By Michael Kanaabi Dollar
As Uganda’s youthful enterprising population bursts with energy and tries out their hands at building start ups silicon valley style, Nataliey Bitature a co-founder of a start up Musana Carts and also a Chief of Staff at her Father Business Mogul Patrick Bitature’s Simba Group was just the right person start up Founders needed to listen to on how they can navigate this tough space called the start up eco-system, herself having featured both on the founder and management side of things.
So last Friday evening a hundred or so tech and non tech founders were seated in anticipation with all ears drawn towards the Speaker of the evening at the Monthly founders lounge meet up that happens at the Start Up Hub in Bukoto every last Friday of the month.
Mixed expectations definitely from the audience with many thinking okay Natalie had a ‘soft landing’ but from listening to her speak and answer some of the really tough questions the audience threw at her impeccably, you look back at yourself and want to do 10 times better because whether you are Nataliey Bitature or a Ssemudu of a ‘no body’ some where nothing can replace grit, hardwork and resilience when it comes to growing a start up she emphasized.
Nataliey paints the picture of a ‘rich hustler’ so well that you an every day hustler starts to think you should postpone sleeping to next year if that’s what it’s going to take to push your start up to the level you want it to reach.
Talking about the negative energy some local start up Founders have towards the people they consider wealthy that are not so bent on investing in local start ups, Nataliey advised founders to drop that entitlement mentality, push the limits and just hustle real hard until they get recognized as no one owes them a single penny or favour in the business world!
“When raising capital start with yourself, put up some money, make a sacrifice to push your dream before any one else can bet on you, then speak to those close to you like family, friends, who can take a risk on you, after that lot you can then look out for any grants if possible then graduate to Venture capital as you improve your financial management, build some traction and then pitch to real big investors” she said.
There is no way around this and while most entrepreneurs always want to skip these steps, going through them is what grows your ‘muscle’ in business and fine tunes your skills and capabilities as an entrepreneur so that when the big investment money comes in you have systems in place, a clear project and trajectory ready to scale because there is no room to mess up with real investor funds she added.
Commenting on the advantage young and youthful founders have in the business space Nataliey said the energy we have as youth can’t be replaced, it is now that you should work 10-12 hours nonstop or more and rest 4-5 hours max to ensure you achieve your goals as a start up Founder because 10-15 years down the road, nature will some how slow you down!
Knowing your competition and actually connecting with your competition in business is a good thing, it’s actually productive networking with in your space or industry she noted.
“ You can sharpen each other, consult each other, share problems and learn from how your peers in the start up space are solving these issues on a day to day basis so don’t only look at your competition as rivals they can turn out to be good friends in business and keep the competition among yourselves healthy not toxic.”
Managing during crisis!
While big crises may not happen often in most start ups and companies your are going to deal with a number of them at various points.
The first thing you need to do in a crisis is ensure you have very clear and reassuring communication with your various stake holders especially, employees, suppliers, customers to mention but a few. “Let them know what is going on and how you are navigating solutions, ensure the communication is timely as well as elaborate enough not too detailed but not too simplistic either.”
Have a team of smart people around you probably a lawyer, finance person etc who can give you various advice from which you can pick what works. Finally you have to take the hard decisions that will move your company forward from that crisis and remember as an entrepreneur the back stops with you so you have to be ready to deal with the consequences.
Finally Nataliey who said she doesn’t believe in quitting advised the founders present at the event to keep growing in their trades, learning, changing, pivoting until they find that right product market fit that ultimately leads to breakthrough, quitting is not an option she concluded.
Email: michaelkanaabi@gmail.com
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