Heavy Chef Is Focusing On Partnerships. This Is Why.
In just under one week, we’re hosting an entrepreneur community gathering focusing on partnerships.
[You’re invited, btw! Remember that HC members get free tickets to all our events. Sign up here or email here if you need assistance.]
Why is this topic so important?
My colleague Louis told me something astounding this week:
91% of all registered businesses in South Africa consist of 5 or less people.
The vast majority of that 91% are single-person operations.
If we look at the number of employees relating to the percentage of small businesses it reveals a telling picture:
1 employee: 67.8%
2-4 employees: 23.5%
5-9 employees: 6.1%
10-19 employees: 1.7%
20-49 employees: 0.5%
50 or more employees: 0.4%
Millions of small businesses are trying to survive in solitude at the one end of the scale.
On the other, 340 companies pay half of South Africa’s corporate tax in this country.
It’s not difficult to see this as unsustainable.
Together with Xero, Workshop17 and others, the Heavy Chef Foundation team is conducting continuous research on South Africa’s entrepreneur community.
54% of entrepreneurs say they do not have a mentor but would like one.
At the same time, 63% of entrepreneurs say learning from other entrepreneurs contributed most to their own development.
According to our studies, the number one most requested resource is the ability to connect with others, including managers and leaders of bigger companies.
In essence:
Small businesses in SA are largely operating in silo. They need bigger partners to get shit done.
Big businesses in SA are stagnating. They need smaller partners to &#$@ shit up.
Bigger corporations need to innovate to avoid being disrupted. The bulk of disruptive innovation comes from startups and smaller businesses.
Smaller corporations benefit significantly from access to market channels, finance, logistics, operations and resources that larger units can provide.
Partnerships have the ability to improve both big and small enterprises.
So, yeah. This is an important conversation.
Next week, my colleague Zinhle Novazi will hold court* with Bruno Ollierhoek, former CEO of Nestlé ESAR, and Lorna Mlonzi, CEO of Sky Internet.
Bruno is a big corporate dude (Nestlé is the biggest food company in the world) and Lorna is a small company dudette (Sky is a startup).
Both have big personalities, and both have a lot to share on this topic.
From a personal perspective, I can say with a great deal of conviction that partnerships have been the lifeblood of my own company, Heavy Chef.
When I left WWC in 2016 I had an inkling that i wanted to start a learning platform. I wrote the original business plan back in 2009, pitched it to Mike and Louis, my business partners.
In 2017, the three of us kinda batted that same business plan around, while I started tentatively running entrepreneur events to kick things off.
In the beginning of this new journey, there was no revenue and no team. Things were tough, and I wasn’t sure how to gain traction.
It only shifted after some impactive conversations with some impactive people at some impactive companies.
These were Payfast, Xero, Workshop17 and Backsberg - who are all still Heavy Chef’s partners today. Soon afterwards, we had Whipping The Cat, Sir Fruit, Capitalise and xneelo on Heavy Chef’s roster.
Our partners have all aligned with our vision of inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs. They allowed us to build a team and to create the paid entrepreneur learning platform in 2021. Our revenue model is simple. We have one flat fee, R250 (around $15) per month for an ‘all-you-can-eat’ pass to content, community and benefits.
Since launch, over 1,787 people (as of writing this) have signed up on Heavy Chef.
Partnerships are the reason why Heavy Chef still exists today. It allowed us to scale, build and strengthen.
Now, our community has grown to the extent that we are rewarding our partners for their faith in us.
In the next few months, we’re releasing new features, focusing on community engagement (which allows our members to seek counsel from each other and find mentors) and partner benefits (which encourages our members to take advantage of our partners’ services.
Win. Win. Win.
I will update this site with updates on how it’s going.
Yours, in partnership.
Peace. -
