Like many entrepreneurs, I like to catch up with my reading on the weekend. On my list was a great interview article with one of my personal entrepreneurial heroines, Tabitha Karanja, founder and ceo of Keroche Breweries in Kenya. If ever there was an example of a woman entrepreneur here in Africa who not only dreamed big, but had the courage and the tenacity to take on an established industry monopoly that was over 85 years old in the process, then Tabitha Karanja is it. She had to fight battles in court, in the marketplace, and on the floor of Parliament, to build a game-changing business that gave local consumers the right to have a choice of products in the marketplace - and she won, repeatedly! Not only that, she demonstrated that it’s also possible to perfect the art of juggling personal life and business brand building in the process, raising four children and maintaining a successful personal relationship along the way. Today, thanks to her ‘never give up’ attitude and her ability to never let go of that dream, Keroche Breweries is the second largest brewery in Kenya and the fastest growing brewing enterprise on the African continent. So, what are her five top tips for success? She says, focus and hard work; getting out of the comfort zone and taking big but well calculated risks; belief and faith in self; humility; and trust in God. Words to inspire this morning!

The second U.S. Africa Business Forum convened earlier this week in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, with political heavyweights such as U.S. President Barack Obama delivering keynote addresses. U.S. agencies and companies announced plans to invest more than $14 billion on the continent in sectors including banking, construction and information technology. Jay Ireland, President and CEO of GE Africa, also speaking at the conference, said: “I continue to be excited about the incredible innovation and entrepreneurship that is happening across the continent. GE has a rich history in Africa and we are committed to continue investing on the continent." The topic of investing in women-led enterprises in Africa was also top of the agenda at the forum, with reports such as the 2016 McKinsey Women Matter Africa report supporting the premise that investing in women or gender-diverse enterprises makes good business sense. According to the report, companies with higher female executive committee representation are 14% more likely to outperform their competitors. USADF (the U.S. African Development Foundation) an organisation that supports African-led solutions, understands the importance of investing in women - it is now focusing its investment efforts on launching the next generation of women entrepreneurs to light the way for other women on the continent.  It’s good to see influential organisations and global business giants recognising that empowering and supporting women entrepreneurs on the continent is a real economic game-changer.

Any successful entrepreneur knows that being able to sell is an essential part of being in business. You can have the greatest idea or new product innovation, but if you can’t sell it to a customer or investor, then it will never be anything but a concept. How many times do you hear aspirant entrepreneurs telling you they have a great business idea, but it never gets past the talking stage because they can’t close the sales pitch. As entrepreneurs we know how important it is to get people to take notice of our business, our brands, our products and services, and that means we have to connect with them, to inspire them, to motivate them to buy - that’s selling! Let’s be honest, if you are a startup you have to sell from the time you launch your business idea, it’s how you get out of the starting block. If you are launching a new product or service, particularly if it’s a new and innovative concept, then you have to be able to persuade potential customers and investors to take a look. And, if you need to raise capital for your business, then you have to be able to sell your business concept to investors who will need to be convinced of the viability of your business. If you are still one of those people that say they are no good at sales, or just hate the sales process, then work with specialist sales people who can get the job done for you. Ultimately, business and the art of selling go hand in hand - it’s not a nice to have, it’s a necessity. 

I was sat with a group of women at a television studio last evening waiting to do a live interview, and we were chatting about what it takes to make the leap from the world of corporate to becoming an entrepreneur. One common theme emerged from our chat. It would appear that many potential women entrepreneurs are deterred from pursuing a business because they don't believe their idea is original or differentiated enough for the marketplace to be successful. But the reality is that there are very few truly original ideas, instead what differentiates successful businesses tends to be how they are executed. Just look at the meteoric rise of Uber - when that company launched there were millions of taxi businesses around the world working to a well-grooved business model. Yet, when founders Travis Kalanik and Garret Camp experienced difficulty finding a cab back in 2008 they came up with a simple idea—tap a button on your mobile device and get a ride. What started life as an idea for a mobile app is now changing the transport fabric of cities around the world, using the power of technology to give people what they need, when they need it, at the touch of a button. These mega successful disruptive entrepreneurs launched Uber knowing there were highly experienced and established taxi companies in the marketplace. However, what set them apart was their incredible vision, their ability to harness the power of mobile technology, their execution strategy, and their sheer persistence.

Perhaps one of the most noticeable differences between corporate executives and entrepreneurs is that in business, there really is nowhere to hide when you are an entrepreneur, particularly in a startup. Every strategic and operational decision made is down to you; the responsibility for employees; all aspects of the day to day running of the business; innovation and product development; all starts and ends with you, the entrepreneur. This could sound daunting - however, there are so many benefits to being a ’present’, hands-on entrepreneur in the business. Smaller “entrepreneurial” firms have fewer rules documented, an absence of politics, and the world to gain. Talent coming into the business can be developed and nurtured on a personal level in order to grow as the business grows. Innovation can be given the chance to emerge from a workforce, led by the founding entrepreneur who innovates by example, with the resulting dynamic environment being created for all to enjoy. The outcome is a constantly developing business that has strong and inspirational leadership, but with a hands-on approach to steering its future journey. So maybe having nowhere to hide as an entrepreneur, and being ever present, can only be a good thing.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation has teamed up with Deutsche Bank, UnLtd and the Global Social Entrepreneurship Network to conduct the world’s first experts’ poll on the best countries for social entrepreneurs. Perhaps not surprisingly, the US sits at the number 1 spot. The poll shows that women globally are embracing social entrepreneurship, not just because of a strong desire to impact people’s lives rather than focusing solely on profit, but also because it represents a level playing field for women. Gender bias has almost disappeared when it comes to using enterprise for social good. Social entrepreneurship is disrupting the traditional status quo, fostering innovation, and developing sustainable business ideas to solve the world’s most pressing social problems. These social entrepreneurs see success not just through financial returns, but also in terms of social impact. The ultimate business goal? To set up successful companies that improve the lives of underserved and marginalized communities. It’s not just about the balance sheet, but it’s not charity either. Monique Villa, CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation said: “At a time when the world faces unprecedented challenges we can only benefit from the courage and the ideas of these change-makers. Just imagine what could be achieved if they were encouraged to tackle global issues such as climate change or the refugee crisis. Now more than ever society at large needs a different point of view; social entrepreneurs might just be our best answer.” We couldn’t agree more.

I was chatting to a number of amazing women entrepreneurs yesterday at the Lioness Lean In breakfast event in Johannesburg, and an interesting topic came up in conversation - the need for authenticity when it comes to building a business and a brand. Sometimes entrepreneurs have a tendency to think they have to present themselves differently when pitching to clients for new business, or speaking at an event where they are hoping to engage and win new clients over. In fact I was at a pitching session recently where I knew one of the entrepreneurs presenting, but hardly recognised them when it came to delivering their big pitch as they had removed the very essence of what made them unique. Authenticity is about being genuine, not adapting ourselves and changing the way we present ourselves and our businesses depending on who we are talking to. Plus, when we are not presenting our authentic selves, others can sense that something is off key. Ultimately, people make connections and choose to do business with other people based on authenticity, and when you’re authentic it automatically builds trust. And remember, trust is the key foundation of a business. Oprah Winfrey once said on the subject: "I had no idea that being your authentic self could make me as rich as I've become. If I had, I'd have done it a lot earlier."

One of my own personal global entrepreneurial heroines has always been Anita Roddick, who sadly is no longer with us, the British businesswoman, human rights activist and environmental campaigner, best known as the founder of The Body Shop, a cosmetics company producing and retailing natural beauty products that have since shaped ethical consumerism. She is a great example of a woman entrepreneur who took a small idea and turned it into a global brand with impact. She originally opened the first Body Shop in 1976 with the aim of making an income for herself and her two daughters with the idea of providing quality skin care products in refillable containers and sample sizes, all marketed with truth rather than hype. By 2004, the Body Shop had 1980 stores, serving over 77 million customers throughout the world. It was voted the second most trusted brand in the UK, and 28th top brand in the world. In 2006, L’Oreal purchased Body Shop for £652 million - quite a business journey for one small idea. Anita Roddick once said: ”If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito."

As an entrepreneur, one of the major challenges in business is knowing when to bring other people in, and then finding the right people to fit the culture of the company you have created. After all, it’s your baby and you want to find people that can continue on your business journey with you, sharing your vision, buying into the culture you have created and contributing to the company way of doing things. Leading global management consultant and author, Peter Drucker, has some interesting insights on this subject. He says: ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast,’ believing that you can develop what you think is the best business strategy in the world but if you don’t create the right culture in the business with the right people who fit in, it’s hard to make things work. The notion of creating a specific business culture may seem like a nebulous concept, and perhaps hard to get right, but when it comes to hiring people it’s often better in the long run to make sure that there is a business culture fit from the start.

It would appear that there is a new entrepreneurial boom on the horizon, being driven by two of the biggest demographic forces - encore entrepreneurs and millennials. A report by the Kauffmann Foundation, entitled ”The Future of Entrepreneurship: Millennials and Boomers Chart the Course for 2020,” points to a need for global economic renewal not just economic growth, and this could come from these two exciting entrepreneur groups. At face value, they may seem like an unlikely combination. The encore entrepreneurs are choosing entrepreneurship for lifestyle reasons as well as purely economic reasons. Their decisions to start a business are stimulated by a passion for an industry sector or desire to realise a long unfulfilled ambition, or as a means of supplementing their income to give them the freedom to do more of what they enjoy. Encore entrepreneurs tend to be less motivated to startup businesses by a desire to change the world, as compared to millennials who are driven by such ideals. Yet, the combination of millennials and encore entrepreneurs driving a new entrepreneurial boom is an exciting one, bringing experience, innovation and a disruptive approach to the ways things have been traditionally done. It’s going to be an interesting few years ahead.

Each month when we hold our Lioness Lean In Breakfast events, one of the topics that comes up most often amongst the women entrepreneurs attending is the subject of startup capital - usually how hard it is to get and how much of a deal-breaker it can be when starting up in business. But here’s the interesting thing - so many of the hugely successful women brand builders we ask to come along and inspire our audiences at the events talk about how they started up with very little finance. Most often they bootstrapped their businesses, using their own limited savings, or borrowing from friends and family when necessary. Importantly, it was their sheer determination, hard work and refusal to give up even during the tough times that got them from startup to success, not necessarily the money in the early days. They all talk about how this situation makes you think more creatively, because there is no choice. Natasha Sideris, founder of the popular and trendy South African lunchtime cafe brand Tashas, sums it up perfectly. She says: Too many entrepreneurs feel that they can’t pursue their dreams because they don’t have the money. That’s just not true. If you’re willing to work hard, you can make it happen.” 

In the early hours of this morning when I should have been sleeping but instead was wide awake and my mind was racing through ideas, work schedules, to-do lists (as entrepreneurs, we all know those moments), I read an article on LinkedIn which got me thinking and which I thought I would share this morning. It was published by Women Entrepreneurs Worldwide and written by Cheryl Collins, titled A Comfort Zone is a Beautiful Place, But Nothing Ever Grows There - Not Even You! It reminded me once again about how important it is as entrepreneurs to step out of our comfort zones and continually push ourselves into new, unexplored and exciting territory. It’s what keeps us not only fresh, innovative and reinvigorated as people, but it also ensures our business thinking doesn’t get stale. It’s a way of re-evaluating our business models, experimenting with new ideas, testing new markets, maybe even pivoting in our existing businesses. It’s a way of reconnecting us with our customers, helping us to constantly re-look at their needs, and inspiring us to invent new products and services. So when you look at it as entrepreneurs, perhaps staying in our comfort zones really isn’t that comfortable after all.

For many aspirant entrepreneurs here in Africa, in fact anywhere in the world, often the hardest challenge in getting started is finding a gap in the market that is waiting to be filled by the next innovative product, service, or new way of doing something. There is often the temptation to put off starting a business because there doesn’t seem to be a blue ocean to play in, that uncontested market space where there is room to thrive because the competition is irrelevant (take a look at the fabulous book Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne to gain some fascinating insights on this subject). But the fact is that often it’s not a case of finding that rare marketplace where no-one is playing yet (these can be elusive and often tough to find), but rather more about creating a business, product or service that can stand out in the crowd in an existing one - a business that is unique with a very different customer proposition. So, don’t be tempted to procrastinate about setting up a business because there isn’t an obvious brand new marketplace to make your mark in, instead think about how you can bring something fresh and new to an existing one and stake your entrepreneurial claim there.

Everyone talks about how important it is to have a great elevator pitch at the ready, as you never know who you are going to meet that could be a game-changer in your entrepreneurial life, be it a potential investor, a future client, or a possible business partner. The elevator pitch is that 15 second, highly compelling introduction to your business that grabs the attention of the person you are speaking to, and holds their interest. Last evening, I was in the audience at the Standard Bank Incubator in Rosebank, Johannesburg, listening to the elevator pitches of eight up-and-coming entrepreneurs as part of Demo Day, an event aimed at connecting entrepreneurs with potential investors. Some pitches were more compelling than others, but all of them exuded the passion that only entrepreneurs can convey for their businesses. However, what was really interesting at this event was the informal pitching and connecting happening off-stage amongst members of the audience. It was a great example of what happens naturally when you put a large number of entrepreneurs in one room with members of the eco-system - everyone makes the most of the opportunity to pitch their new ideas, explore possible collaborations and reconnect with existing connections. So, if you don’t have your 15 second elevator pitch ready to go, you are missing a trick!

How many times when speaking to would-be entrepreneurs and innovators do you hear them talk about how they are not able to realise their business dreams because they are held back by fear of the unknown? Their path to success is blocked by nagging fears and doubts such as fear of failure; fear of the idea or invention not being perfect and therefore not ready to launch; fear of not having enough money to take the leap to being an entrepreneur; fear of not having enough time to make the entrepreneurial dream a reality; fear of ending up broke if the idea doesn’t work. But the fact is that every entrepreneurwho has ever developed a new business or invented a new product has faced the same questions and challenges, and there are always unknowns and potential roadblocks on the entrepreneurial journey. The trick is not to let the fear of the unknown paralyse you to the point where nothing gets done. You need to battle your fears, find solutions to each of the challenges that will inevitably confront you, and just launch - after all, what is the point of having a great idea or product concept if it is the world’s best kept secret? 

I was catching up on some reading this weekend and a great entrepreneurial story in the US caught my eye. It was the story of Stanford-educated engineer Debbie Sterling who founded a unique toy company in 2012, GoldieBlox, with the aim of encouraging young girls to start tinkering with toys and building machines. Her narrative-driven construction toy sets she hopes will get young girls interested in the world of building, engineering and construction at an early age. Her goal is to raise the percentage of female engineers in the world, hopefully with these young girls growing up and forging careers in these male-dominated sectors in the future  (currently just 14% of engineers in the world are female). So far, Goldieblox has sold more than 1 million of these construction toy sets. Debbie Sterling has also created an award-winning mobile app, and her company has landed a coveted SuperBowl advertising slot worth US$4 million for free. But what I found really fascinating about the article was Debbie’s response when asked what she attributed her business success to - she said it was not being afraid to ask for help. She says: “I think the biggest mistake you can make as an entrepreneur is pretending that you know everything, or feeling you need to come across like you do. The key is admitting freely that I don’t know the answer to something or don’t know how to do something, so long as I seek somebody who does.” That’s great advice that we can all take as entrepreneurs!

Take a look at some of the most successful women entrepreneurs in Africa and they share a number of traits which have undoubtedly contributed to their achievements in business over the years. We need to be open to constantly learning from these women who are making it in the competitive world of business and brand building, so this morning we are sharing some of the traits that differentiate them from the pack. Firstly, they tend to be ambitious and have clear goals they are aiming for in their businesses - this helps to keep them focused and on track. Secondly, they have a clear vision which permeates every aspect of their businesses and in particular helps their employees and customers to engage with their brands. Thirdly, they are innovators prepared to constantly think ‘out of the box’ and to create new and exciting products, services or ways of doing things. And finally, they have the ability to turn a challenge into an opportunity, a great attribute to have given the twists and turns that will inevitably happen along the way to building successful businesses.

For the majority of startups, self funding rather than relying on external financial support is the trend, according to an interesting new UK survey by FreeAgent which interviewed 500 micro-businesses. Although this was a UK report, the findings are just as relevant to entrepreneurs here in Africa. It points to the fact that most freelancers and micro-business owners are self-funding rather than relying on external financial support, with 43 per cent using their personal savings to launch their business ventures. Additionally, the research shows that just 4 per cent of micro-businesses say they had used a loan from a friend or family member to get their business idea off the ground, while as little as 2 per cent use their credit card or secured a bank loan, and only 1 per cent used government assistance. While getting started does not seem to be the problem, the research finds that life can be more of a struggle once those businesses actually get off the ground, with 41 per cent of micro-businesses saying they do not make enough money to cover their costs, or ‘only just’ make enough to cover them. Many micro-business owners are also focussing their attention on their business at the expense of taking time off; nearly half of respondents (44 per cent) say that they had not felt in a position to be able to take a week or more of holiday during the last six months. So the challenge seems to be not so much getting started from a finance perspective, rather it’s a case of ensuring operating costs for the first year or two of the business can be covered as part of the early planning stage. Something to think about carefully before launching that dream business.

There’s no doubt about it, millennials are the most mobile, engaged and socially networked segment of the population, and that makes for interesting challenges when it comes to reaching them from a business marketing perspective. Traditional advertising doesn’t work for them, in fact they are fairly sceptical of the well-worn, conventional approaches to selling them products and services. As a truly mobile generation that is permanently connected simultaneously to a range of mobile devices, content marketing becomes an effective means of engaging in conversation with millennials and getting their attention. As entrepreneurs trying to tap into this increasingly influential market segment, this means getting a whole lot more creative in the type of information you put out there to reach them. It’s about entertaining, informing, engaging in conversation and presenting content in a highly visual way. Just look at the rapid growth of platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, both highly visual, personal and connected. So when it comes to marketing your products and services to millennials, think mobile. 

Have you ever wondered how some of the biggest and currently most successful businesses in the world, particularly in the online space, manage to maintain their market position? Ask entrepreneurs like Jeff Bizoz, ceo of Amazon, and he will tell you that communication is key - but not just any form of communication - storytelling! He believes that if you want to make a connection between your brand, your investors and your customers, it isn’t about spending vast amounts of money on high profile events or expensive websites, instead it’s all about telling a powerful story. He says: “You can have the best technology, you can have the best business model, but if the storytelling isn’t amazing, it won’t matter. Nobody will watch.” Every entrepreneur can learn this lesson from one of the best in the world, understanding that everyone has a story that’s unique - the power comes from how you tell it and how you connect with your audience through that story.