5 Successful African Entrepreneurs Share their Secrets to Business 

When you look at some of the most successful entrepreneurs in Africa, it’s easy to wonder what their secrets to the top are.  A heavy desire to uncover the hidden knowledge and strategies to how they could manoeuvre challenges over the years and still come out strong.

It will surprise you that entrepreneurs secrets aren’t actually secrets, because on closer scrutiny, you’ll find that they are necessary actions needed for business growth that you simply haven’t thought of.

It is advisable to know how other entrepreneurs in your desired field of business scaled through when starting their business, raised capital, kept the lifespan of their business going, pulled in investors and customers. A good understanding of their success and failures can act as a guide in avoiding a repetition of mistakes.

Here 5 Entrepreneurs and their Secrets Needed for Your Business Growth.

Goitse Konopi 

Goitse Konopi is a South African medical cannabis entrepreneur that ventured into the drug space after losing his mum to cancer. His company South Grown, founded in 2014 is a cannabis enterprise that cultivates, processes, and manufactures cannabis-based goods in a scientific manner.

In an interview with Business Elites Africa, he shares his secret on how he has remained on top of his game. He says he doesn’t see money as a drive, in fact, “Money is a tool to create more value and we see value in really helping people who need this pharmacological intervention, with this intervention studied and explored. For instance, how do we synthesise something like THtv and create formulations and pharmacological products that can help people who want to go through surgery because of weight issues or whatever the case is.”

Fehintolu Olaogun 

Fehintolu Olaogun is the founder of Fintech startup Credpal, which is an innovative technology that enables businesses and individuals to buy anything and pay for it over time at both online and offline retailers by offering instant credit at the moment of the site.

Founded in 2018, the startup has gained adequate traction in the fintech space and one might just wonder what their secret is just within two years. In an interview with Business Elites Africa, Olorunfemi Jegede the Chief Operating Officer and Fehintolu Olaogun Chief Executive Officer, share their entrepreneurs secrets to success.

“I think we should start by looking at what success actually means for you. Is it about building a product that customers find valuable, building a product that customers love, or is it all about your bottom line; about making a lot of money? I’d say for me, when we started this business, one of the things that really motivated us to start was to ultimately ensure a future where every Nigerian can conveniently walk into a store and buy on credit.” Olorunfemi said,

“What I would like to add to that is that one thing that will determine your success is how you are solving the problem you are solving. Sometimes, you find out that whatever problem you are trying to solve, someone else is already solving it. The most important thing, therefore, is the method you are using to solve it. Your solution method must be innovative, scalable, and sustainable”, said Olaogun.  

Babatunde Akin-Moses

Founder of the Sycamore Fintech startup, Babatunde Akin-Moses, in his interview with Business Elites Africa earlier this year shared with us his entrepreneur secrets to being successful. 

“Great team, swift execution, good timing, a viable business model, and a good network” he says.

Sycamore is a platform that provides you with more options to become financially independent. The startup offers the service of asset management, loan top-ups, lending and borrowing.

Oneyka Akumah

Oneyeka Akumah is also known as a serial entrepreneur. His penetration and disruption of the agricultural – Farmcrowdy, real estate- Rent Small Small, transportation – Plentywaka and fintech- Crowdyvest sector was a success.

In his interview with Business Elites Africa, he shares his secret on his successful journey as an entrepreneur. He says he loves conceiving an idea and further, “put it on paper, very quickly name the idea, create something out of it, and there’s value for people. And then all of the sudden people say, ‘I actually didn’t know he could have an idea that would solve this problem’. I think that’s exciting”.

Evans Akanno

Founder and CEO of Cregital, Evans Akanno shared some of his entrepreneur’s secrets with Business Elites Africa regarding his journey.

“Being an entrepreneur is really hard but if you believe you can, then you can. See challenges as an opportunity to learn, spend wisely, hope for the best but prepare for the worst, know when to pivot if the plan isn’t working.”

Cregital is a creative agency that designs and builds digital experiences for its customers. The platform helps in constructing and launching websites and products that are simple, elegant and help businesses flourish. 

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