How to kickstart your business [Opinion]

Catherine Wijnberg, founder of Fetola, an SME growth specialist company, offers expert advice on how to start a business. 

Offering expert advice as a serial entrepreneur, Wijnberg is able to provide valuable insight for SMEs and entrepreneurs. 

As an author of her newly released book titled, ‘Sheep Will Never Rule The World’, Wijnberg offers golden nuggets of advice for budding entrepreneurs and local SMEs on how they can take their business to the next level. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused many local businesses and SMEs to develop new strategies and mechanisms to maintain their revenue flow and business operations.  

Wijnberg brings a wealth of experience from having charted her extensive business journey as well as through her ongoing role at Fetola, a company that is geared towards supporting small businesses and helping them become more profitable.

Four valuable tips for entrepreneurs 

Follow your passion 

According to Wijnberg: “As entrepreneurs, we have the choice to make the world what we want it to be. So be grateful for that choice – and find a way for your passion and your work to align.”

Understand the market

Identify if there’s not only a gap in the market but “a market in the gap you’ve chosen!” In other words, customers who are willing to pay for the service and product you wish to provide.

Start Small

Wijnberg advocates starting small. “Don’t be hobbled by the misperception that you need a large loan to get a business going. Starting a business with a huge debt to payback can be the proverbial albatross about your neck,” she says. “A new venture is stressful enough on its own. Rather build from a small base with less risk.”

Reconsidering Capital

Start thinking about your capital, and capital is not just money. Wijnberg explains how capital comes in three forms:

• Networks: “Think about who you know that you can connect to for markets, expertise, support.”
• Expertise: “What information and skills do you have that are of value”, and lastly,
• Money: “What money do you have and how much do you need? Can you leverage the other two forms of ‘capital’ to get money?”

The pages of Sheep Will Never Rule The World are peppered with advice designed to support, stimulate, and inspire.

Although there is a decidedly business bent to the book, its content does not preclude the everyday reader as Wijnberg’s prompts – which are often highly practical – are intended to help anyone achieve their highest potential in life and business.

Read more: Five affordable online tools for small businesses [Opinion]
Read more: Starting a business in a crisis [Opinion]

Featured image: Catherine Wijnberg, founder and CEO of Fetola (Supplied)