Whispers of an entrepreneur

I always find it extremely hard to find good service in South Africa. People are either rude or just unaccommodating - during these many public holidays the family and I had lunch at the Waterfront in Cape Town. We decided to make a picnic of it - buying food and sitting somewhere we could see the boats and feel the buzz of Cape Town life. We saw a great potential eatery – they had the proteins we like as well as veggies; key in our new eating plan, thanks to Dr Tim Noakes. Well – we enquired from the attendant, behind the counter, how their menu works. Do we choose the portions and incorporate any of the veggies? Or, do we get a meal that comes with the veggies? Seemingly, this was just too much to take – the gent just looked at us and moved over to the next customer. Feeling perplexed I decided to look out for any poster with information at the eatery. I found nothing that could help me. We then decided to ask another attendant, this time a lady. Posed the same ques...

During the past weekend, I got reminded of the things I am thankful for; a kind of taking stock of what is important as well as the journey that has led to this moment in my life. Praying hands Cleaning my cupboard I came across old business cards of lives I have lived and responsibilities I have had. Some were challenging, others simply infuriating but in all the positions and jobs I have had, valuable knowledge was accumulated, experienced gained and lessons learnt. My latest journey has been the most challenging, coinciding with my responsibilities as a husband and father - I was no longer able to take on the major risks of the past, risks that made me well off as well as broke me in more ways than just financial. Though a little wiser and more risk averse, I have taken a few gambles with some disasters and triumphs – effects of which were exacerbated because of my young family. The lows became so much more bitter and the highs were duly needed. As the husband, I am r...

I have always been fascinated with the American culture of taking people to court for various arbitrary issues – many garbage TV shows, showcase this culture of American society. Salacious tendencies that should be reserved to the bottom few who like to slog mud. With my self-righteous banter well on the way - I was not aware of dark cloud amassing in the distance. As an entrepreneur - like so many would know, one is always up for new opportunities. Analysing and trying out new things that can or will not add value to your business. With that I ventured into the development of mobile games - games played via mobile, electronic device as an app or through existing platform. Our first App was quite a  success - not Silicon Valley success but gave well over 2000% profit - with all cost covered. Clean profit. So I devised the second, substantially bigger game - which invariably would take up all the profits for product development; hired a development team to dev...

I recently met a very interesting gentleman – let’s call him Sipho. Now, Sipho is an elderly gent – about 1.55m in length with a small frame but broad shoulders, indicative of many years of hard work and labour. His stare is piercing and focused and one gets the impression that this is not a man to trifle with. He is fit and one could never say he is in his 60s. Years ago, Sipho lost his job and the income potential it had, with a family to support he was down on his luck. He had to find ways in which to support himself and his family, means that were legal and did not depend on the state. Employment opportunities for someone of his limited skills/education and advanced years were limited, and as is the case with most entrepreneurs – limitation became the fire that would drive him to achieve. Sipho has an interesting business case – he goes around Bellville Taxi Terminus (the area in Bellville where all the busses, mini bus and midi bus taxis and train all depart f...

I get a lot of queries when I present my business cards to people - the title on the card reads; PathFinder. – "path finder" they would say, "what is that?" I have long been trying to lead without a title - my aim consistently has been to become a corporate leader in South Africa and the world. I never went out to become a CE or an MD or any other fancy title out there. All I wanted to do is build a major business, build my skills and abilities in the process and help nurture other people and of course, make a whole lot of money in the process - very naive view, I know. But these are my guiding principles throughout my career as an entrepreneur. Being in business for a bit, one realises how the world is not necessarily how you would like it to be. I realised that I cloud not go with a blank space for my title - after all people respond differently to you if you have an impressive sounding title. Doors open sooner and more accommodatingly. People are happy ...

I have never really been dismissed from things that mattered to me - I may have had a dismissal from a relationship of two (being dumped), but nothing really concrete. So - it always affects me when I have to dismiss a person that is not fullfilling their end of the bargain - it's like your bank not working for you, when the time comes, you have to part ways. Sitting and preparing for a dismissal - I find a lot of questions coming to mind, questions I think the dismissee may want answers to.  As always a victim during these sort of transactions - the dismissee would want clarity on how they have gotten to this point and how it was my fault (to my experience, it's never their doing - no act is a heinous as this) So I have a few things that make it comfortable for me - for as much as the dismissee is a victim, I too, am a victim of their actions, actions that have led to this point.  I almost always try to do this on a Friday or towards the end of a work week. I ...

Classic entrepreneurial education theory outlines key elements or traits of an entrepreneur – various qualities that can lead to success in entrepreneurship. The one I have grappled with the most, while studying was: Tolerance of Ambiguity. At the time of learning this, I did not fully understand what it means, sure the words are easy to decipher and I had gotten the definition, but understanding this key trait seemed to allude me. One explanation of this was; this trait is the definition of risk-taking—the ability to withstand the fear of uncertainty and potential failure. “It all boils down to being able to successfully manage fear,” notes Michael Sherrod, entrepreneur-in-residence at the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University. In my experience – I have come to understand this trait requirement, for this is a really required trait if you want to become successful in the long run. If you take the example of changing lanes when driving – the safe thing...