Whispers of an entrepreneur

John Legend at the Citi Presents Evenings with Legends show on 29 January 2014 in New York. I went to my first concert  –   John Legend , not one to be swayed by popular culture, I was initially very apprehensive to go to this event. Largely to appease my beautiful wife  –  I decided to swallow my idiosyncratic tendencies and comply. Sitting there waiting for the show to start, I felt quite happy I had follow through on my plan to take a stiff dose of paracetamol   –  all the screaming was going to give me a massive migraine. Mr Legend entered the stage  –  about 8 mins behind schedule ( Sorry, I am anal about schedules ). From the first syllable the gent dropped,  –  I could " see " how the female undergarments of some of the ladies dropped too. They were elated by this maestro. During the show there were some moments where I wondered about my wife too.  I know I may be her black Adon...

In anything you do, to become a success you need to put in the time, energy and effort. In Malcolm Gladwell’s book – The Outliers, Gladwell examines the factors that contribute to high levels of success. Two Roads Diverged His hypothesis is rooted in the understanding that for any one person to be highly successful (s)he needs to put in at minimum 10 000 hours into her/his craft. Whether it be an athlete or an entrepreneur. Practice, research and practical application will all contribute to a great future of success. I have been thinking more and more of this subject of late – looking to understand my purpose on this earth and what I would like to be remembered for. I think this maybe as a result of my pending 30 th birthday in a month’s time. If you take this process, breakdown your weekly spend at your pursuit, as an entrepreneur of 8 hours a day and 5 days a week (this is typically very low) – it would theoretically take you well over 5 years to make a success o...

I recently read an article in the Financial Mail on Tito Mboweni and his take on black economic empowerment  as it stands today. Common Stock Certificate To a large extent, I fully agree with Mr Mboweni's stance on how BEE has come to be conducted, both bad black and white partners have made a noble concept very disingenuous.  Having read this article, I find myself feeling quite distraught. According to the article - Tito Mboweni, the ex central banker of South Africa was declined a number of funding requirements to start various businesses. This was unfortunately not the part that distressed me - his assertion that giving security or collateral for a business loan, where you put up personal wealth is a fools errand. "I said you can’t pledge private wealth for business. They are two separate things. What we have here is a radio licence; if it does not work, you take the business. "No-one will seize my private wealth. They think I am a fool," says...

I woke up this morning with a pair of interesting questions on my mind. Bent over the bathroom basin, brushing my teeth. All this after one of my power naps – well, this is all I can call them nowadays, my lack of sleep due to insomnia keeps me up till the strangest hours of the morning. I found it strange that at such an early hour, I am already thinking about life and the direction I am taking. Back to my big questions: “Where would I rather be right now” and “What would I rather be doing now” To the former, my answer was, “ Here and now ”, I am so excited about life – spring is in the air and I feel rejuvenated. Notwithstanding the horrid feeling I get with all the pollen in the air, this time of the year is my favourite. The latter question was more interesting – what would I rather being doing now, that is with regards to my life. “I am doing what I would like to do, and do for at least the next 10 years” One of the greatest pleasures has been finding my way in th...

Two weeks ago I undertook the almost painful but joyous challenge of learning French. Being fluent in 3 languages, I thought this would be a great addition, and empower me for when I finally get to do more business on the continent (Africa). With significant countries including Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritius and some parts of Nigeria. The primary reason however is and will always be my great desire to attend INSEAD . For an entrepreneur, this institution offers some interesting executive development courses to fast-track my personal development, management skills and consequently improve my ability to grow my organization to the heights I would like it to reach. Thinking of a far distant future, putting plans and goals in order makes life very interesting. It gives one a license to dream and a chance to go for your dreams. I sometimes wonder if I am too future oriented at the expense of the here and now. This could also be the impatience of youth talking. To my knowledge...

Since the emergence of the economic classes of black diamonds and black emeralds - a steady decline in the number of black sales professionals has emerged. These new economic classes have given rise to the constant desire, and mostly fool-hearty, understanding that - in order to be successful in life, one has to be a corporate/government executive. Sales and the art of selling was discarded for the new art of lobbying and rent seeking.  The common touch made so famous by entrepreneurial juggernauts such as Herman Mashaba, and many more - who started out as sales professionals. Going door-to-door to sell a consumer product. Gaining the necessary skills to propel them into consumer driven businesses. Reading a post on one if the social networks I am on, I was amazed, OK, maybe even taken aback by the author's debate; his greatest point was the question: "how many black-owned car dealerships are there in South Africa?" Seeing that...

The year was 1993, I, a wide eyed kid was one of 6 kids making up the first wave of black kids newly welcomed to the white schools in Cradock. This was still Apartheid South Africa - though Madiba was out of prison and negotiations well on the way for a democratic South Africa. A lot of preparation went into this 'unlikely integration' - the past two years a small group of us, through the foresight of our parents, had been attending afternoon classes in learning the English language. Having been at an Afrikaans medium school, from Crèche to now - I was able to get away with communication in Afrikaans. I was lucky enough to go across the N10 - which divided Cradock with blacks on the one side and coloured or brown people on the other; to better schools than what was available in the black township. A little known fact - Afrikaans is the most widely spoken language in South Africa, even today.  During these classes we learnt the command of the language our paren...