It is not easy being a business leader.
You identify opportunities and see gaps in the market but making use of those opportunities takes hard work.
It takes perseverance, and it requires access to funding.
Zohra Crain says this is very applicable to her story.
Today she runs a successful level one BEE company that supplies automation, electrical, hardware and software solutions to the continent’s mining, agricultural, energy and petrochemical industries. It took a lot of effort to get here though.
“I identified a gap in the market for a BEE company with the skills and staff that can assist mines and companies that required manufacturing and processing with automated solutions and engineering. This was my motivation for starting Adroitly Africa back in 2016,” she explains.
She was soon faced with many obstacles including one of the most significant challenges faced by SMEs – namely access to funding.
The company needed to source engineers who were both highly skilled and experienced, which was time-consuming but also required funds to pay them.
“Developing your own product takes time and it takes a lot of money. It is certainly not something that just happens overnight,” she says.
The company started developing software but also needed to overcome the perception of being a small, newly started company.
Despite government messaging about SME financial assistance and exploring every opportunity, Zohra realised that there was no real assistance available.
This was not very motivating for a female business owner who came to the realisation that she needed to do it on her own and look for other avenues, if she had any hope of success.
Even after approaching the company’s banks and presenting her business turnover through the same banks, she still had no luck.
“But having a fantastic team of staff that are worth it and knowing they can help you develop and offer a fantastic product, is what motivated me to persevere.”
Tom Stuart, chief marketing officer for SME service provider Lulalend, says Zohra’s story is all too familiar in South Africa.
“I don’t think that traditional banks understand the funding challenges and requirements that are unique to the SME space. These businesses need access to capital and they need approval decisions made quickly in order to take advantage of any market opportunities before they disappear.”
With financial support provided by Lulalend, Adroitly could afford to hire and retain staff with the right knowledge and skills as well as finance stock needed to develop hardware. This helped the company to expand and become a market leader in the automation space.
Zohra says her secret to success was perseverance. “I kept on telling myself that I know I can do this, as I have faith and trust.”
BUSINESS REPORT