3 minute read
Women success
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SHE IS A SOUNDING BOARD FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
Coming up with a good idea and then turning it into a profitable venture is no easy feat. But it’s even more challenging if you have no sounding board, and you do everything yourself, from spending money on bookkeeping to marketing and anything in between.
Gcina Madonsela noticed early on that entrepreneurs tend to struggle with many things.
As a passionate entrepreneur herself, Gcina has the first-hand experience of starting a new business. She understands that starting a business requires an enormous amount of planning, ambition, and execution.
She shares: “When I registered my business, I was like, great, I’m going to register it and then start trading. Then I found out as I was going along that as much as there is Google, there is nobody who can help small business owners,” she tells TransformSA.
Upon completing her studies, she went to work for several years. Gcina’s A-ha moment came when she was doing too much work, but she was still underpaid. Gcina started the Small Business Runway, a small development agency. Over the years, she has helped many business owners with accounting, marketing, and PR. She amassed experience working in corporate, hosting business expos, and conferencing experiences. She is also an Advisory Board Member to the African Council for Trade, Tourism, and Investment (AFCOTTI).
“ Our work is focused on the fundamental building blocks of an entrepreneur when they are starting a business. They would need someone who typically will be a go-to person. They would need education around their industry..”
“So Small Business Runway is that hub that assists entrepreneurs to kickstart their business and move on with their journey. We help them with accounting; we help them to set up their website. We help them with their marketing. We have some online courses that help them get new clients as well.” Gcina’s expo and business builder events help entrepreneurs market their products and services to pre-qualified trade consumers. What sets her agency from other business agencies is that they are accessible to small businesses.
“There are always business agencies that say they help small business owners. I feel they are very out of touch. Their business is bigger than small businesses. I think being accessible to entrepreneurs is key, particularly in townships where we also do networking events. Apart from events, Small Business Runway also does webinars as well. Gcina says they invite a couple of leaders and speakers to discuss a variety of topics.
Getting new customers and raising capital are among the top challenges facing business owners today. However, Gcina thinks establishing a credible reputation for her business was her major challenge.
“I think our biggest obstacle was establishing ourselves as a credible business. What I mean about that is proving who you are and who your clients are. A lot of people want to do business with you when they know those things,” she explains.
Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is: “Be bold and unapologetic about your vision. What I mean about that is you need to refuse defeat. Success is the refusal of accepting defeat. It is the constant showing up, and the constant learning, and building yourself.” Gcina’s favourite books include Multipliers, Return to Love, and Master Your Finances.
That’s when she thought this was not going to work anymore.
“ I always wanted to become a radio jock. Then I went on to work in that field mainly because I am a bubbly person, and I love talking. I worked for a couple of major media houses such as Independent Media, Caxton publishers, and Zazi Media,” she says.
“Eventually, what I wanted to do was to run my own business. I used some of the pension that I cashed out when I resigned. So I didn’t have any funding. I was like, I am tired, don’t earn enough. I am going to follow my passion. Then I jumped.”
