Jerryanne Heath is the CEO and Founder of ConceptLink Consulting , a firm which helps US and international social-mission organizations connect with their stakeholders through various event management and communications strategies. She is also co-chair of the Africa Social Enterprise Forum.
A few nights ago I attended the Starting Bloc party at the legendary Studio 54 in New York. I had a blast and it was extremely inspiring to look around the room at my peers – young professionals and social entrepreneurs all eager to make a positive contribution to the world. The energy in the room was palpable. I overheard snippets of conversations: “…moving to India to start an education consultancy…”, “…working on a solar venture in Latin America…”, “just started working at a nonprofit…”
I’m 26. Several of my peers are guiding their career decisions by their desire to have a meaningful impact. And many are diving headfirst into risky ventures abroad. The conversations I overheard at the Bloc Party brought me back to some lessons I’ve learned as a young entrepreneur with sights set abroad.
At age 24, I quit my Wall Street job with the intention of starting a business in South Africa. After a few trips there as a volunteer and a tourist, I was smitten by the cultural richness I found there and moreover by the economic opportunities. South Africa was boasting 6-7% GDP growth at the time and getting ready to host the 2010 World Cup in a few years. Vanity Fair had just released its Africa issue with several luminaries on the cover – Barack Obama, Bono, Brad Pitt, Bill Clinton, Oprah – it seemed the African continent was getting more positive attention than ever.
So after quitting my job and 6 months of what I believed was thorough due diligence, I set up a consulting firm with a local business partner to connect South African businesses and artists to the US market. We registered the partnership in South Africa, with the ultimate goal of building a global brand and servicing clients on both sides of the Atlantic. Despite my aspirations, the business in South Africa quickly disintegrated, largely due to my poor selection of a local business partner.
I learned several lessons from this experience, which I believe apply to any entrepreneur, and I’d to offer some advice, particularly for young entrepreneurs looking to make an international impact:
- Do your homework: I cannot emphasize this enough. I unfortunately did not perform sufficient due diligence on my local business partner, which created a rocky relationship and stifled the company. Take the time to do your homework, not only on the market in which you plan to work, but particularly on your team members.
- Take care of the legal stuff first: Get everything in writing and take the time upfront to establish controls. Basic questions include: Who will have access to the bank account? How many signatures are required for checks? Blinded by enthusiasm, I did not take the time to establish these controls and was shocked to find a $0 balance on the company’s bank statement after only six months!
- Follow your heart, but don’t lose your shirt: When passion drives us, it’s tempting to throw caution to the wind. However, it’s best to take measured risk, particularly if you are investing your own capital in the venture – don’t go all in right away. Test out the market, your ideas and your team gradually. Though it was painful to learn that funds had been misused in the South African company, I was happy to walk away from the venture after having invested only a small amount of startup capital.
- You’re not in Kansas anymore: Manage your expectations and acknowledge that local business practices may be completely different from what you are accustomed to at home. Play by the local rules to the extent permissible by law and your conscience!
- Be prepared to fail: Look for the silver lining if things don’t turn out as you had hoped. As keynote speaker Andrew Zolli put it a few weeks ago at the Africa Social Enterprise Forum, be prepared to fail, often. Learn from it and “change your religion” accordingly. I now wear my experience in South Africa as a badge of honor.
Jeff Mowatt Said,
October 29, 2009 @ 4:05 pm
Local laws or to be more accurate, the constitution of the country was what gave reason to act outside the rules. Yes, we’ve had problems and struggled but can claim some small success.
We’ve been doing this now for 10 years with our own money. Back in 1999, by sourcing a microfinance based development initiative for USAID in Russia and more recently creating impact in Ukraine.
What I fail to understand of Beyond Profit is why they simply don’t want to know about success and will simply disregard these contributions.