Tycoon Diary Archives

Don’t Know Where to Begin as a Woman Entrepreneur? Implement these 8 tips.

Women, pay attention! Is it still challenging for you to thrive in a male-dominated workplace? The brave decision to start your own business is not one you have to make alone.

More than 550 women-owned firms are opening in the United States every day, and the trend is spreading around the world.

With this in mind, I put together a list of essential pieces of advice for women who want to start their own businesses.

Create a Plan and Document It

Is there a brilliant winning idea in your head, but you’re not sure how to get started? Making it a reality begins with a business plan written on paper (or iPad).

To convince people to believe in your firm, you need to lay out its objective, explain what sets it apart from the competition, and identify your target market. A clear financial forecast is also essential.

Focus on what drives you.

For many people, starting a business is a way to realise their dream of working in a dynamic field. It will also take a lot of effort to get your own business up and running the way you want to. If you’re going to spend a lot of time working on your business, you’ll want to make it something you’re excited about.

Your enthusiasm for your product or service will inspire potential clients and partners, making them more inclined to cooperate with or purchase from you.

Make the Time – Create with Intention

Make sure to think about how your work and personal lives are intertwined as part of your planning strategy. Just how much time do you have to spare? Consider all of the factors that could affect your time. Will you be required to travel as part of your job? Make a work schedule that you can stick to. It doesn’t matter if you intend to work on your business part-time. Those hours must still be set aside for commercial purposes.

Some people have lofty goals of conquering the globe, while others prefer to run a smaller business that generates a steady cash flow. Keep in mind that your business might grow and change along with your circumstances.

Look for a Female Mentor

In the early stages of launching a new company, it’s normal to be overwhelmed by inquiries. If anyone can address these concerns, it’s someone who has been there. It would be best if you had someone who could challenge and encourage you in a mentor relationship.

Team Doesn’t Have an “I.”

It’s critical to have a robust support system around you to delegate effectively and make use of the talents of others. It’s possible that you wouldn’t have thought of some of these ideas without your Team’s assistance. The importance of working together cannot be overstated.

Finding the appropriate people who share your enthusiasm for expanding your business is always worthwhile. Many businesses fail because they don’t have the necessary Team to take advantage of the opportunity.

Take Courageous Actions

Starting your own business or putting your entire resources in a start-up can be extremely scary, so if you want to be successful, you need to have a lot of faith in both yourself and your product.

Be confident in your abilities, but don’t overdo it when advertising yourself before possible investors and clients. When you’re attempting to start a business, there’s no room for phoney humility.

Engage in Conversation with Others

“It’s Not What You Know, But Who You Know” is a common adage. One of the finest strategies to market your firm is to attend events geared toward your industry as well as local businesses. In addition, consider the power of the internet and what you have at your fingertips. Utilise online networking to expand your professional network. You should make these sites your best friends, and if you need help with this, I’m more than happy to assist you.

It’s time to keep swimming.

As female entrepreneurs, we must always think about the future and how we can grow our company. Despite the difficulties and bumps in the road, the result is well worth the effort. Avoid distractions and recall why you started in the first place to keep yourself motivated.

Women Entrepreneur is bucking the stereotypes and carving out their niches in practically every industry. Increasingly, women in the country are looking for new ways to get involved in the economy.

For a successful women entrepreneur, these are the six C’s

Women’s entrepreneurship is on the rise, and it’s well-known that their numbers will far outpace those of men. Only a handful of women entrepreneurs are capable of achieving greatness. If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, you’ll need to possess these attributes, which are common among successful female entrepreneurs.

Conviction, competence, communication, and conceptualisation are the six C’s of confidence, courage, and conviction.

Confidence:

First and foremost, you must be confident in your abilities. “Confidence is developed over time, by not being wrong but by refusing to be afraid of being wrong.”

Confidence is a trait built up over time, based on previous successes, accomplishments, and education. It’s a skill that needs to be honed and put into practice. The more confident a woman is in her business, the more likely she is to succeed. Women entrepreneurs who lack self-confidence are doomed to failure. Open up new avenues to success by being confident in what you’re doing.

Courage:

If we have the bravery to pursue our ambitions, they will come true. As stated by Walt Disney:

To be courageous, you must be able to recognize that something else is more imperative than fear. The growth of courage is a result of a rise in self-confidence. “Fortune favours the brave,” as the saying goes, does not apply to courageous women. A woman who has the fortitude to break through the barriers in her way is a success.

Conviction:

Courage cannot exist without confidence or assurance, and half the battle lies in the belief that we can accomplish our goals. Theodore Orison Swett Marden Most women entrepreneurs succeed in their endeavours because they have a firm idea of what they want to achieve. Experience isn’t as vital as a conviction.

Competence:

Competence is described as the ability to carry out a task successfully. In order to be competent, one must actively seek out new opportunities, create goals, take risks, persuade others, network, and insist on high standards of quality and efficiency.

Communication

The ability to communicate effectively is critical to the success of any business.

It’s essential to a company’s start-up, survival, and expansion. One of the most important aspects of communicating efficiently is ensuring the message is displayed clearly and accurately. When you’re a woman entrepreneur, good communication is key to going the additional mile and making things work in your favour.

Conceptualization:

“The process of establishing and clarifying new and existing concepts is known as conceptualisation.”

As a female entrepreneur, it is essential to identify and implement your unique ideas to succeed. Complex circumstances necessitate thorough research and careful planning. To be a successful female entrepreneur, you must specify the current challenges and hurdles and develop a new and better solution for them.

After graduating from high school, more and more young women are starting their enterprises. Women company owners face difficulties in expanding their enterprises. As a result, they don’t have access to the same networking opportunities and socialising venues as male business entrepreneurs. In addition, the only way for women to grow their available funds or savings was to be frugal in how they managed their home finances. Many firms have prospered without taking out loans.

Women must rethink their perspectives on growth financing.Borrowing money to pay for a car loan or other business expenses is a common occurrence. Taking out a loan can be compared to driving from one sales call to the next in your company’s growth cycle, and it should be treated as such.

Launching a meaningful brand

As two co-founders, Eileen and I wanted to launch a brand that would empower women and give them confidence. There are plenty of women’s fashion options out there, but we believe clothes should do more than just dress a body. We are providing multifunctional designs that slip perfectly into every woman’s wardrobe. Cutting-edge, quick dry performance fabrics; pieces that drape and feel luxurious next to the skin in materials that remove moisture from clothing at speed so busy women can get on with their day (or night) without worrying about being crushed, hot and sweaty. All our collections are anti-crush, keeping the wearer confident and crease-free day and night.

We also wanted to launch a responsible brand. From the very start we knew we wanted to build a company that we could be proud of, one where there was nothing to hide away. We wanted to be as open and transparent as possible in everything from how we chose our 100% vegetable starch completely biodegradable and compostable bags and why we use Royal Mail, to our thinking on vegan clothes, sustainable washing (it’s a thing – and an important one) and why we expect our garments to be around for a very long time indeed.

The key thing we have learned on our start up journey is that sustainability is not a static creature. With each new fabric created, with each new piece of research, with each new creative attempt at circularity, the ‘how’ of sustainability morphs a bit, making it impossible to be ‘perfect’. So, if we put aside any attempt to be 100% sustainable (impossible anyway since we are creating new collections and creating anything uses energy and materials), we would call sustainable fashion, conscious, transparent and responsible fashion.

Conscious, since careful thought needs to be put into every level of the company and its practices, from packaging materials, working practices, transport, trim…the list is exhaustive and exhausting and there is always more to add to it.

Transparent, since it is much better for a company to say, ‘hands up, we hadn’t thought about that aspect of our chain, thank you for pointing it out and we will now investigate and see how we can improve’, rather than ignore dangerous, unethical and environmentally damaging practices with a view to trying to ‘protect’

Responsible, since we do only have one earth, and many people to share it with, including (hopefully!) many, many future generations who will not be amused to find that whatever the wealth and ingeniousness of their ancestors (we put a man on the moon! we wiped out polio!) they neglected to save the planet.

When we launched back in September 2017, ethical was not at the forefront of consumers’ minds, but it was very much on our minds. Since Covid, the world is rethinking how and what they buy and we feel we are in the right space to provide what women are looking for. With our five-mile radius and constant reviewing of our working practices, we are increasingly being asked to contribute to thoughts on what sustainable means in 2021 when so many brands are jumping on the bandwagon without much thought. Most recently, I was on a panel hosted by the British Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia as part of the UN Climate Change Conference 2021. This is no mean feat for a small brand to be showing how things can (and we believe should) be done. Small can mean agile and adaptable in this ever changing world and we are using this to our advantage.

At Cucumber Clothing we will never claim to be perfect, but we will always be trying to be better. That’s a promise.

How I Live After Death

Lee McKing started his journey to being a hypnotist on a rather rough track. It started when he was about 18 years old when his father passed away suddenly. Filled with grief and guilt, he fell into depression the first time, wanting to escape from reality. Just a couple years later, just 2 months before his 21^st birthday, McKing’s right lung mysteriously burst in his sleep, and according to his doctor then, he could have died in days or minutes as the escaped air could crush his heart. You could say it was a medical anomaly, as many doctors came and saw him but couldn’t explain what had happened, or why it happened. This near-death experience traumatized him, and he develop PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and fell into depression again. He suffered for another 2.5 years with mental, emotional and physical breakdowns, collapsing onto the sink of the toilet, tears, mucus, and saliva flowing non-stop down his face.

It wasn’t until a few years later where he decided he had to make a change in his life, since no one can explain not heal him, McKing decided to take matters into his own hands. He came across Neuro Linguistic Programming or NLP for short, and this course from an Australian school was going to share about holistic health techniques, which was what he wanted for himself. During the basic NLP course, he realized what was happening in his mind and more importantly, that he can be cured. Furthering his learning into the Master Practitioner course of NLP with the same school, he realized that hypnosis was the core of NLP. As luck with have it, a German hypnosis trainer was coming to Singapore for the first time to train people in the concepts and principles of hypnosis, and so he signed up and attended that course. If NLP was the foundation or the breadth, the hypnosis course provided the height or depth, and putting this two together allowed McKing to understand the mind deeply, especially his own. In doing so, he started to use a combination of NLP and hypnosis techniques to resolve his own mental health issues, of which there were many.

After settling his mind and recovering, he helped a few people for a meal. This opened his mind to the possibilities of helping people professionally, especially the ones who are suffering from mental health issues in silence. McKing then decided to start a practice professionally in 2015 to help people resolve mental health issues. Over the next few years, due to his unique Conversational Hypnosis style where clients are still conscious and alert during the hypnosis, it has gotten him exposure to various print and online media, both local and overseas. Lee McKing also won the SEA Business Award for Hypnotist of the Year 2020. He is able to do his best for his clients and hearing testimonials from them surprised and delighted on how much they have recovered in just 1 session is deeply satisfying and spurs him on during the rougher times. This is because Lee McKing believes that starting a business requires passion and perseverance, the passion to do your best for your clients or customers, and the perseverance to endure even through hardship. For example, Covid is a tough time for all of us, and in fact, there were thoughts closing down the business at one time. But a reminder of how many clients have been helped, who have recovered from their anxiety and depression, and how many more can be helped if this business continue to exist, gave Lee McKing the courage to continue through such a time.

The key to a leadership revolution is a mindset that embraces change.

The pandemic introduced new central challenges for commerce around the world. Even so, the future of commerce exists all around us – a flexible, resilient, collaborative, secure digital framework coupled with best practices that quickly incorporate new ideas and new technologies. The pandemic beckoned our future faster, summoning tomorrow’s commerce to meet today’s needs.

One such dedicated revolutionary leader in the business arena is Joseph Chan, the Founder, and CEO – AsiaPay.

In the following interview, Joseph shares with us his journey with AsiaPay and how it is aiding the development of the digital payment world.

He has indeed come a long way….

Presently, the leaders have a more comprehensive ideology about the working of the company. Joseph is the highflier in the digital payment solution and technology industry. He founded AsiaPay in 2000 to pursue the vision and dream to be the predominant leading digital payment service and technology player in Asia. Since its inception, he persistently led the company and product development together with his management team becoming one of the most successful e-payment service and Technology companies in Asia, with operations covering 11countries. Through successive positions in the banking and finance industries, he has consolidated his expertise and experience in strategic planning, management, and implementation of financial, electronic banking, Internet, and mobile product services and systems in Asia.

What does AsiaPay offer?

AsiaPay is a premier digital payment solution provider and technology vendor. It strives to bring advanced, integrated, and cost-effective digital payment processing solutions and services to banks and e-businesses around the world. The company’s services are in abundance, covering international credit and debit cards, bank account/net banking, digital wallets, over-the-counters, prepaid cards, and other digital means.

Besides these, AsiaPay also offers a variety of award-winning, multi-currency, multi-lingual, multi-card, and multi-channeled payment solutions. Alongside its advanced fraud detection and management and data analytics solutions, it is an ideal payment provider.

Commitment to Uninterrupted Service remains Constant…

The wake of coronavirus has orchestrated leaders with the issues of protecting the interest of both clients as well as employees. The cross-border business-to-business and hospitality industry transactions have halted and been majorly affected due to the shutdown of boundaries. The other effect can be seen on the growth of online marketing—retailers with more aggressive digital sales and marketplace through online and mobile have benefited from consumables and groceries.

On the other hand, there is a strong rise in contactless payment due to the new norms of social distancing which has helped AsiaPay immensely. The company is providing digital payment solutions continually. “Our commitment to providing secure, reliable payment processing, quality local client service as well as our 24/7 technical support remains unchanged and is in force,” said Joseph. He further added that AsiaPay’s regional virus taskforce is constantly communicating and monitoring closely the latest developments of the virus and the related Government Policies in each country and will apply necessary measures timely.

New Normal, New Preparations

The pandemic has altered the business operations globally and has had a startling impact on both the organizations as well as employees. Joseph and his team, however, ensured this transition be smooth. The team was asked to operate remotely and was allowed flexible working hours. While working remotely, the team made effective use of online meeting tools and webinars. Moreover, Joseph identified the need of keeping the employees’ morale high in this unprecedented situation and developed various “learn-from-home” training programs, and launched the “family-aid program” for the families with financial needs.

Furthermore, once the lockdowns were released, Joseph offered holiday benefits to the employees. He also ensured the safety of the working environment with continued sanitization and provision of medical supplies. “AsiaPay is on top of the situation when it comes to implementing safety protocols and social distancing orders in the workplace. Containing the virus through safety standards is the top priority when running our business,” added Joseph.

Walking on the Right Path

Talking about the company’s future plans, Joseph asserted “AsiaPay must follow the three future directions of the payment industry–globalization, digitalization, and personalization.” Under the auspices of Joseph, AsiaPay is continuing to expand its footprint by providing customized and convenient payment solutions. The company has recently added several new payment solutions to its portfolio. It includes a recently launched application AppPay –which allows merchants to accept AliPay, WeChat Pay, and other local QR payments such as FPS. With this application, real-time transactions can be done by your smartphone without extra hardware installation.

Moreover, AsiaPay has launched a Direct Payment Link/QR and eInstallment. It has also introduced new payment options such as ShopeePay, GrabPay, Kredivo, DANA, Zip, MayBank, QRPay, KCP, NETSPay, and AMEX Enabled along with the latest card authentication technology –3D Secure 2.0. With these innovative new solutions, Joseph strives to continue serving the customers in the best possible way.

Advice to the Aspiring:

All dreamers encounter constant challenges and dilemmas, be it betting money, capital investment, human resources, and even your destiny to flight. In this highly uncertain business environment during the pandemic and ever-changing technological world, perhaps, entrepreneurs could stay calm and be at P.E.A.C.E. always, being “P”assionate; “E”mbrace changes; “A”gile; “C”ollaborative; “E”volutionary.

Dr Milan Krajnc: The Business Expert, Helping Companies to Grow By Sorting Out Their Difficulties

Everything begins and ends in the mind of the individual. – Milan Krajnc

Dr. Milan Krajnc, a man with many hats, is an academic and university professor, author, mentor, business expert, and problem-solver. He is an expert in resolving the challenges that arise from the interaction of different personality types within a company or organization. He is skilled in personal advising, psychology, marketing, negotiation, and lobbying at organizations of any size and scope, from local to national levels. He is an expert on State psychology and local authorities. Mr. Krajnc is the creator of the Dynamic Leadership Model, an exceptional method for helping organizations and companies, using the laws of nature. He has written more than 300 books in the field of management and relationships.

In academics, Milan studied physics, at the Faculty of Education in the belief that one day, he would become a physics teacher at school. However, he started teaching during his studies and realized that this would not be his future, so at the end of his studies, he quit school and started working for various companies in the field of business process optimization, where he quickly realized that the problem was in the way of thinking, in leaders. So, he started studying psychology and psychotherapy while working and working on projects all the time. Present-day, Mr. Milan Krajnc is a Doctor of Science in Management Psychology and a University Professor of Public Management. However, he spends most of his time in companies where he teaches leaders a different way of thinking.

While talking about his successful journey from scratch Dr Milan apprised, “My company was in the beginning, a family business, but my wife and I were too young, for business and personal life, so at some point, we decided to continue only business cooperation. Today, I led the entire business group. It was named after the brightest constant star in our visible sky, SIRIUS, as I studied physics and earned a degree in astronomy. Astronomy and space have been my hobbies since early childhood. And this hobby also broadened my horizons in a way. The company is constantly engaged in the innovation, development of business solutions that allow users to easily manage the company. You could say we sell time to give our customers more time to live!”

Overcoming the Challenges & Staying Motivated

“I do not face any challenges, but I take it as a laboratory where we can develop solutions for all companies on our own examples. namely, we sell better communication, a better organization to other companies … Everything is based on the personality of the employees. Because we have a very diverse nationality in the company, we treat employees as our customers, they are kings for us. We try to understand their personal and business problems and create a business environment to foster their potential. Above all, we want to separate their personal and business lives, because that way they are happy and the company has more than their creation. Together we are getting stronger,” asserted Milan when asked about his major challenges.

Innovations on the Way

As a scientist, Dr Milan founded the new scientific method Dynamilogy. Dynamilogy is the active study of “living” processes and phenomena related to humans and nature! It is a new branch of science that he formed based on physics, psychology, and economics. It is decoding nature’s secrets of a sort. Only if we look at nature, we see that everything is simple, that everything works on its own. And we often say that it would be great if it was like that also in our lives.

Let’s examine a diamond as an example. A diamond is made of carbon. But graphite is also made of carbon. The difference between the two is only in the atomic structure. And if we transfer this fact to our economy, how much graphite would we have to sell to get a value that is equal to the value of one diamond sold?

The whole secret is therefore in the right order. The code of nature is in the right order. If we compare a business process or a process in personal life with natural processes, we quickly figure out what we are doing wrong. This way we will also quickly come up with a formula for success. All we need to do is to put the process in our personal or business life in the right order.

And in the end, you will realize that happiness is just a decision! Dynamilogy aims to put a person before work and to reverse the course of the current chaos in the world.

The following models are derived from dynamilogy:

The Dynamic Leadership Model, a business methodology that puts people first.
The Dynamic Leadership Model for Administrative Systems on a Local Level, which puts the potential of the environment and people first.
The Dynamic Communication Model, which creates a refined flow of information.
Sirius Personal Transformation, a psychological method of self-discovery.
Sirius Business Transformation, a business methodology of process reform.
Project Office, a form of enterprise organization with projects and project management as basic elements, representing a completely natural process.
Dynamic Circle, organization of one’s own life in order to accomplish inner peace.
Dynamic Leader, a New Age business profession.
Dynamic Manager, a New Age business management profession.
Dynamic Engineer, a New Age profession for personality-based process planning.

Dr Milan and his want companies to start operating like nature because only then we all be able to save the world and humanity.

This model (Dynamic Leadership Model) has saved thousands of lives, which has been recognized by the most influential intellectuals in the world and nominated for the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Future Outlook

In the near future, the company will be a public institute where new ideas for the future of the world will be developed.

A Piece of Advice

Be honest with yourself and keep your balance at all times.

Favorite Quotes

True power lies in awakening our own nature, returning to the source, and becoming aware of our calling.

Genevieve Leveille: On Being a Leader in an Innovative World

Leadership is a commonly used word all around. In business, it can involve setting goals, telling teams what to do, and planting seeds of potential within the company. With that said, In our ever-changing world, the philosophy of leadership has to keep up with changing team needs and problems they wish to tackle. Companies today must be innovative and open-minded to changing their problem solving approach. Because of that, leadership isn’t solely about executives making decisions for the company anymore, but finding new ways to engage and motivate your team.

Genevieve Leveille’s novel approach to leadership has helped her manage teams and work with governments with the mission of empowering farmers and decreasing food mismanagement. Her cutting edge enterprise, AgriLedger, provides a blockchain solution that tracks food across global networks, allowing everyone to know who and what happens to the products we purchase.

To do all this, Genevieve has had to redefine leadership within AgriLedger. She allows everyone, regardless of the position, to participate in the decision-making. To her, it’s the team members’ individual skill sets and expertise that lead the decision making process.

Companies and organizations comprised of members with competence and capability are left to decide on projects and goals. A recent study found that this kind of approach is compatible with companies with complex environments and guarantees better transparency, effectiveness, and agility.

In her words “effective leadership, really, falls back to your ability to communicate with different people. You have to empower their team and ensure that they are heard and their needs are met. By doing this, it is easier and more efficient to make sure expectations are met from everyone’s side.”

With a virtual office operating with team members across the world, she draws light to the importance of this in diverse workspaces, where entertaining approaches form different viewpoints are essential to moving forward and ensuring needs are met. This has opened more gates to cooperation and open-mindedness in their work environment. This was particularly important in the roll out of their solution in Haiti throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

While leaders are normally known to be the shepherd of their team, genevieve believes in non-hierarchical leadership, where leaders are there as communicators that bind their team together into achieving their goals. She also believes that this kind of leadership approach is empowering. Her leadership style is a philosophy, which goes from her company’s mission to empower farmers and consumers, to the way in which she manages those that work directly with her.

According to Zappos CEO Tony Helsh, workers are more responsible and conscious of what they think and do in this leadership style. Meanwhile, Genevieve said that these expert team members under this kind of leadership approach are entrusted to come up with the right ideas in the right place. Since the leader will not be monopolizing ideas, authority, and the right to speak, team members can pitch sensible ideas and opinions within the team without the fear of not being heard. Through the individual efforts by the team members and innovative leadership, trust and cooperation can be attained easier.

In this fast-paced environment where a lot of things change around us, it is also high time to let go of archaic methods that keep us from evolving. Another thing to consider as well during this metamorphosis is to utilize the technology and human potential around us. As long as we keep tapping on that resource, there will always be room for innovation and development for all companies as well as better leaders, team members, and results.

From a technological side, Genevieve has begun to explore halocratic leadership, and the potential of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO). Generally, Holacracy and DAO put emphasis on how decisions and authority should come from capable team members instead of the leader.

DAO is an internet-reliant decentralized organization where decisions are made from the bottom up and governed by a community with a set of rules enforced on a blockchain. Along with that, all members have a sense of shared ownership and this promotes a more homogenous and harmony in the work environment. She is interested in the potential of this in allocating community funds in developing economies.

“The future of organizing is more Holacratic, where democratic decision making on governance can be managed through technological innovations that make it easier”, Genevieve said.

Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho, Ever-Passionate Leader Striving Hard To Scale African Enterprise Since 2008 at Future Software

Innovative, passionate, result-oriented, and a seasoned Information Technology professional, Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho, CEO, Future Software Resources Ltd. has navigated through a 15-year journey of cross-sector industry experience in Nigeria, Africa’s largest emerging economy.

Because of her outstanding efforts and leadership as a fierce leader spearheading the company’s flanks, this leading lady has been recognized as an Obama African Leader, Forbes’s Top Ten Female Tech Founders in Africa, Global Digital Women top 10 Most Inspiring Women in Africa, Lionesses of Africa top 100 Women and Ventures Africa 42 most Innovative Africans.

Nkemdilim combines strategic, digital technology, and operational experience with a deep understanding of business transformation, change leadership, and risk oversight. She has designed and led strategy and implementation of digital marketing & digital transformation projects across Africa, resulting in enhanced customer experiences, customer acquisition & bottom-line growth, optimized and more cost-effective operations, and a more digitally skilled labour force within the organisations she has worked with.

Her entrepreneurial background, involvement in the global and pan-African Technology landscape, and a focus on building the Nigerian Technology ecosystem through enabling policy development, investing, education and mentoring, affords her a deep understanding of cutting-edge innovation, emerging & disruptive technologies, as well as access to a large network of technology leaders, policymakers and investors across the continent and globally.

She is also an experienced Non-Executive Director across not for profit, private and listed companies. On the boards she serves on Nkemdilim is trusted for her attention to detail, the ability to identify key issues and provoke deeper discourse to unlock alternative viewpoints.

Futuresoft & its Exclusive Service Portfolio

Futuresoft is a full-service digital agency & IT Solutions company, providing a broad range of business solutions for the scaling African enterprise, to consistently attract and retain its target audience. Futuresoft has over 13 years of experience in designing and managing digital properties and online activities of businesses across various industries.

Their understanding of technology, lateral thinking, and process-based approach allows the team to provide tailored, innovative, and sustainable solutions for businesses; empowering them to leverage all relevant channels to improve user experience, increase customer engagement and grow profits. The goal is to build lasting relationships and function as part of the customers team to achieve overall company success. Their two core service areas are:

Digital Marketing & IMC

The combination of our individual services by our team of strategists, content writers, developers, and analysts create a full suite of integrated marketing and communications with a well-coordinated approach. This combination is a well-blended mix of creative campaigns, animations, video production, digital advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), and search engine marketing (SEM).

Digital Transformation

At Futuresoft we help you build out your Digital Transformation Roadmap. We empower our customers with smarter ways of doing business and frictionless ways of delivering a great customer experience to their customers. We bring years of experience across various industry sectors, as well as a wealth of experience in deploying digital technology solutions to the table, providing ways for our customers to maximise value creation across asset and operations lifecycles while improving profitability.

From the CEO’s Desk

Some of the major reasons that influenced my decision to be an entrepreneur are:

Wanting to put African businesses on the digital map and ensuring that African businesses are able to harness the opportunities Digital provides.
Wanting to build a life that allows me the freedom to manage my time, build my dreams, and create an impact.
The challenge that is entrepreneurship

The Clientele

The clientele includes private sector and government organisations as well as nonprofits and associations predominantly located in Nigeria. It is particularly well suited to work with the:

Scaling Business: the services are aimed at businesses in the growth or expansion phase that are already profitable; they are not the ‘best fit’ for most startups.
Result Driven Business: When companies are interested in setting clear measurable goals and meeting objectives, they do the best work.
Doubtful But Willing Business: When clients have already worked with other agencies that have underperformed, it creates a healthy challenge for the team to deliver the best results.
Business With Audacious Goals: They do their best work with clients that have big dreams and huge goals. It’s exciting for them to work with companies that want to disrupt their industries and dominate their market.

Nkemdilim Uwaje further apprised, “We focus on delivering excellent work and exceptional service, which sets us apart from many other agencies. Our cross-industry experience combined with in-depth marketing and technology experience allows us to build strategies and design campaigns that are aligned with business goals and deliver results.”

The Team & Corporate Ethos

Future Software’s vibrant and multi-dimensional team is led by Founder & CEO, Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho, who provides leadership to the team and ensures high-quality technical work across all Futuresoft projects. The team is composed of experts in strategy, marketing, content, web design, graphics, branding, lead generation, ad campaign management, website development, SEO, and more with the right experience across multiple industries. The Futuresoft family values are anchored in excellence, integrity, customer centricity, continued learning, resourcefulness, and teamwork.

Major Hurdles & The Support System

The company has gone through multiple difficulties over the years, like:

Finding the right team
Creating adequate processes that support growth
Creating brand visibility and brand awareness within the right target segment

“It is said, “10 years of hard work make you an overnight success” …to sum it up, drive, discipline, diligence, and determination are the keys that helped Nkemdilim in her growth journey.

Creating a more Balanced and Equal Industry

Ensure gender diversity and gender parity across the board – from board level all the way down to entry-level.
Invest in the ecosystem – especially in the area of Digital Skills development
Get involved in policy development

Future Roadmap

Nkemdilim Uwaje is looking to expand the executive training offering as well as deepen the Digital Transformation consultancy practice. The team is very excited about building out their executive training academy for C-level executives and board members who are learning to navigate the digital world.

Favourite Book

The Alchemist – because it teaches key lessons on finding your why, pursuing your dreams and enjoying the journey.

Favourite Quote

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi

A Piece of Advice for Female Entrepreneurs

Work hard, deliver excellence, document your journey, pay it forward, build and nurture the ecosystem, build your personal brand and gain visibility, position as a thought leader – have fun and enjoy the journey with its mountains and its valleys.

The power of a purpose-driven company: Phillipa Geard

The popularity of ‘purpose-driven’ companies has grown exponentially over the past decade, and for a good reason. Historically, businesses exploited every opportunity for the sole purpose of maximising profit for shareholders. That said, as a spotlight has been shone on the reckless exploitation of natural and societal resources for profit, more companies have begun the process of self-examination and internal change.

Today a growing number of business owners realize there’s real value in creating a purpose-driven company, and in supporting suppliers with which they can align their values. Here we ask the question, what does a purpose-driven company look like and why does it make sense to ensure that your business is backing brands that are led predominantly by purpose.

What does purpose look like in practice?

A purpose-driven company stands for something bigger than its products and services. So, how does a business successfully put purpose into practice? For RecruitMyMom founder and CEO, Phillipa Geard, the first step in creating a purpose driven company was to identify a significant need in the market, and then to address that need. “When starting my business, I identified a significant gap between the skills market and skilled mothers’ need to be employed with some measure of flexibility to allow for space for family responsibilities.” She explains, “Hence with RecruitMyMom purpose came first, profit second.”

This speaks to the point that purpose shouldn’t be something a company plugs in as an added extra. Rather, it should be something around which a brand is built, and it needs to run deeper than a motto or mission statement. Let’s take a closer look at why clients prefer to support purpose-driven companies.

Purpose-driven companies create long-term sustainable performance

When a company’s purpose is clear, its vision is relatable. Clients trust companies who operate closely to their purpose. Phillipa explains how purpose has driven repeat business with RecruitMyMom’s clients, “Companies that use our services to hire skills, all subscribe to the company purpose, and will keep on returning to RecruitMyMom whenever they need skilled women to add value to their businesses.”

Purpose streamlines decision-making

A company’s purpose guides all decision-making. Each business decision should be weighed against the company’s purpose to see if it brings you closer to the goal. “Our business’s purpose of giving women dignity through work, guides all decision-making.” Phillipa confirms, “This helps us to easily identify business opportunities which fit into our business strategy, and empowers us to better serve our clients.”

Purpose fosters loyal staff

A clear purpose will attract like-minded people to the company. The most effective teams operate with a common goal in mind. Phillipa Geard explains what this looks like in her team, “At RecruitMyMom, every person placed in a job is cause for celebration.” She says, “We measure our success at the end of each month in ‘number of lives touched.’ This measure is a motivator for our staff, as everyone treats the company purpose as a personal purpose.” When staff members work towards a shared vision, it influences and fuels every other aspect of the business.

Purpose helps to drive your business forward

Having a clear company purpose that resonates with the entire team is what drives a business forward and can guide innovation within the company. “At RecruitMyMom, there is continuous energy around solutions to support more women through innovative recruitment solutions. This has meant that through the tough times of job losses and pay cuts, RecruitMyMom has remained steadfast.” Phillipa Geard explains.

Authentic purpose, authentic results

Purpose-driven companies are led by principled people. These leaders are authentic in everything they do. They walk the walk instead of just talking the talk which means their companies deal with staff and clients honestly and with integrity.

When purpose is viewed as a foundation on which a business is built, it creates a deeper connection with staff and customers. Purpose-driven companies deliver value beyond a product or service, they achieve great results and are rewarded with continued loyalty from their staff and customers they serve.

This article was supplied by RecruitMyMom. We operate nationally in South Africa, and globally for virtual assistants.

Growing Your Business Post Covid -19: Morenike George – Taylor

I think a lot of business owners will agree that a lot has changed in the business world after the pandemic. A lot of businesses had to close down and the few that remained still needed to create innovative ways to survive. For some restaurants and hotels that meant starting online delivery for their food items. For others, it meant holding online consulting meeting with clients as opposed to physical meetings and changing physical conferences to online conferences.

On the other hand, some businesses boomed during COVID – 19. Businesses like E- learning platforms, Online Food Delivery, NETFLIX and Zoom were in the perfect position to grow due to the pandemic. Pharmaceutical companies also made money from sale of face masks, personal protective equipment and drugs people purchased due to panic and fear. The secret of success for businesses here was that they were in the right position in the market. At the Flux Group, we created a business, County Support which partnered with a local mask production company and sold over two million locally made face masks at cheap prices to Nigerians and helped businesses cope with the effect of the pandemic and adapt. If your business wasn’t ready to attend to customers from their homes or supply products and services necessary for survival, it may not have been able to adapt to take advantage of the economic situation created by the pandemic but there is no reason why your business should be left out of the post – pandemic economic boom.

I have itemized a few tips on how I think businesses can survive and thrive in the post – COVID -19 economy:

Prepare to think out of the box: All this time we have had a lull in business, should have been used and should still be used to create new ideas and schemes on money making from our business. At Flux, we used this time to find international partners for our real estate company Taylor’s Realties which now sells properties in several countries around the world. If you’re a law firm consider creating an online legal consulting chat box on your website. If you’re an event planner, find the best online apps for hosting events, synchronize them with music and food vendors and give your guests an unexpected experience. Are you a physical store? This is the time to consider becoming an online store. This is the time to try something new, improve your product and hit the market running.
Invest in marketing: If you had never taken marketing seriously before, this is the time to take it seriously. Now the world is more of an equal playing field and those with big stores can’t oppress those with online stores. Many people can’t and wouldn’t leave home and so online purchases have increased. If you can invest in a good digital marketer, you can forge ahead and hit the targets you need to.
Reduce costs: This is the time to analyse your business and reduce your costs, if you’re not using all that office space, reduce it and sub-let. You may need to downsize your staff, you may also need to cause members of staff to play more than one role. You need to look at your business and cut off all the extra luggage you have been carrying around.
Look closely at your profit margins: If you pay close attention, you would observe that some things have become more expensive post COVID-19. These price increases could affect your raw material cost, transportation costs, storage costs and more. The incidences of items getting lost in the mail have increased and as a result, so would the cost of insurance and these can all affect your price margins. The increase in margins affected our business Foodworths as the price of food skyrocketed. We couldn’t have the sales we used to do regularly, we actually had to increase prices. My advice to you is this: I know you do a 20% off sale every September, but the question is, can you really afford to right now? Never take your eyes off the bottom line.
Lawyer up: If your business didn’t have a lawyer before, this is the time to get a good legal infrastructure. You would need to ensure that your insurance contracts are reviewed to cover pandemics, strikes, riots and natural disasters. You would also need legal advice on how to disengage employees, negotiate lower wages and pay offs. Good legal support will help you follow up on contractors who don’t pay you and try to rely on force majeure clauses in your contracts. This is the time to actually review all those force majeure clauses in your contracts. Good legal advice is something every business owner needs.

I could go on and on about how to help your business thrive post covid if we had more time, alas we don’t and its time I say goodbye. Be that as it may, I think you should be very proud of yourself if your business survived the pandemic because a lot of businesses didn’t. The journey from here to success may not be an easy one but it would be worthwhile. Even if you lost your business during the pandemic, study the market, you would see that a lot of new businesses sprouted from the remains of those that died. Zoom has brought the world closer and people can now do business across borders better than they did before.

In the words of that great philosopher ‘if at first you don’t succeed? Try, try and try again’ With persistence and perseverance, a sprinkle of hardwork and a dash of good luck, you would overcome and achieve your dreams. Form a good reading habit and read books that develop you as an entrepreneur, learn about sales, profit margins, business in general and work hard towards a better tomorrow.