[bctt tweet=”Ramadimetja Makgeru’s interest in entrepreneur grew from her financial struggles as a student” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”]
Born in the dusty village of Mohlaletse in sunny South Africa, Ramadimetja Makgeru —better known as Rami— is a simple girl who has always enjoyed serving others from a very young age. From winning awards for community service in primary school to being involved in various initiatives as a young adult, making a difference runs in her blood.
As a financially struggling student at the University of Witwatersrand, Rami’s interest in entrepreneurship started. She started attending business seminars during her spare time to learn about the world of business and how she can start making money. Through these seminars, Rami met a lot of budding entrepreneurs and realized that they all faced a similar predicament —they lacked personal and business branding skills. Not just that, they also lacked basic financial skills to enable them to do business financials.
That’s when she decided to assist start-ups with bookkeeping and tax as a freelancer. Rami eventually decided to invest time in learning about sales and marketing too. Later on, she then designed training material to train small businesses on sales under her company Competent Creations Agency (Pty) Ltd. The company was registered when Rami decided to make her services more accessible to make more money from the venture. It now has its own agents distributing products on behalf of other companies.
Why do you think entrepreneurs lack knowledge on branding, bookkeeping and sales strategies?
Entrepreneurs don’t utilize readily available resources that educate them on these subject matters, but in their defence, they don’t have the time to do so. Most entrepreneurs are usually knowledgeable in the field their product or service specializes in.
Branding, bookkeeping and sales strategies come with trying to maintain a company to keep it running; something most people don’t consider before starting a venture. Per studies, there is a positive correlation between business failure and lack of marketing and sales skills.
How can entrepreneurs improve their knowledge of this on the cheap?
There is a lot of material available online on platforms like YouTube and even free online courses (MOOC’s). With the age of the internet, information is at your fingertips.
Various organizations, like mine, organize seminars where entrepreneurs are educated on these subjects by industry experts.
In what ways you do help businesses stand out at Competent Creations?
We assist businesses with branding themselves; from the first steps of choosing a name, drafting a killer business plan and even the design of quality logos and websites.
We believe that how third parties view/perceive you plays a huge role in determining how well you will perform as a business.
[bctt tweet=”How 3rd parties view you plays a huge role in how well you will perform as a business” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”]
What advice will you give to a recently launched start-up looking to re-brand?
Go back to your business plan and see why you exist as an organization. How you brand yourself should reflect your reason for existence. Your audience should be kept in mind every step of the way because what they think of you is what matters most (you exist to please them).
It is also important to get the opinion of an outsider, because the people you work with are too close to the current brand to be objective.
Do you keep New Year resolutions? What will your goals be for 2017?
I do not usually keep New Year Resolutions, but I plan to go vegetarian next year. I am planning a spiritual and body cleanse to connect with my inner self.
My goals for 2017 include getting the company noticed. I would like to tap into the corporate market. This embodies a lot of networking and self-selling. I am excited for it!
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