Over the years, I have realised that I have a natural ability to impart knowledge, judging by the number of family, friends, and acquaintances I have advised in starting their own ventures, many of which have gone on to be very successful (guys, invoices are coming!)
This is one of the reasons why I decided to become “The Startup Coach”, focused on entrepreneurship coaching and development. I will never be wealthy enough to be a philanthropist like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, who have billions to share with humanity. So, after a quick inventory of myself (which took 3 minutes), I realised that I have a wealth of knowledge and experience that I could share with people like me who decide to take entrepreneurship as a career path. Furthermore, thinking back on my entrepreneurial journey I know I could have benefited from having a coach to help me to “see around corners.”
Fearing that beyond my immediate circle, people would not take me seriously, I decided to create credibility for myself by completing a Masters’ degree in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation at the Wits Business School. It was a grueling time juggling a full-time degree that I completed with a full-time job and a young family! My time at WBS was rewarding and I decided then that I wanted to focus on developing entrepreneurs using my newly acquired knowledge coupled with my years of experience in the corporate world and as an entrepreneur. The million-dollar question was how to begin…
My initial idea was to focus on corporate entrepreneurship – helping large companies to become more entrepreneurial. This seemed to be a good idea at the time because of the impact that Covid-19 was having on companies that were failing to adapt and innovate. I soon recognised that either I was failing to pitch my proposals effectively, or that the South African corporate sector was not interested in developing innovation capabilities. (That’s a story for another day!)
The pivot came in early September 2020 when a discussion with Kudzai Midzi, a fellow entrepreneur with whom I have shared similar challenges and successes with, culminated in us developing a 5-part free online workshop series entitled: “SO, YOU WANT TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR – THE JOURNEY FROM IDEATION TO GROWTH”. We publicised the workshops extensively on LinkedIn and Facebook and they were well attended. We even had guest entrepreneurs from a few African countries to come and share their experiences. It was at that point that I knew that I was onto something – that startup entrepreneurs needed my help more than the corporates. The hypothesis that people want to learn more about entrepreneurship and are willing to pay for it was partially proven. The payment part still needed to be solved for.
After the workshop series, there was quite a buzz, which caught the attention of my first big client. They invited me to take part in a pilot for a bespoke venture builder programme as a coach. We ran the pilot with 4 startups and achieved great success. Thereafter the pilot became a programme. At the same time, I started building a profile in the startup coaching and development space and have gone on to work with some of the top incubators and accelerators in South Africa.
It takes a lot of hard work to build a reputation and credibility in this space and I am forever grateful for all those who have taken a bet on me and given me the opportunities. In my close circles, I have been given a nickname: “The Entrepreneur Whisperer” because I am said to have a gift of understanding that species well (Thank you Yugesh Pillay for the nickname!)
Here we are today, looking forward to TRANSFORMING AFRICA, ONE ENTREPRENEUR AT A TIME!Don’t forget to complete the contact form for a free 30-minute conversation about your entrepreneurial dreams.