Rated #1 Podcast for Entrepreneurs in South Africa in 2023 by Feedspot.
The Founder Files is where founders come to explore proven growth strategies and real en...
Scaling a Non-profit Organisation - Tracey Chambers, Taking Care of Business
Today we're doing something different as we hear from a non-profit organisation for the first time on the podcast.
In this episode, we chat with Tracey Chambers, the co-founder and CEO of Taking Care of Business. TCB helps families escape the cycle of poverty by equipping unemployed and aspiring entrepreneurs with the skills and resources they need to unlock their full potential.
We get into the philosophy of why Tracey left her corporate job to start an NPO, and why you would start something where you’re helping other people with their wealth creation with a model where you are not able to create wealth for yourself—A fascinating perspective about fulfilment that will remind you why you are doing all of this.
We get into the practicalities of scaling this organisation—what made it unique, why it needed funding, how she set up her leadership team, the importance of systems, developing culture in new locations, and much more.
This is a great episode filled with practical lessons and great philosophies to shift your thinking.
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This episode is brought to you by Metavolve.
Metavolve turns highly capable African founders into confident business leaders by helping them develop clear and comprehensive business strategies that make building a great sustainable business less complex. Reach out to our team to learn more: https://metavolve.co/
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To support The Founder Files:
🔔 Follow The Founder Files EVERYWHERE
⭐ Leave a review right here
💭 Share your thoughts on Linkedin and tag Cameron Coutts
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00:00 Introduction
03:10 What is Taking Care of Business?
20:16 Why choose to run an NPO
32:02 Tracey’s mid-life crisis and why she left her high-paying job
45:37 The mindsets and beliefs that hold first-time entrepreneurs back
01:00:49 How Tracey scaled this from starting out of the back of an orphanage
01:07:52 The most important things to consider when scaling
01:16:00 How to ensure the culture is right in new branches
01:21:57 What Tracey has in place to be able to personally role model culture at new branches while being CEO
01:24:36 What does Tracey’s day-to-day look like?
01:29:07 What does the future hold for Taking Care of Business?
01:31:42 Would you take that jump again?
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1:36:39
Bootstrapped to R2 Billion and Disrupting Banking Oligopolies - Harry Scherzer, Future Forex
Welcome to the 100th episode of The Founder Files!
It’s amazing to hit this century milestone and we’re excited to keep releasing more episodes and providing valuable conversations.
Harry Scherzer, CEO and co-founder of Future Forex, joins us today to talk about his company which has grown to almost 100 people in just 4 years, processes R2 billion in transactions a month and is completely bootstrapped.
In this conversation, we cover:
- How have they managed to grow something so quickly out of the gate?
- How their focus on customer service and experience has helped them stand out in the market while challenging the banking industry's oligopolies
- Harry’s views on leadership, and how he navigates the uncomfortable parts
- Finding the balance between gratitude and ambition, especially while his identity is so tied to the business.
This episode looks at entrepreneurship both through a business lens and a human being perspective.
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This episode is brought to you by Metavolve.
Metavolve turns highly capable African founders into confident business leaders by helping them develop clear and comprehensive business strategies that make building a great sustainable business less complex. Reach out to our team to learn more: https://metavolve.co/
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To support The Founder Files:
🔔 Follow The Founder Files EVERYWHERE
⭐ Leave a review right here
💭 Share your thoughts on Linkedin and tag Cameron Coutts
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00:00 Introduction
03:29 What is Future Forex?
07:26 Scaling to 100 people in 4 years
10:46 Developing a product with a lot of demand
15:10 What is Future Forex’s competitive advantage
17:29 How Future Forex started
21:16 Is it possible to scale this internationally?
27:00 Developing a second product and competing with major banks
35:37 How to make better decisions when things are going wrong
47:40 The importance of leave for the business
52:48 How to tackle difficult conversations
01:06:08 The importance of being grateful and achieving happiness
01:13:39 Future Forex’s plans for 2025
01:18:58 Are you happy?
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1:22:31
The Distributor Behind The World's Biggest Brands - Jan Parmentier, Supernova Brands
What does it take to become a trusted supplier for the world’s biggest brands and retailers?
In this episode, we sit down with Jan Parmentier, CEO and co-founder of Supernova Brands, a value-added distributor that supplies nearly all South Africa’s big retail chains.
With over 1,500 products in circulation, Jan has spent the past decade building a deep understanding of the import/export industry. Now, they’re expanding into six Southern African countries while navigating the complexities of supply chain operations and market dynamics.
Jan shares the challenges of shaping a strong company identity, the pivotal rebrand that unlocked new opportunities, and the personal journey of his co-founder stepping away and bringing on a private equity partner. From navigating industry complexity to lessons learned along the way, this episode offers a fascinating dive into the world of retail and distribution.
Tune in to hear Jan’s insights on growth, resilience, and what it takes to succeed in one of the most demanding sectors of business.
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This episode is brought to you by Metavolve.
Metavolve turns highly capable African founders into confident business leaders by helping them develop clear and comprehensive business strategies that make building a great sustainable business less complex. Reach out to our team to learn more: https://metavolve.co/
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To support The Founder Files:
🔔 Follow The Founder Files EVERYWHERE
⭐ Leave a review right here
💭 Share your thoughts on Linkedin and tag Cameron Coutts
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00:00 Introduction
03:38 What is Supernova Brands?
11:13 The reason behind the B2B vs D2C approach
19:12 Who is the main customer?
24:32 Getting Disney and other big brands onboard and how it works
31:21 How Jan scaled such a complicated business?
41:31 The founding story of Supernova Brands
49:00 Finding your identity as a business
54:26 Rebranding to Supernova brands and what that changed
01:00:11 Navigating co-founder share exit to private equity
01:07:46 How did the private equity firm help?
01:12:40 Choosing the right investor
01:25:24 What’s in store for Supernova Brands
01:27:53 Keeping entrepreneurship exciting
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1:38:17
Rapid Scaling South Africa’s Largest D2C Solar Provider - Andrew Middleton, GoSolr
In just 3 years, GoSolr became the biggest direct-to-consumer solar provider in South Africa and has invested billions into rooftop residential solar.
Today, we have the privilege of hearing from Andrew Middleton, the CEO and co-founder of GoSolr. He'll share insights on how they've achieved their remarkable success and the key lessons he's learned along the way.
We discuss the surge in demand during South Africa's worst load-shedding period and how the company had to pivot its sales approach as urgency declined.
We explore the challenges of fundraising for a business with high-cost inventory—an intriguing conversation, given Andrew's background in investment banking.
We get more into what the journey has been like rapid scaling to a 130-person business in just 3 years:
- How to get teams thinking like founders, inspired by purpose, mission, and vision and the significant impact this alignment has had on Andrew’s business.
- Managing outsourced installers.
- Keeping up with high demand.
- Maintaining stock levels.
- Ensuring a quality customer experience while scaling rapidly.
Amongst all that, Andrew shares his personal experiences within the company, including what turned out to be easier than expected, the toughest challenges, and key lessons learned along the way.
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This episode is brought to you by Metavolve.
Metavolve turns highly capable African founders into confident business leaders by helping them develop clear and comprehensive business strategies that make building a great sustainable business less complex. Reach out to our team to learn more: https://metavolve.co/
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As we gear up for Season 5, we want to make sure each episode is as valuable as possible for you. Your feedback is key, so we’ve put together a quick survey to hear what you think.
So if you'd like to help make The Founder Files even better, please take 5 minutes to fill out this survey: https://tally.so/r/wgZ2d4
----
To support The Founder Files:
🔔 Follow The Founder Files EVERYWHERE
⭐ Leave a review right here
💭 Share your thoughts on Linkedin and tag Cameron Coutts
----
00:00 Introduction
03:27 What is GoSolr?
06:11 How did GoSolr fund this subscription model?
15:22 What Andrew did to make it easy for investors to say yes
19:57 Reopening the investment round to secure funding from African Rainbow Capital and its subsequent impact
30:34 The impact of load shedding ending
35:24 How GoSolr’s sales approach changed after load shedding ended?
52:29 Why B2C and not B2B?
55:37 The scale of GoSolr
57:14 Challenges faced while scaling GoSolr
01:04:55 Keeping up with high demand and rapid scale
01:15:45 Maintaining a good customer experience working with external installers
01:20:46 Creating a culture of ownership, care and intrinsic motivation
01:29:39 What does the next 6 - 12 months look like for GoSolr?
01:31:25 Where can you sign up for GoSolr?
01:31:53 Outro
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1:34:25
Scaling Africa's Largest Click and Collect Network - Lars Veul, Pargo
Online shoppers, stores and retail companies all love Pargo, a South African logistics company transforming the e-commerce landscape with over 4000 pickup points in South Africa and a recent 500 more in Egypt.
Today we are joined by Lars Veul, the co-founder and CEO of this rapidly growing business.
Lars shares Pargo's journey—from founding to scaling—offering insights into their successes and missteps along the way.
We explore how the Pargo team initially lost focus by trying to tackle new problems that customers brought to them. Lars explains how this shift impacted the business and, despite a financial setback, why they chose to double down on their core identity instead.
Spoiler alert—the payoff was huge.
We also delve into the strategic decision to expand into Egypt and the process of establishing 500 locations and appointing a managing director.
This episode packs many lessons and experience-shares from an amazing entrepreneur running a great business. Enjoy!
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This episode is brought to you by Metavolve.
Metavolve turns highly capable African founders into confident business leaders by helping them develop clear and comprehensive business strategies that make building a great sustainable business less complex. Reach out to our team to learn more: https://metavolve.co/
----
As we gear up for Season 5, we want to make sure each episode is as valuable as possible for you. Your feedback is key, so we’ve put together a quick survey to hear what you think.
So if you'd like to help make The Founder Files even better, please take 5 minutes to fill out this survey: https://tally.so/r/wgZ2d4
----
To support The Founder Files:
🔔 Follow The Founder Files EVERYWHERE
⭐ Leave a review right here
💭 Share your thoughts on Linkedin and tag Cameron Coutts
----
00:00 Introduction
03:09 What is Pargo?
19:00 The founding story of Pargo
20:56 A look into Lars’ environment
21:43 Finding product-market fit
29:51 The difference between growing and scaling
33:38 International expansion into Egypt
41:43 The consequence of losing focus
55:14 The mindset mistake South African founders make
01:03:35 How Pargo decided which country to expand to
01:07:18 How did Pargo actually expand into Egypt from the other side of the continent?
01:14:40 What the next 6 - 12 months look like for Lars and Pargo
Rated #1 Podcast for Entrepreneurs in South Africa in 2023 by Feedspot.
The Founder Files is where founders come to explore proven growth strategies and real entrepreneurial challenges.
Hosted by Cameron Coutts, each episode unpacks the complex journeys of scaling businesses, delivered by entrepreneurs who've walked the path. No script, no filter – just a fireside chat between growth-driven founders.
If you’re seeking practical advice and relatable stories to fuel your growth journey, this is your go-to resource. Subscribe now!