Begin with the end in mind
I am sure we have all heard the saying ‘begin with the end in mind’ more times than we care to remember. Most times this is said in the context of our own lives and how we should be approaching the goal realization process. Perhaps the best-known individual on this is Steven Covey in his ‘The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People’, where habit 2 speaks to this directly. I was reminded of this very saying a week ago when I had a one-on-one meeting with my mentor. In conversation my mentor asked me what my end goal is. I asked him what he meant and at that very moment I realized that in so much as I understand where I see the business going, I have not actively put together my business end goal. A business end goal is all about where you see yourself as a businessperson in seven to ten years. Unlike a typical business mission and vision statement, this is about you the person in as much as it is about the business. Take for example a person who wants their business to be the leader in providing information communication technology (ICT) on the African continent; the key question is how will this person know when the milestone has been reached? What are they using as a yardstick for success? More than that, what is the ultimate role you would like to play in business? You may want your company to be a regional leader in its area of work, but your personal ambition may be to have multiple business interests without you being necessarily involved in each business on a day-today basis. It may be that your passion is unrelated to the daily grind of deal making and operations management, but rather in advocating for a particular cause that gives meaning to your life. In this particular case, what drives you is the ability to derive income while not being bogged down by the minutia of managing a business or multiple business interests. Your end goal is thus to create businesses that allow you to spend your energies on things that bring you meaning. Thus, by year x, you want to be in a position to have built businesses that run independently of your daily input so that that you can focus your time on what your care most about. When you begin with the end in mind, you are letting your imagination guide you. As Steven Covey puts it, the exercise of imagination is based on the principle that all things are created twice: first mentally and then the actual physical creation, with the physical following the mental in the same way a building follows a blueprint. The world of business is challenging and often times we are stretched beyond our limits. It is during those times that our bigger goal/end needs to carry us through. Taking the ICT company example, say now an opportunity comes to take the business to other markets, your end goal enables you to make an informed decision on what you need to do. For instance, will the time requirements of moving beyond conquered markets square up with your personal end goal? Perhaps you may end up concluding that the potential revenue does not justify sacrificing these goals, or that your team requirements must support this ambition to the largest extent possible. You can only square up your personal vs. business interests once you have made an honest determination of what is important to you and where you see yourself at your predetermined timeframe. Lack of such a determination may leave you drifting and following others’ priorities/ambitions without the gratification that your journey should bring you. While waiting to reach your pinnacle point, you can still do something towards achieving your personal ambitions by doing small tasks towards that very end. How do you start you may be wondering? Below are three actions you can start with you to ensure you are continuously working towards the end in mind: Develop a business and personal goal statement This statement should answer the questions of what and who you want to be. Aligned to that is what you would like your business end to look like at point x; in other words, what is your ultimate business objective? Be sure to be as clear as daylight when you work through this- the clearer and specific you are, the better will be your ability to continuously measure your progress. This statement should be an articulation of that mental picture which will form the beginning to the physical realization. Take it one day at a time When you begin with the end in mind, your days will never be the same again. Each task, or project will be a clear fit into the bigger end. Only then are you able to make things happen for your personal and business ambitions. Your decision-making improves, as you know instinctively what makes sense and in what way this makes sense. Conflicts between personal and business goals are clearly identifiable and can be resolved in a more systematic way. It’s not cast in stone In as much as your business plan is a fluid document, so is your personal plan. Just because you have a desire to advocate for children’s’ rights in your 20s does not mean that’s what you ultimately want to do. Be open minded to the changes you need to make as you go along, review your timeframes, and reassess your priorities from time to time. When you are true to yourself, irrespective of what your goal statement looks like today- the values you hold and your passions stay with you. When you begin with the end in mind, you put yourself in a better position to succeed. You do not make haphazard decisions around your business and personal life. It is only then that you can have a better grip of you in your entirety.
The 4 minute guide to SME marketing
The average human’s attention span is… oh look, a notification on my cell phone! According to scientists, the age of smartphones has left humans with such a short attention span even a goldfish can hold a thought for longer. As such it is no longer surprising when people complain that a 1000 or 2000 words post/article is toooooooooo long. So I asked a couple of friends and acquaintances; “What’s the most amount of time you would be willing to spend to carefully read an article that piques your interest?” The answers varied between 2-7 minutes and at the end of the day I arrived at an average of well, 5 minutes! And this was one of the considerations that inspired “The 4 Minute Guide to SME Marketing” series. What I hope to do with this series is help start-ups and small/medium business owners navigate the rather murky waters of marketing. Because I understand the time constraints we all face as busy professionals and business owners, I plan to keep every article interesting, informative, and most importantly, concise. Pinky swear! I chose to do a series specifically on marketing because, to be honest, I absolutely love the profession and practice. I always tell people that marketing found me (a story for another day). After spending years in the advertising industry as a brand and marketing strategist and working on a number of brands across different industries, I’ve gained insights that I believe would be useful to small business owners. It can be difficult to access ready and affordable marketing consulting services so That said, I guess we can all agree that starting a business is exhilarating. Unfortunately, the “build it and they will come” theory doesn’t hold much weight anymore because while you might have a fantastic, the greatest thing since sliced-bread product, if people do not know about it, who you epp? The process of letting people know about your product or service is a deliberate one hence an entire academic and professional field called marketing. Again, unfortunately, a lot of startups and SMEs have a flawed mindset with respect to marketing (what it entails and what it can do for their businesses) and this is why most of them do not scale or eventually live up to their full potentials. I mean in today’s business field, battles are won or lost in the market arena and a good product/service alone would not sell itself. As such, marketing imperatives are no longer an option, but a MUST! You can choose to think about it this way. Your product or service started as an idea and we all know that ideas need momentum. LaunchSquad’s Jason Throckmorton said “you can have the best idea in the world but if you don’t couple that with a strategy to spread your story, your idea isn’t going to go very far.” I couldn’t agree more. Still in doubt? You can also choose to think about it this other way. As a start-up, as a new business, nobody knows you yet so you need to get people to care enough to try what you offer. And this is when marketing becomes a smart investment because it can help you legitimize your business, create excitement, engage potential clients/customers, encourage trials and repeat purchases and even inspire loyalty and advocacy. You see where I am going with this right? 😀 I’d conclude today’s post by saying SME marketing shouldn’t be a flimsy afterthought. Just as you have been very deliberate about creating a top notch product or service, you need to be equally deliberate in creating demand for that product or service. Until next week SLAyers! Cheers!
7 inspirational websites you need to follow
The most beautiful thing about being a young professional or career woman today is that your knowledge isn’t limited to what you can find in your neighbourhood or community. The digital world allows you to connect with experts and information from across the globe. Whatever issue you think you might have, there are probably 100 or so websites that can help you solve your problem. While there are over a too websites we love, here are 7 of our favourites that help us stay informed, motivated and ready for whatever life throws at us. 1. Smart Money Africa The Smart Money Movement is championed by financial guru Arese Ugwu. Her website provides a platform for young people to learn to manage their finances better by knowing their net worth and prioritizing the accumulation of assets over frivolous spending. In other words, being smart about your money. Keep an eye out for the blog, the Smart Money Workshops and the Smart Money Journal. They will literally change your life. You’re welcome. 2. Minding Her Business Young? Ambitious? Fabulous? Ready to move to the next level of all-round wellness? Then you need to be minding her business. Starting out as a series of motivational quotes on social media, MHB evolved into a practical guide for the modern woman in the form of an e-book covering financial success, self-confidence, love and relationships. Navigate the site to get inspired by Ivy’s story, keep afloat with the blog and to get acquainted with the book. 3. Ms Afropolitan If you’re searching for a space to address your feminist woes and reaffirm your womanhood in the African context, then this is your destination. Through its blog articles, this website dissects topical issues such as colonialism, race, politics and what it’s like living in Diaspora. It offers strong, powerful, relevant messages for women of colour. 4. Haute Fashion Africa Haute Fashion Africa is basically the fashion portfolio for the modern African woman. This website is on top of all that’s happening in the African fashion stratosphere. We’re talking all the fashion trends, the major fashion shows in different African cities, profiles on designers, stylists and models. 5. Food and the Fabulous This lifestyle website showcases cuisine and culture from all over the continent and the rest of the world. Award-winning South African journalist, Ishay Govender-Ypma takes you on a journey with the Food and the Fabulous Food tours introducing you to Cape Town’s mouth-watering dishes. Many of these recipes are available for you to try out. You can also gain travel inspiration and take a dig at current issues. 6. Travel Africa Story Sure you’ve heard the saying that one’s education is incomplete without the experience of travel. This inspirational site features travel experiences and highlights amazing travel destinations from across Africa. If you need ideas for your next vacation, check out ‘Travel Tips & Trips’. With several helpful articles and feature stories on travel etiquette and fun things to do on your trip, it’s an amazing travel guide. The best part? You have the opportunity to tell your own travel story and get featured on the site. 7. She Leads Africa (duh!) Did you think we were going to leave this out of the list? Think again. SLA is arguably the #1 go-to website for young African females with a focus on getting started or improving their careers and business. It’s a resource pool packed with power articles and insight from the co-founders and diverse team of editors and contributors. It also features practical tips and advice, webinars, access to career coaches and more. The SheHive events which bring together the SLA community and industry leaders are hosted in various cities around the world. Motherland Moguls, let’s get surfing! Share with us what some of your favorite websites are to check out. Besides us of course 😉
Isn’t it time we stopped following the rules?
When I began doing business and the chase for clients began, I think I probably felt every emotion there was to feel sometimes all at once. The need to maintain customers, rules of the business world, the attempts at adjusting or learning to adjust to the demands of each customer and even getting used to the word “customer” or “client’ and the wonder and satisfaction that I too had something like that. One day, a friend who also runs a business showed me a picture online that said “power of feminism” and another that said “I’m a strong, independent woman. I have a mind of my own”. I nodded in approval and said I was going to use it as my Whatsapp profile picture and she agreed distractedly but when I suggested she do the same, she gave me a very alarmed look saying; “Ah! Noooo! One has to be very careful in business, don’t forget my clients are also on Whatsapp, many of them are men and I might lose them”. I was instantly reminded of medieval women. Not just in Africa but in Greece and Rome too, I remember reading that women who worked were looked down on as the lowliest of women and were not allowed to earn more than a particular amount. Women could own anything including land but had no authority to give them away or sell them; even their dowry was not essentially theirs, it belonged to their husbands and in the event that the husband died it belonged to the son and in the event that there was no son, it belonged to the next male in the family. They had no inheritance, only dowry. Inheritance was for the sons and if there were no sons, fathers arranged to adopt one or arranged for a potential son-in-law to agree to adoption and drop all former familial ties. If the father made no such arrangements before dying then the daughter became an heiress and any man was free to make a bid and marry her. If she was already married, any man strong enough could force her to divorce her husband and marry him. The basic goal was for the woman to not be in charge of any wealth. I read that the famous Plato suggested that dowry be removed to “curb the arrogance of women” and some said that women could not act independently because of what was described as ‘lightness of the mind’. They had to be modest and restrained and possess a certain kind of sense of honour prescribed for them by society. What struck me though was reading that women had the choice to break out of such oppression —at a cost, yes— but they had the choice. They could have made a collective agreement with a firm mind assured in its own belief or they could have buoyed each other to action…but it never happened that way. It was always one woman springing up separately after the other. I sensed an age-old lack of assertion. Once I visited a potential sponsor for a project in the works and we began conversing in the way of two strangers attempting to build a bridge of familiarity. There was a patronizing superiority in the air as soon he began to talk about career women and what they really should be doing —not career. After minutes of hmms and head-shakes in an accommodating manner, I knew I didn’t agree. I didn’t agree at all…and I wanted to say exactly that. Then I remembered my friend from the other day and knew I could possibly be treading a risky path but after another couple of minutes, I took a good look at my company… This person who saw the importance of the matter at hand but didn’t quite take me seriously so found a way to veer off it into domestic topic, who did not know me but brazenly advised that instead of web design, I should have gone into food business because it was more suited for women, who even more brazenly asked how much I was being paid, who casually asked if I ever consulted a career counsellor. So I spilled. Smiling. I disagreed nicely. It suffices to say I didn’t get that sponsor. I wondered what would have happened if I had frowned… The need for the choice of bold assertion especially for women goes beyond the office, it encompasses every sphere of life because so far it’s been particularly tough for the female folk. What wins in the battle between our cautious conservative side and our radical side? When do we truly understand that although we might not be able to fly always, we’re certainly not as restricted as we fear or as we are told? With the times changing, it still seems as though many women persistently —some knowingly— kowtow to the past and the stubborn insistence of many to hold on to its traditions. We have reached several turning points but how many of us have really chosen to turn? What do I think? It’s simple. Put your resources together and construct a new platform that makes you proud. Follow an inspired feeling not a rule book. Society has never really known what women needed, what they are truly. The phrase “inner queen” may sound cliché but it is truth and we need to push it forward and assert our right to exist and be free in truth —not the existence and freedom grudgingly meted out by society. Stop the subdued success act! Be especially articulate about ideas, needs and desires And if it causes some drama? Don’t be afraid. Sometimes we need a little drama to motivate us to make changes and improvements to our lives
Want your business to break out? Create a whole new market
As entrepreneurs already know, finding clients can be a long, frustrating and expensive process. When you have little or no brand recognition, you have to work so much harder to get noticed in the market. I recently read in Entrepreneur Magazine, that “it is so important to prioritize future-minded strategy over short term opportunism”, and I completely agree with this. So what does this mean for a young woman who wants to set her business apart? To me it means that this is the time to look for new business opportunities which typically haven’t been as welcome or open to women. While we may be more familiar with industries like beauty and fashion which are easier to start from home, developing a future-minded strategy requires us to look at opportunities beyond ourselves such as construction and heavy industries. It is with such opportunities that we must understand that the only limitations we now have, are those we hold on as truth in our own minds. Being in the industrial sphere does not even always mean that you would have to get dirt under your fingernails; the takeover of technology in almost every business sector has opened up so many doors that the line to what is possible, and impossible has become almost invisible. Many entrepreneurs and CEO’s know that competing head-to-head with other entities can become daunting and cutthroat, more so when markets are slow and quite flat. All leaders in any business would agree that if there’s an easier alternative to get out of the head-to-head competing, and instead find a clear opportunity that has not yet been tapped; they would opt for that direction. In a world with hundreds of thousands of different products & services, innovation has become central to the survival of any new of mature business. Creating new markets for your entity requires just that, INNOVATION’. An article published by Harvard Business Review titled ‘Creating new markets’ stated that, ‘Most companies focus on matching and beating their rivals, and as a result their strategies tend to converge along the same basic dimensions of competition. Such companies share an implicit set of beliefs about “how we compete in our industry or in our strategic group.” They share a conventional wisdom about who their customers are and what they value, and about the scope of products and services their industry should be offering. The more that companies share this conventional wisdom about how they compete, the greater the competitive convergence. As rivals try to outdo one another, they end up competing solely on the basis of incremental improvements in cost or quality or both.’ So, the first thing to understand about creating new markets is that it requires a different pattern of strategic thinking. Instead of looking within the accepted boundaries that define how we compete, entrepreneurs should look systematically across them. By doing so, you can find unoccupied territory that represents a real breakthrough in value. Let’s have a look at UBER, a company that, instead of buying a fleet of cabs and competing head-to-head with other cab companies, decided to do something completely different. The founders of UBER could have innovated and stopped at how they could get hybrid cars as part of their strategy or maybe even offer more comfortable vehicles with WIFI connection and well-trained drivers. Instead, the founders looked at how to make the process easier for customers and developed a tech friendly solution that provides lower costs through accurate monitoring of the distance travelled and drivers trained to a standard level of service. By looking at the problem and the industry from another angle, they have created an entire market for themselves and disrupted an entrenched industry that had little innovation over the past 50 years. I doubt any of the UBER founders had ever driven a cab for a living or dreamt of being a cab driver. However they were able to capitalize on this opportunity because those who had been in that industry were very comfortable with the same old way that they had been operating for years. They couldn’t see the way technology could disrupt the industry and they missed the opportunity. When thinking about creating a new market the popular question “What are my competitors doing?” should immediately be followed by the question “What should my competitors be doing?” Or more bluntly, how can I bring those who could be my head-to-head competitors to my mercy? If you already have a product line, maybe look into a second generation product to help the financial standpoint of the company by creating a new market altogether. Finding secondary marketing can be as easy as adjusting packaging. Look at Coca-Cola or Kellogg’s, these companies have an array of products which aren’t worlds apart where taste or ingredients are concerned. Exhibit A would be the much loved amongst women market, the Special K cereal. Special K promises health benefits & sells fitness indirectly to us and what woman doesn’t want to be fit or at least healthy? Then have a look at Coco Pops, same company, different branding, a bit more sugar and even a cartoon character to attract the kids market. All these have proven to me that as an entrepreneur, your perspective seldom matters above that of the market. You may as the entrepreneur see things ‘Ok as they are’, but one thing you should always bare in mind is that you’re not selling these to yourself, so get into the mind of the market. Think the unthinkable. Now here’s the challenge: Go back to your businesses. Identify your ‘old ways of doing things’ and see how you could catapult yourself to being an industry leader by offering an entirely new way of doing business. Don’t lose sight of your original product or service but explore ways that you could make a similar product that’s targeted at a whole new market. A new market demographic could be a simple as age group, gender or even race. Start innovating. Research how you could infuse technology into your new or existing business. Technology is on the rise, you may just be a tech pioneer in
Get these four mentoring elements right & reap the rewards
‘Get yourself a mentor!’ I bet most of you have heard this sentiment shared at one point or another during trying times in business or career. What always amazes me is the matter-of-fact way this is normally mentioned. When you get a chance to probe what precisely a mentoring relationship ought to look like, don’t be surprised to get a pair or two of blank stares. That’s the nature of buzzwords. Everyone throws them about but very few understand the process that one must follow to ensure a worthwhile mentoring relationship. When I started my business, I was told at the first business incubation meeting that no business succeeds without mentors. I bought into this; after all business advisors who have been in the game for some time said it. What they failed to mention though is the importance of structuring the relationship in a business-like manner to make it mutually responsive for both parties. ‘If it is not structured, it’s not going to work.’ Before we get some structure, let’s define what mentorship is. In its simplest form, mentorship is a relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable one. With this knowledge in mind, I went looking for a mentor and my criterion was simple: ‘experienced business owner who has made strides in the business world’. But guess what? The relationship never took off and I found it a tad bit contrived. Over the duration of my business, I have formed relationships with various mentors; some time-bound, others more regular and yet others sporadic based on need. I have also taken on mentees; some didn’t work out while others flourished. I have settled that structure makes or breaks a mentor/mentee relationship. Structure has been credited for the turnaround of Ford Motor Company when Allan Mulally, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) saved the company from bankruptcy. A structured approach to any intervention necessitates forward thinking. Without it, one is stuck in thinking in the now. Structure implies commitment and precision. And it is these two attributes that I found lacking in my previous relationships. I have, to my great dismay, found that lack of structure tends to be the norm in such relationships. Over the last two years, I have learnt that for a mentoring relationship to succeed, four elements need to be present. 1. Approach your potential mentor thoughtfully Check the mentors’ track record with prior mentees to ensure that they have added value to others. It also helps to have a specific request to approach them on and go there with a proposal on how you as the mentee hope to work with the mentor. 2. Have an agreement in place For some reason we think it’s okay to have written agreements for all other interventions but not for mentoring, which is why, in my opinion, these relationships do not work to their full potential. You need clear guidelines on time, boundaries and work plans. I have found that when you have it documented, both parties are held accountable to keep their end of the bargain. Most importantly, this enables you (and the mentor) to review the relationship periodically. 3. Understand your mentor beyond the surface Just as we are always advised to understand what makes our bosses tick, the same principle applies to mentors. Know what works best with them; do they prefer email communication, are they best called in the morning etc? Know what is important to them and how having you as a mentee is an added value to them. 4. You want the relationship, take charge of it The assumption is you wanted to have a mentor for a specific reason to ensure that you fulfill your goal. Doing so, requires you take control of the relationship. The mentor will not run after you, you need to do the running (until you’ve proven your value). Being timid will not get you anywhere neither will aggression. The trick is in striking a healthy balance. When you approach a mentoring relationship in the same structured way you would coaching or training, you force yourself and your mentor to put priority to the union. When your needs are clear, the mentor knows exactly how they can support you. The best part is both parties are accountable to each other, and with accountability comes measurement of impact and that is golden!
The purpose of business: The business of purpose
A few decades ago the notion of the Triple Bottom Line became commonplace. The phrase introduced the concept that businesses, particularly global brands, have a responsibility to ensure that their business and their business practices not only render to them (internal) economy prosperity, but that their business practices safeguards the environment, and delivers social responsibility (external). The Three E’s – economy, ecology and equity. More recently, the notion of sustainability and climate change has become a global dictate for ensuring and assessing the actions of corporations – again as a measure of ensuring that corporations take responsibility in and for their global business practices. This ensure that in operating their businesses, they are not in any way depleting the environment and livelihoods, nor negatively impacting the lives of future generations. As usual, naysayers thought it was all hogwash – a liberal, goody-goody notion that some had latched onto to make their businesses look good. A notion that was good for shareholder value and drenched in profit-making with little thought for ecology and equity. But I beg to differ. You see, the future is not only a place we are going, it is also a place we are creating – and as such there can be a trade off between the present and tomorrow, depending on how we live, and ultimately how we lead and how we do business. What am I driving at? I am very much interested in the idea of transformational business leadership as opposed to transactional business leadership. My premise is that business leadership should be transformational and purposeful, and not merely transactional. Your business leadership should have a positive and resounding transformational impact on your internal (staff) and external (clients, shareholders, and partners) stakeholders, to the extent that the leadership positively impacts society at large. Not my responsibility, I hear you say. Well, let’s look at the business landscape and how this notion is being played out in the business sector – and particularly by two women in business. PwC released its 19th Annual CEO Global Survey at the recently concluded World Economic Forum in Davos. Shannon Schuyler, President of PwC Foundation and Chief Corporate Responsibility and Purpose Officer, in an article in the Huffington Post, wrote that the 19th CEO Survey had revealed that while CEOs and companies may define purpose differently, for many ‘purpose is why their business exists’. More importantly, the CEOs noted that they recognise that companies have a wider responsibility to provide value to all stakeholders: ‘business profits and societal prosperity are inseparable: purpose is what aligns and unites them.’ Ms Shannon words were music to my ears. Essentially, global business leaders accept that business is not merely a secular, transactional act, but an intellectual and purposeful act to respond profoundly to societal needs. And that is why you need transformational leaders, leaders with unusual, far sighted ways of thinking and doing, to lead businesses – and ultimately – to shape societies. Jen Lim is the CEO and Chief Happiness Officer of Delivering Happiness – a company she co-founded to inspire science-based happiness, passion and purpose at home, work and in everyday life. For Delivering Happiness, companies can successfully use happiness as a business model to increase productivity and profitability, proving that companies with a higher sense of purpose outperform others by 400%. Here’s the premise My premise is that the higher sense of purpose, the ‘why’ of your business, is the strategic and leadership responsibility of the business leader to know, own, cascade and secure buy-in into by internal and external stakeholders. People generally are always pursuing happiness. They want to be part of something big and bigger than themselves – and what a better place to know and find that than the place where they spend two-thirds of their day, i.e. work? For me, it will take transformational leadership to build the business of your dreams. It will take transformational leadership to have a sustainable business. And it will take transformational leadership to have a truly loyal, dynamic and productive set of internal stakeholders – as well as a set of external stakeholders that render you and your business profit. The transformational business leader is concerned about all their stakeholders – the enterprise itself, the clients, their staff, their business partners – and they go out of their way to identify the needs of each one, after which they seek to arrive at a place of business operations that delivers joint value to all stakeholders. Ms. Schuyler delivered superbly on an enthralling Twitter chat on 18th February about using purpose to drive business. She demonstrated explicitly that in businesses, purpose leads to more innovation, focus, human intensity and quality – and that each of these drive profit. Business therefore is not only a commercial transaction for financial gain but also a potentially transformational endeavour for financial and societal good. Business is purposeful, and there is business in purpose.
8 free business apps you should download right now
We’re not going to point any fingers but some of you are addicted to your phones. Not in a cutesy ‘I just like to capture moments type of way’, but in an ‘if I don’t find network right now I will slap someone’ kind of way. It’s not our place to judge but that type of addiction might demonstrate your priorities aren’t straight. If you’re spending more time on your phone chatting and double tapping instead of getting work done, you might soon run out of money to pay for that data bill. Don’t fret —after all that doom and gloom you know your home girls at SLA have come to hook you up. What if you didn’t have to choose between work and play on your phone. What if there were these magical tools that could help you track your sales while you take your selfies? That magical tool would obviously be two heads, and unfortunately for African parents across the world, we haven’t figured that one out yet. All we’ve done is find some cool mobile applications you can download right now to make it easier to get your work done while you’re on the go, looking for network signal. 1.Track My Life Ever wondered how much time you spend watching makeup tutorials on YouTube? Track My Life can help you figure out how you’re spending your time. However, it won’t be able to stop you from clicking the next video. This app can help you figure out which activities are taking up the majority of your time and if those aren’t high value tasks or helping you bring in more revenue, then they’ve got to go! 2. CamCard Did you lose the business card you got from potential bae while you were “networking”? With Camcard you can manage and exchange business cards right from your phone. Once you get a card, you scan details and they are stored directly in your phone. If you did mean to lose that card, what excuse are you going to use now? Your dog chewed it up? 3.Booksy Biz Picture this, your side hustle as a makeup artist is starting to pick up, you’re getting booked every other weekend and it’s getting harder to keep track of your new clients. This is not the time for you to forget about appointments and lose the goodwill you’ve built up. Booksy Bizz is a mobile appointment calendar and scheduling app that can help you manage staff, communicate with customers and manage appointments. This app will make it seem like you have a personal assistant working 24/7 when it’s actually just you in your pajamas, eating ice cream. 4.QuickBooks Online Keeping track of expenses is the worst!! Who even has time for receipts? says the person who doesn’t want their business running out of money. If you want to build a long term and financially sustainable business then you have to keep track of the numbers. QuickBooks let’s you invoice clients and manage your expenses. Now you’ll have no more excuses figuring out where your money went. 5.Perch Small Business Thanks to Perch Small Business you don’t need to reserve your Instagram stalking your friends and ex boyfriend’s new fiancée. You can now extend those skills to your competitors and their social media movements and know exactly what they’re up to. Use Perch to get a bird’s eye view of reviews, social posts and promotion for you and your competition all in one place. 6. Tiny Scanner Why is it that every single business transaction in Africa requires tons and tons of paperwork? I feel like the next time I go to KFC they’re going to ask for 2 passport pictures and a signed affidavit. If you’re in an industry that requires a lot of paperwork, then having access to your files in an organized manner is necessary. Tiny Scanner let’s you scan your documents and save them on your mobile device, iPad, or tablet anywhere you go. 7. HootSuite It’s great that Instagram allows to switch between multiple accounts, but what about the wahala in switching between multiple social media platforms and keeping track of them? Hootsuite allows you to manage multiple networks, schedule posts, and engage your audience all in one place. 8. Wunderlist Few things can compare to the relief you feel after checking off something on your to do list. This app will keep your business in sync whether you are managing multiple projects, delegating assignments to co workers or just making sure you actually eat during lunch time one day this week. Know any other cool apps that have helped you increase your productivity, keep your mind focused and helped your business grow? Share them with us.
Come what may…business must go on
To all intents and purposes, many economies on the continent have seen a slowdown. Businesses are being tested for resilience, they are being pushed to the edge, and the strength and acumen of their value chains are being tested. But come what may, businesses must go on. They may not thrive as they when the economy was buoyant, but they must continue in earnest. As I think about these times, two things come to mind. The need to build a strong brand to have a sustainable and viable business in and out of a slowdown. The need to continually prepare and plan to scale your business around the core business activity at the earliest possible opportunity. Building a brand. Building a business What is the difference between a brand and a business? A business is an enterprise that creates an opportunity to trade and generate revenue. A brand is made up of intrinsic values, quality and characteristics that endear clients and aspirational clients to the business. I always say when starting a business, it is crucial to focus on building the brand first, so that you can have a viable, sustainable business in the medium to long term. And building a brand is not child’s play. A business brand is almost always made up of the personal and business values of the CEO. Especially for a small business, it is almost impossible to separate the personal brand of the CEO from the business brand. These become indistinguishable given that the CEO is the face of the business, and most likely the primary client-facing representative of the business. For the business owner and CEO, this brings home the need to reflect on, define and articulate your personal and business values right from the outset. This delivers you your business brand. Understand and define what you are trying to achieve with your business and what values are aligned with that personal and business aspirations. Then, commit to live those values – through how you operate your business, how you choose and interact with clients, the quality of your services and products, how you recruit and engage with staff, how you present yourself to the world – presentation skills, public speaking skills, networking, and personal style. When we focus on these from the outset, we endear clients, and essentially revenues, to our business, create brand loyalty, and, come what may, in and out of recession, we enjoy a level of brand loyalty. Scaling your business Most business start with one core idea, concept, initiative, but there is always an opportunity to scale and expand that business. Think of a fashion brand that starts initially producing clothes, then start to produce and sell accessories, then later on goes into interiors, and maybe even then a lifestyle venture such as a restaurant. What enables such a business to do that successfully is the power of their brand. When a brand is strong, it has a following, and clients will seek out that brand for every aspect of their daily needs. It’s an intentional decision. Many global corporations and their CEOs at one point decided to develop their personal and business values (=brand) to keep their clients and customers hooked. In the event of an economic slowdown or economic upturn, their business, through their brand strength, remains a viable and sustainable enterprise. You can do it! The price of business and entrepreneurship is uncertainty, and the prize is a vision fulfilled, success even in the midst of uncertainty. Someone recently shared with me a precise lesson in living. They said, if we knew the times and seasons, if we knew exactly what would happen to us or our business next month, next year or in 3 year, we would not need faith, we would not need to be resilient. It is often the uncertainty in business and the ambition and determination to curb that very uncertainty that fuels the drive to success. Risk taking buoyed by a strong brand can bring some comforting business stability. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too – Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Smoothie Express: Bringing healthy food to the people
SLA quickly caught up with Tracy and Omowunmi the founders of fast growing fresh food startup Smoothie Express. They shared with us how they developed the idea for the company, how they get around volatile currencies and the best piece of feedback they’ve ever received from a customer. Where did the idea of Smoothie Express come from and how did you get it started? I was trying to do a smoothie detox and my biggest challenge was finding the right time to blend my smoothies as I was still working a 9-5 then. That’s where the idea came up, I had seen a problem that was not peculiar to me alone and I wanted to solve it. So I contacted Omowunmi and we both developed a solution for the problem hence, Smoothie Express. We first of all picked a name, Smoothie Express because we wanted to make fresh smoothies available to customers with minutes. Then we registered the company. We used our savings in starting up the company. We had to prioritize our capital expenditure because funds were limited. Why is healthy food so important to you? As adults, we have the tendency to go by our lives eating any piece of unhealthy food just to keep body and soul going. With lots of diseases coming up and ill health associated with being overweight, the best and easiest way to keep your health in check is to eat healthy. Healthy food plays an important role in our health and it’s important for me to indulge as much as possible. What is the most challenging element of running a food startup? I would say quality control for a food start up. Customers expect nothing less than perfect food/beverage not withstanding anything, all the time. So as a food company, you have to make sure there is quality control checks all day everyday. How has currency fluctuation affected your business and what are you doing to creatively manage it and keep your products affordable? We have always been a company that believes in patronizing Nigerian products. It’s been a struggle everywhere, but we have been able to manage the currency situation because of that. Although, we are struggling with increased prices for a few items. It’s such a shame how dollar still controls our economy this much. What is the best thing and the worst thing about having a business partner? The best thing about having a business partner is that, there is always someone to cover your weaknesses and loops. The worst thing about having a business partner is that you guys get to disagree a lot of times but the ability to push past it makes it worthwhile. What is the best piece of feedback you’ve ever received from a customer? Oh well. A couple of customers say we make the best smoothies in the world. If you’d like to share your story with She Leads Africa, let us know more about you and your story here.