Heavy Chef Magazine: The Leadership Edition by Heavy Chef

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill

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EDITOR’S LETTER

In her 2013 TED talk (seen over 9m times) “The Power of Passion and Perseverance”, Duckworth explained that her observations led her to the conclusion that the single most significant predictor of success was: grit. Grit is the strength to push through the hard times, the endurance to persevere through fallow periods, and the agility to leap over seemingly insurmountable obstacles - and if you fall, then grit is the determination to get up, dust yourself off and leap again - and again - until you get over. In this issue of Heavy Chef, we’re focusing on Leadership under Duress. We want to shine a light on the grit that drives our own leaders on the African continent. Our theme this quarter aims to uncover some of the best examples.

EDITOR’S LETTER In 1997, 27 year old American consultant Angela Lee Duckworth left her cushy job to take on one of the most challenging roles available to young professionals - that of a seventh grade math teacher. In her new position, at a public school in New York City, Duckworth began to notice over time some curious differences between her best and worst students - most importantly that IQ was not the cursor for success. Duckworth could not understand why doing well in school depended on a lot more than merely being able to learn quickly and easily. Over time, Duckworth moved from being a teacher to a career as a psychologist and began to study kids and adults of all ages in challenging settings. She wanted to know why success came to some people and not to others.

We have targeted a host of great leaders, writers and thinkers in this edition. We ask the hard questions about hard times, and we get some hard answers. All these individuals ranging from entrepreneurs to agency leaders have themselves faced the dragon and lived to tell the tale. These are true Heavy Chefs, people who eat their own food, roll up their sleeves and get amongst it. As before, we’re super proud of this edition. If you like what you read, or if you have suggestions, criticism or perspective, please do let us know (email me, fred@heavychef.com). Also, please do subscribe to the Heavy Chef newsletter and follow us on social media. All this can be done on the HC website, heavychef.com, where you’ll also find a list of previous magazines to download. ENJOY - PEACE, LOVE AND LIGHT, FRED ROED FOUNDER, HEAVY CHEF

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THE TEAM Fred Roed Editor-In-Chief @Fred_Roed

ReneÃ© Fortune Senior Copy Editor @reneejoyfortune

Philip Wassung Junior Designer @philwassung

THE TEAM

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CONTRIBUTORS

CONTRIBUTORS Heavy Chef Report | Volume 6 | Leadership Edition

PUBLISHER CONTRIBUTORS

World Wide Creative Justin McCarthy Deirdre Elphic-Moore Renee Fortune Don Packet Mike Stopforth Brent Spilkin Andrew Mackenzie Andy Hadfield Matthew Buckland Sammy-Jane Every Gil Oved Neo Momodu Neil Steinmann Ntombenhle Khathwane Alex Acton Vusi Thembekwayo Selassie Eghan Kpanga Hilda Moraa Marcela Guerrero Casas

SPECIAL THANKS TO

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CONTENTS

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JUSTIN McCARTHY

CONTENTS

IMPACT OF THE INTERNET ON AFRICAN MEDIA

DEIRDRE ELPHICK-MOORE

THE TOP FIVE TRAITS THAT MODERN LEADERS NEED TO SUCCEED

RENEE FORTUNE

WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG, BAD ‘F’ WORD? INSIGHTS ON FAILURE BY 5 AFRICAN LEADERS

DON PACKETT

THE ‘NO PROBLEMS, ONLY SOLUTIONS’ APPROACH TO FAILURE

MIKE STOPFORTH

FOLD AND FOLD AGAIN: THE LESSONS ON FAILURE I LEARNT FROM PLAYING POKER

BRENT SPILKIN

FAILING IS EASY

ANDREW MACKENZIE

FAILURE VS BRAVERY

ANDY HADFIELD

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: SHIFTING A PROFIT MINDSET TO SOCIAL IMPACT

MATTHEW BUCKLAND

WE’RE PART OF A DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM, NOT A DIGITAL EGOSYSTEM

SAMMY-JANE EVERY

THE 6 KEYS TO CREATING A TEAM CULTURE THAT SLAYS CHALLENGES

GIL OVED

THE ENTREPRENEUR’S WALK: FAIL. GET UP. DUST OFF. PRESS RESTART.

NEO MOMODU

BOLD. BLACK. BEAUTIFUL. AND A FORCE IN THE CORPORATE WORLD.

NEIL STEINMANN

STUDY REVEALS TEN REASONS FOR CORPORATE FAILURE

NTOMBENHLE KHATHWANE

FAIRNESS & EQUALITY SHOULD BE A LEADER’S CORE VALUES

ALEX ACTON

“PAYING YOUR SCHOOL FEES!” – LEADERSHIP AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AFRICA

VUSI THEMBEKWAYO

DEAR ENTREPRENEUR: LEAD.

SELASSIE EGHAN KPANGA

THE ENTREPRENEUR JOURNEY MAN TRYING TO FIND HIS FEET IN AFRICA

HILDA MORAA

THE RISE OF THE YOUNG AFRICAN ENTREPRENEUR

MARCELA GUERRERO CASAS AFFECTING CHANGE: THE ROLE OF LEADERSHIP IN SOCIAL ACTIVISM

Festus Mogae

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ARTICLE 01 OF 19

IMPACT OF THE INTERNET ON AFRICAN MEDIA BY JUSTIN McCARTHY

CAPTAIN, PRIVATE PARTNERS

I have vivid memories of observing the rollout of GSM base stations in Nigeria in the early 2000’s and how the arrival of telecommunications ignited the economy. Before MNO licenses were issued, Nitel, the state owned telco, had a million landlines, of which only half worked at any point in time. Half a million lines servicing a population of 140 million meant that outside of the oil industry the country was economically rooted to the spot.

EVEN WHERE DEREGULATION HAS BEEN RELATIVELY LIBERAL, MULTIPLE BARRIERS STUBBORNLY IMPEDE ACCESS TO FREE MARKET CONDITIONS. 08

Such transformations have been evident across many developing markets in the last two decades as access to the internet enables countless previously disabled opportunities. One industry impacted dramatically around the world has been media, but it’s been a slow burn on this continent. In most instances, Africans have had to endure heavily regulated media – invariably by their governments whose default position is propaganda and control. Deregulation naturally varies across state boundaries, but political, religious and “moral” censorship remains prevalent. There are only 7 out of 54 countries in Africa who can genuinely claim a fairly free media environment (sources: Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders). The average African media consumer has for too long had little by way of choice, in the main being restricted to a steady diet of state controlled content across all traditional platforms. Even where deregulation has been relatively liberal, multiple barriers stubbornly impede access to free market conditions. Chief amongst these is the lack of access to capital. The media industry is in turmoil globally, and uncertainty surrounding political and economic stability as well as the viability of traditional media models in developed, let alone developing markets, throttles the free flow of investment. Some key markets (most notably South Africa) have been severely hampered by ambiguous, at times incompetent, government ICT policy, which has substantially frustrated media liberalisation, economic growth and social progress.

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Of course the internet promises to democratise this entire edifice, but it’s a promise that isn’t near fully realised. Infrastructure underinvestment means that access still relies on a relatively high level of socio-economic status, in turn propagating the gulf between the economically active and economically dependent. The more optimistic news is that progress is accelerating, principally through GSM networks, the primary technology infrastructure backbone. In sub-Saharan Africa, GSM networks should reach 80% coverage levels by 2020, which is when 3G is projected to reach 440m users. The result is the majority of Africans have little by way of choice, quality or relevance of content, unless they occupy the upper socio-economic strata where expensive connections and subscriptions provide access to global or regional providers or niche local distributors.

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To underscore the importance of mobile refer to the chart below, where I selected data from 6 of the better connected markets. Only one country has a fixed line penetration exceeding 1 per 100 citizens, while the mean mobile connections of all six is 98. The density of wired infrastructure is so low that there’s little point in investing in it. With the feature phone doomed to extinction and the cost of unbranded or white labelled smartphones reaching remarkably low price points, it’s reasonable to expect half a billion users on 3G powered devices in the next 4 years. This is a big number that is transforming media consumption patterns. In Africa, the smartphone is much more than a communications device. It’s very often the only device, the increasingly default personal portable telecoms, entertainment, e-wallet, gaming, media, GPS, camera and internet conduit – in many instances replacing the need for other devices like TVs, computers and radios.

SOURCE: CIA FACTBOOK 2015 DATA

Traditional broadcast media are complex, infrastructure heavy and capital intensive. Governments control the licensing and spectrum through regulatory authorities, which in turn defines footprint by geography. Under these conditions, media diversity will always suck the hind teat as such capital investment is so high-risk. IP “broadcasting” eliminates many of these barriers – radio and television stations can be hosted anywhere and streamed or downloaded anywhere, defying geographical, political, licensing and censorial borders. The commercial barriers to entry plummet without the need for regulatory, infrastructure and capital heavy lifting. Equally importantly, hyper local, local and regional content is afforded the opportunity to flourish, in turn driving demand. As witnessed in many other places in the world, once a population is given a choice, state broadcasters become the hunted. This stimulates local commerce, advertising opportunities and the emergence of entrepreneurism.

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The “print” medium isn’t left behind either, with the same principles applying. No longer is printing and distribution 60% + of a publisher’s cost base, it drops to under 10% for properly managed and maintained mobi sites. OOH is the one mainstream medium unlikely to be affected by the internet any time soon. The medium is still growing ahead of category and constitutes 10% of media revenues in South Africa and Kenya, and as much as 28% in Nigeria (source: PwC Media Outlook 2014-2019). Digitisation will occur, but will be severely limited to major metropolitan hot spots.

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Thus while there remain many barriers to a free and fair market media environment, the internet, enabled primarily by mobile networks powering mobile devices, is unlocking multiple opportunities for the distribution of quality, locally relevant content. There is little governments can do about it either, unless they adopt the Chinese or Saudi Arabian model of giant firewalls, but frankly few have the resources, whatever the appetite. Rapid technological advances enables entrepreneurs to short circuit distribution barriers, each making a small contribution to a giant issue of liberalisation with the concomitant economic, social and political spinoffs. Viva la revolución.

VIVA LA REVOLUCIÓN 10

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ARTICLE 02 OF 19

THE TOP FIVE TRAITS THAT MODERN LEADERS NEED TO SUCCEED BY DEIRDRE ELPHICK-MOORE

MANAGING MEMBER, THE OFFICE COACH

The greatest leaders in history have been those with a simple message articulated in a way that inspired people to move in a particular direction. This remains a tenet of modernday leadership but as humans are bombarded with choices, distractions and options for mobility like never before, new approaches are needed. A 2014 study of more than 330 000 people at all levels (conducted by leadership development consultants Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman) showed the following to be among the top 10 skills that managers need to succeed:

“THE FAST-TRACK TICKET TO INSIGHT, IS MINDFULNESS.”

1. Inspires and motivates others – champions change 2. Displays high integrity and honesty 3. Develops others 4. Is driven by results or outcomes

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ARTICLE 02 OF 19

Our research and experience shows that resilience is critical, so we shall add that to Zenger and Folkman’s list to make up the top 5 skills modern leaders need to succeed. These are not new themes but ideas on how one achieves them are. What drives us at The Office Coach is helping business leaders focus on daily behaviours that lead to competency in these skills. At the core of everything we teach leaders is a daily practice called “mindfulness”, an awareness of thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and one’s surrounding environment. It is characterised by acceptance; attention to thoughts and feelings without judging whether they are right or wrong. How much energy is wasted in judgement of what is going on around us, on things that are real, that exist whether we approve of them or not? The resilient leader needs to preserve his energy and cannot be drained by judgement. Rather, he needs to recognise what is happening and understand why, so that he can move forward with purpose. If he understands the causes of accidents, conflict or failed projects, perhaps he can avoid them in the future. If he understands the consequences of his own behaviour, he can modify his behaviour in a way that will allow greater successes. All these require insight and the fast-track ticket to insight, is mindfulness. With mindfulness and the insights it brings as a foundation, we can now talk about influence. All of us have the potential to be leaders. Leadership does not come from titles or big offices. Rather, if stems from an innate ability to resonate with others, to touch the hearts and minds of people and to motivate them towards a new way of thinking and behaving. This is what influence is. The most incredible example of this has come from the creators of Pokémon Go. Their game is free to download, it uses technology that their target audience has in the palm of their hands, it connects them with people (albeit in a virtual world) and it is fun. But what sets it apart from other video games is that it gets people outside, walking around chasing binary creatures. Players are visible to everyone! And therein lies the challenge for those who lead under pressure: the need to be seen in a way that resonates you with “your” people.

“THE RESILIENT LEADER NEEDS TO PRESERVE HIS ENERGY AND CANNOT BE DRAINED BY JUDGEMENT.”

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WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG, BAD ‘F’ WORD? INSIGHTS ON FAILURE BY FIVE AFRICAN EXPERTS BY RENEE FORTUNE COPY EDITOR, HEAVY CHEF

Let’s face it. The successful entrepreneurs and business owners we read about in magazines and watch on TV, do not own the monopoly on profitable ideas. Almost everyone is guaranteed to have at least one arguably ground-breaking business idea at some point in their lives. But the majority of people seem to live in the world where ‘what-ifs,’ and ‘ifonlys’ rule supreme. The only real difference between people who have those ideas and those who turn those ideas into reality, is action. And in between action and inaction is that harbinger of impending doom, that ominous source of selfdoubt – the fear of failure. It’s a very real barrier to action but it is also conquerable. Moving through it, acting in spite of it is a necessary prerequisite for success in the business world. Five African entrepreneurs who have stood their ground against failure and come out victorious, were chosen to share their perspectives on the topic.

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ARTICLE 03 OF 19

ALAN KNOTT-CRAIG

ANDY HADFIELD

RACHEL SIBANDE

Alan Knott-Craig is currently the CEO of Project Isizwe – a nonprofit company managing the deployment of the largest public free Wi-Fi network in Africa. He is also the executive chairman of Hero Telecoms. Amongst other accolades, Alan was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2009 and he was included in “100 Choiseul Africa,” a list of top 100 young African business leaders in 2014.

Andy Hadfield, is the CEO of forgood – a social impact startup that connects people to causes. Andy is a regular speaker on the African circuit and has flown the flag at SXSW with a talk called ‘You Don’t Need Bandwidth To Be Awesome’ – he believes every word of it. In 2014 he was selected for the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans award.

Rachel Sibande is the founder and CEO of mHub – Malawi’s first techhub, that nurtures and incubates young technology entrepreneurs. Sibande was also named one of the Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs in Africa by Forbes. She is currently reading for a PhD in Computer Science at Rhodes University in South Africa.

STYLI CHARALAMBOUS

OLATORERA ONIRU

Styli Charalambous is the publisher and CEO of Daily Maverick – a multi award-winning South African online newspaper focused on curating and publishing top quality content. The website has won numerous Bookmarks Awards, and has been referred to as “the most daring online publication in the country.”

Olatorera Oniru is the founder and CEO of Dressmeoutlet. com – Nigeria’s largest fashion ecommerce store, which has been referred to as the Amazon of Africa. Dressmeoutlet.com ships worldwide and currently has customers in different states across Nigeria, Uganda and the United States. Oniru was named one of the Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs in Africa by Forbes.

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HOW DO YOU DEFINE FAILURE? As an entrepreneur, it’s “not attaining financial freedom.”

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FAILURE SEEMS TO BE THE MOST DAUNTING PROSPECT FOR FOUNDERS OF NEW VENTURES. SHOULD IT BE? Some answered with a resounding ‘no’:

As a person, it’s “not having a healthy relationship with my family.” I prioritise being a person over being an entrepreneur. (Alan Knott-Craig) When you’ve thrown everything you have at a problem – and you realise that either your timing is out, your luck is down or you need to brush up on domain expertise. And you accept that – and go try something else having learnt a bunch of lessons. (Andy Hadfield) As Henry Ford said, it’s “the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” (Rachel Sibande) An experience or event that you can take nothing out of. However, if you’re conscious in your thinking or approach to life, you can take a learning out of almost any experience. (Styli Charalambous) Failure is not achieving your minimal goal in something you ventured into. But resilient entrepreneurs smile at failure. It means you lived your dream and although you can’t move forward with that particular dream, you are moving on to greater opportunities as a stronger person. (Olatorera Oniru)

For Andy Hadfield, failure is not to be feared – it’s simply how we learn. He put it this way: “Failure is a way to learn hard and learn quickly. Failure is how you get your Street MBA. Failure is how you find out what YOU can do. The more you fail, the faster you fail, the more you win – I think that’s pilfered from a Seth Godin quote, but it really does ring true.” This same perspective was echoed by Rachel Sibande, who sees failure as a valuable learning curve – as long as startup owners learn to ‘fail small.’ But how do you do that? According to Sibande, entrepreneurs should “invest in building a reputable track record, a brand and quality service before scaling too much. Most startups have failed at the moment of their peak in growth. Growth must be clearly planned by startups with all important indicators and projections on watch. While growth is good, exponential growth requires complex logistics, volume, distribution complexities as well as high levels of customer service and efficient revenue collection mechanisms. So start small, try out, fail, learn, fix and scale. That’s what I call failing small.”

WHILE FOR OTHERS, FEAR OF FAILURE HAS A VERY REAL PLACE IN THE MIND OF THE EMERGING ENTREPRENEUR: For Alan Knott-Craig, failure is a great motivator: “In the darkest hours, it’s the fear that gets me out of bed.” However the key is not allowing that fear to overwhelm you – to do whatever is necessary to maintain perspective – “to realise how small my problems are in the big scheme of things, and how insignificant my life is in the universe.”

“SUCCESS IN THE BUSINESS WORLD EQUATES TO BUILDING SOMETHING OF VALUE.”

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WALKING THE TALK: HERE’S WHAT FOUR OF THESE ENTREPRENEURS LEARNT FROM THEIR BIGGEST FAILURES: WHAT: On the launch day of Dressmeoutlet.com – Nigeria’s top fashion etailer, sales fell dramatically short of what was forecasted. In fact, there were no orders.

WHO: Olatorera Oniru The solution was in quick, assertive action. Oniru said: “I immediately went on a research rampage, called mentors, industry experts, potential customers and analysts and was able to attain notable traction within the first week. Since then, sales have multiplied exponentially. Examples like this are why I consider failure to be winning. If I did not get zero orders the first two days, I would not have run around to gather more knowledge. Now we are projected for over $1million in first year sales.”

BIGGEST LESSON: “Failure is not failure. Failure is the greatest opportunity to try again and emerge bigger. And if you gave it your all the first time around, you are still a winner. You lived your passion. It just maybe wasn’t the right time.”

WHAT: Retail discovery app, Real Time Wine was founded to improve the eCommerce experience of buying wine, beer and ultimately other retail verticals. But in 2014, it had to be shut down – the revenue had not scaled quickly enough.

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WHO: Andy Hadfield

BIGGEST LESSON: “Keep moving.

The lessons learnt were indispensable as Andy explains: “I got a crash course in the real business side of startups. Raising money, investor management, building product, the importance of iteration over being perfect, how your ability to scale affects everything you do – and almost more importantly – how critical it is to have a team and how easy it is to be penny wise pound foolish. I made 1000 mistakes with Real Time Wine. Those mistakes I’m not going to make again with www.forgood.co.za. As much as Real Time Wine was a failure, the learnings have felt like a catapult for the next attempt at startups. THIS is the liberating power of failure – if you manage to look at it the right way.”

It’s easy to freeze, but that way lies self-pity. Put the setback behind you, look ahead. You have to keep moving, keep growing, keep learning, keep taking risks. None of this is possible without the right spouse. So I guess my best advice is marry the right person, early. If you marry the wrong person, don’t panic – Divorce. Rinse. Repeat.”

BIGGEST LESSON: “Everyone fails. And they keep failing. They just get better at it.”

WHAT: Being kicked out of the company, World of Avatar which owned Mxit.

WHO: Alan Knott-Craig You can’t keep a good man down. According to Knott-Craig: “The short term effects were a severe loss of confidence and I developed a deep paranoia. Fortunately my confidence is rebuilding, and I’m managing to suppress the worst of the paranoia (uncontrolled paranoia is not healthy!) The long term effects were that I’ve become a better entrepreneur, having learnt a few lessons and applied them in subsequent ventures. Top 3 rules in my life: Be frugal, be focused, and under promise.”

WHAT: Being involved in a series of startups that didn’t progress beyond concept stage.

WHO: Styli Charalambous About this experience, he commented: “At the time, I couldn’t see the lessons - but I appreciate them as learning opportunities now. ‘Mistakes are just lessons with emotions attached,’ said some startup guy in a startup book I read somewhere in the space-time continuum.”

BIGGEST LESSON: “In every ‘failure’ you’ll have the opportunity to find out so much about yourself. What lead to that point? How do you react to pressure? Do you want it enough? Is this your vocation? Are you doing something worthwhile? Did you spend your limited resources on the right things? And so on, and so forth – as Thabo Mbeki would say.”

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THREE STEPS TO RECOVERING FROM FAILURE: 1. JUST KEEP GOING That’s Styli Charalambous’s view on things. He said: “I knew a corporate job wasn’t for me, so I was spurred to keep trying and exploring. Make no mistake, I had the luxury of qualification as a safety net, and I treaded water for a while doing soso jobs to keep me out of corporate and ready to jump on something exciting when it came along. And then it did.”

THE PERCEPTION THAT WOMEN ARE LESS THAN MEN IN BUSINESS IS COMMON. IT IS NOT AMONG MY TOP CHALLENGES AT ALL.

2. DON’T BE HARD ON YOURSELF Andy Hadfield’s advice to entrepreneurs is, “Be honest. Share your story – you’d be amazed how much other people appreciate it and how much that appreciation helps you get over the failure.”

3.. START AGAIN This is how Alan Knott-Craig describes his new beginning: “No one was calling to hire me, so I was forced to start a new venture. This time is was a pure non-profit, Project Isizwe, dedicated to rolling out free WiFi in poor communities. That got the ball rolling again and I now find myself surrounded by amazing partners and privileged to be part of a couple of promising businesses.”

SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURSHIP FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF TWO AFRICAN WOMEN: OLATORERA, YOU HAVE BEEN ACCREDITED BY FORBES AS BEING THE FOUNDER OF THE FASHION AMAZON OF AFRICA. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU AS AN AFRICAN WOMAN?

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Being recognised by Forbes as one of Africa’s Most Promising entrepreneurs means a lot to me as the founder of Dressmeoutlet. com, the Fashion Amazon of Africa. Nonetheless, I want much more. We want millions of orders monthly, we want to employ thousands of people, we want to initiate fashion curriculums in African schools, we want to manufacture the best fashion and beauty products and the best prices and retail globally. I look forward to being one of Africa’s top 5 established entrepreneurs. This accreditation by Forbes calls for me to be a role model and I take on that role wholeheartedly. I’m always ready to mentor and assist. I want to see the continent of Africa developed into one of the world’s best.

RACHEL, ARE THE CHALLENGES FACED BY AFRICAN WOMEN IN BUSINESS UNIQUE? The challenges that African women face are not unique. Business is business across the globe. The only challenges that become unique are contextual challenges that relate to culture, social and political tendencies in a region. The perception that women are less than men in business is common. It is not among my top challenges at all, for me I look at it as an opportunity to prove otherwise. My main challenge has been the emotional intelligence that goes into dealing with bureaucracy. It’s made me exercise and explore innovative strategies at getting things done even when there are bureaucratic blocks to making decisions and executing them. One of my favourite quotes to share with startups on failure and success is, ‘Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts” (Winston Churchill).

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AND FINALLY, HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS? ALAN KNOTT-CRAIG As an entrepreneur it’s to achieve complete personal financial freedom, while making a positive impact on the world around me. As a person, it’s to be 70 years old and surrounded by loved ones. Hopefully I can achieve both, but if I have to choose, I’ll go with the latter. ANDY HADFIELD It’s realising what success means to you. Realising what makes you happy – how much of X is enough? Time moves so quickly these days. Especially in the always-on instant-gratification world we live in. Sometimes, you just have to stop and smell the roses. Stop comparing yourself to your peers as much as you probably do – they’ll have very different back stories and very different definitions of success. Find out what makes you happy – and strive for it. I’ll tell you when I figure it out. It’s not easy! RACHEL SIBANDE Success is the ultimate status of achievement. It’s a process and there could be failures along the way. Sometimes it’s the ultimate ending that matters and not the process. Failure can motivate one to succeed. I am motivated and energised by failure to aim for success. STYLI CHARALAMBOUS It’s relative. What a wishy-washy answer. To some it’s swimming in gold coins and dollars, ala Scrooge McDuck. For others, it’s making a meaningful impact on society, or even just the freedom to play a round of golf every Friday instead of waiting for your next paycheck to clear.

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It can’t just be about money. If it is, you’re better off staying in a corporate gig, especially in South Africa. Your risk-reward ratio is way better than entering the poetic minefield of entrepreneurship. For me, success in the business world equates to building something of value. I’m fortunate to work in an environment where our work can change lives and the way history is written and remembered. That is hugely powerful and something you can’t always assign a monetary value to. OLATORERA ONIRU Success is achieving your goals and maximizing your opportunities to yield results. It’s also about living your life and being happy. Success is you defining your happiness. Not everyone wants to be rich and mighty. Define your goals, work towards them and live a happy life.

“MY BEST ADVICE IS MARRY THE RIGHT PERSON, EARLY. IF YOU MARRY THE WRONG PERSON, DON’T PANIC – DIVORCE. RINSE. REPEAT.” ”

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THE ‘NO PROBLEMS, ONLY SOLUTIONS’ APPROACH TO FAILURE

BY DON PACKETT

PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER & HEAD OF PERSPECTIVE AT MISSING LINK Over the past few years I have – as I’m sure most of you have too – been part of a number of personality profiling exercises like Insights and Enneagram, showcasing leadership capabilities, strengths, weaknesses, and one I always find quite interesting: Whether you’d whip yourself in a corner if you either failed yourself or others.

The best leaders, I’ve been told, are the ones who are prone to being more accountable to themselves, so the fear of failure sits on their shoulders, and Jeebiz help anyone who stands in their way. In turn, if they persevere and don’t fail, it’s good for everyone else around them too. Win-win. I, on the other hand – thanks to a plethora of multiple-choice questions online, seem to be a happy balance of not wanting to fail myself, as well as not wanting to fail others. No extra pressure, right!? Brilliant.

I’ve tried to instill this in my team too. Not in those words specifically, but by allowing them to see both sides of failure, because it always has to start with you. The biggest – and in my opinion, most important – lesson I’ve shared with the team to date is this: NPOS (No Problems, Only Solutions). The simple premise, and one that’s often lost or forgotten in organisations (even the ones as small as we are) is that whenever you have a problem that needs a solution, never, ever, ever (did I say ‘ever’?) come to me with only the problem, it has to land with a solution as well.

Too often we’ve seen internally, and even with some of our clients, an affinity to shouting out a problem with no initial thought of finding a solution – hoping someone else will be able to give them a quick answer. While the answer may very well be given quickly because of past experience, it’s not helpful in terms of growth. Why this is important for me and my team is that it gives the problem-owner space and time (forced, for sure) to actually think about the problem and try to solve it themselves, to gain that experience. Do they get it right every time? Of course not. But, neither did I years ago. Hell, I still don’t. But, by instilling this new modus operandi, I get to see how the team thinks about certain problems and watch as they slowly but surely get better at it. With every lesson from every small failure – while solving new problems – there’s another notch in their belt of experience. Every notch means that there are fewer times someone comes across looking for an answer to something that they could have solved themselves in the first place. What’s better is hearing the stories about the problems that came across their desks and how they solved it. So how do I deal with failure? In a controlled and shared environment, where the team can learn together – because that’s how we’ll all grow.

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I’d like to tell you I learned this at Harvard Business School, but the reality is that I learned it in an illegal dingy back alley poker game in Sunninghill. Poker, I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit, has been the source of more business lessons for me than any book, coach, talk, or course.

FOLD AND FOLD AGAIN: THE LESSONS ON FAILURE I LEARNT FROM PLAYING POKER BY MIKE STOPFORTH CEO, CEREBRA

One of the great skills in poker is minimising your losses. Poker has both a luck and skill factor to it. There are hands you play thinking you’re ahead (or ‘strong’), confident as ever, but as the hand evolves you discover, either quite obviously or by listening to that quiet voice deep down inside, that the situation has changed and you’re suddenly behind (or weak). This is when great poker players make a big call. They know, being behind, that the odds of winning the hand are now less than the tempting reward of the collective pot. It’s still possible – sometimes even as much as 40% possible – but they’ll fold. Poor poker players will keep throwing money into the hand hoping against hope that they’ll magically hit one of the two or three cards in the deck that can save them, and that only happens one in every twelve times. It’s a very emotional, egodriven strategy that can only work if you are consistently, extraordinarily lucky.

There are so many articles written about the importance of failure that I’ve started wondering if I’m permitted to call myself an entrepreneur if I don’t have some catastrophic commercial collapse in my recent history. This is idiotic. It’s completely illogical. A failure is a failure, and I don’t believe failure as an outcome should be celebrated.

That’s no way to play poker, or to run a business. Like great poker players, great leaders know when their hand is weak. They know when the odds are against them. They know that the short-term pain of a potentially embarrassing fold (and the inevitable “what ifs” that come with letting a good hand go) are incomparable to the idea of outright failure.

That said, the idea that you can run a successful business in this day and age, surrounded by unprecedented change and disruption, and not fail, is ridiculous.

They lose small now to win big later.

The problem is that we don’t think of or talk about failure as an iterative process. We think of failure in black-and-white terms. You failed or you didn’t, right? Nobody fails outright, or succeeds outright. Success, whatever that means to you, is an outcome of a collection of smaller successes and failures. The key is failing small and succeeding big. Entrepreneurial success and consistently effective leadership is rooted in this truth.

I fail at least once every day. The skill and discipline I’ve had to learn is to be open to interpreting the data around me, admit when I’m behind, make quick decisions about what to let go, get over my ego, and move on quickly. Great leaders fail all the time, but they manage the scale of the failure and turn those small losses into the building blocks of their successes. Get that right, and failure becomes integral to success, just not the way you thought.

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ARTICLE 06 OF 19

FAILING IS EASY BY BRENT SPILKIN

BUSINESS COACH, GROWING PAINS BUSINESS COACHING

“THE PROBLEM WITH FAILURE IS PERSPECTIVE.”

Let’s start with some of my ex-business’ stats; R80m revenue in 2007, over 300 staff, 35 delivery trucks, 11000 square metres of facilities, a sales team of 40 odd people and over 10 million kg’s of food produced and distributed nationally per year to clients that included all the major retailers and wholesalers. Not bad hey? But here is my favourite number: R20 million lost in liquidating the business. That was my failure as seen in the headlines. You see, I hated my business with the same ‘passion’ that you are meant to love your business with. I literally would have done anything to get out of the 17 years of repetitive headaches and heartache that the business caused my family and I. Now to be clear, the business was very good to me from a financial perspective. It allowed me to do pretty much anything I wanted to do from international travel to buying toys and properties. What it was not good for was my soul. It broke my spirit, jaded my views, corrupted my thoughts and destroyed many relationships. But the financial loss was actually my personal success story. I now tell people that the R12 million I personally lost during the unsuccessful exit was the best money I’ve ever spent.

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The problem with failure is perspective. From the outside, it may appear that the closing of my business was a huge fail. And of course to the employees who lost their jobs and our suppliers who lost money, it most certainly was. But that is their perspective. From my perspective, it’s given me the freedom I so desperately desired. The financial freedom that my business allowed, although fun, did not help me achieve success. In fact, I had not defined what success meant to me. And therein lies my failure. I had failed to determine what ‘winning’ looked like and therefore had no plan on how to achieve this personal goal. I had bought into the idea that making money should be the measure of my success. Fail. Remember not to base your success on other people’s opinions. In my mind, success is what you decide it is. It’s that simple. But the trick is aligning your motivation to that winning goal. Knowing what you don’t want helps too! Big money? Been there, done that. Failure to me now is not having the time to enjoy my money. Stimulating and engaging conversations fill my time and yes, the money is now a result of that. These may seem like non-measurable goals, but a proficiency matrix that I run in Excel allows me to filter the type of client that suits my business and aligns to my personal idea of success.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Brent Spilkin, affectionately called “Spillly with 3 l’s” has spent the last 20 years discovering what makes him happy besides architecture, driving ambulances, pickling mango achaar, distribution and redeveloping the inner city. He now gets his kicks from growing talented individuals in their businesses around the world by putting them through his Growing Pains Business Consultancy. He is a loud-mouthed, tech-adopting, Vespa- riding business coach who won’t settle for mediocrity. Connect with him at spillly.com. Growing Pains Business Consultants have helped over 150 businesses and their owners develop, manage crisis, strategise and flourish over the past 3 years alone and have clients throughout South Africa, Israel and The United States. Currently, Growing Pains employs 5 specialist coaches and is about to launch an online course entitled “The MBA for creative freelancers and independent professionals.” You can find out more about what they have to offer at growingpains.biz.

If you are the owner of a business, always start with your winning conditions and then align the business to meet these goals. Do this and you will never fail.

“SUCCESS IS WHAT YOU DECIDE IT IS. IT’S THAT SIMPLE.” 23

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ARTICLE 07 OF 19

STAND TALL: THE FEAR OF

FAILURE VS BRAVERY BY ANDREW MACKENZIE

MANAGING DIRECTOR, BOOMTOWN™

I recently came across a photograph taken on the morning of the D-day landings. It shows an army Regimental Sergeant Major standing bravely on a beach while all those around him, from the Hampshire Regiment, are hunkered down trying to find cover from the bullets raining down on them. He was no doubt full of fear, but his body language tells a different story. He is beckoning his troops to follow him up the beach and into battle; not knowing whether they will survive, and with the odds stacked against them, perhaps into failure. But something about this man showed that failure was not an option. He had an air of confidence – a leader, leading from the front with bravery. He had to make a decision to move forward, uncertain of the outcome, but knowing that every step forward could lead to victory. Business today needs more brave leaders. Fear of failure builds indecision, anxiety, and stagnation. It affects the very culture of a business, and often leads to business failure. In the current business environment where leaders are faced with the challenges of economic upturns and downturns, political upheaval, and massive social challenges, it is far harder to lead with bravery in these trying conditions. It would be far easier for business leaders to hunker down, much like those troops on the beaches, in the hope that the challenges they are facing will abate. Well, I’m sorry to say, they won’t. There will always be challenges. The businesses that succeed will be those that take the brave steps – that confront the challenges head on, one step at a time.

As leaders we will be faced with the fear of failure on numerous levels, one of these is confrontation. The hard, performance based conversations with staff are always challenging, but they are vital. I’ve had to learn that the principle of being soft on people but hard on performance is vital as a leader. Another challenge for us as leaders is our ability to allow our staff the space to fail. Through failure we learn. That’s experience in its best form and as Ellen DeGeneres aptly puts it “When you take risks you will learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important.” Have a plan A, a plan B and a plan C. Have a brave plan, something ambitious, risk a little, but risk wisely. We all know that only fools rush in. The reassurance that there is a back up to plan A, often gives one the confidence to overcome the fear of failure, because let’s face it, only in an ideal world does everything always go as planned. Constant, and repetitive reinforcement of the plan to all staff is important. It builds cohesion and a single-minded approach to achieving the goal. Try and build milestones of achievement into the plan, celebrate these small victories, and very importantly give recognition where it’s due. People want to know that they are appreciated and doing a good job. As a leader, we cannot lead with the fear of failure lingering in the back of our minds. We need to stand tall, confident, just like that Sergeant Major, instilling confidence in your team, and taking that first, brave step up the beach and on to success.

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Andy Hadfield has played in every corner of the digital industry since launching his first start-up at age 19. Having created products in student media, wine, beer and the construction industry – he decided to try out the social impact sector in late 2014 when he was appointed to lead and revitalize the forgood.co.za product. Attracted to the idea of a meeting point between pure capitalism and pure charity, Hadfield started to ask, “why is it frowned upon to change the world, but make money at the same time?”

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ARTICLE 08 OF 19

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: SHIFTING A PROFIT MINDSET TO SOCIAL IMPACT AN INTERVIEW WITH ANDY HADFIELD CEO, FORGOOD

Forgood is an online platform that connects people who want to make a difference to the causes that need their help. A social enterprise that provides a free public service, forgood also generates revenue by providing a hosted SAAS (Software as a Service) product that streamlines and manages employee volunteering programmes for some of South Africa’s biggest corporates.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS A BUZZ WORD RIGHT NOW – WHAT IS IT? I think of it as a hybrid profit and social impact model. Right now there is a lot of buzz around the term because of its potential to address social challenges and the way in which it is unlocking new pools of venture capital, particularly in South Africa’s fledgling technology landscape. By structuring a project as a business that can potentially generate returns – you not only have access to philanthropic grants but traditional risk venture capital too. This mindset and funding allows us to chase scale, and true scale is what is needed to really make a difference.

“DREAM ABOUT USING TECHNOLOGY TO SOLVE SOCIAL PROBLEMS.” 25

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WHY ARE HYBRID MODELS KEY TO SOUTH AFRICA’S ECONOMY?

WHAT’S YOUR ADVICE FOR FLEDGLING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS?

The 2015/16 Global Competitiveness Index report showed us that South Africa has world class financial institutions, but we are falling seriously short on social indicators like education, healthcare and financial inclusion. Simply put, we cannot expect social development to happen in isolation from business development. If we can draw entrepreneurial talent and problem solving to the passion and insight of social initiatives, we can start talking big impact and the development of a more stable economic environment.

Demonstrate commitment to a developmental goal, produce a solid business model that can support it and make use of technology to measure impact and customer feedback. Learning what works and does not work is key, and a commitment to demonstrable impact at scale is very attractive to investors. Dream about using technology to solve social problems – these platforms are not being used enough in South Africa. Finally, try change the world and make money at the same time!

WHAT IS THE ATTRACTION FOR BUSINESS-MINDED INDIVIDUALS? Traditionally, charities rely on donor funding while for-profits have the monopoly on billions of rands of venture capital. Risk capital investment centres around returns for stakeholders, but with the “invention” of social entrepreneurship, the markers of those returns are starting to expand to include social revenue. So, there is a new pool of funding that enterprises can target – and that is drawing business minds to the social sector.

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DISTRIBUTED BY BE-CAUSE INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS.

GETTING FIRED FROM APPLE WAS THE BEST THING THAT COULD HAVE EVER HAPPENED TO ME. THE HEAVINESS OF BEING SUCCESSFUL WAS REPLACED BY THE LIGHTNESS OF BEING A BEGINNER AGAIN. IT FREED ME TO ENTER ONE OF THE MOST CREATIVE PERIODS OF MY LIFE.

Steve Jobs

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ARTICLE 09 OF 19

WE’RE PART OF A DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM, NOT A DIGITAL EGOSYSTEM AN INTERVIEW WITH MATTHEW BUCKLAND FOUNDER & CEO, CREATIVE SPARK

Talk Radio 702 referred to him as the ‘Master of Digital,’ The Annual named him one of South Africa’s top 100 most influential media and advertising people and his name has become synonymous with brands like Memeburn, Ventureburn.com and Gearburn.com. Matthew Buckland has certainly made his mark on the media industry, from his current position as the founder of Creative Spark and Burn Media to his previous titles as the MD of Mail & Guardian and Interactive Editor for Carte Blanche. He also proudly shared the stage with Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales in a talk on Future Web Trends in 2007 and Craigslist creator Craig Newmark at the IIE Goldman Sachs Global Leaders in New York in 2008. In this interview, Buckland shares his insights on leadership.

“IT’S THE 100 SUCCESSES OUT OF THE 1000 FAILURES THAT MOVE YOU FORWARD.” 28

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WHAT HAVE YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES AS A SOUTH AFRICAN ENTREPRENEUR AND BUSINESSMAN BEEN? I think it would have to be finding enough skilled staff or people with strong, entrepreneurial work ethics. Those people are out there, but hard to find, and if you come across them — you hang on to them like crazy and they become the mainstay of your business.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE AN EFFECTIVE LEADER AND INNOVATOR WITHIN SOUTH AFRICA’S CURRENT ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CLIMATE? Ironically, innovation actually occurs best in times of challenge and economic scarcity as it creates focus and cuts out noise. We started our company six years ago during a recession. I think with the right drive, quality offering and focus you can beat most challenges that may occur on a macro-economic, social or political level. As an entrepreneur you also become intensely inward looking and focused on your business. You tend to switch off from the country and world macro-issues that are outside your control to focus on the immediate, all-consuming job at hand: building your business.

WHAT CHARACTERISTIC DO YOU BELIEVE IS INDISPENSABLE TO ASPIRING SOUTH AFRICAN LEADERS? If there was one characteristic I would say is critical — it’s that tenacious never-giveup attitude: It’s the 100 successes out of the 1000 failures that move you forward. Good entrepreneurs have an ability to bend reality to their will, to control reality and get what they want. This may sound like ‘magic’ but it’s not. It’s a distortion field in an otherwise mundane day-to-day existence that is created from a sheer relentless, persistence and that never give-up attitude. The entrepreneur keeps trying in the face of failures, mistakes and people saying ‘no’ – they keep bashing down doors and keep approaching a problem from new angles until they have reached their goal.

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“I THINK YOU ONLY REALLY FAIL WHEN YOU GIVE UP AND TURN YOUR BACK ON SOMETHING.” WHAT ARE SOME OF THE PITFALLS THAT YOUNG/EMERGING LEADERS COMMONLY FALL VICTIM TO? They give up too quickly, or they believe the Silicon Valley hype. Or they over-analyse an opportunity instead of just rolling up their sleeves, starting the business and evolving or pivoting it in its day-to-day running.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CEO/COMPANY FOUNDER AND A LEADER? They can be the same thing, although a company founder may not necessarily be a natural leader. The founder will initially perform the leadership role out of necessity (because there is no-one else to do it), but if self-aware they will know this may not be part of their skillset and willingly hand over to a CEO that is a natural or a trained leader. The founder of BidorBuy.co.za, Andy Higgins, did just this: handed over to a salaried, corporate CEO even though he was the key shareholder and founder of the company. Must have been tough to do, and took self-awareness and courage to hand over his baby.

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IN ACHIEVING YOUR NUMEROUS ACCOLADES, WHO HAVE YOUR MENTORS BEEN AND HOW HAVE THE EXPERIENCES OF OTHERS SHAPED YOUR REALITY AS A BUSINESS PERSON? The accolades are fun. They give you a brief lift, but then you forget about them quickly, feel a bit undeserving – and then move on. I’ve been inspired by many…my previous corporate bosses Trevor Ncube, Hoosain Karjieker, Koos Bekker, Ferial Haffajee, Jp Farinha, Russell Hanley. My peers in other digital agencies and businesses: Rob Stokes, Vinny Lingham, Fred Roed, Mark Tomlinson, Pete Case, Jarred Cinman, Ben Wagner, Larry Katz, Paul Cartmel — these are all people that have been part of my business universe, they’ve inspired and helped me in some way to develop into the entrepreneur I am today.

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HOW HAVE YOU DEFINED SUCCESS IN YOUR CAREER? That’s a great question, because I genuinely don’t consider myself “successful.” I’ve reached some of the milestones and goals that I have set myself, but success is such a relative term and there are many levels to achieve and areas to conquer!

WHICH PHRASE BEST DESCRIBES YOUR JOURNEY AS AN ENTREPRENEUR IN DIGITAL? We are part of a digital ecosystem, not a digital egosystem.

And at the company, I have a great management team with some long serving staff who I learn from every day.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISIONS YOU’VE MADE AS A LEADER? …those key moments during a negotiation, when you instinctively judge and size-up a room or a situation to bring the parties together in order to form a successful deal. HAS FAILURE PLAYED ANY SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF YOUR CAREER AND IN THE VENTURES YOU’VE FOUNDED OVER THE YEARS? I’ve had many, many letdowns…but I don’t dwell on them or really consider these “failures,” because I keep finding other ways to crack these problems and never really give up. Creative Spark was my third agency attempt. I have never seen the previous two attempts as “failing,” but just evolving works-in-progress, i.e. all that happened was my approach changed and evolved. I think you only really fail when you give up and turn your back on something.

“IRONICALLY, INNOVATION ACTUALLY OCCURS BEST IN TIMES OF CHALLENGE AND ECONOMIC SCARCITY.”

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ARTICLE 10 OF 19

THE 6 KEYS TO CREATING A TEAM CULTURE THAT SLAYS CHALLENGES BY SAMMY-JANE EVERY CREATIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD WIDE CREATIVE

According to leadershipdynamics.co.au, more than half of the companies listed on the Fortune 500 list have disappeared since 2000. Yikes. During times of crisis or change, the culture of a company is the one fundamental aspect that is put to the test. In fact, culture is the foundation of any company. And people are the visual manifestation of it. As Eric Foss, former CEO of Pepsi remarked, “Stay focused on culture, people, and values: it’s the area most likely to get compromised in this environment.” People are behind the success or failure of an organisation. And after a day on the frontline, it is your culture and values that remind the troops why you exist – why you come to work every day. Therefore, creating a culture that can withstand change and tough times is key to a company’s success. Put more succinctly: “A healthy company enjoys not only strong financials but also a culture and values that bind it together” (Dennis Carey, Michael PatsalosFox, and Michael Useem).

“UNFORTUNATELY TAKING AWAY THE WATER COOLER WON’T STOP THE GOSSIP.” 31

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The following 6 points look at creating a culture for trying times:

1. HIRE RIGHT “In most cases being a good boss means hiring talented people and then getting out of their way. Contrary to what I believed as a little girl, being the boss almost never involves marching around, waving your arms, and chanting, “I am the boss! I am the boss!” (Tina Fey, writer and actress) A vision and mission that stay on paper ain’t gonna cut it. It’s the people that bring it to life. Hire well and half the job is done. So what qualities make for a successful team member? Self starters are important; having shared values (vision may tell you where you are going, but values are the energy that get you to your goal); loyalty (a day in the trenches requires loyalty from your team in order to survive); character (skill can be taught, character cannot) and a great attitude (no amount of talent will make up for the misdirected energy required to work with an egotistical diva at 2AM on a Monday morning before a pitch). However, there is one attribute that trumps all others when it comes to an accurate predictor of success. Angela Duckworth, Harvard researcher, termed it ‘Grit’ – the stuff that is required beyond ability/talent for success. Duckworth identified that while IQ and self-control can play a role in success, they weren’t the necessary factors. The ability to persist and passionately pursue your goal regardless of circumstance or obstacles was the key. Perseverance or ‘Grit’ was the determining factor above all else. Look for someone who is going to give it horns, no matter what.

2. POWER TO THE PEOPLE “Keeping your culture securely in the hands of your employees, and empowering them to understand and act on that culture, is instrumental in preventing a melt-down when crisis hits.” (Darcy Jacobsen, Globoforce)

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This goes hand in hand with trusting your employees to make calls, act quickly and be supported in their choices. An example: Johnson and Johnson’s brand manager made the call to pull a product off the shelf that resulted in a $100 million loss in revenue but the decision saved the company in the long-run. What is significant is that it was not the CEO who made the call but rather the BM, who felt empowered enough to act. The fact that the company’s values were so imbued in its employees, resulted in the painkiller still remaining the number one seller after the crisis was resolved. Values must not remain tucked away in a company brand book. Employees need to live them in order to make calls that are in line with that company culture. They are the ones in the trenches and they have invaluable input in terms of how to improve and change the company. Equally so, the environment should reflect the ethos of the company and provide emotional support and adequate resources for employees to face trials.

3. WALK THE TALK “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” (Mahatma Gandhi, political leader and humanitarian) It’s that simple and that hard. Lead by example is a cliché for a reason. It’s the golden rule of leadership. The words you use filter down and the attitude you have filters through. Every day you build or break culture through your actions. You set the ground rules with every affirmation or accusation. For a strong culture there should be a direct correlation between your passion and the challenge, not between your brand of whiskey and the situation. This requires you to be emotionally fit. Learn to have an authentically positive attitude; it’s vital to the inspiration of your troops. Learn to listen to your team, but don’t forget that you need an outlet or go-to person as well. This allows you to listen to problems, but remain solution-focused. Tough times call for you to grow as a leader, to change in order to progress. It’s not a destination but rather a continual work in progress. You have not arrived.

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4. THE C WORD “The only way to address uncertainty is to communicate and communicate. And when you think you’ve just about got to everybody, then communicate some more.” (Terry Lundgren, CEO of Macy’s) Unfortunately taking away the water cooler won’t stop the gossip. But communication may. This includes communicating both expectations and plans as well as providing feedback and updates to the team. Let them know what is happening and be honest about it. The goal is to remove doubt from the team and instead provide clarity and focus. There are no ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ on the battlefield, or a flurry of euphemistic terms. It’s a direct and focused approach that saves lives. However, consider taking it one step further. Everyone communicates, but few practise the other C word: connecting. Connecting is intentional and takes energy. Your team won’t go along with you until they get along with you. So if you want their buy-in, give yours first. Believe in them and connect.

5. A CULTURE OF LEARNING “In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” (Eric Hoffer, philosopher) Inculcate a culture of learning. It is only through learning that we grow and are able to forge new paths and ways of doing things. Employees cannot be delivering 100% of the time as this turns them into doers and not problem-solvers. People need space to think and try new approaches. In fact, Google gives their employees 20% of their time to do other activities. Because in rough times, you do not want a set of people on auto-pilot, but rather a team with the skills to make better decisions. Tickets to international conferences and indabas are great but setting up cost-effective learning platforms such as the inhouse sharing of knowledge and skills through employee-run workshops, projects or presentations can be effective as well. Lastly, setting up post-mortems where a project is reviewed from beginning to end reinforces the notion that failures are valuable opportunities to learn.

“VALUES MUST NOT REMAIN TUCKED AWAY IN A COMPANY BRAND BOOK. EMPLOYEES NEED TO LIVE THEM.” 6. WE, NOT ME. “True greatness will be achieved through the abundant mind that works selflessly – with mutual respect, for mutual benefit.” (Stephen Covey, author and keynote speaker) Silos equals death to team culture. Its important that people have an appreciation for all departments within an organisation so that they create solutions for the business and not just their team. Processes should support cross-departmental interactions and problemsolving. Other initiatives like role swapping and team activities that don’t include a spreadsheet or Powerpoint presentation, such as interdepartmental lunches or OOO activities encourage people to chat to each other beyond roles and titles. This results in more respect for each individual’s contribution and place in the company and a united front at the end of the day.

IN CONCLUSION: “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.” (Tina Fey, writer and actress) Preparation is good, but action is what counts. At the end of the day you can’t go around trials, you have to go through them. You can’t freeze, you can’t stop and close your eyes. You have to get on with doing what you said you would. You have to advance and trust your troops to do the same. So take a deep breath and go. Or as the British Ministry of Information said all those years ago: Keep calm and carry on.

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THE ENTREPRENEUR’S WALK:FAIL. GET UP. DUST OFF. PRESS RESTART. AN INTERVIEW WITH GIL OVED GROUP CEO, THE CREATIVE COUNSEL & DRAGON’S DEN DRAGON He may be recognisable as a dragon on startup reality show, Dragon’s Den but Gil Oved is also a serial entrepreneur as well as the co-founder and Group CEO of The Creative Counsel. His story is an inspiring one – one that describes Gil and his childhood friend Ran Neu-Ner starting a business with nothing but a telephone and the Yellow Pages. In 2001, they founded The Creative Counsel, and 14 years later their humble two-man operation grew into the largest communications and advertising group in Africa, with an annual turnover of over R700 Million, employing over 1000 full-time employees and creating tens of thousands of part-time jobs. Recently, M-Net and series sponsor Telkom South Africa announced that the young multi-millionaire agreed to be a “Shark” on the local version of the two-time Emmy awardwinning show that will hit our screens in October 2016.

“WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN, YOU ARE FORCED TO INNOVATE.”

In Shark Tank South Africa dreamers with big business ideas or revolutionary products have the opportunity to obtain the much-needed funding for their enterprises. But first, they have to persuade the panel of cutthroat Sharks that their plan is solid and worth an investment. If more than one of the Sharks takes the bait, it can lead to a fierce bidding war after which the entrepreneur has to decide which of the big fish is offering the best deal.

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“Who would not want to swim with a Shark like Gil?” asks M-Net’s Head of Publicity, Lani Lombard. “He is a well-loved and energetic serial entrepreneur who has proven that he is passionate about supporting disruptive thinkers with well-thought-out visions. Gil is a smart hustler who knows how to boost businesses in just the right way. We’re honoured to have him as one of sharks!” But what will Gil, the Shark, be looking for? “On Shark Tank South Africa, I am keen on investing in companies with unique – and local - IP. I am interested in products, services, technology and brands that need channel marketing, branding, distribution, mentorship, guidance and access to capital,” says Gil. He also adds a word of caution: “I want to see hunger and passion and exciting entrepreneurs focused on innovating and making a difference. Respect the opportunity to present on the show, know your numbers, take the time to package your business case.” In this interview, Oved tackles the topic of failure and the ins and outs of being a South African leader.

IN AN ARTICLE FOR ENTREPRENEUR MAGAZINE, YOU COMMENTED ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CREATIVE COUNSEL AS BEING MORE BY “MISTAKE INSTEAD OF BY DESIGN.” TELL US MORE ABOUT THIS PHILOSOPHY. It’s not really a philosophy, it’s just the truth of how things happened. And speaking to many a successful entrepreneur it seems to be the norm rather than the exception. Even Facebook wasn’t Facebook when it started. It was meant to be a way to find girls in varsities in the States. Now it has the single biggest database of humans in the world and is set to change the way the world connects. As an entrepreneur you start something hoping to succeed, you believe you have identified a problem and want to solve it, or you have a passion for something and want to make money out of it.

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Whatever the case, it starts off as something and absolutely always ends up being something else. When we started TCC, we were out of cash and out of time. We had failed in our previous tech start-up but knew we wanted to remain ‘masters of our destiny.’ We were trying to figure out what it was that we wanted to do with our lives, and thought that placing promoters in store would be a way of generating a little bit of easy cash whilst we were figuring it out. Once we were in it, we realised that this ‘in store promoters’ business is part of a bigger business called activations, which was part of a big industry called advertising. And it was due for a disruption as technology made the efficiency of placing people on the ground more accurate and more return-on-investment centric. I have always believed that if you want to score a goal you’ve got to be on the pitch. You don’t have to be the best player (and certainly not at the beginning), but even a goalie will once in a while score a goal – which is one more than any spectator sitting in the seats. So once we were in the stadium, we got to see new opportunities and started pursuing those. It wasn’t by design, but there was some method in the madness.

“I FIND THAT WHEN THERE IS ADVERSITY, THERE IS CREATIVE THINKING.”

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FAILURE. IT SEEMS TO BE THE MOST FORMIDABLE WORD IN THE START-UP WORLD. WHAT HAS YOUR EXPERIENCE BEEN WITH FAILURE? I always think that if faced with investing behind two entrepreneurs, both identical in every way bar that one has succeeded in three businesses and one has failed in three, I would always take the latter! In business, failure is a certainty, if you haven’t failed yet then it’s just a matter of time. I want to know that someone has failed, picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and started again. That’s the temerity I would invest in.

“I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT IF YOU WANT TO SCORE A GOAL YOU’VE GOT TO BE ON THE PITCH.”

WHAT IS THE MOST REWARDING PART OF BEING SOMEONE WHO IS CONSIDERED TO BE A SOUTH AFRICAN LEADER? We live in a special country. Everyone thinks they live in a special country; the difference is that we really do! I meet people from all over the world, big business people, but none are as hungry as us. The entrepreneurial spirit is strong wherever you look. Simple example: look at the guys at the intersections selling stuff. Isn’t it amazing that as soon as spring hits town, umbrellas are instantaneously available; and as soon as load shedding is announced, the guys are selling lanterns. Technology provides a real opportunity to leap from other economies, learn from their mistakes, use their slipstream and then get ahead. As a leader I am cognisant of this opportunity. However, there are many challenges, mainly relating to a lack of access: lack of access to capital, to mentorship, to infrastructure, to guidance, to support.

Being a leader in SA is knowing that the opportunity to do something about it is in my hands, and when I do, the reward is seeing the positive outcome. TCC is one of the largest private first-time employers in the country. Now that we’ve been going for 15 years, I get to meet people all the time who are excelling in their careers – powerful people – who come up to me and tell me that their first work experience was at TCC and that those formative years had an impact on their lives and careers. What could be more rewarding than that?

WHAT WORD BEST DESCRIBES YOUR JOURNEY AS A BUSINESSMAN? Passion. SHARK TANK SA IS SPONSORED IN FULL BY TELKOM SA AND WILL BE BROADCAST ON M-NET CHANNEL 101 FROM SUNDAY, 2 OCTOBER AT 18:00.

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ARTICLE 12 OF 19

BOLD. BLACK. BEAUTIFUL. AND A FORCE IN THE CORPORATE WORLD. THE STORY OF A SOUTH AFRICAN MEDIA MOGUL BY NEO MOMODU

HEAD OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS, MEDIA24

I was born and bred in Soweto and raised in a family of political activists. My parents and maternal grandparents were incarcerated under apartheid laws during various stages of my childhood. The most notable, was the incarceration of my grandfather, Zeph Mothopeng who spent most of his life in and out of prison including serving a 15 year jail term on Robben Island, for instigating and organising the June 16 uprisings. My early childhood was therefore characterised by constant harassment and brutality by the security forces of the apartheid government. I can go on to relate my story from a perspective of suffering and disadvantage which, of course is the stark reality that defined my childhood and teen years; and to a large extent, a reality that still haunts many black South Africans to this day.

“I CHOOSE TO TELL A STORY OF HOPE, VICTORY AND OF OVERCOMING ADVERSITY.”

I choose however to tell a story of hope, victory and of overcoming adversity. I am a third generation of educated and qualified professionals. My maternal grandparents were qualified teachers, a profession which my mother also followed. My father studied music and established the first black orchestra – the Soweto Youth Orchestra, in 1965. He attained the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM), London in violin teaching in 1973. In 1998 he became the first black person to achieve the Bachelor of Music degree from UNISA. He was also bestowed the Order of Ikhamanga, which is the highest honour by the President of South Africa for his contribution to the development of classical music in the black communities. My paternal grandparents are also recipients of the Order of the Baobab, making mine a family of great achievers. 39

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I was exposed to books and reading from a very early age and was taught about the importance of education. Although I was a student of inferior bantu education, my parents, and in particular my mother who is a community leader and teacher, opened up a world of many possibilities. Through books, I became aware that there was a world bigger than apartheid, bigger than South Africa and I also came to know of black role models like Martin Luther King Jnr, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, etc. who made it possible for me to dream BIG. These are the people, including the role models in my own community who inspired me to study hard and I ended up with excellent matric results which earned me a British Council Scholarship to study in the UK. Life in the UK was tough but my previous experience and adversity built my character and resilience which enabled me to survive and prosper. I came out victorious with a law degree and life experience which I dare say, has moulded me, to become the phenomenal woman I am today! Mine has been a very successful career. By the age of 30 I had already held key positions at Primedia Broadcasting and Radio 702. I joined Primedia Broadcasting in 1996 where in time I became Group Communications, Regulatory and Strategic HR Director. Thereafter I returned to the UK, to broaden my HR skills and in 2003 I joined the SABC for four years. I left a safe career to start my own company, Progressive Consulting CC providing communications solutions to government and private sector clients, before succumbing to the lure of the GCIS position of chief director of government and media liaison. This position was the highlight of my career because I had the opportunity to work with policy-makers and was able to influence communication decisions all the way to the highest office in the land, the Presidency. In this position, I earned the respect of my colleagues, ministers and political principals resulting in my appointment as project leader for the communications team during the state funeral of former President Nelson Mandela.

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“NOT ONLY IS BLACK BEAUTIFUL AND BOLD, BUT ALSO EXCEPTIONAL IN THE CORPORATE WORLD AND GOVERNMENT.” I developed and implemented communication strategies which enabled millions of people around the world to experience Nelson Mandela’s funeral. I am eternally grateful and humbled by this experience. Today I am part of Media24’s executive management team, spearheading engagements with key stakeholders and driving a “proactive” corporate narrative in my role as head of corporate affairs, a position I have held since April 2014. I am also chairperson of the Publishers Support Services formerly, the Print and Digital Media South Africa (PDMSA), an industry body representing print media owners. My experience and knowledge of the South African media industry led to my appointment by the President of South Africa, to the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) board where I am able to influence the sustainability and development of the community media sector. At the heart of my journey is a passion for transformation and the upliftment of women, in particular, black women. I am no longer prepared to be the only black woman in meetings. My goal is to develop black women to ensure that they take their rightful place in the corporate world. As a member of the transformation committee at Media24 and the IAB South Africa (a body seeking to grow the digital industry), I am part of teams that are focused on initiatives aimed at creating diversity and inclusivity.

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One of things I love about South Africa is our diverse society. The sad thing however, is the fact that this diversity is not reflected in corporate South Africa. There is a hierarchy and at the very bottom of the list are black women. This has to change. As black women, we are not only faced with the problems of racism but also sexism. Black women are not only qualified but also capable of leading successful organisations. I despise the narrative which suggests that black women are incompetent and must be led. Look around you and you see formidable women like Thuli Madonsela, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Wendy Luhabe, Ipeleng Mkhari, Basetsana Kumalo, Zandile Nzalo, Ferial Haffajee, Bulelwa Mabasa and many more. These are leaders in their own right and they have demonstrated that not only is black beautiful and bold, but also exceptional in the corporate world and government. My mission is to keep inspiring young women to strive for excellence whilst at the same time laying the foundation for corporate South Africa to embrace diversity and change. To all the black women in the corporate world, keep grinding hard and making moves, even if that means owning your own business. On this 60th anniversary of the women’s march to the Union Buildings, remember that our ancestors fought 100 times harder just for us to sit where we sit and hold the positions we hold today. For that and more, we are forever indebted for all that they endured and sacrificed for us.

“AT THE HEART OF MY JOURNEY IS A PASSION FOR TRANSFORMATION AND THE UPLIFTMENT OF WOMEN.”

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STUDY REVEALS TEN REASONS FOR CORPORATE FAILURE BY NEIL STEINMANN & PROFESSOR NICO MARTINS INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGIST & AUTHOR: PEOPLE’S DYNAMIC DEVELOPMENT & PROFESSOR NICO MARTINS, HEAD: CENTRE INDUSTRIAL AND ORGANISATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AT UNISA.

A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals and an approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. A workgroup becomes a team when: • Leadership becomes a shared activity; • Accountability shifts from strictly individual to both individual and collective; • The group develops its own purpose or mission; • Problem solving becomes a way of life, not a part-time activity; and • Effectiveness is measured by the group’s collective outcomes and products.

“THE INFLUENCE OF A TRUSTING RELATIONSHIP HAS ON IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF TEAMS.”

Building and maintaining successful teams is no simple task. Why do some of our teams achieve the highest level of performance? What could account for their success? Is it a strong work ethic, is it individual brilliance, or can success be attributed to chemistry? What about leadership? As South Africans we are fond of investigating, appointing commissions of enquiry, or simply probing reasons why our work and even sports teams fail. Poor performance will somehow be followed by an investigation.

A STUDY OF SOUTH AFRICAN COMPANIES In a recent study we conducted to investigate the performance of natural work teams in corporate South Africa, the main focus was ‘to identify key problem areas that exist in South African teams.’ We also learned some valuable lessons from those that are successful!

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ARTICLE 13 OF 19

The study looked at 150 South African organisations and more than fifty percent of those companies responded. The good news is that there seems to be an indication of a common set of problems facing teams. The bad news is that these factors are affecting the majority of work teams in South Africa. According to the study, ten common themes or factors hove emerged that provide strong evidence why teams are not effective or often even fail to achieve their objectives (see list below).

#1 LACK OF TRUST 2. WEAK TASK LEADERSHIP 3. POOR IMPLEMENTATION / NO FOLLOW THROUGH 4. NO FOCUS 5. POOR INTERPERSONAL SKILLS 6. LESSONS AND MISTAKES NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 7. POOR INTERPERSONAL CHEMISTRY 8. FALSE COMMITMENTS FROM TEAM MEMBERS 9. WORKING IN SILOS 10. LACK OF MANAGEMENT SUPPORT

1. LACK OF TRUST BETWEEN TEAM MEMBERS Team members and management were cited as the most important factor why teams are not effective or fail! We seem to be a society in search of trust. In parastatals, private business and interpersonal relationships, we search for it. Jack Welsh, former CEO of General Electric sums up the challenge as follows:

People won’t do their best unless they believe they are treated fairly. The only way I know to create some kind of trust is by laying out your values and then walking the talk. You’ve got to do what you say you’ll do consistently, over time.”

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Building trust seems to be the most elusive ideal for teams but creating it could be your greatest competitive advantage. Pennington argues that a lack of trust is the number one leadership problem facing our country today. Leaders who fail to do what they say they will do, even in the most minor areas, reinforce the belief that no one can be trusted.

9. WORKING IN SILOS

2. WEAK TASK LEADERSHIP

IMPLICATIONS FOR SOUTH AFRICAN COMPANIES

This refers to no strong leadership in the team, a lack of strong individuals with particular skills and knowledge/expertise taking responsibility in different situations to see things through. While teams do have form leaders, it should be critical for teams to learn to shift leadership functions. The circumstances, needs of the group as well as the skill of the members should determine responsibility for specific functions in the teams’ success.

3. POOR IMPLEMENTATION / FOLLOW THROUGH Teams have wonderful ideas with people starting them off, but no one is prepared to see them through. No one takes ownership to drive things to the end.

4. NO FOCUS The team tries to do too much at the same time.

5. POOR INTERPERSONAL SKILLS This includes poor communication and ineffective conflict handling.

6. LESSONS AND MISTAKES ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED There is no continuous learning or culture of improvement. The team does not take time out to evaluate performance and determine what they can learn.

7. POOR INTERPERSONAL CHEMISTRY There are often lone individuals, dominant selfappointed experts, and a lack of understanding of diversity and cultures.

Smaller teams within the team do their own thing, “reinventing the wheel.”

10. LACK OF MANAGEMENT SUPPORT There is no proper support and backup, no funding or availability of technology and equipment.

The results indicate that trust, leadership and follow through are key reasons why teams are not effective. This study emphasises the importance of trust building processes in leaderfollower relationships. The influence of a trusting relationship has on impact on the performance of teams, conflict, change, communication and diversity management.

A CHECKLIST OF THINGS TO DO TO ACHIEVE GOOD TEAMWORK: • Establish urgency and direction; • Select members based on skill and skill potential, not personalities; • Set performance-orientated tasks and goals; • Set overlapping objectives for people who work together; • Assess people’s individual and group performance; • Encourage people to build networks; • Describe and think of the organisation as a system of interlocking teams united by a common purpose; • Use training programmes to build relationships; and • Use teambuilding and interactive skills training to supplement the above points. COPYRIGHT: PEOPLE’S DYNAMIC DEVELOPMENT (WWW.PEOPLESDYNAMIC.CO.ZA)

8. FALSE COMMITMENTS FROM TEAM MEMBERS Individuals do not display long-term commitment. People shout their agreement, but when it comes to getting the job done, no one is available.

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FAIRNESS & EQUALITY SHOULD BE A LEADER’S CORE VALUES THOUGHTS FROM A BLACK FEMALE LEADER WHO TELLS IT LIKE IT IS There has never been a better time to be an African woman, than now in South Africa – well for those of us who are lucky enough to be educated. We have the latitude to do and be whomever we want, if we are willing to fight for it.

BY NTOMBENHLE KHATHWANE FOUNDER & OWNER, AFROBOTANICS

I was raised to be assertive and a fighter. I was raised in a matriarchal family, and although I felt the absence of my father, I have drawn from the strength I saw in my mother and grandmother. I learnt from them that you will not get something unless you go for it, ask if you have to, but go for what you want. Growing up in the Swazi culture, I became aware of the inequality that is inherent in that patriarchal system. Also being subject to racism under the apartheid regime at the young age of 13 when I was not allowed to swim in the Northern Natal swimming team in 1991, made me hold fairness and equality as core values that define me as a leader today. Everything I do is motivated by the values of fairness and equality. I chose to pursue a business in manufacturing hair care products for African women because there was a gap – there weren’t naturally formulated hair care products on the market when I started out. But I was also motivated by wanting to set an example that as African consumers we should produce that which we consume. I was devastated by my 8 years in government in rural Mpumalanga, seeing how the majority of Africans aren’t able to leverage their political freedom for economic freedom. So I promised myself that as I go into business – a field I had no experience in but I believed would bring me the economic freedom and equality I crave – I would succeed and grow a huge manufacturing enterprise based on building a brand from scratch and I will show young rural women that they too can do it without political favour.

“EVERYTHING I DO IS MOTIVATED BY THE VALUES OF FAIRNESS AND EQUALITY.”

My abilities as an African woman are questioned all the time, especially in the business world, and it is harder to push back compared to when I was in government. An African male financier doesn’t see the opportunity or value in funding my business because he doesn’t understand female cosmetics and thinks there’s no need to challenge international cosmetics brands. A white female buyer in a large retail chain won’t list my products because she doesn’t understand trends in black hair care. I fight these battles daily, and they empower me.

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AfroBotanics is the leading South African natural hair care brand because I focused on excellence. I focused on delivering a quality product that meets the needs and demands of African women. I invested in getting my packaging looking good and since entering formal retail, I ensure that we deliver on time on every order placed by retailers. AfroBotanics is at the forefront of revolutionising the African hair and beauty category by claiming shelf space from international brands and opening the door for other local brands to make it into formal retail and be trusted by retailers and customers on the basis that my brand, AfroBotanics did it right with the first and only opportunity we had. Importantly for me, AfroBotanics is contributing towards changing the narrative on beauty by affirming African natural beauty by impressing the fact that African women are beautiful the way they are and they are good enough. This is also motivated by my core values of fairness and equality.

ABOUT NTOMBENHLE KHATHWANE: Ntombenhle Khathwane is the owner and founder of AfroBotanics – a proudly South African premium hair care brand designed for Africans, by Africans. Khathwana holds a Masters degree in Philosophy in Politics from the University of Natal. After graduation, she joined an Mpumalanga government department, where she worked as a research planner and Media Liaison Communications Manager for eight years. Ntombenhle also participated in the Goldman Sachs 10 000 women entrepreneurship programme at Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs). In August 2014, AfroBotanics was featured in Destiny magazine, where her products were described as “one of the best brands on the market if your concern is healthy hair.” She was named one of Destiny Magazine’s 40 Trailblazers under 40 in 2011, one of M&G’s 200 Young South Africans, an Investec Young Trep in 2015 and one of Forbes’s 30 most promising young entrepreneurs in Africa in 2016. She was also an Arch Tutu AFLI Fellow in 2014.

Leadership to me is about being authentic and being true to your values. There are different kinds of leaders because we all value different things based on our experiences. As a woman you don’t get a second chance, you mess up once and it follows you the rest of your life, whereas male leaders get more reprieve in the African context. This is why we have political leaders whose personal values and professional values aren’t in sync and yet we still elect them and defend them. Let us learn to lead fairly and equally – as Africans and as women.

“LEADERSHIP TO ME IS ABOUT BEING AUTHENTIC AND BEING TRUE TO YOUR VALUES.”

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“PAYING YOUR SCHOOL FEES!” – LEADERSHIP AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AFRICA Let’s talk leadership.

BY ALEX ACTON BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA, WORLD WIDE CREATIVE

When approaching the topic of leadership in an African context, I feel it important to first define what leadership means to me. I would hazard a guess that the definition may vary vastly from one person to the next based on their context and experience. Firstly, and most importantly, leadership is not management. Although leaders are often in management positions, management exists at a functional level whereas leadership exists at a strategic level. This contrast is in fact so strong that I would argue that some of the best leaders would not make very good managers. Leaders cannot be defined by their age, appearance, job title or their place in the much favoured organogram. True leaders have the ability to encourage, excite and energise. They have the nous and presence of mind to spot and take opportunities when they present themselves. They have the ability and confidence to show empathy – to show their most human side without fear of exposing too much.

“GOOD LEADERS KNOW HOW TO HARNESS THE ENERGY OF OTHERS.”

Good leaders know how to harness the energy of others, understanding when the task at hand is better done by someone else and creating the environment in which the “someone elses” feel valued and respected for their contribution. A good leader knows how to manage failure – not letting it get the better of them or their team, but rather using it as the energy they need to persist and ultimately succeed. Most importantly, good leaders are able to read situations and move with the ebb and flow of a changing environment. They are able to forego all that was “given” and change direction to ensure they stay on the path to success. While doing this, they are required to sell this change internally to a potentially resistant tide. A great leader will do so seamlessly. Yes this is brief and some may argue a slightly different variation of the definition, but I feel that this definition goes enough of the way to contextualise the subject when entering in to a discussion on leadership in an African context. In doing this, I highlight how the African business environment requires impeccable leaders in order to achieve success.

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ARTICLE 15 OF 19

TIA (THIS IS AFRICA) Now don’t get me wrong, I am certainly no “old hat of business” in terms of experience on the continent, but I have had my fair share – enough in my opinion to speak on the topic with authority. Bump into any true African explorer and the phrase “Africa is not for sissies!” is one you may hear quite often. It will likely be accompanied by the term “Pay your school fees” and “TIA (This is Africa).” These phrases, although often throwaway comments, quite nicely sum up why business on the continent is so unique and demands great leadership. It may also explain why if you ever find yourself talking to an African business man or woman, you are likely talking to someone who walks around with their eyes wide open – a hardened, steely, street-smart individual. “So, why is it such a challenge?” You may be asking yourself. What makes doing business on our unique continent so much more complex than the likes of Europe, America or Asia? In brief, and in no particular order, I would list the following business environment characteristics of Africa as contributing toward the vast difference between our continent and those mentioned above.

AFRICA IS HARSH! Spanning macro and micro environmental factors, doing business in Africa is certainly not simple. Power-cuts, limited access to communication technology, currency controls, socio-cultural divides and scarcity often of the most basic goods and services can make living and working on the continent physically and emotionally taxing. The emotional strain that this places on you and your character is not to be underestimated.

“GOOD LEADERS ARE ABLE TO MOVE WITH THE EBB AND FLOW OF A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT.”

IT CAN BE DANGEROUS. Instability of governments, lack of enforcement bodies, and personal ties often trumping the legal system, can pose significant risks. If you are in a foreign territory, you are very much expected to play by the local rules and stepping even slightly out of line, sometimes unknowingly, will find you in a lot of hot water.

CONNECTIONS, CONNECTIONS, CONNECTIONS. Africa is all about relationships and connections. No sales proposal is stronger than a trusted source and known ally. Without these connections, finding business opportunities and even having a chance at the prize is near futile. Connections, and strong ones at that are the key to success.

PLAYING BY-THE-BOOK. Not always in the most sinister of forms, but very often, what is considered best practice or even ethically correct in the first world, may not apply to local contexts. This can be confusing as well as frustrating for a lot of Western minded businesses. It is often the straw that breaks the camel’s back and leads to some Westerners retreating from the continent altogether.

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ARTICLE 15 OF 19

THE EVER-SHIFTING GOAL POSTS. As soon as it seems like the red African dust is settling, you can be sure that new challenges will invariably appear. This will require you to play and think smart. The simplest of incorrect decision may find you at a loss. A change of president, a change of ownership laws, an influx of counterfeit products – these are but a few of the shifting goal posts to which I refer.

“AFRICAN TIME” (CAT + ∞) Lastly, it is often joked that the speed at which things take to get done in Africa have been given their own time zone, namely “African Time.” The joke I am afraid, stems from an unsettlingly true reality. Unless you know people who know people, things can take forever to get done due to a lack of staff, lack of efficiency and over officious requirements. Often this is stifling to business and has sent many individuals packing as they simply wait around for too long, expending time and energy that was simply not accounted for.

SO WHAT DOES GOOD LEADERSHIP HAVE TO DO WITH SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS IN AFRICA?

“AS SOON AS IT SEEMS LIKE THE RED AFRICAN DUST IS SETTLING, YOU CAN BE SURE THAT NEW CHALLENGES WILL INVARIABLY APPEAR.”

Business on the continent can be very daunting, but for the most part it is incredibly fun and a true playground for opportunists and entrepreneurs. The key take out from this article should be that good leadership embodies the qualities that allow one to deal with complexity and change, whether this manifests in the business environment, with people, technology or even the most simple of human needs, security, food or water. In Africa, none of these elements are ever a given. Leadership as defined in the opening paragraph requires confidence, strong relational skills and the ability to engender loyalty and belief. The trick is to always remain vigilant, humble and be prepared to make a rapid exit at any time. With strong leadership, great things can be achieved on this interesting continent we call Africa.

IF YOU DON’T HAVE AMBITION, YOU SHOULDN’T BE ALIVE.

Aliko Dangote

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DEAR ENTREPRENEUR: LEAD. BY VUSI THEMBEKWAYO SPEAKER, INVESTOR, SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR & DRAGON’S DEN DRAGON

Ever heard the expression, “teams build businesses not people?” Well this statement is true. It’s just not the full truth. The full truth is that teams do build businesses and leaders build people. So if you want to build a business, then build a formidable team. If you want to build a formidable team, then be a formidable leader. Over the past two years I have been working hard on reengineering the business. I have pulled the team out of noncore businesses, re-set the strategy to focus on work we are passionate about, lifted the goal and purpose of the team to focus on doing globally significant work and aligned the team members of the business with the values of the organisation. The trouble with this kind of hard slog is that it is behind the scenes and not sexy. It lacks the chic appeal of the customer facing staff that we instinctively want to be a part of when we build a business. It is not about fancy presentations, the innovation workshops, the financial modelling. It’s about getting the basics right. Team. Are we headed in the right direction? Do we all know what we must do to get there? Do we know why it matters? Will this leave us more fulfilled? Much of this thinking is about the very basis of the business you are building as an entrepreneur. So what are the hallmarks of leaders that build great teams? I have been studying this for some time now in a quest to make myself a better leader.

“LEADERS UNDERSTAND THAT “THINGS NOT GOING YOUR WAY” IS PART OF THE CHANT OF ENTREPRENEURS.”

My research has revealed to me that there are 3 characteristics of effective leaders that build teams.

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HUMBLE TO NEW KNOWLEDGE: Effective leaders know and are comfortable in the knowledge that they do not know everything. This may sound trivial but in the modern day when leaders are seen as messiahs there is a tendency by followers to abdicate their responsibility of free thinking to the leader. The rate at which the world is generating new knowledge far supersedes the rate at which the human brain can absorb new knowledge. So even if you spent your entire life studying everything there was to know about your industry and subject matter, you would never come to a point where you know everything. Leaders discern that they are as capable as the least capable person in their team. Be humble.

STUBBORN TO DEFEAT: Part of the journey of entrepreneurship is the hard fact that often things don’t go our way. In fact, I would argue that we lose more than we win. It’s just that our quantum of wins is greater than our quantum of losses. So we take small bets that often don’t pay off but when they do pay-off, it’s big. Leaders understand that “things not going your way” is part of the chant of entrepreneurs. So we have to learn to be resilient and resolute in our pursuit of our goals. You have to be stubborn to defeat.

A CLEAR ELEVATING GOAL: People and teams are galvanised around a clear elevating goal. Not just a goal. It must be clear so that the team is clear on what the end state is. It must also elevate them beyond their current reality. It must draw the team toward aspiring for it. It must pull them toward it with the gravitational force of a black hole. Most entrepreneurs get caught in the everyday trap of sameness so much that they forget to not just run a business and manage people. They forget to lead. If you want to build a business, build the team. If you want to build a team, build the people. If you want to build people, lead.

“EFFECTIVE LEADERS KNOW AND ARE COMFORTABLE IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THEY DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING.”

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THE ENTREPRENEUR JOURNEY MAN TRYING TO FIND HIS FEET IN AFRICA My ‘African journey’ began in a boarding school in Ghana. As a young student, I remember how my peers would tell me about their plans for the end of term – how they were going to spend their vacations. To me though, my plans were always about how I was going to make money during the school holidays.

BY SELASSIE EGHAN KPANGA LIFE LESSONS FROM WORLD WIDE CREATIVE’S AFRICA BUSINESS DIRECTOR

You may wonder how I earned money at such a young age. In simple terms, I did a bit of buying and selling – anything from high-end alcohol to a bit of building hardware. Your next question may be where my seed capital came from. Well, I was confident enough to buy everything I sold on credit. My pay backs were never late and I always made sure that I paid in full, splitting the profits very transparently. I believe that this very simple beginning was my introduction to entrepreneurship. As a teenager, I became fully self-supporting and independent from my parents. Two concepts formed part of my early ventures – the significance of saving and the importance of sharing what I had with those less fortunate than myself. Those principles built a strong foundation for my career.

“BACK IN MY MOTHERLAND, THINGS WERE CHANGING, BUSINESS HAD TAKEN ON A NEW AND DIFFERENT DYNAMIC.”

Let’s fast forward from my high-school days in Ghana to the years where I worked summer jobs in London, earning the coveted British pound. As low paying as some of those jobs were, I embraced the independence it brought me. I remember working in Sainsburies one summer – truth be told I don’t even know what my job entailed, but those were good times. During my studying years in Gaborone, Botswana, I had the opportunity to intern at the Power Corporation, in their accounts department. Later I returned to London to start real life as a young adult fresh out of the educational environment. I got a job with GE Capital Insurance as a premiums associate. I probably need to add at this point that in my little head, as young as I was, when I landed that job I felt like I had arrived. That didn’t mean that I gave up my part-time jobs. My routine was to wake up at 4AM to do a 2 hour job, then straight after work at 5PM, I put in another 2-3 hours of extra work. This paid for my weekends – partying, shopping and basic pocket money so that I could save my income from GE.

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I love Africa. And so I made sure to visit Ghana at least twice a year, scooping whichever opportunities were available and making sure that I maintained close relationships with my contacts on the ground. It wasn’t always easy going. Back in my motherland, things were changing, business had taken on a new and different dynamic that I wasn’t familiar with.

The problem is this – in Africa, my more matured, seasoned colleagues in business will run with this without you. They just won’t take you seriously.” I was in shock at his blatant honesty but I was reminded about what my boss in London had said. Africa is a different territory where power is entrenched and delegated amongst the elders.

I still remember a particular incident like it was yesterday. I worked and project managed at Thames Water UK for 6 years. During this period I kept an eye out for any opportunity in that sector that would benefit Africa – back home people were battling water shortages and a lack of treatment and processing infrastructure. I identified an opportunity – a no-brainer, my chance to take an idea and run with it. Thames had some recycling, treatment plants and water treatment facilities which weren’t in use. I approached my boss at the time and shared my thoughts.

I returned to England somewhat deflated but I had learnt a valuable lesson: I needed patience to do business in Africa. It was going to be a trial by fire, I would have to face failure many times before I tasted success.

His response was, “brilliant young man. The only problem is that doing business in Africa isn’t an easy task. This is very high level stuff. Are you sure you’re connected all the way to the top?” My response was: “Sir, I wouldn’t say I’m connected all the way to the top but I think I have a network of contacts who I can speak to about this and transform my net worth.” He smiled and said, “Speak to your people and let’s see what becomes of it. But remember it’s Africa.” I was determined, holding on to my favourite axiom, ‘nothing tried, nothing gained.’ After a few phone calls and emails, I was connected to a very high up individual who worked at the World Bank. I met with this person in Accra. He didn’t say much but at one of our last meetings he said, “young man, I admire your drive and way of thinking, but if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?” I was in my early twenties at that point. After hearing my age he responded and said, “now that’s the problem – you thinking about a project of this magnitude at this stage in your life. My peers who are nearing retirement have not delved as deep into the water project prospects.

I had developed a passion for cars and bikes so I saw it as an opportunity for trade because there’s a real superbike culture in Accra, Ghana. I did that, and today I still have a little custom business with a cousin who supplies high-end vehicles to some key clients upon request. Eventually, real estate and the property boom in London came calling. I dabbled in that for a while before the crash happened. I learnt some hard lessons there as well but in between that, I was also working as an account manager for an independent record label with offices in London and America. This gave me a great deal of exposure as I continued to expand my network. In 2010, I decided to relocate to Ghana, to get a real feel for the business environment. To keep myself busy, I did a bit of business consultancy work for some friends and through that, I realised that the core challenge of doing business in Africa, the ultimate denominator, is funding – getting your head around the banking system. Just recently I sat with a good friend in banking in Accra, discussing the true potential of Africa. If only we as Africans stood together and worked towards a common goal, we could build a better Africa for all. And so, my journey continues. You could call this part one of my story. I’m still learning, striving for success, jumping through hoops, falling down, overcoming obstacles and staying true to my drive to make a difference. To be continued…

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THE RISE OF THE YOUNG AFRICAN ENTREPRENEUR AN INTERVIEW WITH HILDA MORAA CO-FOUNDER & CEO, WEZA TELE

At only 27 years old, Hilda Moraa is on Forbes’s list of Promising Young Africans. Moraa is the co-founder of Weza Tele - a Kenyan fintech startup that was recently acquired by Ghanaian financial services group, Afb for $1.7 million. Her journey began as a struggling undergraduate student, who decided to turn her school project into a viable business. Success was just around the corner. With a Bachelors degree in Business Information Technology and a Masters degree in Entrepreneurship, Moraa nurtures what she has by giving back. Her passion for mentorship and sharing knowledge with her peers has manifested in a book, entitled A Kenyan Startup Journey. Written by Moraa, the book shares practical lessons on entrepreneurship in the tech space and is aimed at aspiring business people in need of inspiration and advice. In this interview, Hilda shares some insights from her book and provides personal input on pertinent topics within the theme of leadership.

“WITH TIME, I HAVE LEARNED TO LET FAILURE BE A PART OF MY LEARNING CURVE AND EQUATION FOR SUCCESS.”

AS A FEMALE, AFRICAN ENTREPRENEUR, WHAT HAVE YOUR GREATEST CHALLENGES BEEN? First and foremost I would like to echo that we cannot deny the fact that the technology entrepreneurship industry is male dominated, with women as the minority. This means that women are bound to face a unique set of challenges that can present themselves as roadblocks. These roadblocks however, can be turned into opportunities. Being on this tech entrepreneurship journey for the last 5 years, I have faced a myriad of challenges – not because I am an African woman but mainly because of the gaps that exist in the ecosystem. These gaps are being tackled by different stakeholders who are playing an active role within their respective capacities – investment, incubation or mentorship and support. The two main challenges I faced, as outlined in my book, A Kenyan Startup Journey – 10 Key Lessons I Learned, are:

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2) Raising Money is an uphill struggle: I once believed that because I had an innovative product that everyone was talking about, investors would be knocking at my door. But I learned that it does not work like that. In the same way as when one is looking for the right talent/founders, one needs to be in the right place, at the right time to find investors. As a leader I needed to be out there scouting for the right investors and ensuring that we had all the right resources to grow and scale the business. “As I have iterated in my book, this was not one of my core strengths and it is the same for many African startups. Skills of fundraising, pitching and where to find the right investors who will align with your growth strategy continue to be a huge challenge” (excerpt from A Kenyan Startup Journey).

1) Finding the right talent. Because at the end of the day, it’s all about people: This includes finding the right local team to execute on a day to day basis as well as finding the right role models and support network. As a leader, I have worn many hats in order to drive momentum in the business. I have continued to overcome this challenge by believing in myself rather than trying to convince other people to believe in what I am doing. I have built a culture governed by a set of values and principles that I have allowed my team to develop. “Passion, a positive attitude, integrity, excellence, hard work, respect, trust and responsibility have always formed part of the values I share and look for in finding the right talent as I believe skills can always be trained. Scalability, teamwork, innovation, accountability, and lean methodology also continue to guide me in finding the right talent” (excerpt from A Kenyan Startup Journey).

I preferred to run the business hand to mouth by saying yes to many opportunities at once, however this was not sustainable and damaged our business’s growth and momentum. I overcame this challenge by getting local mentors who supported and guided me in the process of finding the right investors who could bring more value to the table, beyond just money. I am now an angel investor to local startups. We need more young techpreneurs to double up as investors and role models to other up and coming young women.

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HAS FAILURE PLAYED ANY ROLE IN YOUR CAREER?

“WE NEED MORE YOUNG TECHPRENEURS TO DOUBLE UP AS INVESTORS AND ROLE MODELS TO OTHER UP AND COMING YOUNG WOMEN.”

I have talked about failure in my book and mentioned that it has been the key accelerator to my success. “Failure is a forbidden word in African culture. If you fail, there is no glory, only shame. To the contrary, in the West, failure has been appreciated as an opportunity for learning for most of the successful startups we have heard of. My biggest fear was never failing but missing out on other opportunities by starting Weza Tele. In the beginning, my co-founders and I were afraid to talk about our failures, we did not even recognise them as failures but saw them as simple mistakes we made and these mistakes ended up being gifts in disguise, adding to our knowledge and wisdom. My team and I failed terribly not just from our initial products but also from the retention of our early adopters. As a leader, I failed to put the right processes and structures in place. I initially failed at being a people’s person and giving others full control to make decisions when I just needed to trust them and give them ownership. Sometimes I did it unintentionally, but most times it was just a sign of bad leadership” (excerpt from A Kenyan Startup Journey). With time, I have learned to let failure be a part of my learning curve and equation for success. I embrace and talk frequently about my failures with detached emotions so that they can guide others and myself to do things the right way in order to achieve success. More so, my failures have formed the stories and lessons of my mentorship series to young people. I want them to not only learn from and be inspired by my successes but also from the mistakes I’ve made along the journey.

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WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN TO INVEST YOUR TIME AND RESOURCES INTO MENTORSHIP AND WHAT HAVE THE BENEFITS BEEN FOR YOUR CAREER? Mentoring other people is my purpose in life – to inspire, motivate, mentor and equip young people (both men & women) to live purposedriven lives. This is a greater passion that guides my decisions in life. I have been very lucky to be surrounded by the best mentors in my career who continue to believe in me and support me in my entrepreneurial journey. So, why not build other young generations of leaders by returning the favour and making a difference to our society? By myself, I will not be able to change the world but if I share my story and empower others to join me, then we will do great things beyond our expectations. In my book I emphasise the power of peer-topeer mentorship: “These are trusted networks of friends in the same environment going in the same direction and captaining their ships as you are. You can learn from them and get their advice based on their experiences. Most of the things I’ve learned have been a result of asking my peer startups how they did it. This was possibly the wisest way I learned and I would recommend this approach to every start up especially those based in co-working and incubation spaces. Take advantage of the community around you and optimise your networks.”

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I run a mentorship series almost every other month in collaboration with iBiz Africa at Strathmore University. My mentorship network has 150+ mentees who I engage with using different channels – Facebook, email and face-to-face forums. My inspiration for running the mentorship series stems from the lessons and success I built at Weza Tele Limited as the founder and CEO. I believe my purpose in life is to continue to share my entrepreneurship lessons – both failures and successes and to empower other young entrepreneurs to build businesses and develop themselves and generations to come. Mentorship has proven to be a strategic tool for youth career development and leadership. More so it has shaped me to be a better leader by allowing me to reflect on my own lessons and experiences. MORE INFORMATION ON THIS INSPIRING LEADER CAN BE FOUND AT WWW. HILDAMORAA.COM. INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY RENEE FORTUNE.

“MENTORING OTHER PEOPLE IS MY PURPOSE IN LIFE – TO INSPIRE, MOTIVATE, MENTOR AND EQUIP YOUNG PEOPLE TO LIVE PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIVES.”

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AFFECTING CHANGE: THE ROLE OF LEADERSHIP IN SOCIAL ACTIVISM INSIGHTS FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH MARCELA GUERRERO CASAS CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF OPEN STREETS CAPE TOWN

Chalk artists finding expression on the tarmac. Cyclists whizzing past in carnival-esque costumes. Children playing scrabble with big wooden tiles. These are the kind of scenes you may encounter if you visit a Cape Town destination that is hosting an Open Streets Day – and it all happens right there, in the middle of roads that are usually jam-packed with cars. Inspired by Ciclovía – an initiative that transforms 120km of streets into car-free space across Bogotá, Colombia every Sunday – Marcela Guerrero Casas co-founded the Open Streets programme in Cape Town. Central Cape Town, Observatory, Langa, Mitchells Plain – these communities have all benefited from planned road closures and the opening of public space that on an ordinary day, is a dangerous or unwelcoming space for pedestrians.

“IT’S ALL ABOUT GETTING PEOPLE TO SEE WHAT IS POSSIBLE.”

PHOTO CREDIT: FERENCE ISSACS When asked how the public received the concept, Marcela put it simply: “What in my home city (Bogotá), is a normal part of life, temporarily shutting down streets, sounded almost revolutionary here. Thus, testing a simple idea has provided an opportunity to affect change; small for now, but we believe it has the potential of great impact in the long term.

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We’ve carried out surveys after the each Open Streets Day and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s all about getting people to see what is possible. And we are providing a platform to experience that.” For Marcela, the Open Streets Days make a statement – about the way we choose to share public spaces, about how we reimagine our space when given the opportunity to do so, and about who owns the notion of collective space. With a Masters degree in Public Administration and International Relations & Politics, Marcela’s drive to make a difference is palpable.

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PHOTO CREDIT: BRUCE SUTHERLAND Although she may shy away from the title of “leader,” that is exactly what she has become known and admired for – not only as a social activist but also as a woman. She was recently featured in the City Views newspaper, which put a spotlight on influential women in the Central City – a feature that celebrated leaders in government, business and civic society.

PHOTO CREDIT: BRUCE SUTHERLAND Her role as the director of this programme has not been without its roadblocks. The foremost challenge is the expense it involves to close busy roads. Then there is the fact that Cape Town is a very car-orientated city and getting government buy-in is not a simple process. Perhaps the most thought-provoking observation is that our history, the geographical layout of the city and our cultural differences mean that co-existence and the interchange between spaces is not very fluid. We remain in our own spaces. It is simply not natural for Capetonians to venture beyond their ‘owned’ spaces. And that’s something we should take to heart. It’s also not easy to garner the support of entire communities and to play a key role in uniting a team towards a goal as logistically and socially challenging as Open Streets.

PHOTO CREDIT: LISA BURNELL When asked what the fundamental principles of good leadership are as a social activist, Marcela confidently named one: commitment. “I was committed to starting a conversation and when that conversation was sparked, a phenomenal team got behind the idea and we ran with it together. We all believe that we can rethink our public spaces and do things differently. We want to create our own cities. I have an amazing team behind me – that alone is a foundation for effective leadership,” she said.

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It was a refreshing approach. Often, we talk about leaders building a team but does the team really build the leader? Marcela’s humble approach suggested just that. With leadership, comes responsibility to give direction to a movement that is developing organically, and to maintain that movement through periods of intense personal change. And Marcela is open about her own journey as an individual – that she is going through a time of inner reflection, a process of grappling with her own purpose and search for meaning. For now, she has achieved her aim of making an impact on the collective and individual imagination. Her adventure continues with the development of the Open Streets movement, as a civic leader striving for longlasting change. WRITTEN BY RENEE FORTUNE

“I HAVE AN AMAZING TEAM BEHIND ME – THAT ALONE IS A FOUNDATION FOR EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP.”

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