This is our final issue or the year and it has certainly been an interesting journy of learning and impacting. A ear filled withextreme learning experiences and constantly being required to think outside the box and willing to change, based on what the market requires and not so much on what the business idea is all about.
In this issue more entrepreneurs continue o inspire us and it is evident that the quality of an entrepreneur resonates across the board. One needs to be extremely resilient, have a can doattitude and ver take no for answer, always be willing to work hard and be the driver of your own success. It is important to keep focused and have a clear vision for the future, embracing all the challenges and lessons along the way as part of the success formula.
In this edition I ant to share my six tis to building a sustainable business and getting ready for high growth.
1. Have an authentic purpose
2. Build a powerful brand. If you want to create a scalable business, you have to understand howcrucial it is to build brand equity and emotionalconnections with cutomers. Those atachmentslink customers to your products and will keep them returning to you. Building a brand is about developing and sustaining those relationshis over time
3. Ofer what people want to buy, not just what you want to sell. Too ofen, people jump into a business built around a product or service they think will be successful, rather than one that is already proven to have a market.
4. Get cash flwing ASAP. Cash flw is the lifeblood of business, and is absolutely essential o feed botom-line profits. So ou need to findways to jump-start cash flw immediately.
5. Always find nw ways to keep costs low. All the cash flw in the world is worthless if it is not positie cash flw, which means you have to bring in more cash than you pay out.
6. Repeatable sales and customer retention ceating a uniqueproduct and brand are not enough. It takes repeatable sales processes to create a scalable business. It is one thing to sign up a few customers; it is another thing to design and implement sales processes that can be deployed successfully, again and again at ever greater scale.
I am personally inspired by what My Growth Fund is aiming for: the philosophy that Africa’s potential is massie and how believing in people and having patience o unlock funding opportunities, povide access to markets and accelerate business growth in revenues, technical competence and personal leadership.
