Take Charge – Career Snippets

Sunshine Hlami Shibambo, founder of Cheri Yase Kasi, an agency that prides itself in being truly African and pioneering consumer-centric experiential marketing strategies, shares her entrepreneurial journey

What gap did you identify in the industry that prompted you to start your agency? While at my previous job, I realised that most agencies didn’t have a real representation of the South African landscape. The majority of consumers today are black, which means that the way we talk to them has to change from neutral to direct.

How has your business grown since you started it in 2015? We’ve moved offices three times, and lost a business partner; there’s only two of us now. But, it’s exciting because we have finally figured out how to be a sustainable and profitable business. With each year that has passed, clients have trusted us more while the budgets have increased. To move from small celebrity baby showers to hosting a Bernini event for 1 500 girls is major.

What are some of the pitfalls that you encountered along the way? I do things that I previously never saw myself doing. I’m now a procurement manager – I have to secure clients and ensure that we’re added to vendor lists. I’m also quite the tender queen now; I have to create opportunities for the business. This taught me to trust the team to run things on their own and that I didn’t need to be everywhere. What lessons have you learnt along the way? I wish we had known earlier the importance of having an accountant because we lost a lot of money by being naive on how SARS operated. Additionally, I wish I had learnt sooner how the money aspect of the business worked, but I suppose that was part of the lesson. I reached out to friends with similar structures as mine or those that I admired. I asked for help, from loan agreements to growth plans and hiring of employees. Having big brothers and sisters outside helped us to stay on the right track. They told me not to personalise losses, and rather learn that it isn’t about me and move on.

What are some of the projects that have stood out for you? The MiWay 10-year event, where the brand celebrated its staff by getting them together for the first time. We had to create a day that would appeal to everyone; finding things that would appeal to a 21-year-old and 50-year-old was exciting.

Any words of wisdom for people looking to go into marketing ? Be clear on the gap that is available for you. Africa has now become a rich commodity, and the only way to tell our story is through the African

child. If you’re not happy with a certain service delivery area, and know that you can improve it, then let that be your niche.