Determined to make the world a better place, mission-driven entrepreneurs are a passionate bunch of people. However, it takes more than just a healthy dose of passion to survive the gruelling entrepreneurship rollercoaster.
In The Room, we’re fortunate to have a remarkable community of changemakers who are at the cutting edge of creative and social innovation — from the legendary Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, to Fred Swaniker, founder of The Room and a leading global voice in social entrepreneurship. We’ve collected some of their best pieces of advice for succeeding against the odds and staying motivated on the journey of doing hard things.
Be a doer
Being a change agent and social innovator takes courage, boldness, passion, discipline, authenticity and sacrifice.
As an entrepreneur, your words must always be supported by your actions. Serial social entrepreneur Ndidi Nwuneli has had over 25 years of experience scaling social innovation on the African continent. The founder of LEAP Africa and co-founder of AACE Foods and Sahel Consulting Agriculture & Nutrition, amongst other ventures, she emphasises the power that comes from choosing to be proactive.
“There are too many critics and talkers in our world, and sadly, not enough ‘doers’. Being a change agent and social innovator takes courage, boldness, passion, discipline, authenticity and sacrifice. It also requires that we take our eyes off our own needs and focus on serving others. This demands a level of selflessness.”
Fall in love with the problem, not the solution
Innovation is not about coming up with jaw-dropping solutions…
When you’ve identified the wicked problem you want to solve, Creative Entrepreneur and Product Scientist Chidi Afulezi recommends falling in love with it!
“Innovation is not about coming up with jaw-dropping solutions; it is about immersing in those stubborn problems that are ambiguous and nuanced, making sense of them, and designing antidotes to them.”
Take the first step
We never bet on ourselves and we let our dreams fade.
Once you’ve immersed yourself in the problem, doubts may start to creep in and the fear of failure might threaten to hold you back. Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records and one of the most influential figures of the British music industry, encourages entrepreneurs to be brave enough to take the first step.
“Put yourself out there, take a risk, and see what happens. Don’t overthink it. Too often in life, we’re afraid of failure, so we never take the first step toward pursuing a passion. We never bet on ourselves and we let our dreams fade.”
Be prepared to make tough decisions
Leadership is the ability to make tough decisions that you don’t want to…
Your journey as an entrepreneur will inevitably be filled with tough decisions, so don’t be too scared to make them! Award-winning social entrepreneur Mike Quinn is the co-founder and former CEO of Zoona, one of Africa’s earliest fintech companies. Having faced tremendous adversity every step of the way, he led the company to build a network of more than 3,000 entrepreneur agents across Zambia and Malawi that enabled millions of consumers to send and receive $2.5 billion in money transfers and remittances. He urges fellow purpose-driven entrepreneurs to be brave in decision making.
“I think leadership is the ability to make tough decisions that you don’t want to make or other people don’t think you should make. It can be a very lonely place, especially when you’re growing a company and you have really smart people on your board and you’ve got investors. You have all this weight on your shoulders and you see a path that you should go down and you might not have full consensus. It takes a lot of courage.”
Build meaningful relationships
Start with building the relationship. No matter how desperate you are.
As someone who is at the forefront of driving social change in Africa and the world through his mission of developing 3 million ethical, entrepreneurial leaders, Fred Swaniker — founder and CEO of African Leadership Group as well as the founder and chief curator of The Room — believes in the power of cultivating meaningful and long-lasting relationships.
“The biggest mistake I’ve seen people make is focusing on transactions instead of relationships. They move immediately to ‘collaboration’ without going through the prior three phases; connection, continuous interaction and trust. They just meet someone and immediately ask them to do something that requires significant trust. For example, they might say ‘Invest in my venture, join my board or speak at my conference’. You can’t just ask someone to put their reputation (or their cash!) on the line for you when they don’t trust you yet. So start with building the relationship. No matter how desperate you are.”
Learn from others
Don’t hesitate to learn from other entrepreneurs.
Once you have built meaningful relationships, use that as an opportunity to learn and grow! Brad Magrath, Entrepreneur in Residence in The Room, has had over two decades of experience as a founder and working in founder-led businesses. Knowing well the challenges and rewards of life in a startup, he advises entrepreneurs to always be open to learning from others.
“In this world, it is not your knowledge that brings value, but your capacity to learn and evolve. Your ability to embrace a growth mindset that can exponentially accelerate learning is what counts. Don’t hesitate to learn from other entrepreneurs. You don’t need to make the same mistakes that they did. So take time to talk to the entrepreneurs around you to not only learn from them but also get support because entrepreneurship can be lonely.”
Collaborate
Collaboration is a win-win for everyone.
Some of the most impactful new ideas are born from our collaborations with others. Sarah Otieno, who channelled her passion for women’s empowerment into her enterprise, Curls and Wraps — a premier beauty brand that provides organic natural hair care and skincare products for African women — believes collaboration can spark creativity and bring fresh perspectives to your venture.
“It’s quite easy to get stuck on the perfect idea. Collaboration provides an opportunity to trigger your creativity afresh, bounce ideas and to also affirm you. At the end of the day, I believe that collaboration is a win-win for everyone. It’s an exchange of value for value. This value may not always be material or monetary. However, we have to remember to give as much as we receive.”
Do not run away from challenges
Nothing worthwhile comes easy.
The road to entrepreneurial success is littered with hurdles — something that Richard Okello knows well. As the co-founder of Sango Capital, an innovative African private equity business, Richard has had a thriving career in a cutthroat sector. Despite reaching stratospheric heights of success at Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, and Makena Capital in Silicon Valley, his passion for the African continent and desire to invest in its future drove him to leave the US and establish Sango. Having learnt the value of grit at a young age, he underscores the importance of facing your challenges head-on.
“Nothing worthwhile comes easy. The point is to go towards the challenge, not veer away from it. Once you’ve had the experience of pushing yourself beyond the limits, the gratification of success becomes a self-reinforcing mechanism. And the rewards of this are endless.”
Be prepared to navigate ethical dilemmas
We can all become corrupt if tempted enough…
No matter how admirable your mission, you’re bound to encounter ethical dilemmas along the way. Marie Englesson, the founder of cosmetics business Atsoko and author of Among Friends and Fraudsters: Building an Honest Business in a High-risk Market, advises entrepreneurs to be fully prepared to tackle these dilemmas.
“With the understanding that we can all become corrupt if tempted enough, I argue that business leaders need to identify and assess the different types of temptations they and their company might face, and to understand the psychological processes that may influence them to violate their own values. Then they have to make a plan and allocate dedicated resources that help them stick to their values.”
Embrace uncertainty
You cannot tap into creativity when you are living in a ‘not dead’ state…
If the crisis of the coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we live in a world full of uncertainty. Daniella Sachs, co-founder of Know Your Tourist — a travel and tourism design and innovation house that collaborates with visionary business builders to bring bold new travel and tourism ideas to life — challenges mission-driven entrepreneurs to embrace uncertainty and not to fear it.
“Our daily lives, especially now during COVID, are filled with cliffs of uncertainty that we can choose to face, ignore, attempt to guard ourselves against or bemoan. When we choose to face uncertainty head-on, we get to practice being uncomfortable, which helps us to step out of the comfort zone that keeps us small and silent. You cannot tap into creativity when you are living in a ‘not dead’ state. Creativity is not born from comfort; it is born within messiness, tension, within the flux of uncertainty, and within the spark of curiosity. It is born when you stand right on the edge, looking down, and think, “I don’t know what will happen if I try this out, so let me see.”
