Billionaire entrepreneur and best-selling author Richard Branson has become an icon in the eyes of many aspiring business owners. His inspirational advice has helped steer many startups, simply by learning from his vast experience building the Virgin empire of businesses. Here, we capture nine of Branson’s best strategies for success — from branding and customer service to leadership and learning to let go. Read the rest of this entry »
Nineteen years ago, I returned from my family’s winter holiday, unlocked a small, empty, rented office, and started my own tax and financial planning firm.
I knew what it would take for my business to succeed. I would have to become the best financial adviser I could be. I would also have to attract enough clients, and the right sort of clients, to support a growing company, as well as my young family, since my wife was then staying at home with our 6- and 2-year-old daughters. And, at some point, I was going to have to build a staff that could take the business to places I would never reach alone. Otherwise, I would not be creating an enterprise; I would merely be keeping myself gainfully occupied until retirement. If I had wanted to do that, there was no reason to leave my former job at a big accounting firm in the first place. Read the rest of this entry »
We recently had the pleasure of catching up with Jake Nickell, the founder of Threadless and author of the new book by the same name. Not only is the Threadless book visually stunning, entertaining, and mind-bending, it’s full of great information and views about the creative process. As it should be, as it’s written by a guy who has taken an idea and turned it into a $30 million+ business without following any of the normal tenets of big business success.
Jake is as unconventional a CEO as you’ll find anywhere, and it works! Enjoy the interview, then go order the book.
Young Entrepreneurs: Threadless is so much more than a T-shirt company – it’s a community. To what extent has the community aspect played a role in the company’s success? Was building a community what you had in mind from the outset, or did it just happen?
Jake Nickell: Threadless started as a project within another online community called Dreamless. Had that community not existed, Threadless never would have existed.
Jake Nickell, founder of Threadless Read the rest of this entry »
At first, it sounds like another startup fairytale. A 19-year-old Princeton freshman starts a company with the hopes of making a tangible difference in the world, and it grows into a global, multi-million dollar venture.
But stories like TerraCycle founder and CEO Tom Szaky’s are never as they seem.
It takes more than just a genius idea to succeed. Businesses that are looking to make a transformational global impact require hard work, incredible business savvy and the courage to press on when everyone calls you crazy.
TerraCycle began as a sustainable fertilizer company, making the product out of worm refuse and putting it in used bottles. It even got a license to use Coca-Cola bottles (which have a patented contour shape). Read the rest of this entry »
Four years ago, sitting with Haile Gebrselassie in his eighth floor office at Alem Building, we enjoyed an uninhibited view of Addis Ababa. Alem Building, named after the running legend’s wife, is the headquarters of the couple’s business empire, Haile and Alem International PLC, and is one of the most prominent structures in Addis. Making a return visit to Haile’s office earlier this week was a totally different experience. The view from the former world marathon record holder’s office has changed quite a bit, with mushrooming, gigantic new structures dotting the skyline and obscuring the erstwhile breathtaking view of the Ethiopian capital.
There’s obviously quite some activity in the Addis construction business. One of the buildings sprouting up is the four-star Kenenisa Bekele Grand Hotel, being built by world and Olympic champion, Kenenisa Bekele, at the upmarket Bole Medhane area. The hotel was designed by Italian architect Carlo Stronati and its proximity to the Bole International Airport, just four minutes’ drive away, definitely makes it a strategic address for travellers. Addis Ababa’s complexion has been dramatically transformed, thanks to investments from the diaspora coupled with massive construction projects by Ethiopia’s world-beating distance runners. Read the rest of this entry »
Brilliant video on how you can start putting your business plans for 2012. With only 6 weeks remaining in 2012 good business planning can set you up for more success earlier in the year.
Taking this time to plan your business goals and activities for next year is a key to success in starting your business and pursuing your passion. Click here for Video
There will be a breakfast meeting on the 25th of November at Townhouse in the Flagroom in Harare, Zimbabwe. Admission is USD10. Breakfast will be served. The breakfast meeting is targeting people in business or going into business. The highlight of the day is a presentation by City Council on business opportunities in Harare that individuals and companies can go into partnerships with the Council. The Network created by the business network will be useful as it will also host some well to do business people who are willing to mentor young business people.
NOT TO BE MISSED Call for tickets to be delivered or collect at 1st floor Reliance House. As for Walter Kasirowori. Alternatively you can get the tickets at 4th floor Silundika house – Ask for Moses Mbimbi.
Forbes magazine has been hard at work with its calculators to reveal Africa’s 40 richest people – but the list has been scrubbed clean of any dictators. Top of the pile is Nigerian Aliko Dangote, head of food and cement company Dangote Group, with a net worth of $10.1billion (£6.4billion). Many of the country’s dictators such as Kenya’s former president Daniel Arap Moi and Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodorin Obiang are also billionaires, but Forbes discounts them as much of their wealth comes from being in a position of power.
Forbes describes the list as ‘a testament to the growing global importance of the continent’. The combined wealth of the 40 richest people in Africa is $64.9billion (£41billion) – and 16 of them are billionaires in their own right. There are no women on the list at all and the richest men are based in just six of Africa’s 47 countries – Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco and Egypt. Dangote’s wealth has shot up by a staggering 557 per cent in the past year alone, according to Forbes. His Lagos-based company is Africa’s biggest cement manufacturer –and it also makes enormously popular food products such as noodles, spaghetti and milk.
Like any self-respecting high roller, 54-year-old Dangote likes to flash the cash. His 45th birthday present to himself, for instance, was a £28million bombardier aircraft, which he uses to pop over to London for meetings. Number two on the list is 66-year-old South African Nicky Oppenheimer, who has amassed a $6.5billion (£4.1billion) fortune through the lucrative diamond trade. He took the helm of world famous De Beers in 1998, but sold a 40 per cent stake in the company to Anglo American, which was founded by his grandfather, for $5.1billion.
You’ll find the third wealthiest African in Egypt. Nassef Sawiris has a net worth of $4.75billion (£3billion) and runs the country’s most valuable publicly-traded company – Orascom Construction Industries. Fifty-year-old Sawiris makes a bit of extra cash through stakes in cement firm Lafarge and Texas Industries. Completing the top five are Johann Rupert, the 61-year-old South African worth $4.7billion (£2.9billion) who heads Richemont, an umbrella company for the likes of Dunhill and Montblanc, and 58-year-old oil tycoon Nigerian Mike Adenuga who’s worth $4.3billion (£2.7billion).
Forbes never includes rulers in its rich lists, explaining that it’s hard to distinguish between wealth derived from entrepreneurship and that gained from being in high office. It said: ‘Forbes has long separated rulers and dictators from our annual rankings of the World’s Billionaires, distinguishing between personal, entrepreneurial wealth and wealth derived largely from positions of power, where lines often blur between what is owned by the country and what is owned by the individual.’ Were dictators to be included in Africa’s rich list Daniel Arap Moi would undoubtedly be near the top.
He ruled Kenya for 28 years and diverted a billion dollars from the government’s bank account to his own personal one, according to risk consultancy company Kroll Associates. Meanwhile, Egypt’s former President Hosni Mubarak has a fortune that Forbes puts at being ‘in the region of nine to 10 figures’. However, it’s almost impossible to calculate his precise worth. The magazine said: ‘It is almost certain that Mubarak diverted an enormous amount of his country’s funds into his personal piggy bank.’ Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodorin Obiang has a $600million fortune, according to Forbes, but it is convinced that a lot of this has also been amassed by siphoning off state funds. (DailyNews)
Nike, Ralph Lauren, and Apple; these are all brands we are obsessed with on a daily basis and associate with high quality and prestige. All these brands have invested millions of dollars and manpower in order to maintain their status and continue the legacy of their brands. While we face an influx of advertising, there is a brand we are heavily vested in that doesn’t get the attention it deserves: ourselves. Whether we are hanging out at social events or working day-to-day at our jobs, everyday we are building our brand for better or for worse. For those running their own business, the personal brand becomes critical.
While many people like to think they make decisions on pure rationale, at the end of the day many decisions are made on the concept of “fit.” During many job interviews, interviewers often cite someone not being the right fit as the reason for not hiring him or her. For business owners, many customers decide on purchasing a product or service based on the perception of the owner or sales team.
Read the rest of this entry »
The beauty of studying successful entrepreneurs is that you can learn what took them 30, 40 and sometimes 50 years to learn in a matter of hours. And no matter what industry you’re focused on, you can always find that common thread that links everyone together.
So even when you think business owners like Tiffani Bell, Daymond John, Jacqueline Nwobu andDamone Roberts are worlds apart in terms of experience in the game, you’ll find that they all share at least one or more of the following attributes.
1. Passionately curious Most entrepreneurs have an insatiable appetite for information about their field and related industries because they are always searching for that tiny nuance or lingering question that could lead to their next big break.
2. Have a great team No self-made man ever got that way on his own, which is why most successful people in business surround themselves with individuals that are often more intelligent and capable than they are. Oh, and then they delegate which is a huge reason why it seems like they are able to do it all.
3. The right to be wrong They say that the fastest way to get to success is to experience your fair share of failures. Because if you’re not failing then that means you’re not taking any risks.
4. Laser-like vision and focus The most revered business owners are known for sticking to their plan no matter what is happening around them. When the proverbial blinders are on, no industry change or economic volatility can deter them. Read the rest of this entry »
