Bulls n Bears Entrepreneurship Zone :: South African entrepreneurs share their toughest days on the job

[Bulls n Bears]

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 

 

 

South Africa’s most dynamic entrepreneurs reveal the toughest situations
they’ve found themselves in as business owners, and how they overcame these
challenges.


1. Bruce Dube, MD, Nine80 Digital



Nine80 Digital is a pan-African digital media publishing company. Its
presence includes South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

“Being bankrupt and in debt was a tough phase of my entrepreneurial journey
that impacted many personal and professional relationships negatively.

“I overcame the challenge by adopting a more frugal approach with the
overall business model, [thereby] fostering a business that focused more on
giving value to consumers at lower costs by stripping down all the excess
that doesn’t speak to the core of the business and translate to revenue
growth.”


2. Tumi Phake, founder and CEO, Zenzele Fitness Group



Zenzele Fitness Group is a South African gym management business which
operates fully-equipped health clubs for, and in partnership with, various
large companies and universities.

“The toughest situation was being able to source funding and meet my
deadline with a client to be able to open on the specific date. I remember
about a year ago, it was a very tough situation, because banks at the time
had a very slow turnaround time because of my lack of track record and lack
of proven concept. Sometimes it would take three to six months to source
funding – just back and forth of wanting additional information. The client
didn’t even know. From the client’s point of view, everything was perfect.

“How I mitigated it was I spoke to my suppliers who I was buying equipment
from, and they trusted me – so they actually delivered the goods before I
paid them because they trusted that I would be able to pay for the
equipment. On the day the stuff was delivered, I think the money was just
confirmed – I hadn’t physically paid my suppliers. But my suppliers went and
installed the equipment. And normally people wouldn’t do that. I actually
had no deposit, I had put zero deposit on the deal. But they still took the
risk to install the stuff – this was R2m (US$138,000) worth of equipment. I
think I paid them a week later.

“I think it is all about creating good relationships and people trusting
you, because you will find yourself in situations like that where you can’t
deliver things on time and people that trust you will back you up, they will
support you because they know at the end of the day you’ll stick to your
word. When you’re first starting up as a business, when people invest in the
business, they also invest in the person.”


3. Wesley Lynch, CEO, Snapplify




Snapplify is a global edtech company that was started in Cape Town, South
Africa. The business is focused on content distribution, mobile publishing,
and innovation for digital education. 

“It is tough managing the growth of a company as it begins to expand and
bring on new team members. These changes to the core team dynamic and
company culture can have negative side effects if not compensated for or
planned for to maintain a balance. Although Snapplify doesn’t exactly
qualify as a startup anymore, we’ve tried to maintain that fresh, innovative
culture that comes with a startup environment, which seems to be working so
far.

“Another challenge is being able to identify and adapt to important
differences when entering new markets. It’s impossible to cookie-cut lessons
learned across different markets and territories, and hope for similar
success. It is important to learn how to adapt ideas to suit changing
circumstances and situations.”


4. Nokwethu Khojane, co-founder, Lakheni




Lakheni is a Cape Town-based company which has developed a platform that
aggregates low-income households into buying groups, allowing them to
benefit from reduced prices for everyday items.

“Fundraising. Raising funding for growth is really the hardest part. I
think you’ve got to be more targeted about the doors that you knock on, as
opposed to the spray and pray approach. When you are more targeted you
tailor each request so that it aligns with that specific funder. I believe
this is a much better strategy than to just send out countless proposals.”


5. Judith Middleton, founder, DUO Marketing + Communications




DUO Marketing + Communications is a South African public relations and
digital agency that serves the business-to-business tech industry.

“Without doubt: cashflow management. The business can be strong and
healthy, with solid recurring revenue, but that doesn’t mean customers pay
on time or adhere to their part of the contract. Fortunately, this has only
happened twice in our nearly 15-year history and when we were truly honest
with ourselves; we acknowledged that the mutual value and respect for one
another just wasn’t there. So we took a hard line and ‘blessed and released’
the client.

“The impact on one’s health, wellbeing and team morale just isn’t worth a
late-paying client who disregards the agreement. We also created a firmer
payment policy with penalty clauses, which we now enforce. Trust and hope
are an entrepreneur’s reverie when we don’t really want to confront what
truly is so.”


6. Adrian Gardiner, chairman, Mantis




Mantis is a family-run collection of privately-owned hotels, eco escapes
and lifestyle resorts located around the world, with a large presence in
Africa.

“During the 1970s, I ran various businesses, ranging from roads and
infrastructure, tennis courts and swimming pools to other recreational
facilities in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. When the 1979 recession started,
I lost everything and had to start again. This was my ‘university of life’,
and you soon realise who your real friends are – as well as the people who
will stand by you during the most difficult times. I looked at this
experience positively and made the best of the lessons that I learned. I
have no regrets.”


7. Trevor Gosling, CEO, Lulalend




Lulalend is a Cape Town-based online lending platform for small businesses.

“When I left investment banking to pursue entrepreneurship I made sure I
had a six-month runway in terms of personal cash flow to keep me going.
Little did I know that it would be 18 months before I would see my first pay
cheque from my startup. Those were some dark days but taught me to live
lean, which I encourage every entrepreneur to do.

“Don’t be afraid to eat dirt and get uncomfortable for a couple years
because the pain will all be worth it.”


8. Rahul Jain, CEO, Peach Payments




Rahul Jain

Peach Payments is a payment processor focusing on Africa and other emerging
markets. It offers payment solutions to online and mobile businesses,
enabling them to accept payments from consumers across the globe.

“In the early days, our seed-funding round collapsed at the last step. This
was a setback because we needed the funds desperately. It took us another
year to raise the money. During this time, we were constantly with our backs
against the wall. We were funding the business with our savings, including
paying salaries, while not having taken a salary ourselves for two years.

“One week, we were out of business; and, the next week, there was some
hope. This was truly a rollercoaster business-wide and also emotionally as
individuals. The only way we overcame this challenge was to put our heads
down and focus on growing sales and revenues.

“This way we started to solve the cash crunch, little by little. Mentally,
it was a big challenge to keep ourselves motivated, and I think it was the
small victories that really helped on that front.”—Howwemadeitinafrica 

 

 

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