Bullish Thoughts loves it
when there are inspirational Zimbabweans whose stories we can retell.
The story of Securico has
been told too often but when Bullish Thoughts learnt that it began in 1995 when
he was just starting his Form 1 at St Francis of Assisi, he got really
fascinated.
Patience is a virtue they
say!
Bullish Thoughts reproduces
the story of Securico courtesy of Entrepeneur watch & Kate Douglas.
Divine Ndhlukula started SECURICO, one of
Zimbabwe’s largest security service providers, with only four employees in
1995. Now the firm has over 3,500 employees, including 900 women. Ndhlukula is
a women entrepreneur in a typically male domain and is an outspoken women
empowerment activist in Africa. How we
made it in Africa asks Ndhlukula about what it is like to break
down stereotypes and be a successful woman entrepreneur in Africa.
Divine Ndhlukula with Sir Richard Branson
What
inspired you to start a security service company?
Firstly,
I needed to create a decent livelihood for my family and I always knew that I
wanted to go into business from a very tender age and would tell my friends in
high school that the business I was going to start was going to be significant
in size.
Secondly,
I identified glaring gaps in the quality of service and professionalism in the
private security sector and this inspired me to start a security company and
make a difference.
Thirdly,
I wanted to make a difference to disadvantaged women who could not get
opportunities to get formal employment and I knew the security industry was a
mass employer. I became an activist for the empowerment of women when I was
very young, at school. When I started working I joined women empowerment groups
and I got to meet various role models who inspired me to seek personal
self-actualisation. That inspiration assisted me in my professional career and
I was able to climb the corporate ladder. By the time that I saw the business
opportunity in the security sector I was ready – both emotionally and
experience wise.
What
major challenges have you faced since starting SECURICO?
The first
major challenge was that the industry was heavily male dominated and there was
a general perception that security was not a job for women. The challenge was
to convince the market that I could do the job despite the fact that I was a
woman.
Clients
even refused to be guarded by women and it took a lot of persuasion to convince
them that their security would in fact improve if they accepted women to guard
them. Changing that negative perception about women was not easy but my team
and I persisted and with time women were widely accepted in the industry.
The other
challenge was that I was coming from a totally different industry and had no
knowledge about how security organisations operate. I therefore had to learn
the job from scratch. My aim was to learn the job, innovate and improve and
perform better than the competition and that worked quite well.
Another
challenge was that the industry was dominated by big players who had been in
the business for a long time. They had the brand and financial muscle but I was
certain that I could beat them on service quality. I also struggled to get
funding for the new business. At that time the economic challenges that faced
Zimbabwe for the next decade were just starting and the financial sector was
very jittery so they mostly refused to provide funding.
I was
also unlucky in that I was a woman venturing into a business where there was a
general belief that women would not succeed and this contributed to the failure
to secure funding. In the end I decided to make do with the little that I had
and eventually I grew the business by ploughing back all the profits.
Where
would you like to see your company in 10 years time?
In ten
years time SECURICO shall be the biggest name in the private security services
sector in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
How did
your business manage to survive during the Zimbabwean economic crisis?
The
period of the economic crisis was the most difficult for SECURICO but
ironically the company actually grew and gained a lot of the market by taking
advantage of the hardships that competitors were facing. When the crisis
started to bite I assembled a taskforce comprising of identified individuals at
various levels. We tasked this team to brainstorm and come up with ideas on
whom to tackle the various challenges that we were facing.
The
situation called for people to think outside of the box and it is quite amazing
how we got excellent innovations that we implemented to our advantage. We
managed to keep ahead of the situation because we kept changing our strategy to
suit the current situation. Things were changing very fast during those days
and something that worked for you at the beginning of the week would be useless
by the end of that same week. This called for versatility, constant adaptation
and use of creative business methods.
In the
end we used a raft of strategies such as providing temporary accommodation to
employees, negotiating to be paid in kind for services, paying employees using
basic commodities instead of cash, providing transport to employees, deferring
payments for service for strategic clients, rewarding employees for going the
extra mile, going to the rural areas to recruit staff and a lot more other
strategies. We also introduced our Excel Guards – highly trained operatives who
were paid twice the normal salary. We sold this new service offering to
targeted clients who had the funds to pay a premium price for high quality
services.
Looking
at that time in retrospect I attribute our survival and growth to the decision
to involve everyone in tackling the challenges that the company was facing.
What is
the biggest mistake an entrepreneur can make when starting a business?
There are
three big mistakes in my opinion. One is failing to learn the job adequately.
Second one is not having a strategic vision and thirdly, lacking financial
discipline to distinguish personal funds from business funds thus stifling the
business from growing.
What does
the Zimbabwean economic climate look like today? Is it a good time to start a
business in Zimbabwe?
There are
a lot of opportunities in Zimbabwe. In fact there are more opportunities now
than ten years ago. During the last ten years the economy shrank considerably
and there is a sort of a vacuum now. There are very few formal jobs so a big
chunk of the population is making a living through various enterprises.
It’s like
everyone is an entrepreneur now because all the workers who were laid off are
using their skills to start small businesses that sustain their families. Most
of the money in Zimbabwe now is in this informal sector were things like
furniture, basic foodstuffs, clothes and other services are found on the
streets and home industries.
The way I
see it people are starting small now in various ventures but in a few years a
new breed of entrepreneurs will emerge. It certainly is a good time to start a
business in Zimbabwe. In fact we have seen a lot of people coming to start businesses
in Zimbabwe especially by people from the Asian countries.
Why do
you think there are so few woman entrepreneurs in Africa? Do you think this is
changing?
The
African economy is actually driven by women at the micro level. Most of the
African population lives in the rural areas and women are more active in
economic activities there than men mainly for family survival.
However
we have very few women entrepreneurs who break into big business, mostly due to
cultural reasons. When growing up women are never primed to become leaders.
Rather the stereotypical role is that a woman should become a good wife and
mother therefore many women simply strive to fulfill this role. Even at school,
boys are expected to perform better than girls and in the professional world
women simply drift into certain professions that are regarded suitable for
women.
So at the
end of the day it’s our society that mostly militates against the development
of women entrepreneurs. Motherhood is also a big factor that acts as a drawback.
Most people do not realise that raising children is a full time job and those
women who manage to raise children and advance in their professions at the same
time are really strong.
The good
thing in Zimbabwe is that we have a very good education system so the new
generations of parents are more enlightened about issues affecting the girl
child and are raising them differently. This will afford space for women in the
future.
Any
advice to budding women entrepreneurs?
Women
entrepreneurs have to work twice as hard to succeed. They should expect certain
difficulties to crop up merely due to the fact that they are women. In such
situations the best thing to do is to remain resolute, focused, ethical and
preserve your integrity.
It is
also very important to network and get to know people – the right people with
the potential to help your business either as customers, suppliers or
associates.
Keep a
sober head and remain focused. Do not rush to conclude that you have made it.
Always expand your dreams and reinvest your money into the business. Avoid the
trap of leading a luxurious life at the expense of the business.
Bullish Thoughts
hopes that whether you are in Zimbabwe, the rest of Africa and beyond you have
been inspired. Perhaps you can steer someone else in the bullish direction and
10 years from now we will all be celebrating their success.
Bulls n
Bears
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