mondisa, CEO of The Kids Cooking Club in Milnerton, Cape Town, needed to grow her small business as she had reached a point where she had to turn away new customers because she could not accommodate them.

She approached lender Lulalend. ‘It was a quick process and they were always there to encourage me not to give up when things got difficult. I applied online for free, provided some basic details and was approved within 24 hours. It’s really difficult to get access to funding for small businesses. We tend to go to banks first, where you have to fill out a 60-page bible.

Lulalend solved my problem in a quick and efficient way,’ she says.

THE CROWDFUNDING ROUTE Catherine du Plooy, COO of BackaBuddy, says crowdfunding is a valid option to get funds for a business.

‘What makes a crowdfunding project work is a combination of a powerful story, a tangible campaign

R617 BILLION THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF SME CREDIT WITH BANKS AT THE END OF 2017 SA Reserve Bank

ISSUE 1 2020 15

get set capital

2 sources of funding you might not know about

with a specific measurable target and a passionate person or champion behind the campaign who wants to see it succeed.

‘The biggest mistake people make is to assume that once they get their crowdfunding campaign going, donations will appear. Marketing your crowdfunding campaign requires a lot of continuous effort. Many campaign creators draft their content around generalities, while donors much prefer contributing to campaigns that clearly set out what is needed. For instance, I need to raise R10 000 to buy 50 pairs of school shoes for children who attend my community school,’ she says.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF FUNDING If you need to borrow money to get your business off the ground, there are several lesser-known but effective routes. enture capital (VC): Instead of coming from V individual investors, VC funds are pulled from larger capital fund providers. In exchange, a venture capitalist will seek shares.

Angel investors: Angel investors are individual people with money to invest in projects they personally find useful, sometimes in exchange for a stake in the business. Requirements can be specific and prescriptive, but an angel investment can forge a long-term partnership.

FOR AGRO-PRENEURS AND FRANCHISING, MANUFACTURING AND SUPPLY CHAIN SMMES Old Mutual’s Masisizane Fund has been helping small businesses to get off the ground for more than 10 years. It works predominantly with SMMEs in rural areas, peri-urban areas and small towns owned by black women, young people and people with disabilities.

To qualify, you have to be in one of these sectors: -A gro-processing: Beverages, wood and wood products, textiles and food processing and preservation - Franchising: Food processing and production, and petroleum, for example, filling stations or fuel transport - Supply chain and manufacturing: Logistics, services and manufacturing Should your application be successful, the Masisizane Fund, which operates on a non-profit basis, will provide a loan as well as business and financial support to help to grow your business.

FOR FINANCIAL-SERVICES ENTREPRENEURS The Enterprise and Supplier Development Fund at Old Mutual was created to support and grow established small businesses that are or could become suppliers to Old Mutual. The main criteria are that a business has to be 51% black-owned and has to have an annual turnover of R50 million or less (unless you’re in the financial-services sector).

You can apply for either supply-chain funding or value-chain funding.

Supply-chain funding is granted to, for instance, SMMEs that provide IT or marketing services, or that organises events, conferences and exhibitions.

Value-chain funding applies to SMMEs that provide services that fall directly within Old Mutual’s ambit, such as financial intermediaries, financial services administrators and stockbrokers.

More information on these funds and how to apply are available from Old Mutual Enterprise Development. oldmutual.co.za/about/enterprise-development

ank loans: A bank loan means drawing up a B business plan and approaching a bank. While a bank loan may be the obvious way to go, be very sure of the interest rate and other conditions attached to it. ootstrapping: This is a way of self-funding your B business. These are businesses that are started with, for instance, personal savings or even loans. Think of a business started in a garage or at a dining-room table with a laptop. rowdfunding: This popular means to fund a startC up allows a business to ask for financial assistance online from a vast public crowd. If your campaign can convince people that your business will work, they might contribute to it. You will need to provide specific requirements and have a watertight business plan.

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overnment grants: You can apply for funding via G the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.

Requirements are extremely strict and include specifications regarding every aspect of the business, from annual turnover to job creation. Unlike a business loan, a grant does not require repayment, but the providers will want to see results. ther grants: Grants can also come from institutions O or groups that have the cash to front. As with government grants, you may not have to repay the money, but the specific requirements can be stringent.

capital get set

Where else to find funding IKHOKHA iKhokha is a Durban-based fintech company that provides a low-cost mobile card-payments device for small businesses.

PHOTOS: GALLO IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

What iKhokha does It offers cash advances to customers who want to grow their business. After a customer has used the device for three months, the company will approach them with a cash advance offer based on their transaction volume. The money can be in your account within 24 hours.

What you do • Use an iKhokha device to receive card payments from customers for three months.

• Wait for iKhokha to approach you with a cashadvance proposal.

• Accept or decline.

For more information ikhokha.com

LULALEND Lulalend funds businesses using a scoring technology which takes into account the health of your business together with your personal credit score.

What Lulalend does It funds businesses for a variety of purposes, ranging from R20 000 to R1 500 000.

Loans are repayable in standard instalments over a period of six months. After submitting an application, it takes minutes to get the result without any paperwork, waiting or commitment required. If successful, funds will be deposited in your account within 24 hours.

What you do • Apply online.

For more information lulalend.co.za

VUMELA The Vumela Enterprise Fund was established in 2009 by FNB Business Banking and Edge Growth to invest in high-growth small and medium businesses, as well as microenterprises.

What Vumela does It provides short- and long-term funding to entrepreneurial companies to empower businesses to grow and to encourage economic trade.

What you do • Apply online.

For more information vumelafund.com/get-funded/

FINCHECK Fincheck is a financialcomparisons website that help borrowers to make the best financial decision.

What Fincheck does Fincheck gathers information from numerous banking partners and presents it in a simple, understandable way.

Loan amounts will vary from lender to lender and the fees, interest rate, loan amount and your credit score will influence the repayment terms.

What you do • Fill out an online loan application.

• Wait for Fincheck to generate a list of potential banks/lenders.

• Compare your options and decide who you’d like to approach.

For more information fincheck.co.za ISSUE 1 2020 17

get set funding

big

A really idea born from a really big small business need

Where to find SMEgo SMEgo.co.za

AT THE START OF SA’S LOCKDOWN, MANY RELIEF PROGRAMMES WERE ANNOUNCED TO HELP SMALL BUSINESSES, BUT THE INFORMATION AND ADMIN OVERLOAD WAS A LOT TO DEAL WITH FOR THEM. WHICH IS WHY THIS USER-FRIENDLY PLATFORM THAT TAKES CARE OF YOUR FUNDING AND LOAN APPLICATIONS IS WORTH GETTING EXCITED ABOUT.

What you need to apply on SMEgo

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funding get set

1 500+

P

roblems become opportunities when the right people come together. In this story, the people are Rowan Spazzoli, whose work spans social entrepreneurship, economic development and innovative finance, and Phaphama, an NGO run

by UCT students.

Their interviews with small-business owners about the impact of the Covid lockdown on their business showed that 93% had no other source of income and almost the same number – 86% – don’t know where to access emergency funding.

‘After talking to small businesses for two weeks, we saw that it’s not only small businesses that are struggling with the existing processes. Yes, small-business owners struggle to find and apply for funding, especially with the widely different application processes, but funders struggle to find small businesses that are a fit for them,’ says Rowan.

It was at this point that the team came together to see if they could work together to build a company that would help everyone and set the ball rolling.

PHOTO: UNSPLASH.COM

THE NUMBER OF ACTIVE SMES ON SMEgo

ENTER SMEGo In May 2020 they began designing SMEgo as an online centralised funding application platform to build a bridge between funders and smallbusiness owners.

Three months later it was ready to be tested with small businesses and funders. The final build had to be simple and easy to use, and submitting funding applications on SMEgo really is as easy as one, two, three.

One, submit the answers to 10 straightforward questions to be screened. What industry are you in?

Has your company been affected by Covid? How much money do you need?

- A turnover of at least R20 000 per month - A trading history of at least six months - Your business needs to be registered

OUR BIG DRIVE IS TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO APPLY TO PRIVATE FUNDS, GOVERMENT FUNDS, GRANT FUNDS, ALL AT THE SAME TIME. — ROWAN SPAZZOLI

Two, select from the funding options that pop up and create an account.

Three, complete the application form that SMEgo has created based on this selection and submit the documents required – once.

For small-business owners, the beauty of SMEgo is that it does away with having to submit 10 or 20 applications, one at a time; for funders it is not having to vet dozens of applications only to find that the businesses are not a match for their offering.

At the moment, SMEgo offers invoice financing, asset financing and expansion financing through funding partners such as Retail Capital and Lulalend, and SME support through the likes of Aurik Business Accelerator. The existing blended finance facilities will soon be expanded through pilots with the national government’s National Youth Development Agency and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency.

‘As the number of funds and funders signed up to SMEgo grows, the funding options will expand to include financing such as small equity loans and invoice factoring,’ says Rowan. ‘Our big drive is to allow people to apply to private funds, government funds, grant funds, all at the same time.’

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Running your business made easy WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN A LARGE CORPORATE TAKES THE TROUBLE TO FIND OUT WHAT WOULD REALLY HELP SMALL BUSINESSES TO RUN MORE SMOOTHLY? 22SEVEN BUSINESS.

19%

THE PERCENTAGE OF THEIR TIME BRITAIN’S MICRO ENTERPRISES SPEND ON ADMIN IN A WEEK 2020 Make Business Simple Report, Starling Bank

20 ISSUE 1 2020

management get set

‘A

PICS: GALLO/GETTY IMAGES.

Where to sign up business.22seven.com

s soon as you move beyond being a oneman start-up or even a micro business, you will find many companies offering funding and support. It’s not so easy for the really small-business owner who has just started out, or for the selfemployed freelancer and contractor,’ says Lebogang Sibanyoni, Group Digital Propositions Executive at Old Mutual. ‘The small end of the SMME sector is where the real need is.’

During the time that he has been working on new products and solutions for SMMEs at Old Mutual, Lebogang says there have always been ‘burning questions’. What do SMMEs need? How can we help them in a way that generates value for both them and us?

Before they could start to develop a practical solution, they therefore first had to answer those two questions. ‘We soon realised that SMMEs have three main problems, namely, access to market, education and funding,’ he explains.

‘WHEN WE BEGAN BREAKING EACH OF THESE UP INTO THEIR CONSTITUENT PARTS, WE SAW THAT AN UNDERLYING CAUSE ACROSS THE BOARD IS ADMIN.’ At the same time, 22seven, a popular Old Mutualowned fintech company, had become aware of the demand for financial management for small businesses. ‘The way that some of our 350 000 customers were using our app showed that there were freelancers and SMMEs who used it to track

22SEVEN BUSINESS IN A NUTSHELL

• It’s free to use • It’s secure, private and insured • Anyone can use it from freelancers to SMMEs • The app allows users to categorise income and expenses per client or per category • Businesses can create, send and track quotes, and easily convert them into invoices • Businesses can get invoices paid earlier through simple loans • Funds will be in users’ bank accounts 24 hours later

income and expenses for their businesses,’ states Jikku Joseph, MD of 22seven. ‘We therefore invited these 22seveners to help us build 22seven business’.

As a result, the new business app helps small businesses to track their inflows and outflows, create and monitor quotes, and get paid faster through professional and easy invoicing. Ultimately, it gives owners a simple financial overview of their business’s finances.

Best of all, there is no charge, whether you’re a freelancer, micro start-up or medium-sized business. ‘Our vision to build an ecosystem for small businesses that will allow us to help them to access customers and small-business services easily and directly via the platform,’ says Jikku.

These services include lending and 22seven business has partnered with Lulalend to allow small businesses to get their invoices paid earlier at a small fee. Funds from such loans will reflect in users’ accounts within 24 hours. Lulalend is an SMME itself and South Africa’s first online automated provider of short-term funding for small businesses.

22seven business adheres to the same secure processes and standards used by banks, the military and governments. It is backed by Old Mutual and has the same insurance protection that a bank carries against cyber risks.

‘22seven business provides all the essential basics a small business needs,’ says Lebogang. ‘Around 70% of existing SMMEs in South Africa are the owners’ first businesses, a number that might well grow in our current economy, and they need simple, useful solutions that fit their needs.’

ISSUE 1 2020 21

get set know-how

Your 9-point legal checklist THERE’S A LOT OF VALUE IN GETTING EVERYTHING IN WRITING. WE ASKED Nicolene Schoeman-Louw, MD OF SCHOEMAN LAW, FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU SHOULD GET DOWN ON PAPER.

MEMORANDUM OF INCORPORATION Your memorandum of incorporation (MOI) needs to clarify the rights, duties and responsibilities of all the company shareholders and directors.

Think of it as your constitution.

SHAREHOLDERS’ AGREEMENT A shareholders’ agreement can help navigate unforeseen but inevitable events, such as chronic illness or death. Alternatively, if you want to leave the company, for whatever reason, this agreement can help to keep the process professional and amicable.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE Essentially, corporate governance is the company’s code of conduct: it’s the rules, practices and processes used to help direct and manage the business. It also involves balancing the interests of your company’s stakeholders, which include shareholders, management, suppliers and customers.

22 ISSUE 1 2020

TERMS AND CONDITIONS Customers need to know what they’re paying for and what to do if they’re unhappy.

A good business model is to include T&Cs with quotes to specify what’s included or excluded and what to do to accept it. Once accepted, further T&Cs should guide the relationship between you and the customer. That entails understanding the Consumer Protection Act and knowing how to treat customers fairly.

YOUR BEE STATUS BEE compliance is critical if you want to enter into a corporate or government supply chain. If your business is still small and your turnover is below R10 million, you can download the affidavits published by the DTI: 51% black-owned SMEs will automatically be put on level 2; and if you’re fully black-owned, you’ll be on level 1. White-owned businesses will be placed on level 4.

EMPLOYEE CONTRACTS Whether you’re hiring full-time employees or contracting freelancers, you need to have contracts in place.

It’s best to have them drawn up professionally to avoid oversights, which could have unnecessary and even unpleasant consequences down the line.

COMPLIANCE The last step is to make sure that your business taxes are up to date. If you have employees, you have to register with the compensation commissioner and pay UIF, as well as PAYE to SARS. In addition, if you exceed a certain threshold, you will also have to pay the skills development levy. This compliance is not only necessary, it is critical.

Where to find Nicolene schoemanlaw.co.za

WRITER: MANDY FREEMAN

BUSINESS REGISTRATION The very first step is to register your business through the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission.

You can do this yourself without using a lawyer or accountant.

DATA MANAGEMENT No matter the type of business, privacy is about the way you deal with the sensitive information of clients, suppliers and employees.

You need to have protocols to guide what information you collect from whom and why, as well as what you’re going to do with it.

Keep Going

‘Show up as your best self, don’t make the big decisions when you’re feeling desperate, and don’t quit your day job quite so soon.’ + ‘There’s something quite appealing about the idea of a family business.’ + 9 ways to streamline your business

Sinenhlanhla Ndlela’s stubborn journey to sweet success WHEN SINENHLANHLA NDLELA DECIDED ON IMPULSE TO MAKE VEGAN ICE CREAM HER BUSINESS, THERE WERE COUNTLESS WAYS SHE COULD FAIL AND JUST TWO WAYS TO SUCCEED: BY STAYING TRUE TO THE FEEL-GOOD MESSAGE AT THE CORE OF HER BRAND AND TACKLING SETBACKS WITH THE RESILIENCE SHE’D LEARNT SINCE CHILDHOOD.

By Annelize Visser Photography: Austin Malema

24 ISSUE 1 2020

profile keep going

ISSUE 1 2020 25

Y

oung film graduate seeking a more meaningful occupation quits her job and starts a business selling vegan ice cream to like-minded millennials.

Awards and accolades follow.

Most stories about entrepreneurship have a linear simplicity. They teach a singular lesson about the world we live in, namely that a combination of courage and effort, if consistently applied, will yield desirable results. These stories are meant to inspire.

They ask that we imagine ourselves in the shoes of the courageous entrepreneur, that we recognise our own potential, and act to emulate the success of someone not that different from ourselves.

It was with a version of this story in mind that 23-year-old film rookie Sinenhlanhla Ndlela walked out – in a bit of a huff, to be honest – on the production company that had hired her just three months earlier in order to start her own business.

It was March 2016 and, according to start-up failure rates, her new venture had a 22% chance of failing

by December, a 50% chance of failing within the first four years and in the longer run, a one in 10 chance of success.

THE GROWTH IN THE NUMBER OF VEGAN CATERING JOBS IN THE UK IN 2018 Caterer.com

123%

BUT SINENHLANHLA WASN’T THINKING ABOUT FAILING. SHE WAS THINKING ABOUT ICE CREAM. Johannesburg, where she had lived since graduating from the Cape Town campus of AFDA, was overwhelming. She found the city too busy and too chaotic; trying to slow down was like swimming against the tide. ‘I knew I wasn’t okay with my life,’ she recalls.

To help her deal with her anxiety, she was seeing a kinesiologist who had recommended cutting animal products from her diet. So, on her way back to her Maboneng apartment to call her family and tell them she had quit her job, Sinenhlanhla was in fact thinking about vegan ice cream.

Ice cream is a Ndlela family love language.

DON’T LET THOSE VOICES GET INSIDE YOUR HEAD. LEARN TO LISTEN TO YOUR OWN.

26 ISSUE 1 2020

profile keep going

The idea of serving love by the scoopful was already taking shape on the day Sinenhlanhla weaved through the Friday afternoon crowd after seeing the kinesiologist. There was just one problem: she had no idea how to make ice cream.

‘Fail fast, fail often’ may be a controversial piece of advice to start-ups, but it was a principle that Sinenhlanhla mastered quickly.

BY NOVEMBER 2016, WHEN THE FIRST SCOOPS OF YOCOCO WERE READY TO BE SOLD AT A LOCAL MARKET, SHE WAS ON HER WAY TO MAKING HER THIRD OR FOURTH MISTAKE.

PICS: GALLO/GETTY IMAGES.

4%

HOW MUCH OF SOUTH AFRICANS’ SUGAR, SWEETS AND DESSERT BUDGET IS SPENT ON ICE CREAM Stats SA (July 2020)

Sinenhlanhla was born to teenage parents in a small village in the Drakensberg and raised in the Free State by her grandmother while her mother attended the University of Cape Town. Her mum never visited without bringing a tub of ice cream, and her grandmother never failed to pile on the extra scoop that made Sinenhlanhla feel seen in a household crowded with children.

‘It made me feel their love,’ Sinenhlanhla says. ‘It reminded me that my mum still loved me even though she was leaving all the time,’ she says, sounding a little wistful, during a break at her small production plant in Midrand.

There are 10 ice-cream machines churning with flavours that today include salted caramel, tahini caramel, chocolate, vanilla, mixed berries, beetroot chocolate, granadilla chocolate, mint stracciatella, and turmeric-laced golden milk. Depending on the season, the list expands to include Earl Grey and lavender, strawberry and rosewater, rooibos cookies, spicy pumpkin, citrus jasmine, hibiscus saffron, and avocado and mint.

No banana splits here. No chocolate sprinkles. Just vegan, dairy-free ice cream made from nut-based milk and organic fruit and vegetables.

She fell out with a business partner, rented premises she couldn’t afford and, regretting having left her job, found another and left that too. She sat through meetings with a lump in her throat and gave in to tears on the way home.

But having narrowly missed becoming a start-up statistic, Yococo’s network of stockists continued to grow, along with its repertoire of flavours. By now a self-taught expert at ice-cream-making with a few extra pairs of hands on the payroll, Sinenhlanhla spread the love from Gauteng to the Western Cape and her home province of KwaZulu-Natal, and in 2019 was named among the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans.

The business entered 2020 poised to win two more awards – YFM’s #ThePutOn competition for young entrepreneurs and a Women’s Day-themed business accelerator prize from Momentum – but in March a state of disaster was announced and the country went into hard lockdown in an attempt to slow the spread of Covid-19.

Sinenhlanhla hit the reboot button and took her business online. Her e-commerce site went live in early May, with deliveries initially restricted to Gauteng, and an ambitious goal: to help relieve the economic

ISSUE 1 2020 27

hardship resulting from lockdown, the proceeds from 1 000 tubs would provide meals to child-headed homes and people living with disabilities.

Sinenhlanhla’s business has survived because she did some important things right. She made a product that slotted right into a small but viable niche in the market and created a brand that appeals to the growing appetite for ethical, innovative and healthy consumption.

She has stuck resolutely to the feel-good message at the heart of her business and aligned her brand with issues like hunger relief and campaigns for racial justice and ending gender-based violence. She has built a community via social media and held focus groups to test her assumptions about her market.

Before lockdown, her distribution model relied on markets and health-focused retail outlets. The switch to e-commerce was smartly executed, but drastically diminished her footprint. By mid August, however, deliveries to other provinces were on the cards, along with the playful addition of colour-in packaging. Cape Town were to be first, but Durbanites could meanwhile get their Yococo fix at Home Grown, an organic grocer in Ballito, 45 kilometres away. They were planning to ‘go slow and learn fast’, Sinenhlanhla said.

The answer to the question ‘What makes a start-up succeed?’ depends on who you ask, and ranges from timing to old-fashioned grit. But sooner or later the conversation comes around to resilience, the virtue that enables people to get going when the going gets tough.

THERE’S A GROWING SCHOOL OF THOUGHT THAT RESILIENCE IS LEARNT IN CHILDHOOD. Many great entrepreneurs come from dysfunctional family backgrounds, entrepreneur and teacher Steve Blank writes in the New York-based business magazine Inc: ‘These are people who grew up in an environment where nothing was the same from day to day, where the only predictable thing was unpredictability. And somehow, each day, the resilient ones make order out of total chaos, just as most start-up CEOs do each day.’

Sinenhlanhla’s family story seems a case in point. By the time she finished school she had lived in 19 houses and attended several schools as her very young mum,

28 ISSUE 1 2020

THE PROJECTED SIZE OF THE GLOBAL VEGAN MARKET IN 2025 Grand View Research, Inc

who was just 23 when her daughter was in Grade 3, made her own way in the world.

The biggest adjustment came in grade 10 when Sinenhlanhla was a thriving pupil at Pietermaritzburg’s independent Epworth School. After her mom lost her job, Sinenhlanhla moved to a co-ed rural school with 80 learners packed in one classroom. The following year she won a bursary that allowed her to return to Epworth, where she had to reboot her confidence and struggle back to a sense of belonging.

Such early lessons in dealing gracefully with chaos and stress prepare entrepreneurs for the daily crises that mark the early phases of a company, Blank believes. The ability to manage uncertainty is an essential skill for founders, especially in conditions where sheer will and tenacity are not enough to drown out the skeptical voices around you.

‘Don’t let those voices get inside your head.

Learn to listen to your own,’ is Sinenhlanhla’s advice to would-be founders walking around with big ideas and hoping for a fairy-tale ending. ‘Show up as your best self, don’t make the big decisions when you’re feeling desperate, and don’t quit your day job quite so soon.’

$24.06 BILLION yococo.co.za | IG: @the_yococo | FB: @theyococo | Twitter: @the_yococo

Follow Yococo

PORTRAITS: AUSTIN MALEMA. PRODUCT STILLS: SUPPLIED

profile keep going

ISSUE 1 2020 29

Where to find Rolland fredfootwear.co.za Contact Teboho tebohos2@me.com

Families that work together CONVENTIONAL WISDOM SAYS IT’S A MISTAKE TO GO INTO BUSINESS WITH FAMILY OR FRIENDS. AND, YES, THE RULES OF CONDUCT MATTER EVEN MORE WHEN YOU AND YOUR PARTNERS SHARE A DINNER TABLE. BUT THAT’S NO REASON WHY IT CANNOT THRIVE.

By Mandy Collins

THE NUMBER OF SECONDGENERATION FAMILY MEMBERS WHO FIRST GAINED EXPERIENCE OUTSIDE THE FAMILY BUSINESS 2016 PwC Next Gen Survey

70% 30 ISSUE 1 2020

T

here’s something quite appealing about the idea of a family business – the idea of passing the torch to the next generation to continue building on the foundations one person has laid down. But family businesses can also be fraught with conflict – it’s business, but with an emotional overlay.

‘There’s a misconception that family businesses are rosier,’ says Rolland Eboru, family business specialist and managing executive at Fred Footwear.

‘However, managing a family business is equally or even more challenging than a non-family business.

‘In a non-family business, you have a predefined role and mandate, you work regular hours and you clock in and out,’ he explains. ‘In a family business, there’s seldom a start and stop to your responsibilities and contributions.

‘Also, there is more emotional involvement and personal interest because it’s your family, which means you are bound to have conflict. It can be very difficult to take a hard line with family members.’

FAMILY BUSINESSES SELDOM START AS A LEGACY PROJECT. Rather, they evolve. Eboru says, ‘Most businesses are not necessarily started for the next generation, but

family ties keep going

are based on the core competency of the founder.

Only later, as the founder’s passion for the business deepens, might they begin to see it as an opportunity to pass on a legacy to someone in the family.’

If this is the case, they should involve more family members at an early stage. ‘Get them confident in the business and their passion for it may grow naturally,’ says Eboru, cautioning that expectations need to be managed upfront.

Business consultant Teboho Seretlo agrees: ‘Families often don’t formalise things properly. Start by laying out how you’re going to operate. If you don’t, it may cause discomfort along the business’s journey.

You need to have this in place as things start to unfold.

‘It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should say what we are doing, who will be responsible for what and who will be paid what. It should even state how share ownership is distributed in the business, and what happens if someone wants to exit,’ Seretlo explains.

Eboru concurs: ‘Establish structures that will continue beyond your lifetime. There will come tough, often passionate, conversations and it will help if you can refer to the family values or principles that were agreed on at the outset. Having things in writing will also be helpful if it should become necessary to remind someone of the responsibilities they undertook.’

PHOTOS: GALLO IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

ONE OF THE DISADVANTAGES OF BEING IN BUSINESS WITH FAMILY IS THAT YOU CAN SOMETIMES TAKE ONE ANOTHER FOR GRANTED. ‘In some cultures, the respect that is automatically given to older people can, of course, cause problems,’ says Seretlo. ‘Families have to remember that this is about work, about business and, importantly, the legacy. It’s about who has to deliver what.’ In other words, age doesn’t necessarily determine seniority – and that, too, may give rise to uncomfortable conversations.

But those conversations are important, says Eboru, advising families in business together to be transparent, increase communication and ensure that agreements have been established to manage different members’ contributions.

Another disadvantage he points out is that there may be times when your remuneration is negatively affected. ‘If

WHAT DEFINES A FAMILY BUSINESS

• The family owns a majority of the voting shares or effectively controls the business.

• One or more family members (or their spouses) are involved in the management of the business.

• More than one generation is, or will in future become, involved in the business.

88%

– UK Institute for Family Business

you’re an executive in a non-family business, your remuneration is defined in a contractual way, and provided you perform, you will get the agreed-upon salary every month,’ he explains.

‘In a family business, this is not always the case.

You might be performing well, but the business may not be in a financial position to remunerate you consistently. So you might have to make sacrifices.’

THERE ARE ALSO DEFINITE PERKS, THOUGH. ‘You can go on holiday and have people you trust run things in your absence,’ Seretlo points out. ‘You also share a certain value system and upbringing, possibly even a similar work ethic.

Those similarities make the business less of a headache than you might have with a non-family partner, who might be an unknown quantity.’

‘You also have the opportunity to be part of a generational legacy,’ says Eboru, ‘and you get to be your own boss, working in an environment that you are interested in.’

‘You do need to have a succession plan, and make sure that the generations after you are active in the business,’ says Seretlo. ‘This is critical. It will mean that you have to have conversations about who will succeed you and about your children’s ambitions on a regular basis. They may not want to take over, and it’s vital that these matters are discussed.

‘It can be awesome to have a family business, but you must put the formalities in place,’ says Seretlo.

‘Dot the i’s and cross the t’s so that everyone is on the same page.’

THE PERCENTAGE OF SA FAMILY BUSINESSES THAT HAVE A PROCEDURE IN PLACE FOR DEALING WITH FAMILY CONFLICT 2016/2017 PWC Family Business Survey

ISSUE 1 2020 31

keep going know-how

9 ways to streamline your business IN THE LAST 11 YEARS, I’VE LEARNT NOT ONLY TO MAKE A RETURN ON INVESTMENT AND EARN A LIVING BUT ALSO TO HAVE TIME TO ENJOY LIFE. STREAMLINING MY BUSINESS HAS HELPED ME TO DO THIS.

By Claire Kolbé

OUTSOURCE TO EXPERTS Outsource your accounting, IT and other specialised services to professionals. Having family or friends doing them as a favour (or trying to do them yourself) will only cost you hugely in the long run.

Outsourcing non-essential services keeps you focused on running your business.

HAVE SOPs IN PLACE Having standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place saves a lot of time when training new staff, keeps the impact of absent staff down to a minimum and helps to maintain your business standards.

DIGITISE PROJECT MANAGEMENT Software like Asana, Trello and Google Docs keep track of tasks and enhance team communication, saving many hours of follow-up time. It also keeps staff accountable for tasks and frees up your mental capacity (instead of trying to remember everything).

This has fundamentally impacted my business.

HAVE HR HELP ON CALL A reliable human resources (HR) adviser who can set you up properly with contracts, manuals and disciplinary codes, and who can deal with staff issues, is essential.

Staff matters can take up much unnecessary time and having this organised ensures upfront communication, sets the tone in your organisation and keeps disruptions to a minimum.

Claire is the founder of Recro Business Services, which helps clients to manage and maintain their financial and business affairs effectively. recro.co.za 32 ISSUE 1 2020

CLOUD-BASED ACCOUNTING Cloud-based accounting software like Xero/SAGE or QuickBooks keeps you up to date, saves processing time and gives you relatively quick access to management reports (which are essential to running a business properly). Using well-known packages also means getting plenty of support and easy integrations with other software.

INTRODUCE STAFF INCENTIVES Motivated staff tend to deliver more, so incentivise important deliverables, especially in non-monetary ways.

A cup of good coffee for clocking in on time or a takeaway voucher for meeting targets goes a long way towards improving lagging areas.

USE KPIs What you don’t measure, you can’t fix. Many entrepreneurs spend their time running around to manage chaos. Having meaningful key performance indicators (KPIs) can hugely help you to know what is going on and where to focus more attention. Staff will also be clear on their goals and expectations. Your (outsourced) accountant can help to identify and set them up.

LISTEN Listening to business audiobooks or podcasts while driving enables you to ‘read’ everything you need/want to, which will catapult business growth and stimulate new ideas.

ONLY DO WHAT ONLY YOU CAN DO Something all business owners need to master is delegating everything that is not essential to their CEO function.

Focus on that which only you can do – prospecting, rainmaking, holding the overall strategy and vision. Being too involved in too many aspects takes time away from planning and moving your business forward.

Taking the the Lead Taking Lead

Nimagnit, quamet, veritem sinvenit liquos auditis rae ducimus sit excerferum nosam inctus aut laborionsero que quo ius aut pero voluptata culparum illoreperist quate natempore, sinciae viduciatur ad modignis intur?

‘Scaling is difficult. It’s not for everyone.’ + ‘Your business’s vision is the light in darkness. It centres all the values, culture and purpose.’ + 9 things I wish I knew about social media when I started my business

Where to from here?

A GOOD SMALL BUSINESS DOESN’T THINK SMALL. WE ASKED FOUR SOUTH AFRICAN ENTREPRENEURS WHAT THEY NEED TO TAKE THEIR BUSINESSES TO THE NEXT LEVEL, AND FOUR EXPERTS FOR ADVICE ON HOW TO ACHIEVE THAT.

by Mark van Dijk

‘When you decide that failure is not an option, it’s amazing how many things you’ll start to see. It may be possible, for example, to look at things that can generate green shoots. When I talk with people who’ve been in business for 15, 10 or even five years who are where you are now, I always ask: “What did you have when you started?” You had enthusiasm, a great idea and entrepreneurial ability. You still have all that… but now you have experience as well.’

CATHERINE WIJNBERG FOUNDER OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SERVICE FETOLA Fetola.co.za

‘I

t is tough. We have to acknowledge that, but you only fail when you give up. Survival is about making the choice, every day, to fight or to fold.

I always advise entrepreneurs to sit with an accountant or a mentor (because it can be scary out there on your own) and look at the worst-case scenario. That will give you the facts, and often you’ll find that the fear is greater than the reality. Beyond that, survival is about looking for alternatives.’

next steps taking the lead

1 TAMBURAI CHIRUME CO-FOUNDER OF CLOTHING BRAND ONE OF EACH oneofeach.co.za ‘Three years ago, if someone had offered us, say, R3 million, we wouldn’t have known what to do with it. Now we do. We need to bring on board people who have the skills to take the business to the next level. We need a marketing department, a sales department, an exports department…

I currently do all of it! We need people who can bring skills beyond those my mom and I already have, and we need money to pay them properly.’

UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR BRAND STANDS FOR, AND WHY IT EXISTS.

BULELANI BALABALA FOUNDER OF TOWNSHIP ENTREPRENEURS ALLIANCE joinusfortea.co.za ‘There are key areas of expertise that all businesses need. You might consider parting with equity to gain that expertise. Another option is bartering. A couple of years ago, a lot of my business’s printing work was outsourced, because the machine we needed to do it ourselves cost R250 000. We couldn’t afford it, and we weren’t in a great position to get funding or financing.

So we negotiated with a media agency to fund it in exchange for preferential rates on their printing. It was a no-brainer for both parties. A third option is to identify enablers in your space. When I recently spoke to the guys at the Auditor-General, they offered, as part of their enterprise development mandate, to provide auditing services to the small businesses in our alliance. The Auditor-General is not a client, nor is it related to my industry, but it’s an enabler because part of its KPI is to empower small businesses.’

ISSUE 1 2020 35

2 MOLEMO KGOMO FOUNDER OF NTOMBENHLE DOLLS ntombenhledolls.co.za ‘For me, the next step is to redo all my branding and to start again. I need to put the brand in a better position. Right now, the challenge is financing, because I need more money than I have for rebranding.

I want to redesign the dolls, rework the brand, and push it all to the next level.’

DONNA RACHELSON FOUNDER OF BRANDING & MARKETING YOU brandingandmarketingyou.co.za ‘When you create – or relook – your brand, it’s important that you understand why it exists. What is the purpose of your brand? What does it stand for?

Answering that why is incredibly important. You also need to understand what the existing perceptions of your brand are. Are they the perceptions you want?

If there’s misalignment – if, for example, you want to be known as an innovative game changer, but everybody calls you staid and conservative – you’re never going to build a strong brand.’

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KGOLOLO LEKOMA CO-FOUNDER OF B2B SERVICE CREDIPPLE credipple.com ‘Most people will say that you need to have revenue for your first three years; we needed someone to tell us to focus on building our credibility as well. We’re getting there through meaningful collaborations and by building trust. We’ve never advertised, because of a limited budget but also because we kept getting work through referrals. Our next step is to scale our activities and to achieve that we need to get our name out there and continue building our good reputation. We have our network, we now need to grow it.

The key to that is credibility.’

DEON BINNEMAN BUSINESS CONSULTANT deonbinneman.com ‘In Mandarin, there’s an old saying that goes: “Your name arrives at your destination before you do.” An SME’s name is its most precious possession. My reputation is my stock-intrade. It either opens doors for me, or it closes them. You have to pay careful attention to the management of your reputation – both as an asset and a risk. When the delivery does not match the expectation, reputational risk emerges. If you’re running late for a meeting, phone ahead and let them know. If you cannot deliver a service, contact the customer to apologise – and do it before they come to you.

Studies around the globe have found that up to 63% of a listed company’s value lies in its reputation. It’s the sum of all the intangibles.’

next steps taking the lead

WHEN YOU DECIDE THAT FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION, IT’S AMAZING HOW MANY THINGS YOU’LL START TO SEE.

PHOTOS: SUPPLIED AND GALLO IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

4 SIZWE NZIMA SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR AND FOUNDER OF IYEZA EXPRESS. A BICYCLE COURIER SERVICE iyezahealth.co.za ‘Any small business needs three things to scale up: working systems that have been tested and proven; funding to set up for scale; and funding to operate.

Where do I get this funding? Government doesn’t fund scale-ups; it funds contracts. What I mean by that is, if I won a contract or tender for R5 million, government would invest R3 million in my business because they know that I’d make R5 million back. In South Africa, you’d have to go to a VC. That VC will do due diligence and in my case they’d unfortunately find that LUVUYO RANI I don’t have anything to FOUNDER OF THE SILULO guarantee that they’d get their money back if BUSINESS INCUBATION my scale-up failed.’

silulo.com

3

‘Scaling is difficult. It’s not for everyone. And you can’t scale your business if you can’t scale yourself.

So, before you start looking for scale-up funding, start with yourself. Understand the complexity of running a bigger business so that your business can grow beyond you. As entrepreneurs, we tend to do everything ourselves. Some entrepreneurs spot an idea, take a risk and make it happen; others come into a business and add value. To scale, you need people who can take your business to the next level with you. Therefore, when you look for funds, make sure that the funders you decide on will help you to find the right people.’

ISSUE 1 2020 37

Turning employees and customers into brand ambassadors YOU’RE NOT IN AN IT/HOSPITALITY/TRANSPORT/ CATERING BUSINESS. YOU’RE IN THE PEOPLE BUSINESS. AND SO ARE YOU, AND YOU, AND YOU.

By Lere Mosieane

Lere is the founder of Lere’s Shoe Shine Experience. Due to the lockdown, his airport business at own point was down by 75% but the sneaker-cleaning side continued to do well. shoeshine.co.za

W

hat is an ambassador?

In a business context, ambassadors are not salespeople heading out to make as many one-time sales as possible. They exist to foster strong, loyal relationships between your customers and your brand. Your ambassadors should not only be passionate about and intimately familiar with your products or services, they should also be skilled at making deep connections with others on your behalf. Without saying, this goes for you too as the driving force behind the business’s culture and character.

Through the years, I have seen a few things that trip up entrepreneurs and prevent them from establishing a distinct culture and character for their business.

FOUNDERS OFTEN CHOOSE MANAGERS AND SUPERVISORS WHO LOOK LIKE THEM. If everyone has the same background, world view and experiences, they tend to think the same and the end result will be the same. Or if 99% of your team are cut from the same cloth, the few who aren’t will feel like outsiders. While people can tolerate this to an extent, you have to be vigilant and check yourself when hiring.

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Initially I made this mistake myself.

Because I enjoy reading Financial Mail and Business Day, which makes it easy for me to talk to our customers, I looked for people who also enjoy business news when Lere’s Shoe Shine first expanded. It took me a while to realise that the CEO who is having his shoes cleaned is also someone with a family or someone who loves soccer or cricket. In interviews, I now look for the ability to communicate and connect

making your name taking the lead

YOUR BUSINESS’S VISION IS THE LIGHT IN DARKNESS. It centres all the values, culture and purpose that it stands for. When I first started out, I saw my shoeshine business as a business that shines shoes and called it Airport Shoeshine.

When customers began telling me that they’re there for the experience and not so much for the shoeshine, we changed the name to Lere’s Shoe Shine Experience and that’s when people began supporting us more.

This taught me that we don’t shine shoes, we shine the customer. The interaction when someone sits down to have their shoes cleaned is where the shine comes from.

PHOTO: GALLO IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

YOUR VALUES IS LIVED

BY YOUR CUSTOMERS AT EVERY TOUCHPOINT OF THE BUSINESS. on a human level.

Related to this are business owners’ own fragilities.

This can take several forms.

The best known prioritises men above women. Whether it's a so-called old boys’ club or an entrenched patriarchial mindset, it plays out on all levels of society from the home to the workplace.

As a man, it can be easy to be dismissive about this.

But if we’re being honest, men typically do get paid more. They are expected to and are given more space to become leaders. Even today, maternity leave

Always remember that your customers are not invested in the business like your employees. You belong in the cost category of their balance sheets and they are continuously looking for efficiency and costeffective options when deciding where to spend their money. The experience they have when interacting with your business creates the goodwill that makes them buy into your business. The kindness and fairness with which you treat your staff are the energy your customers experience.

Growing your business requires word of mouth and that requires people acting as your ambassadors (whether they know it or not). It is therefore critical to uphold strong business values and a culture that create happy employees and satisfied customers.

THE KINDNESS AND FAIRNESS WITH WHICH YOU TREAT YOUR STAFF ARE THE ENERGY YOUR CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCE.

could stand between a woman and promotion, and sometimes is even frowned upon.

Then there’s race fragility, which we see not only in South Africa. The US’s public image as the land of opportunity is being erased by the motivation for #BlackLives Matter protests. The refugee crisis and increased immigration in Europe have revealed the nationalist nature of countries previously lauded for their openness and tolerance. Not ‘knowing’ others fosters mistrust, which, too, could play out in the first pitfall I mentioned: appointing only people who look like you. This is not limited to one specific race, religion or culture.

To establish values that will lead to a culture that encourages employees to be ambassadors for your business, you must lead with intent. That includes being aware of your own fragilities and the potential for unconscious bias.

ISSUE 1 2020 39

taking the lead know-how

9 things I wish I knew about social media when I started my business SOCIAL MEDIA IS LIKE A PARTY THROWN BY THE COOL KID. YOU WANT TO BE THERE BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE WILL BE THERE, BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHY THEY WANT TO BE THERE OR HOW TO MAKE THE BEST OF YOUR TIME THERE.

By Nic Haralambous

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE EVERYWHERE People will tell you that you need to engage with your customers everywhere they are, but that’s flat-out wrong. You can’t be everywhere. If you are, you’ll do a bad job everywhere.

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER The most important thing you can do before you dive into your social-media strategy is to figure out who exactly you are talking to. This is an imperative part of the process. The more you know about your target customer, the better you can be at choosing which platform to focus your social strategy on.

OWN YOUR VOICE Once you know where you are going to engage, your best bet is to engage with a unique voice that is yours and yours alone. Say things that your brand would say in the way that you want to say it.

BE CONSISTENT You cannot build a successful social-media strategy by posting randomly and sporadically. You absolutely have to be consistent with your commitments. If you pick YouTube and upload once a week, do that for a year and then see how you go.

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IGNORE THE NUMBERS Social media is not about how many followers or likes you have. Social media is about having the right followers and likes. Aim for quality over quantity every single day. That means creating valuable content. If you are a clothing brand, illustrate your expertise and speciality while providing real value to your followers.

DEFINE SUCCESS Are you playing on social media because it’s fun or because you want to make sales? Choose a goal and stick with it.

BE PATIENT Nothing worth doing is worth rushing.

Building up a brand on social media is difficult and the platforms are cluttered.

You need to be patient to win.

PICK A VERTICAL If you are a fashion brand, you should engage your audience about fashion-related things. If you are in real estate, that should be your focus. Don’t post about anything and everything. The more you focus, the more relevant your audience will be.

DON’T DO IT If you have no specific reason to be on social media, don’t be.

First build a strategy to help you to make more sales and if social media fits, include it. If it doesn’t, don’t feel obligated to include it.

Brands lived before social media and they will live without it now.

Nic started his first business while at school and grew up to become a serial entrepreneur best known as the founder of Nic Harry socks. nicharalambous.com

The Home Stretch

‘It is easy to be a leader when things are going well,

Nimagnit, quamet, veritem sinvenit liquos auditis rae ducimus sit excerferum but harder when the going gets tough.’ nosam inctus aut laborionsero que quo ius aut pero voluptata culparum + illoreperist quate natempore, sinciae viduciatur ad modignis intur?

‘I continued with this hustle even though I could see that I was putting in a lot of effort with little visible output.’ + ‘This crisis has shown us ways that the business of feeding people could improve.’

Business is a human thing

AFTER INTERVIEWING FIVE ENTREPRENEURS FOR THIS ARTICLE TO FIND OUT WHAT ONE THING ALWAYS GETS THEM THROUGH TOUGH TIMES, OUR WRITER LEARNT THAT THE ANSWER IS NOT A MAGICAL QUICK FIX .

By Laura-Ann Tomasella

42 ISSUE 1 2020

digging deep the home stretch

I

managed to catch Philani Mdingi over the weekend while he was driving. Philani runs Maverick Mind, a strategy-driven digital brand agency and, although we are in the middle of a crisis, he is a busy man. Although he will not tell you himself, I have it on good authority that Philani is a ‘double-shift’ kind of guy – after a normal day’s work, he pops home to see the kids and then returns to the office for a second stint. When South Africa was still in hard lockdown in early April, Philani asked himself a couple of tough questions. With an economic crunch looming, he had to decide what to do with his 24 hours – was he going to apply for government support or was he going to buckle down and get to grips with the network of business collaborators he has built over time?

His big priority was to get more clients. So Philani chose the latter option. In his experience, it is meaningful collaboration that has worked for him time and time again. He called up an old collaborator with synergistic services, and five months into the journey, his decision has borne fruit.

After a few months of battling through Covid-19 ramifications, if you run your own show, your intention now is probably to build back your business so that it is more resilient. Until now, our managerial toolkit has consisted mainly of financial performance management. This is going to change. It has taken Covid-19 for many of us to realise that we need to take our people, systems and external environment into consideration more than ever before.

VTH Season vthseason.com

Maverick Mind maverickmind.co.za

Fetch Capital Partners linkedIn: Jason Schmulian

Eden Perfumes edenperfumes.co.za

Analytix Engine analytixengine.com

Laura-Ann is a business coach who helps business owners, consultants and entrepreneurs through periods of change. onesmallnudge.com

Find these small businesses here

PICS: GALLO/GETTY IMAGES.

AS ENTREPRENEURS GOING THROUGH THE STORM, THE ONE THING WE HAVE ALL NEEDED IS SUPPORT.

ISSUE 1 2020 43

Clichéd as it sounds, the past months have reminded us that it is easy to be a leader when things are going well, but harder when the going gets tough. Support in the form of understanding from staff and suppliers about postponed salaries or payments, assistance from shareholders to bridge cash-flow gaps or emotional support from your leadership team have been vital to our capacity to absorb stress, recover critical functionality and get through the new circumstances. It is also a big comfort to know that somebody’s got your back.

HOW YOU TREAT YOUR EMPLOYEES AND SUPPLIERS RIGHT NOW WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR YEARS TO COME. Since the national lockdown began, top concerns are health and well-being, financial stability and job security. One retail company I interviewed, Eden Perfumes, regularly communicated through the various stages of lockdown via WhatsApp with almost 100 staff members to manage expectations about salary payments. It alleviated worry and provided reassurance. How you respond to your managers and their teams will have a lasting impact on long-term productivity, engagement and loyalty.

The upshot in Eden’s case has been loyalty to the product and brand as well as flexibility with changes in work parameters and protocols. July 2020 sales in some stores have remarkably matched the previous July’s, despite selling a luxury product.

Analytix Engine’s flat structure has allowed CEO Pravin Burra to leverage off the maturity of his team.

When some team members at the boutique data modelling consultancy were struggling to cope with small children during Level 5 on top of an otherwise normal workload, others stepped in and reshuffled processes and meeting times to help manage work days. Furthermore, regular almost daily check-ins kept work flows on track and helped everyone to deal with the emotional weight of Covid-19.

OUR HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS ARE WHAT MAKE OUR ENTERPRISES RESILIENT.

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Burra believes that his team has toughed it out because they cherry-pick the best people when appointing new staff. The team is selected for a hybrid skill set, balancing not only experience and expertise, but power skills like teamwork and a growth mindset. This has contributed to a company culture where trust, fairness and passion for the work are what drive behaviour and performance.

When a company executive at Fetch Capital Partners, a big data insights company, ended up in hospital with Covid-19, she packed her laptop with her pyjamas. Managing Partner Jason Schmulian stepped in to ensure that she put her health before her business commitments. Not only did she feel emotionally supported, but the experience helped Fetch executives to relook their strategy. With the retail and real estate sector hit hard during lockdown, understanding how humans move in shopping malls and offices has become all-important.

Similarly, VTH Season, a 360-degree marketing agency in the entertainment industry, were dealt a sharp blow when the music and arts industries virtually collapsed overnight. So what has sustained

digging deep the home stretch

All five entrepreneurs were generous in telling me their stories, and these are the lessons I’ll take back to my own business.

1 Stakeholders are not only shareholders.

Think about the needs of the leadership team, junior team members, clients, target audience, suppliers, landlords, partnerships, etc.

3 Activating support is a strategic move.

PHTOS: GALLO/GETTY IMAGES

5

Identify where support is needed.

Take the time with all stakeholders to find out what help is needed, how it can be provided and when.

2 Stay connected and communicate, communicate, communicate.

4 Be grateful. Making an effort to say thank you to our team helps us cope better with stress, boosts our immune system, aids recovery from illness and can even lower blood pressure.

their business through this almost unthinkable disruption? One of the main factors is the 10-year relationship between COO Ninel Musson and her business partner. Both bring different skills and experience to the enterprise as well as diverse perspectives, but it is their tried-and-tested relationship that made them resilient enough to weather the storm.

Even though Musson laments the lack of structural support, it has not deterred her and other powerhouses in the industry and the music community has come together in innovative ways to find collective solutions. Competition has gone out the window in favour of the greater good. So until festivals and filled-to-capacity events are allowed again, please buy a ticket for an online concert.

ALL THE BUSINESS OWNERS I CHATTED TO HAVE ALL FOUND SUPPORT IN RELATIONSHIPS WHERE THEY HAVE INVESTED TIME. This means simply taking the time to talk with stakeholders. Business owners bring their whole selves to the office: business is a human thing – our human relationships are what make our enterprises resilient. The business owners I chatted to for this article, as well as clients in my practice, have been grateful about the understanding and empathy coming from stakeholders in their businesses.

People are our enablers.

Showing up and being supportive, as well as activating and accepting support from our leadership team, but also from junior team members, customers both present and future, target audience, suppliers, landlords and partnerships is a way of building resilience to absorb stress and bounce back – the people-orientated way. In the short term, managing our companies during Covid-19 is tactical and operational, but new needs will create new opportunities in the long term.

The companies I interviewed have had to rethink relationships between their business’s components and context. To do this, they have had to take a collaborative, systems view to find solutions. Staying afloat or finding new opportunities has depended heavily on collaboration among employees, clients and other stakeholders. Meaningful relationships are what make our businesses resilient.

ISSUE 1 2020 45

Beware the 24/7 STARTING A BUSINESS IS REALLY TIME-CONSUMING AND I FELT THERE WAS SO MUCH TO DO AND I WAS NOT GETTING THINGS DONE FAST ENOUGH. SOUND FAMILIAR? THEN THIS FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT IS FOR YOU.

By Mosidi Seretlo

I

am a single mum and had just lost my job at a big corporate. I was really eager to get going and start earning some money. My daughter was three at the time and I was determined that she would never feel the financial impact of my having lost my job.

Like most entrepreneurs, I thought that by working very hard I would be financially stable and build a successful business quickly. I hustled 24/7. I worked over weekends. I took my laptop with on holiday (really) and I thought sleep was for lazy people. Now I laugh at that. There was no partner to fall back on, my parents were retired and could not afford to look after us.

I had the burning ambition to make lots of money and the only way I knew how was by working hard.

I inherited my work ethic from my parents. Even when working in corporate jobs I was one of the people to leave the building at 7pm to find my daughter fast asleep by the time I got home.

Even though I could see that I was putting in a lot of effort with little visible output, I continued with this hustle. Despite a small inner voice telling me to slow down, I pushed on. Things got to a point where I was ignoring my own family and my own precious girl hardly saw her mum except when it was time to drop her off at playschool or to have a quick catch-up at bath time.

THEN, ONE DAY, MY LITTLE GIRL GOT SICK. She was diagnosed with a mild version of swine flu. Although she soon got better, I fell sick almost immediately after her. It knocked me out completely.

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self-care the home stretch

I was physically and mentally exhausted. I would try to get up to do some work, but my body would flatly refuse to co-operate. It took three weeks to recover and another three to get my energy back. Although the doctor told me to take it easy, I did not listen and went back to working relentless hours. Until the day I collapsed at a shopping mall.

Car guards had to carry me to my car. A very good friend took me to the doctor. I had gained a lot of weight and was diagnosed with insulin resistance and extremely high blood pressure. I was a prime candidate for a stroke. That’s when I finally realised that your health is critical. Without it, you have nothing.

PHOTOS: GALLO IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

I RE-EVALUATED MY PRIORITIES AND WORKED OUT WHAT WAS IMPORTANT IN MY LIFE. I listened to podcasts and watched YouTube videos. I did the 21-Day Meditation Course by Deepak Chopra and Oprah. A friend recommended The Value Determination Workshop by Dr John Demartini on YouTube and when I did the test to determine my values, it showed that, despite spending so much time working, family meant more to me than most other things.

Eventually I had to face something I had been denying – that the 24/7 was a form of escape from having to deal with the pain of being rejected by my old company.

I am glad I got a wake-up call before it was too late. Since then, I have learnt to play with Barbie dolls, I laugh more and have fun. I am more financially stable and have learnt to cut out the things I don’t need in my life. Finally, I have learnt that prayer works and believing in something bigger than myself keeps me grounded.

Many entrepreneurs I speak to, particularly female entrepreneurs, are doing exactly what I did.

Knowing this, led me to start a Facebook page to inspire others and share my own challenges.

Just doing this has taught me a lot, too.

HOW TO KEEP YOU AND YOUR BUSINESS HEALTHY

Mosidi is a brand and strategic marketing expert as well as a business coach and helps businesses to develop marketing plans that yield results. mosidikseretlo.org Join Mosidi’s Facebook page at @mosidikseretlo

1 Spend time with your loved ones and family.

I have stopped making money my top priority. Yes, it is important, but I have learnt that I can do without some things.

2 Listen to your body. Most of us ignore our bodies when they’re saying enough.

3 Get enough sleep. I used to average five hours a night. Now I make sure to get eight hours’ sleep and wake up feeling refreshed.

4 Exercise. I train with a personal trainer three or four times a week and do Pilates once a week. Some days I also go for a 30-minute walk.

5 Eat right. I used to binge on junk food but now eat healthily to help with my insulin resistance.

6 Say no to additional work and take on only one or two new clients at the same time.

7 Ask for help and delegate.

8 Prioritise. Every day I write down what is important and urgent, and do those things first.

The rest I leave until later when I have time.

ISSUE 1 2020 47

last thoughts

As one door closes…

THE KITCHEN, THE BELOVED CAPE TOWN RESTAURANT, WAS AMONG THOSE FORCED TO CLOSE PERMANENTLY DUE TO THE COVID LOCKDOWN. ITS FORMER OWNER, Karen Dudley, RECOUNTS WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO CLOSE ONE BUSINESS AND START THINKING OF THE NEXT.

arting with my vintage shop counters was the hardest part. Their appeal when I bought them two years before I opened my shop had been the patina they had acquired with years of use. In the last 11 years, thousands of Love Sandwiches were made on and passed over them.

They’d displayed our World Peace Brownies and our Lemon Squares of Legend. They carried stories of flirtation, of charm, industry and open-hearted hospitality.

Uncertain of how I would be able to keep my staff and my customers safe, I closed shop a week before the national lockdown began.

ALREADY I COULD SEE THAT IT WAS NOT GOING TO END WELL. I’d made up food parcels for my staff from the remaining fresh produce, lentils, rice and oil to give to them together with some cash and books to read. As the weeks went by, my concern for my team heightened. Without an income, people who had had a job just weeks before could now be hungry. We were thankful that the UIF TERS funding had kicked in, and to friends of The Kitchen who had donated to our team, but for how long could we go on without trading? And still the bills, all the expenses that keep a business going, came in relentlessly. We had begun to reach further into our overdraft.

We tried doing catered deliveries at the end of April, but we were a business set up for volume and feeding 100 to 250 people a day. Making deliveries for two or four people at a time, all across the Peninsula, would not cover the cost of reopening. Also, there was the continuing worry of putting our people in jeopardy.

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ABOUT KAREN

Karen is a chef, writer and food culture activator, and can be reached on karen@ dudley.co.za

At the end of May, with huge rent bills and no means to pay them, I announced the closure of The Kitchen. We were a level-0 business, accustomed to a buzz and happy queues. We had been set up for social intimacy and conviviality.

With the announcement came an outpouring of love and sadness, grief and thankfulness. But the gruelling task of terminating my restaurant business was just beginning.

Meanwhile, I was doing videos and interviews, webinars and live cooking shows. My bricks-andmortar business lay in ruins, but the devotion of our community was stronger than ever, waiting for us to emerge in a new form.

This crisis has shown us ways that the business of feeding people could improve. We have learnt that we can live with less. We do not need to offer as much choice as we thought we did. (Five superb salads rather than 15 are more than enough.)

Restaurants need to determine prices that are fair and sustainable rather than allowing customers to determine them. We need to grow and upskill our workers to be more versatile and agile and take care of them much better than before.

WE NEED TO SHARE INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE AND INTEL. We need the tech to optimise our industry, harnessing platforms for procurement and delivery. We need to feed more people and to do it nutritiously and affordably.

More than ever, it is not enough to show up.

(Yes! Even now!) We will have to bring something distinctive to a bruised market in need of comfort and sustenance, a people ready to gather and to party.

PHOTO: SUPPLIED

P

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