Refilwe Moloto So, you own a small business. How do
you decide who does what in that business? Hi, I'm Refilwe, and I'm your host today on Nine Yards TV,
brought to you by Old Mutual Corporate. We're here today to answer that real critical question.
How do we separate the roles and responsibilities in a business to ensure that everything gets done
and nothing slips through the cracks? Joining me to answer exactly these questions are entrepreneur
Sipamandla Manqele of Local Village Foods, as well as expert Aurelia Albert, CEO of Innovate Durban.
So excited to have you both on at Nine Yards TV. Good morning, how are you doing, Sipamandla?
How are things in Joburg? Sipamandla Manqele
I'm well, thank you. Refilwe Moloto
Excellent stuff. And then from Durban, we've got Aurelia. How are you there?
Aurelia Albert I'm great, thanks.
Refilwe Moloto Excellent. Excited to speak about
roles and responsibilities. Let's kick right off with you, Sipamandla. Tell us a little bit about
Local Village Foods. Sipamandla Manqele
So, we're a business, a food startup that has been operating for five years.
We work with farmers across the African region. We source various African indigenous superfoods
from ancient grain to gluten free flour. And then we source these inputs. And then we value
add them. We do all of the R&D and then find partners such as contract manufacturers to create
products, such as snack bars and pastas. And then we distribute it into health stores.
Refilwe Moloto In your job as a business owner,
what are the areas that you feel you can delegate and those that you absolutely cannot let go of?
Sipamandla Manqele So, I've got my key
responsibilities now. But back then, I didn't have any job scope. I didn't have KPIs. It was about,
you know, getting the oven stuff, getting baking, packaging, sealing, and getting it to the client,
and marketing it. But I think with the years, as we've grown, I've then been able to have tasks
that I actually do things that I'm responsible for. And then the things that I give to the
team to do. But things that I will definitely not delegate to the team is crafting of our strategy,
but also in terms of crafting for our vision. So, vision formulation, or just leading the team in
general, that I can't outsource. Refilwe Moloto
It's easy to burn out, you were... not lucky, you created your own luck, insofar as you were
able to scale up to the size that you could hire a team. What advice would you give to somebody
who's kicking off, maybe struggling to get off the ground and maybe burning out and trying to
do all those things at once? Sipamandla Manqele
It's normal. Burnout is normal when you're starting out. I think,
unless you've got co-founders, if you're fortunate enough to have people to, you know,
who can then - you can split the task. If you're a team of four or five as you're starting out,
then that's awesome. Or you've got funding, then you can, you know, hire people from word go. But
most likely, most of us don't have that privilege of having co-founders or investment in the start.
So, you will burn out and it's normal. I think sometimes we think that's not going to happen.
But the problem is, if it continues for too long, you know, maybe after 24 months, and you know,
you're not growing, you're not getting help, then that's going to be a problem. But it's normal
in the beginning unless you have co-founders. Refilwe Moloto
Aurelia, let's bring you into the conversation right here. Innovate Durban is a real part of the
SME ecosystem in KZN. Tell us a little bit about what your ethos is and what you do.
Aurelia Albert Sure. So, Innovate Durban is
a nonprofit company. We were established about four years ago, initially by local government,
but completely independent to them. We support innovators and entrepreneurs by
providing them with resources and opportunities that they can leverage to grow their businesses.
So, just in a nutshell, we foster innovation and creativity using technology as an enabler.
Refilwe Moloto Is it familiar from all of those corporates
and entrepreneurs that you work with, what Sipamandla mentioned, burnout being normal?
Aurelia Albert Yes, absolutely normal. People
must not be fooled that when they are starting up their own businesses, that they are not going
to face burnout. It does come with the territory of setting up a startup especially. And I think
people need to have that expectation upfront. Refilwe Moloto
So, in your experience with the businesses that you've worked with and Sipamandla talking to us
about the process it took towards delegating to different roles and responsibilities.
Are there any examples of mistakes of businesses that were made that had come to you for help?
Aurelia Albert Yeah, so definitely. I think small businesses and
especially when you're an entrepreneur, you know, you have this idea, you've got this great concept,
you know that you're good at doing something, and then you want to set up a business,
and then you don't have the skills of a business person. And so, a lot of our entrepreneurs jump
right in. They jump right in before they can get the necessary skills, yes, skills
and experience does come with actually setting up the business yourself and working in it. So,
I think a lot of the mistakes that entrepreneurs make, and the reason that many of them fail quite
quickly, is they do not have the skills and they jump in too quickly. But also when you fail,
you need to get up quite quickly again and start and try again and start and try something new.
And a lot of entrepreneurs are unable to get themselves off the ground again.
Refilwe Moloto Aurelia, those are very important
considerations in normal times. Now, we're faced with Covid-19, lockdown, and in fact, one of your
hubs is actually in the heart of Cato Manor and was therefore at the coalface of the uprisings
that we saw in KZN. How does one actually respond to these challenges as a small business owner,
in terms of delegating roles and responsibilities, with smaller teams, shut down businesses,
fewer supply chain partners? Aurelia Albert
There are going to be challenges that businesses faced. Last year was a crazy year with Covid-19,
but also the unrest that took place recently. As a business, you've got to be resilient. Covid-19
brought to us a unique set of challenges where more multitasking had to take place at some
organisations, and it did not adequately prepare employees to perform multiple functions. There
were various other challenges, which also led to employee fatigue, health and wellness issues,
that ultimately resulted in lower levels of productivity, and thereby impacted the company
negatively. On the flip side, however, it may have presented an opportunity for small businesses
to re-evaluate the roles within their organisation so that they could streamline processes and
enhance efficiency. Refilwe Moloto
Let's bring you in here, Sipamandla, because that's so important for your business in terms
of along your value chain, there are different roles and responsibilities that are played.
How does that kind of adaptation that Aurelia's discussing with us
apply within Local Village Foods? Sipamandla Manqele
So, I think for us as a company, it's to be clear on what we do, and also what we don't do,
and what resources we have and resources we don't have. And that actually assists us to
prioritise and be clear. Refilwe Moloto
What would you say are the three things you should pay attention to, Aurelia, in terms of deciding
what you keep in-house and what you delegate? Aurelia Albert
So, you have to look at economies of scale. So, which functions make more business sense
to outsource? And this is where the beauty of value chains comes in. Importantly,
businesses should look at where the intellectual property lies. And these are some of the functions
to keep in-house. Outsourcing, you should look at some of the admin functions: HR, IT, accounting,
at a minimum. It is absolutely important for business owners to understand their numbers.
But you do not need to get bogged down by being a bookkeeper. Understanding your business and
the critical elements of the business, but free up your time strategise, plan, as well as execute.
Refilwe Moloto So, what I'm hearing, Aurelia, is
economies of scale, IP, and admin, are really the areas where we need to give our focus to,
which brings us back to where Sipamandla was highlighting that she would unapologetically never
delegate the likes of vision and strategy. Aurelia Albert
Sjoe, so as a leader myself, you know, some of the... well, the three top things that I've
actually come to realise are more valuable now, especially as your business grows,
because like Sipamandla mentioned, when you start up your business, you're wearing every
hat possible. But as you grow, you realise most importantly, take control of your time,
understand what is important for you to handle directly, and the rest,
delegate. But delegate to well-equipped people. Secondly, I would say plan well and plan ahead,
and that will save you a lot of time. And then thirdly, make time for yourself and your personal
development. If you are growing as an individual, your organisation is going to follow the same
steps and grow as well. Refilwe Moloto
This has been such an enlightening discussion, thank you so much for joining us on Nine Yards TV,
ladies. Aurelia, all the best to you in KZN, and to you, Sipamandla, take care. Thanks for this
wonderful virtual coffee date. Refilwe Moloto
So you see, as a small business owner, you needn't lose hope. You don't have to do at all, you just
have to learn how to delegate. Thank you so much for joining me once again on Nine Yards TV,
brought to you by Old Mutual Corporate. Be sure to hit the subscribe button below in order to check
out other episodes in the series giving you small business advice and expert insight. Till next
time, I'm Refilwe, goodbye. Old Mutual
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