by Marang Marekimane, Founder: Business Process Mechanics

As if someone pressed the reset button. Business owners around the world are forced to either adapt or die. Raising our usual dose of anxiety to grief. Anticipatory grief is what it is called - learnt this term from our Second Breakfast (an accountability circle of businesswomen). The fear of what is coming. Mostly fuelled by uncertainty. Sometimes it is the certainty of knowing it is the end.

by Marang Marekimane, founder of Business Process Mechanics

There is a standing call-to-action for all small business owners to “create employment opportunities for the unemployed”. This call is supported by various policies and incentive programs to assist people to either start a business, therefore removing themselves out of the unemployment line or for people to grow their business, in the hopes they’ll employ those left in the queue.  

In my past life, as I like to call it, I was a project management consultant, mostly for banks. There’s a lot I miss about that life. For a while after I started my business, I did not want to miss it too much, in case I got sucked back in. I’m over it now. 

Customers are a key element to the existence of a business. Every entrepreneur, business owner and sales person knows what a battle it can be to find the right customers. When you have those customers, it is how you treat them that will make them come back or refer others to you.

By Marang Marekimane, founder of Business in Theory

Learn how to pitch so you aren’t afraid to pitch – that was the advice I was given. The irony is I’ve given similar advice to other people, and like most people, I didn’t listen to my own advice.

Have you ever wondered why so many entrepreneurs refer to their businesses as their baby? I sometimes find myself having to ask the question: “does the baby ever grow into an adult?”

We rely so much on the people we work with that losing a team member can be difficult to imagine. Studies show that the more you empower your staff, the less you worry about losing them. How do you do that on a tight entrepreneur’s budget?

As a service provider you are a specialist with a particular skill or resource. As an entrepreneur, you spot an opportunity to use your skill to solve a problem. There are countless articles on how to be a successful entrepreneur – often listing things like reading, waking up early, and exercising. While these activities may help you be more alert, they are by no means the key. You could do all these thing to prepare for a marathon. You could do all these activities and still not excel. Simply because none of these create structure to support your business model.

Have you thought about swapping business services to grow your business? Some people call it bartering, trading or exchanging – it’s all the same thing. If you’re like me, you’re good at what you know and terrible at everything else. When you’ve got a limited budget or you’re keeping your costs as low as possible, you tend to do more for yourself than you should.

Ever been asked, “so how long have you been doing this for?” Saying anything in terms of months doesn’t leave the impression that you know what you are doing”.  At this point in the conversation, the doubtful voices in your head that seem to follow you everywhere, and get louder. I’ve seen how this question can burst the bubble of confidence at networking sessions.

One of the advantages of leaving the corporate environment to start a business is you often know so much more of what you don’t want. However, having a clear vision of what you do want to achieve can be both a blessing and a curse.

One of the greatest challenges in Africa is recruiting the unskilled labour force that makes up the majority of unemployed people. Where we've seen exponential growth in the number of new businesses, in spite of the challenges in accessing markets and funding, skills pose a limitation on the growth of these businesses.