Giving entrepreneurs a global edge
● Zwide-born self-starter empowers upcoming businesses to access funding and markets
An entrepreneur who is passionate about helping to grow start-up companies, Legazy founder Zuko Tisani pairs emerging companies with investors.
He has spent the last three years helping to expose their talents at some of the world’s most recognised exhibitions.
Please share some background on yourself and how the business began.
I was born in Zwide, Port Elizabeth, to young parents who were undergraduates at Rhodes University.
I lived with my grandparents in Port Elizabeth until I was seven, then moved to Johannesburg and my schooling there.
I was privileged to attend private schools in the north of Johannesburg and though I was not the brightest of students, I managed to secure a space at UCT, where I studied industrial psychology.
I took on leadership roles, and was the president of the humanities student council and then the president of the entrepreneurs society.
Putting myself on these platforms made me conscious of my abilities and passions — supporting and representing the talented and often voiceless.
I was headhunted as a management consultant at Accenture, and like the two jobs after that I learnt a lot, especially about the digital economy.
What is your core service? Until recently we provided entrepreneurs, mainly black, with a global footprint by taking entrepreneurs to large technology trade shows across the world.
In these spaces, in Europe, the US and Asia, we would immerse the entrepreneurs into the ecosystems by providing platforms not only to exhibit but meet stakeholders, run pilots of their solutions to big companies and institutions, and get them incubated in those spaces.
Our first local event — Startup State of Nation Address — was in November.
The focus was on bringing titans of industry to an audience of entrepreneurs on how to access their funding and markets.
Where was the idea born?
It was obvious almost all SMEs in SA didn’t have a clue about how to access funding and markets, and we had the relevant network to make it happen.
There were keynote addresses delivered by Mcebisi Jonas; Dr Judy Dlamini-Nxasana; Queen Elizabeth’s trade commissioner of Africa, Emma Wade-Smith; Mpho Dagada of Commission 4IR; and Ziaad Sulerman, COO of IBM.
The entrepreneurs left informed on how to partner with big business and the public sector.
What makes your business unique?
My business is driven by value, more so than on a profit basis, as much as that can hurt at times.
We want to create platforms and opportunities for entrepreneurs to stand a chance at success in an SA market.
If someone wanted to copy your business model, how would they start?
Create great proposals for big companies with enterprise development budgets.
All big companies have to spend 2% of their net profits on supporting small enterprises.
If you have an idea of merit, but also value their interests, you shouldn’t have too many challenges accessing these budgets.
What are some of the biggest inhibitors your business faced before getting off the ground?
We are not funded and rely on sales to succeed.
We believe we will raise money soon, but that’s after four years and a track record to do it with.
Do you have any tips for budding entrepreneurs or new business owners?
As much as we’ve hardly taken money from investors, we also do not waste too much time applying for money.
We spend 90% of our time looking at addressing the needs of our customers, and that’s what keeps us relevant and in demand.
What is the best advice anyone gave you on success? My mentor, Mkhuseli Faku, gives me great advice.
A friend of mine also told me “don’t celebrate till it’s in the bank”.
To see through opportunities until it’s done is important — don’t live on the promise of opportunities, but deliver on it.
How do you measure or define success in your business?
The number of companies we can tangibly affect — it’s about the legacy being built.
What are some of the best practices that have made your business successful? Long-term contracts. In the beginning we would sign commitments for a particular service, but when you sign a three-year deal you alleviate the pressure to always start from zero at the beginning of every year.
What kind of advertising do you do?
Hardly any — we are hiring for our marketing division. The challenge is investing in a marketing strategy that produces results.
We have fantastic personal relationships with our clients, so it’s taken a while for me to come around to begin spending in a space I find difficult to measure returns.
What is your company’s vision?
With SSONA (www.ssona2019.co.za), our flagship project, we are creating a structure that is relevant for entrepreneurs, but also credible enough for big business and the public sector for us to mediate and ensure the needs of entrepreneurs are satisfied, policies for SMEs are in their favour and that someone, us, audits and keeps the private and public sector accountable for their commitments.
We also help small businesses to grab available opportunities
What is your target market?
If you look at our revenue streams, we have products small businesses can buy; however, we have large companies and government buying our products, which gives them relevance and reach to SMEs.
What have some of your highlights been in running your business?
Taking more than 116 entrepreneurs to cities across the world and seeing how I helped expand their businesses and also their mindsets.
How important is social media and an online presence for your business?
We use influencer marketing because we see the engagement is tangible.
We find it valuable to use individuals who have audiences of people that are our potential customers.
How many people do you employ?
Currently six. I also run a venture capital fund that has 11 people in it.
Do you have any plans for expanding the business and how would you go about this? Of course. SSONA 2020 is already well-funded by the success we had in 2019.
We will be hiring for where we lack, such as marketing and other divisions.
How did you acquire funding?
I sold a concept to a bank for R1m. It wasn’t that simple, nor did I take R1m into my personal account, but it was enough to begin operations.
We have been blessed to continue having clients who use us for their international trade missions to expand their global footprint.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far?
Protect your name and reputation as much as possible — you do this by doing good work and doing your best to honour your word.
How important has mentorship been to you in your entrepreneurial journey? I found a mentor in Mkhuseli Faku — a leader in oil and gas in SA — also from PE.
I never had a mentor until now and I believe before I was 25 that a lot of my business decisions were not harmful, because I was young.
What do you think are the three key traits of a successful entrepreneur?
[An ability to] hustle; someone who can handle adversity; someone who knows their market well.
How do you motivate staff? By shaping them to be what they want to be after they finish learning and growing at Legazy.
What do you wish people knew about your industry? That SA is one of the toughest ecosystems in which to run a business — especially an innovative one.