Since we do not come from an education background, we reached out to those who knew the education space as well as someone who works with entrepreneurs on a daily basis – especially social entrepreneurs.
Leaderless is a massive idea and it is still in the making because it asks that we shift our way of thinking of how things have always been done to something radically different and it is here where I called on a good friend of mine Edith Kennedy who has done her MBA at Stellenbosch University and someone who was open to helping me out for hours on end on a Saturday or Sunday to bring our thoughts and ideas to put things into perspective.
I don’t know how many meetings we have had since 2015 to discuss ideas and where everything slots into place but Edith was patient and listened intently. Our goals were to get clarity on what it is we’re offering whilst at the same time learning to understand which technologies to bring into Leaderless that will help shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Over time, Edith gave Paula and I the tasks that we needed to go away with and implement. Some of them we have had to put on the back burner because some of the technologies people don’t know about yet and need to learn.
Our journey continues to this day and Edith will now be running the Social Entrepreneurship classes for us. There has been a massive rise in Social Entrepreneurship over time as this clearly puts focus on purpose. Profit does need to be made to grow any business but it is the mindset that we’re after to shift people and move them away from this hamster wheel mentality of waste and encourage mindfulness instead.
I have been into Khayelitsha where Edith trains many of the young black entrepreneurs and watched as she’s helped people grow their own small businesses. What frustrated me the most to see is how expensive R150 was for them to be online and research the solutions they need and it is for this reason that we will teach people how to disrupt the communications industries so that it is possible to quickly stream a YouTube video or make a WhatsApp call to ask someone for help.
Our goal together is to help support these entrepreneurs in a decentralised society so that they have all the support they need to ensure the success of their businesses. If we can remove the main stress points, allowing them to focus on what they do best, we will be able to create a fast growing eco-system of young entrepreneurs who understand the need for collaboration.
