Empowering staff will pay dividends

“The first step we took was to hold a conference for all the staff outside work and present them with a document about our ambitions and plan.

“We provided them with a platform to voice their concerns and ambitions. It led me to my second lesson: every human being has an ambition, a burning ambition,” he said.

“People in your company are human beings. Discuss their ambitions and help them to achieve their personal goals in life. We are able to achieve our goals only by empowering our people to do what they do best,” he said.

Birthathee said they mapped out a sustainable future for the group, which led to some staff who had no business experience or formal education owning franchises.

“We soon realised that, regardless of their level of education, we needed to create space in the system to move our staff forward. We embarked on a move as retailers to create a supply chain that would supply these stores,” he said.

Birthathee urges entrepreneurs to equip staff and empower them. He bemoaned the inadequacy of how South African schools were training youth.

When they embarked on the development of a 3000m2 facility, banks turned them down.

“Don’t let the opinion of a salaryearning nerd determine your future. Sadly, the content in textbooks is designed to work in an age-old democracy and doesn’t take South African socio-economic challenges into account.

“Every economist tells us how need to create jobs. What we really need to do is create entrepreneurs,” he said.

Kara Nichas employs more than 400 people at 18 outlets around the country. They bake their own bread, produce their own cutlery and vegetables, mill their own flour and claim the most expensive meal at one of their stores is a mere R8.50.

“The journey still goes on; the journey never ends. A great entrepreneur is someone who is prepared to be a great student,” he said.