Learning with Sash

Laduma Ngxokolo (founder and designer of my favourite brand, Maxhosa) is one of my biggest inspirations.

To see what the likes of himself, Nelson Makamo (artist) and Black Coffee (DJ) are doing to fly the South African flag on a global stage is nothing short of extraordinary. And in a country where we as young people can be so easily influenced by what the Western world constantly throws at us, having local heroes like this to look up to is so important.

So when Tumelo Mahlare and I were invited by Maxhosa to attend “Amasiko Nezithethe”, their showcase at the AFI Cape Town Fashion week, we didn’t flinch to show support for our favourite designer and brand.

To cut a long story short, we ended up sitting next to Astrid Wendlandt and the following interview took place: https://lnkd.in/ejNZZeg

PS. If you’re interested to hear more about Laduma’s story, definitely give this podcast a listen: https://lnkd.in/e6f3cSh

This week, one of my most influential high school teachers, Bruce Collins, moves on to a new and exciting chapter in his career.

While I am humbled to be mentioned in his reflective Twitter thread, I feel like I need to pay tribute to this innovative teacher.

Some things Mr Collins did while I was at school:

1. As my English teacher, he introduced the concept of the collaborative classroom environment. (we only sat in groups and tackled tasks much like one would in a co-working space).

2. We did not write essays, we created our own blogs.

3. He encouraged us to engage with him in dialogue on social media (during and after class).

4. He made Shakespeare tutorials on YouTube and we could listen to sound recordings of his poetry lessons.

5. He literally found a digital alternative for any old and outdated paper system that most schools still use.

6. Lastly and most importantly, he always made sure that we were always mindful of our privilege and inherent biases.

I don’t believe being innovative is a skill you’re born with. It’s about having forward-thinking people like Bruce Collins who create an environment where thinking differently is actually encouraged and celebrated.

Thanks, Sir!

I don’t believe being innovative is a skill you’re born with. It’s about having forward-thinking people like Bruce Collins who create an environment where thinking differently is actually encouraged and celebrated.

Sashin Pillay Gonzalez

Two Mondays ago, Matthew Mercouris, Zolile Ngengebule and I hosted our first invite only event for the project we’ve been working on (called UCONNECT). The attendees, all young entrepreneurs, engaged with us in an open-ended discussion regarding the problems that they’re experiencing in the start-up ecosystem. The idea of this collaborative event derives from the concept of really understanding our users’ needs/problems and getting their input into our idea, as opposed to developing a product that we simply believe people would use.

We’d like to thank all of those who attended and we’re looking forward to hosting another one very soon! Watch this space.

What’s the harm in asking?

Over the course of my university career, I found great value in the practical learnings from industry experts and businesses alike. I got into a habit of reaching out and asking for opportunities to learn and/or collaborate. I’ve also often simply reached out to conference/event organisers to ask if I may attend in a learning capacity.

Don’t be intimidated. You’d be surprised how often these industry legends, huge businesses and conference organisers are willing to help out a young person who is willing to learn.

Try it. At worst someone will say no or ignore you.

But have you lost anything in the process?

No.

2018 was a year of personal growth. While I graduated from UCT, 90% of the things I learnt came from outside the gates of the university:

– I interned at various businesses in both strategic and marketing departments. The most rewarding was at Nando’s South Africa and Nfinity, where I got to learn from the likes of Doug Place, John Sikiotis and Ken Varejes.

– I attended a bunch of different conferences on anything from leadership to tech. Almost without fail, I was the youngest person there. At AfricaCom, I got to meet the awesome duo of Sharron L McPherson and Margaret O’Connor (who are both now mentors).

– I helped out a few friends with their start-up ventures. It was here that I was fortunate enough to collaborate with the likes of Seko Buthelezi and Gift Lubele.

– I then found myself in an exciting space where I was engaging with and learning from the likes of Ntsako Mgiba and Anda Ngcaba.

– Zolile Ngengebule, Matthew Mercouris and I then decided to pursue our own start-up venture (which I hope to share with you soon).

Looking ahead at 2019: I have been granted an opportunity to move to Dublin (Ireland) in May to work for a company that I’ve only dreamed of joining.

So as I sit down and set my goals for the year ahead, this is my theme: 2019 = EXPONENTIAL LEARNING

I’ve had the privilege of mentoring Gift Phala since his grade 8 year in 2013.

While he has an amazing story, he’s currently at UCT and is well on his way to killing his 1st year and undoubtedly becoming a top CA in the future.

However, it’s the chats like these that make me the most proud:

Don’t sleep on this guy, I’m warning you!

On Monday, Holly Beckley, Joel Perlman and I presented our Honours thesis findings at a conference at the University of Cape Town.

I’m really proud to announce that we received 91% for our final thesis report and topped our class for the year! As a result of this, we were presented with the 2018 Research Excellence Award.

I believe what made our thesis stand out was our ability to actually engage with Nando’s (arguably the best marketing brand in South Africa) on a topic that is really relevant in the industry right now, as opposed to a purely theoretical and academic approach.

Our study explored the following topic:

The Virality of Nando’s South Africa’s Social Media Marketing on Facebook and its Influence on Brand Equity and Purchase Intentions Amongst the Born-Free Generation in South Africa’s Three Major Metropolitan Cities.

A huge thank you must go to Doug Place, John Sikiotis, Darren Hampton and Helga du Toit from Nando’s South Africa for all of your patience and assistance!

Matthew Mercouris and I had the privilege of sitting down and having a coffee with Ntsako Mgiba (UCT Masters student and Founder of Jonga) yesterday.

While we believe that we are onto something really impactful, Ntsako provided us with sound advice regarding start-ups and a taste of what it would take to build a success out of our idea.

Some key lessons learnt:

1. Make sure you don’t build the wrong thing properly

2. Understand the problem from a consumers’ POV (focusing on user experience)

3. You don’t have to be the first do something. Investors don’t always like hearing “we’re the first”

4. If you scale crap, you make more crap

“If you scale crap, you make more crap”

Ntsako Mgiba

Check out his business here: https://jonga.co/

One of my highlights this year has been a course called Strategic Thinking (all 4th year Business Science students at UCT are required to do it).

We were randomly selected into groups of 6 to complete two major projects across both semesters. With a lot of luck, I was placed in a team with 5 other hugely talented individuals:

1. Gianstelvio Radesich (AccSci & ComSci)

2. Abelo Phiri (Finance & Ecos)

3. Robin Mahlangu (Finance & Ecos)

4. Michael Crawford (Finance & Acc)

5. Nick Beal (Finance & Acc)

– For Mazars Project 1: we placed 2nd for a business strategy developed for “Department of Coffee” in Khayelitsha. (We received 81%)

– For Mazars Project 2: we were selected as 1 of 5 finalists to pitch our start-up business idea (in collaboration with Gift Lubele) called “WeCollect” to a panel of judges last week. (We received 85%)

While we didn’t end up having the winning pitch, I’d like to give a shoutout to this team for the great effort displayed this year. I personally found huge enjoyment and growth in being able to innovate with a group of people who all think about solutions differently, and ultimately, we came up with great ideas.

Most importantly, we all became really good friends and synergy was undoubtedly our biggest strength!