Life After Burnout

As one of the three co-founders of iKhokha, I’m lucky to have spent more than a decade pursuing the iKhokha dream. The journey has been exciting, painful, maddening and downright ugly at times, and I can attest to the clichèd euphoric highs and crushing lows of entrepreneurship being real.

18 months ago, I was burnt out. iKhokha had grown exponentially, and I yearned for the startup it once was.? I couldn’t understand my place in a business that had grown from 3 to 380 people. I was lost, angry and demotivated.

After a few late-night whiskey chats with my co-founder, best friend, and iKhokha’s CEO, Matt Putman, he suggested I take some time off to figure things out. I was also a complete pain in the ass to be around, so I don’t think he had much choice ??

I returned after two months feeling semi-refreshed with a half-baked plan to study crypto and the informal market of South Africa. After two days, I realised I didn’t understand anything about crypto and that maybe deep-diving the space wasn’t for this BA student.?

I turned to my second subject, the informal market of South Africa and started my research. I devoured all of GG Alcock's work and watched every Biznews video ever created.

Next, I got on the road to experience what I had heard and read, driving to places like Jozini, Ulundi, and Bhambanana. On impulse, one humid afternoon in KZN, I drove into KwaMashu township with a colleague, Mlu Hlophe. We were tracking the GPS location of an iKhokha merchant to gain market insights. To be “safe,” we parked outside a municipal building.

Within five minutes of leaving my vehicle, the security guard alerted me that my back window had been expertly smashed and my laptop bag snatched.?

“Rookie move” I thought as I started my windy drive home.??

KwaMashu: 1 v Ramsay: 0??

After a few months of this guerilla-style research strategy, which included a pivotal visit to the Jozini Pep store with my good friend, Davey Perks, I started to develop a thought.?

“What if we opened a series of iKhokha retail stores nationwide?"

I ran the idea past our executive team, and we agreed to test it for a year. Beaming inside, I left the meeting and started this crazy journey I now write about.?

Once given the green light, I contacted Matt Sutherland, a crazy-talented designer with the attitude required to complete this audacious project.

Today, iKhokha has 11 stores in places like Soweto, Hillbrow and Phoenix, with many more in the pipeline. We employ 75 Youth Candidates through the YES 4 Youth programme and have hired 11 experienced store managers to lead this community-first initiative.

This project is something that I'm super proud of, and so stoked to be a part of.

Finally, I've found my place amongst the 380.

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If you're interested in the journey, follow me. I'll be releasing essays every few weeks.