Unlocking The Power Of Partnerships
On a sunny day in October 2016, Lorna Mlonzi, was shot nine times near her home in Nyanga. The bullets flew into her stomach, side and chest.
“There is a lot of gangsterism in Nyanga,” says Lorna, whose recipe was featured on Heavy Chef last week. “It was me being at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“During that incident, four people died on the scene. I was a bystander. I was walking past while people were shooting each other.”
“I felt a burning sensation in my body. Blood was coming out. The guns were not stopping. It was chaos. I can see people dead. I could see blood everywhere.”
“I thought to myself, okay, so what happens now?”
Lorna had just enough money in her wallet to hire a taxi to take her to ICU. She passed out on the way to Mitchells Plain hospital. The taxi driver thought she was dead so he pushed her out of the vehicle.
“I woke up, and thought ‘great, I’m here’ - then I passed out again.”
Lorna woke up three days later in hospital, with the nursing staff wondering how on Earth she had survived.
This experience is similar to many daily occurrences that beset South Africans daily throughout our crazy/beautiful country.
Instead of succumbing to fear, Lorna saw her miraculous escape as a signal to do something meaningful with her life.
Lorna subsequently founded an impressive internet service provider, Sky Internet. She has partnered with Scandinavian and South African investors to tackle one of Africa’s most salient challenges: cheap, fast internet.
Later this month, Heavy Chef will be featuring this extraordinary woman to talk about how she’s reframed her story into a positive outcome.
The crucial lesson Lorna has learned along the way involves partnerships.
In Lorna’s recipe on Heavy Chef (check it here), she unpacks how the relationships with big business catapulted the growth of Sky Internet.
Our research at Heavy Chef Foundation shows that entrepreneurs really, reallystruggle with this.
In the early stages of any business, one of the most thorny problems is getting the offering to market fast enough to ensure profitability.
Engaging with a corporate partner is a powerful way of meeting this challenge. Landing a big brand on your books could mean:
Access to market channels.
Collaboration on product innovation.
Marketing muscle for your offering.
Distribution and logistics.
Access to experienced mentors and managers.
Invaluable financial inflow.
Whilst partnerships are not a panacea, they can provide a huge boost to a burgeoning business.
It’s easier said than done, however.
With this in mind, on the 28th February at W17 in Sandton, we are hosting Lorna on stage. Queen Zinhle Novazi, as usual, will hold court as our peerless MC.
We’re going to lean in properly to this vital topic. Heavy Chef will unpack the pros and cons of partnerships. We will identify which doors to knock on (and how) - and how to handle gate-keepers.
The big news this week is that we’ve landed a very special business partner to participate on the 28th. The extremely erudite and incendiary-smart Bruno Olierhoek, the long-time leader of Nestlé EMEA, will be joining Lorna on stage.
Nestlé is the largest food company in the world. In terms of partners for small businesses to engage with, it doesn’t get bigger. Nestlé is running supplier development programmes around the world, including the Nestlé Hatcher initiative here in South Africa.
I have spoken on stage with Bruno before. I can testify Bruno is passionate about developing small business and using Nestlé’s considerable corporate clout to uplift the entrepreneur sector.
This event is mandatory for startups looking to unlock the power of partnership.
Lorna and Bruno will field questions on all the pressing stuff you may be battling with. This is your chance to engage directly with the heaviest chefs in the community.
Partnership is something that is particularly pertinent to the HC team. Heavy Chef has itself grown into a profitable entity primarily thanks to our own partners. From the outset we garnered vital support from Xero, PayFast, Workshop17, Capitalise, WTC and xneelo - all aligned with our cause to inspire and empower entrepreneurs. Our events rely on our lifestyle partners: Backsberg, Global Citizen, Goodleaf, Sir Fruit and Creed Living.
When I spent a day with Lorna last year, I was struck by her down-to-earth nature. Lorna’s story is a stark reminder of the vicissitudes of life - but also, how we can turn tragedy into positivity.
Lorna credits two things as critical to her resurgence from that dark place back in 2016.
Firstly, her commitment to prayer - a meditative discipline she practices daily.
Secondly, the partnerships she has since forged with powerful people and organisations that have unlocked the way forward for her entrepreneurial career.
I look forward to sharing Lorna’s story with you all on the 28th.
Book your seats here or email us here to reserve your place. (Remember, Heavy Chef members get free tickets.)
See y’all then.
