Find opportunities amidst the chaos
Olive Kigongo identified a gap of limited quality skin care products made from natural extracts. Then she started importing them from United Kingdom to Uganda. Photo BY Abubaker Lubowa.
What you need to know:
Living by the business case. Successful people can tolerate ambiguity and chaos because there is room for innovation.
We all have things we are attached to in life, it could be your house, gadgets, clothes and many other addictions that may not necessarily be beneficial to us.
All these attachments and addictions come because we often times get married to the idea of having that item or engaging in that habit. These were some of the things delved into by renowned South African business motivational speaker Vusi Thembekwayo.
The 30-year-old Thembekwayo, who travels the world giving business talks, was speaking at the Stanbic Bank networking dinner on Monday last week.
The eloquent witty speaker and owner of the largest stock exchange firm in South Africa, shared his life story about growing up in the dangerous streets of South Africa. He built his business from scratch and today he is a board member of five different companies in South Africa.
“We only achieve success because of what we believe in,” he said, adding, “if you want it, work hard at it and you will get it.”
He challenged the audience which comprised of Stanbic Bank’s executive, private banking customers and entrepreneurs to learn to compete at the edge of chaos. “If you want to succeed, you have to compete at the edge of chaos. Look for opportunities in challenges,” he said.
He also challenged business owners to be informed about the changing world.
The world , according to Thembekwayo, is divided in four paradigms. “There is something you’re good at and it is important; things you’re good at and they are not important; those you are not good at and they are important and things that you’re not good at and they are not important,” he shared.
In such a case, he says, you should focus on the important things and where you’re not good at something, find somebody who is good at it. To succeed in business, Thembekwayo shared four laws.
Find the truth, not your version of the truth.
Most times, people want their own opinions of things without researching about them. Business, just like any other aspects of our life, relies on truth.
Aim to be the best at whatever you do.
In his view, one can not be good at everything yet fail to master one. “Be the best at one thing. Conquer that one thing and let it be your way out,” he said.
He also advised business owners to delegate work and train people so that business continues in their absence.
Have a vision for your life.
He told the audience to have a vision for their lives that is greater than money.” “This is because money comes and goes but as long as you have a vision, you conquer all,” he said.
Examine what you are doing.
In life if whatever you’re doing is not helping you develop or grow in any way, stop it. It could be your friends, habits, or even the business you are running.
Treat everything you do as a business case because in business, figures do not lie.
“A business will tell you if you’re doing well or bad,” he said.
Who is Thembekwayo?
At 21, he ran his own successful consulting firm, then South Africa’s only black-owned Forensic Marketing agency. By 25, he was an executive at one of the largest consumer goods businesses in Africa. There he started, grew and managed a multi-million dollar portfolio. Today he is the managing director of MOTIV8 Advisory – a specialist consulting and services agency and serves on the board of international consulting firm Black Sheep Advisory Ltd as well as the founding Partner of Speakers BootCamp South Africa.
