What entrepreneurs learned in ONE DAY

A few weeks back I started mentoring businesses at Founders Factory Africa now rebranded to 54Collective (Business Support Program). I am lucky to join the brilliant team of 20 coaches (mentoring 10 businesses each) led by the brilliant Coach of Coaches, Commander Gitau . Entrepreneurs were invited to the second in-person session on Thursday 1st Aug 2024. I must say they gained a lot from this event, this is my attempt at summarising the key lessons.

The first panel began at 9.30am Coach Anne, Coach Benhur, Coach Brian and Coach Joe, Moderated by Coach Musa. (Side note: Some participants thought my name was Coach Musa, so I was happy when the REAL Coach Musa draped in a dope Kaunda Suit picked the mic:-). The panel conversation emphasised on the fact that every business needs customers. However, the fundamental questions are: Why you started the business? Why do customers buy from you? How is your relationship with your customers? Do you understand what pain your product/service is addressing? What is your unique value proposition? Do you have a catchy tag line? Always understand your customer segment, the key thing is do not try to sell to everyone!

Beware of the competition. Be intentional about the pricing strategy and you should all be aware of the critical success factors. The coaches emphasised on the importance of the strategy canvas.

The brilliant Coach Anne reminded entrepreneurs that:

"You cannot manage what you do not measure"

Metrics are important. Entrepreneurs need to keep a pulse check on the sales pipeline, conversion rate, cost of customer acquisition and the customer lifetime value. Entrepreneurs were amused by the example of how conmen work, they marvelled at the statistic of 1500 people conned per day (reported in one police station). It was at this point that Coach Musa wanted to change his business model (I need his permission to disclose this).

We took a break, it became clear the entrepreneurs were hungry (not just for business success), they wiped the snack plates clean and drank all the tea (Ati walibakisha watermelon only, surely!)

The second panel was about numbers. The discussion was led by the fabulous Coach Carol, and on the panel we had Coach Wanjiku, Coach Abraham, the hilarious Coach Jeff and Coach Amy. The discussion started off by stating the fact, there is a variety of accounting systems available in the market. The key thing is for an entrepreneur to understand their business and where they want to start. Map out all requirements, then choose a solution that addresses your needs. If you cannot do effective book keeping yourself, work with accountants. Accountants can either be full time or part time depending on your needs. You can choose which model works for your depending on the amount of transactions. There was a strong emphasis on record keeping, receipt filling etc.

As an entrepreneur, you need to keep a close eye on your key financial reports. Pay attention to the profit and loss, Income statement and balance sheet. The panel advised entrepreneurs on making use of financial ratios. Ratios can tell if you are selling enough to capture the cost of sales and still be able to meet other costs. The cash ratio is an important one and is the lifeline of the business, so is the liquidity ratio.

Manage your cash well. Its better to pay yourself a salary, than the indiscipline of taking money from you business in the hope of returning it later. Make sure you separate your business account from personal account.

KRA is not your grandmother! KRA is your 30% partner!

Coach Jeff emphasised on the importance of being tax compliant, emphasising on the above statement. That was an eye opener for most entrepreneurs. Always make sure that you can tell your story from the records you keep. Nowadays, the tax man has an idea of what you have been paid and you therefore need to declare all earnings. Make sure you keep proper records and file your taxes on time. Eighty five, 85% of businesses do not file VAT claims because they feel it is not necessary.

Moving on to fund raising (most entrepreneur's favourite topic). The panel talked about short term and long term debt, the advantages and disadvantages of both. You get approved for loans based on two things (1) Ability to pay and (2) willingness to pay. When for any reason you are unable to pay, do not hide, approach the financial institution with a plan (restructure).

For Entrepreneurs who would like to pitch to raise funds, you need proof of the following: What is the market opportunity? Do you understand the market? Is your business scalable? How is your team? How did you arrive at the current valuation? Make sure you find a lawyer to assist you go through the contracts. Consult a lot.

At this point entrepreneurs had lunch, It was not clear why most entrepreneurs skipped the soup, is it a thing in the entrepreneurship circles? To avoid a situation where entrepreneurs join FFA just for the food, I will not provide details of what they ate.

The afternoon panel was about marketing and partnership hacks. Led by the super resourceful Coach Mark as the moderator, in the panel was Coach Ken and Entrepreneurs Wangari and Lenny. To find out if Entrepreneurs were awake after a heavy meal, Coach Ken asked them to note these down (Most of them were trying hard to pretend they are still awake, and it worked!) :

• Mutually beneficial relationships are key to business success.
• Technology is not an option, it is a must.
• Start with the known and move to the unknown.
• Think Global.
• Data is worth more than Gold. (Even more worth than that stuff from Wakanda Forever!)

Entrepreneurs were asked to leverage on the contacts the already have. People buy from people they know. Wangari shared a story on how she found her first customer. Lenny who makes metal doors, shared their story on how they got their first customer. Entrepreneurs to hear first hand experience on ads work (on google and Jiji) and how they work. How his presence on social media helped him land deals in Nigeria. It was an inspiring story indeed.

If there was any doubt, the panel insisted on the fact that there is no better time to be an entrepreneur. All challenges present an opportunity. When it comes to marketing, aim to create content that is catchy and insightful. Leverage on Email marketing, SEO. Craft compelling referral programs. Make sure you leverage on customer testimonials, online communities and forums. Find out what your customers are searching for and make sure you have relevant content around that.

The panel emphasised on the importance of partnerships. How do you choose partners? A thorough due diligence is one way to start. Define clear objectives, avoid being vague and build the relationship with a formal agreements. Always discuss value proposition and what each person brings to the table.

Lenny closed the session with a catchy story of two hardware stores competing for customers. One renamed his business to MAIN ENTRANCE and the rest as they say is history. The Entrepreneurs loved that story, if you see many more businesses named MAIN ENTRANCE, you now know where they got the idea.

Entrepreneurs enjoyed the networking speed dating. They moved from table to table talking to other entrepreneurs, selling, making new contacts and learning new things about each other. They all felt like they needed more time, our super strict community manager Adrianne had none of that. Whenever she blew the whistle, you had to move to a new round table. At some point she probably discovered the entrepreneurs needed a tea break and she granted them just that.

It was also time for goodies, I am not trying to imply some entrepreneurs added a little more weight than we last met them, but some were trying hard to fit into the T-shirts.

We had our usual coaches briefing with lots of ideas (and food) being shared. If you share a good idea, it becomes your task to make sure that it is achieved in the next in person session. I am not at liberty to discuss what the coaches did after that :-)

At this point I want to offer my sincere gratitude to the organisers of this event. A lot of planning went into making the event a success. Eagerly looking forward to the next event.

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