I.C.E. Club – Madagascar

Three years ago, a good friend invited me to an idea camp in Antsirabe for management students. Seven successful Malagasy entrepreneurs chaired the camp, which was organised by a famous business school. At the camp, I asked these entrepreneurs to share their initial struggles and success stories. They spoken with passion, and I learnt one lesson from each one of them:

Lesson 1: Believe in yourself

Being an entrepreneur is a lot more risky than the conventional job routine (a 9 to 5 job). There is no regular salary; you have to find customers on your own. Marketing your product/service and financing the project are also among your concerns. I noticed that most entrepreneurs use a combination of due diligence and gut instincts while evaluating their product/service. They are good at spotting a need in the market and then backing themselves up to believe that their idea can fill that void. Believe in your idea. Never underestimate what you can do. You may surprise yourself.

Lesson 2: Hire the right people

I believe most entrepreneurs consider this as the toughest aspect of building a business. It is recommended to bring in people who are really good at what they do and also to focus on ensuring the team members get along with each other (no purple at work, please!). Some entrepreneurs made their initial mistake by hiring friends and people they liked, but soon realized that friends were not always the best employees. Build your team with people possessing complementary skills, not ‘yes men’ who are always showering praise. You need employees, partners and mentors you trust, who will give you honest feedback and take your company to the next level.

Lesson 3: Be money wise

While some entrepreneurs went in for conventional sources of funding from a venture capitalist or banks, etc, quite a few started out with their savings or by borrowing money from friends and family. There were entrepreneurs who focused on increasing efficiency and optimizing costs and overheads. I know an entrepreneur who consciously stayed away from non-essentials like an extravagant office, equipments, etc. The focus was on superior execution and high quality service. It’s tempting to dream of a corner office, a pool table and expensive chairs, but postpone it for another time. Start small and start efficient. Being better is more important than being bigger.

Lesson 4: Concentrate on the message

“As a small business, most of our marketing is word-of-mouth. Our clients appreciate the kind of work we do and our reputation for delivering results”. Most entrepreneurs can witness that in their early days, their tendency was to focus on sales activities and as they grew, they started looking at various marketing initiatives, as that is the cement that gels customers, vendors and employees together. Their strategy kept changing, depending on what worked: direct mailers, e-mail marketing, presentations at seminars, etc. Marketing a start-up business is a 24/7 activity and you need to pay attention to the message you’re sending out to existing and prospective clients. Your message has to be tailored to meet the customer’s expectations.

Lesson 05: Keep the team motivated

Do not indulge in fault-finding or blame games. Pigeonholing a particular member of the team may spread negative vibes within the team and cost you time and quality. Celebrating every small success and appreciating team members will build a sense of camaraderie. Be a coach, rather than the star player. Appreciate and acknowledge the positive behaviours of team members so that the behaviors turn into consistent practices.

Lesson 6: Make mistakes

“If you are not a little bit scared, you are not driving fast enough”. Give your people the license to fail. It’s ok to make a mistake as long as they are succeeding 9 out of 10 times, and making sure that they don’t repeat those mistakes in the future. The worst mistake is the one that gets repeated. Create a culture of learning and experimentation right at the start of the business. This will become a powerful value with the growth of the business.

Lesson 7: Be passionate

Most entrepreneurs accept the idea that the rewards of being an entrepreneur can be terrific and that there is no ’secret sauce.’ There are a lot of magazines, self-help books and biographies of successful entrepreneurs that anyone can read, but at the end of the day, it’s all about execution. What you really need is to be passionate about your work. If you are doing something and the day flies by, if you are surrounded with people you like to work with, then you have most of the ingredients for entrepreneurial success.

Of course, I am not yet an entrepreneur. I know that a “little guy” like me can not teach “big guys” like you, but just take the time to think about these 7 recommendations and you will find that they are not that wrong.

The Spy

(Published in MIDI Madagasikara p.14 on June 7th, 2007)