Monthly Archives: February 2015
Cry Beloved Township Business
A quick browse in the townships, you will notice a lot of small businesses i.e. spaza-shops, driving schools, internet/printing cafes, pharmacies. Their state of branding hasn’t changed in last 7 or more (of course) years.
This is all observation, you welcome to argue, maybe point areas you have observed as improved. There are those areas that went notches up. There are those that lived up to innovation and taken their businesses to future heights.
Another observation
The most important reason to ignore your parents
Fact: Your parents love you. They do not want you to be hurt.
Having lived life, they will know the only way to avoid pain is to avoid taking risk.
That’s why your parents will always give you bad advice.
Taking risk is the only path to growth. Personal, social and financial growth. Your growth is a function of Darwinian evolution.
Without taking risks you cannot grow.
Your parents know this, but their love for you forces them to ignore reality and push you down the path of no risk.
From the age of 25, always consider doing the opposite of what your parents advise.
Unless your parents don’t love you. In which case you have bigger problems.
Alan Knott-Craig Jr is the founder & CEO of Project Isizwe, a company facilitating the roll-out of free Wi-Fi networks across Africa, funded by municipalities. Founder of Ever Africa: eCommerce, games, education, eBooks and telecoms in Africa.
How to let go of nice people
Its easy getting rid of assholes. Its never nice firing nice people.
But sometimes a nice person has to go, and the only question is “How?”
Rule number one is show respect.
Most of the time, strict adherence to the law is the wrong process because it incentivizes the employer to “manage” the person out of the business with formal warnings and subtle hints, humiliating him in front of colleagues and destroying trust in management.
After Failure, What’s Next?
Recently, I wrote a post titled After Your First Big Success, What’s Next? The comment thread was powerful and fascinating, as was the direct email feedback I got, including the following note:
“I think it would be interesting to hear your perspective on how an entrepreneur should approach “what’s next” after coming off a failed business. How should one manage their own emotions and their own perspectives post failure? It’s easy to play the blame game and it’s easy to be extremely hard on ourselves. There has to be constructive ways to move forward rather than destructive ways that could lead to lack of confidence, or depression.”
Having failed at a lot of things, I’m completely comfortable tackling this.
Marumo Lekwankwa is the breakfast talk guest speaker at Startup Picnic JHB, 2 May 2015
At the last Startup Picnic, people really really loved the speakers, Irfan Pardesi and Busta Madiba.
The next speaker isn’t short of excellence. It is with great excitement to bring to you Marumo Lekwankwa as the quest speaker at the upcoming Startup Picnic JHB, on the 2nd of May 2015 at Lido Hotel in Eikenhof, 10 minutes from Gold Reef City.
The breakfast talk is between 10am and 12 midday, thereafter the picnic festivities begin.
Marumo Lekwanka is a young lethal transaction leveraging businessmen and investor with interest and experience in commercial property, tyre franchise, construction, food retail/wholesale and hair business.
Extract from his interview in the book ‘Township Biz Fastrack’
Marumo hails from a business inclined
