People with Purpose: Arthur Khosa

At Flash, “Our blood is green!” This phrase encapsulates how deeply connected our people are to our company's values and the purpose that propels our business – Making People’s Lives Easier.? ?

We connected with some Herd members to understand how this purpose manifests in their daily work, and how it aligns with their life experience and philosophy.? ?

From a young age, Arthur Khosa drew inspiration from his mother, a resilient entrepreneur who owned and operated "spazas" and various businesses across Thokoza, Phalaborwha, Bushbuckridge, and Vosloorus for over 40 years. Watching his mom's dedication to serving the community and achieving success as an entrepreneur instilled in Arthur the value of pursuing people-driven business success—a value that continues to drive and motivate him today.?

“We were raised by income from spaza shops, and my career has always revolved around offering/bringing products and services to the communities. The shops were initially established for the family's convenience. As the business grew, we extended the services to the rest of the community.?With the growing demand in these developing areas at the time, my mother eventually left her job in 1981 to invest in a shop and shebeen in Thokoza. She has not worked for anyone ever since. This kept us going beyond high school. She continued running these businesses until she was comfortable to retire in 2006.?This is what makes my blood green. I’m passionate about helping businesses grow and making people's lives easier.”?

Today, Arthur is a Lead Product Manager in our Cape Town office, where he identifies pain points between Flash merchants and the communities they serve. He then builds solutions that genuinely make people's lives easier.?

“I work with multiple teams and partners to ensure that we get and keep merchants through relationships, enablers, and products.? ? Our business is built by Africans for Africans. We know and understand African problems, which makes it easier to provide solutions. It is through collaboration with communities that we, as an organisation, will be future-proof, and both sides will be empowered. Our organisation will be able to build enablers through feedback from the communities on how we can make their lives easier. They will serve us, so we can serve them better...izandla ziyagezana (one hand washes the other)."?

Purpose as a business advantage??

Finding team members like Arthur, who naturally share the purpose driving our business, enables us to build a motivated, passionate team. This collective drive inspires everyone to bring their best to work each day. So, what drew Arthur to Flash?? ?

"Flash is one of the few companies that align with my values and purpose: empowering, enabling, and changing people's lives. I joined Flash because it links the corporate world, entrepreneurship, and serving the community. I consider myself extremely fortunate to get a gig at a place where we build products that help and empower our people.?Simply running a profit-driven business is too easy and boring; one party does the taking and the other does the giving. Building a business that benefits both parties fairly and is driven by making people's lives easier is an exciting challenge."? ?

When employees feel aligned with our purpose, transparency emerges in their roles. They can tangibly see how their hard work, innovative ideas, and efforts contribute to our success. Our people feel that the work they do at Flash propels the vision in a direction they're passionate about, inspiring them to create a connected economy where nobody is limited.? ?

"If we want to be industry leaders, we cannot do it from the front or the back; we need to lead from within. This will set us apart, and we will be able to influence others to work towards the same purpose."? ?

At Flash, our mission is to make it easier for people and communities to get what they need, close to home. We help entrepreneurs in growing their businesses by supplying them with valuable products to fully serve their customers. And we couldn't achieve this without passionate team members like Arthur.?

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