JOHANNA MUKOKI

ENTREPRENEUR, GLOBAL MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER, PHILANTHROPIST & TRAVEL GURU

❛The most common mistake I come across is entrepreneurs who don’t ask for feedback – it’s a lost opportunity not to know where your shortcomings are and improve on them.❜

Multiple award-winning entrepreneur Johanna Mukoki holds a B.Comm degree from Rhodes University. ‘I majored in Accounting and Economics, and then I went on to do my articles at KPMG, which gave me a solid foundation to start my own business,’ she says. I believe the success of any business comes down to managing the finances properly, so being an accountant helps a lot!’

Her mom, she says, raised her to become an entrepreneur. ‘My mother was a school teacher and ran three informal businesses on the side. My siblings and I had to help her with the soft goods and foodstuffs she sold, so I learned to appreciate and understand how money is generated from a very young age.’

Johanna started travel management company Travel With Flair (TWF) in 1997 with two partners. Twentytwo years later, they employ more than 750 people, with offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

She’s a sought-after international motivational speaker and has spoken in Florida, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Germany and, of course, SA. Johanna also conceptualised, presented and was executive producer of SABC2’s Women on the Move, a business programme highlighting successful South African businesswomen; she herself holds the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa’s Business Woman of the Year title.

TWF has a fully accredited training academy and provides 12-month courses for students who want to start a career in travel. Johanna also has several mentees, and has put some students through tertiary education to help them become employable.

Economic and social empowerment are extremely important to her. ‘I truly believe that “to whom much is given, much is expected!” And being a social entrepreneur speaks to that – it is vital in this country, where there is so much lack and need. It is possible to make a difference while building an empire.’

Johanna also believes in hard work. ‘You need to be focused to succeed in business. The key to building a lasting business is to continually reinvest the profits back into it to ensure that you are able to scale and have sufficient working capital. You also need to know what the possible interrupters in your industry are, and to stay ahead of technology.

‘The most common mistake I come across is entrepreneurs who don’t ask for feedback – it’s a lost opportunity not to know where your shortcomings are and improve on them.’

Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is not to wait until their idea is 100% perfect. ‘It might never get to that. The secret is to just start when you have the fundamentals in place – most businesses are sustained by trial and error.’