Christine S. Ntim shares the importance of building with community in mind, and it's about to get technical

"Focus on the community first. It will serve you in the long run." For this week's You've Got This, serial founder and entrepreneur?Christine S. Ntim shares her professional experiences, how her organization Global Startup Ecosystem (GSE) ?has grown during the pandemic, and her best advice for those looking to expand their startup or digital skills. Don't miss her answers below, along with announcing our next guest, author Cheryl Stookes .

Victoria: "Can you share with us your career journey, and what inspired your entrepreneurial focus?"

Christine: "So I would say my entrepreneurial journey started with learning from my parents, especially my mom. I grew up in Haiti as a street vendor alongside my mom and my aunts, selling items in Port-au-Prince, until we immigrated to New York. So I learned about persuading customers to buy products, being bold, being creative. People have told me that I’m one of the best pitchers they’ve ever seen in the startup world, and I speak at conferences about the art of pitching and building your story's narrative, and part of it came from selling alongside my family. My first company, Vendedy, was about digitizing street markets. After Vendedy I realized that I had a passion for digitization and democratizing access—and continued on with creating more companies that I’ve built and sold as well.?Now I’m leading Global Startup Ecosystem, which hosts the largest series of national tech summits in the world.

"As a founder who grew up building communities in emerging markets, I knew that emerging market nations' governments will need to embrace technology and to have an official mandate on technology for their respective countries."?

Despite the feedback that Silicon Valley would be the main hub for global entrepreneurs, we launched tech initiatives in the Caribbean and Africa with Haiti Tech Summit, Ghana Tech Summit, Nigeria Tech Summit, Ethiopia Tech Summit, UAE, and more. In 3 years we've hosted national tech summits in 20+ countries across Africa and 50+ around the world targeting diaspora communities, Black communities, minority and women of color-led communities. We go where people overlook, and scale technology ecosystems that prepare people for the digital workforce of the future with programming—centered on 3 pillars of entrepreneurship, education and employment."?

Victoria: "During the pandemic, Global Startup Ecosystem (GSE) saw a huge influx of interest from both individuals and organizations. What do you anticipate the future holds for digital talent career accelerator programs like GSE?"

Christine: "What I realized during the pandemic was that the platform we built years ago for emerging market tech ecosystems was quickly becoming the go-to solution for sourcing talent in a digital world.?We got more intake from institutional clients than ever before. Our new normal will be a hybrid, remote workforce, or a democratized tech ecosystem. We’re seeing so many investors investing millions into emerging markets and economies. You no longer have to go to Silicon Valley to access funding or talent. I’ve had many people reach out to me about talent. Not only did we see a surge of talent and interest, but we worked with Forbes to source talent in Nigeria, we work with the State Department to source talent in Ethiopia and Haiti, and the biggest one right now we’re doing in the U.S. is with Microsoft for Black Americans, because of the unemployment crisis that kicked in at the beginning of the pandemic. So we’re training them for tech digital jobs right now. The demand is increasing, both from individuals who are seeing that the economy is going through a roller coaster ride, and from institutions, who realize that talent can come from anywhere, you just need to find them.?So they’ve been using our platform to launch more tech summit events across Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and Black communities in the USA to access thousands of candidates around the world."

Victoria: "What advice would you have for others who may be looking to build a startup or expand their skillsets?"

Christine: "I think the immediate response is to stop with the BS. I’m tired of aspiring entrepreneurs who focus on watching movies, taking courses and learning only from the top startup books. There’s no better way to start or build a company than to just do it. One of my interview moments from Elon Musk is when someone asked him if they should start a company and he said 'If I have to convince you to start a company, then don’t do it.' There’s power in that statement. So many wannabe entrepreneurs want instant support or reassurance. But you have to be prepared for a lot of lows and highs along the journey. You need to jump right in. Don’t fall for the hype of trying to make media headlines, but look to add value. A friend of mine asked 'How would I know that the company that I’m working on makes sense?' And I said 'As an entrepreneur, stop chasing causes and focus on empowering communities.' Causes go through hype cycles and you might not have the same fire to solve for a cause after a while. But to fight for the communities that matter to you... the people, that is nearly impossible to not give your all to.

"Ask yourself; what communities are you serving? That way, when you’re tired or down, you can get back up."

I’m Haitian, my husband is Ghanian. I grew up traveling across Africa, in?Queens, New?York. We were scaling in communities during the pandemic that mattered to both of us. I see no pipeline problem. I see talent everywhere. So it’s all about doubling down on community, not causes, and really BUILD for that. Because that’s what helped us sharpen our products, our services. And most importantly, it helps you navigate the roller coaster ride of building a business. Focus on the community first. It will serve you in the long run.

For skillsets, the three that I know have helped me tremendously have been digital marketing, data management, and sales. Obviously, digital marketing, just because the whole world is now digital. Any company without an interface can’t survive, COVID-19 or no COVID-19. Data management, because our community has scaled like crazy, so being able to manage a pipeline community is very important, especially when it comes to personalization. And then knowing how to sell a product; If you’re not making money in a sustainable way, it’s a hobby, not a business. So those are the top three skills I would recommend to any entrepreneur.?The cherry on the cake is faith. You will get a lot more discouragement in your journey of entrepreneurship. The only bet that matters is the one you make on yourself. Faith is a powerful drug— it can move mountains. Don't lose it. Skills can be learned, but faith in oneself is a skill no one can teach you because it comes from within."

Follow Christine on LinkedIn.

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Next week's guest: Cheryl Stookes

Bringing together another approach to technology and sales, our next guest Cheryl Stookes has gathered over 15 years in senior sales and operational leadership positions in Canada and the United States with companies like Softchoice, Amazon Web Services, SHI, and Lenovo. She's also written the recent book The Token Woman: A Guide to Thriving as a Female Leader in Sales . With that in mind, here's what I'll be asking Cheryl:

• Can you share with us a bit about your professional journey?
• With the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on the careers of women and caregivers, what insights from your book do you think are particularly timely now as we look towards the future?
• What advice would you have for those looking to start to build their career in sales?

Share your thoughts or questions with Cheryl in the comments below, and as always, thank you for being a part of You've Got This.