More on #Awethu

Vivek & me in the shared work space for Ent. businesses

I feel like I’ve been working with The Awethu Project much longer than 1 week. I think that’s because their company culture, similar to South African culture, really makes you feel welcome and a part of a family. Vivek, Soichiro and I are working on a project for Awethu helping to advise them on their expansion strategy. However, Awethu is a very young organization so we have to be careful to balance their current historical data against the qualitative data we are receiving from employee interviews. In a nutshell, we are focusing on increasing their percentage of lead conversion (sales leads > applications submitted to incubator program > accepted entrepreneurs > revenue). I know why SAP placed me on this project; it’s eerily similar to what I do on a daily basis, except the end-businesses we are soliciting to differ slightly (Fortune 500 Oil & Gas companies vs. food stands).

Brainstorming session with the sales teams

Quick coffee stop with Yusuf, Dale, Vivek,
(Soichiro not pictured) and me at Father's coffee

Awethu’s model is completely built on trust. The sales team goes out and finds potential entrepreneurs on the streets of Johannesburg and the surrounding areas. Any entrepreneur who is interested in receiving the services of the business incubator must go through a special selection process in order to be accepted into the program. The only requirement for application in Awethu is that they are under-resourced. Once they are accepted into the program, there is a deferred funding model thus eliminating the barrier to entry for any person(s) interested in either a) improving an existing business or b) getting a new business up and running. After the entrepreneur is accepted into the program, they are assigned a business coach who sets up rigorous requirements for their business helping to provide structure and stability for their operations. Each coach currently works with approximately 20-30 entrepreneurs. So take this scenario for example:

Joe owns a mobile pie shop and is making R500 (rand) a month. Minimum wage in South Africa means that you have to be bringing in at least R1500 a month (~$9 = R100). Joe comes to Awethu to help him put together a better marketing strategy, setup budgeting, work on creating a better network of suppliers and customers, etc. Awethu, and its coaching staff in particular, help Joe get his average monthly wage up to R1500 that month. Although profits have gone up R1000, Awethu doesn’t take a cut because the entrepreneur is just reaching minimum wage. The next month, Joe’s profit goes from R1500 to R2500. At that point, Awethu takes 50% of the profits earned (or 50% earned over minimum wage) as deferred payment for the services they are providing to the entrepreneur. Therein lies part of our project – How do you get the entrepreneur, who has likely had very little education, to understand that the reason he/she is able to increase profits is because of the skills and services they are receiving from Awethu? Furthermore, how do you retain the entrepreneurs in the incubator long enough to create a long-term growth strategy for their business wherein the entrepreneur will create more jobs for South Africa? How do you help the entrepreneur realize that his/her success is really a shared success with Awethu and with South Africa?  

Awethu has grown their organization from 3 entrepreneurs to hundreds in the past year. It is the only program of its kind to offer business incubation services to anyone who is willing to work hard. Awethu’s goal is to create an additional 400 jobs by the end of the year by working with their current entrepreneurs. In other words, their goal is to help their current team of entrepreneurs grow their businesses so they can hire additional workers, multiplying the impact they are making on their community. 

After work on Friday, we stayed downtown for a cocktail to get to know the team better. We hopped in a cab around 9 to head back to Sandton. Our driver’s name was Sipho (See-Po). We told Sipho that we were in town for a month working with Awethu. He said to me, “Sister – Yusuf saved my life.” (Reminder – Yusuf is the founder & CEO of Awethu).

“I used to work for Quick Cab. And one day I was dispatched to pick up Yusuf through the dispatcher. I gave him my card and he continued to call me to pick him up. One day he asked me how much I got paid to drive this cab. I told him I didn’t get paid, I had to pay R4000 to drive the cab each week. He asked me why I didn’t have my own cab? So I started saving. I was finally able to buy my first car and fix it up. I quit Quick Cab and I have been driving on my own ever since. Just a few weeks ago I was able to buy my second car and I’m fixing it up now. It should be ready in a few weeks. I don’t know where I’d be without Yusuf.”

As we continue to meet and work with Awethu’s entrepreneurs around the community, I have found that Sipho’s story is quite common. It seems as though Awethu is saving lives left and right. I’m so proud to be a part of their team, even if only for a short while. I hope that I will be able to leave a sustainable impact on their operations just as they are doing for the entrepreneurial community around Joburg. 

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