The front page of the Sunday Times of last week carried an article on certain romantic entanglements in our new Deputy President, Paul Mashatile’s life, arising from allegations made by a previous lover, one Gugu Nkosi, apparently a Gauteng based businesswoman operating in the construction industry.
For me it was not the titillating details contained in what the article called a salacious romantic drama that caught my attention, but a comment made by Nkosi on a hired car that was arranged for her after her Porsche Cayenne was damaged. She had returned the car, a Mercedes C200, because she ‘couldn’t be going into serious meetings with a C200’.
This comment drove home for me what is wrong with the approach many emerging (and established) entrepreneurs take towards winning new business. The appearance and trappings of apparent success should not be a precursor to assessing ability to perform and deliver. This is not to say that one should be sloppy and deliberately poorly put together when presenting oneself for new opportunities, or servicing existing clients: this would be disrespectful to one’s clients, or potential clients.
If I was pitching for new work and was judged negatively, overtly or covertly because I drove up in a Mercedes C200 instead of a Porsche Cayenne, before I even said my first word, this would be work that I would probably be better off without. I would advise Nkosi that, if she had to rely on her red Porsche Cayenne to be taken seriously by potential clients at meetings, she would be better off working on her other skills that are holding back her confidence levels.
My contention is that a lot of this behaviour exhibited by emerging businesspeople is telegraphed by the State, where the lack of ‘substance’ in government programmes is evident.
Money is spent on the ‘bells and whistles’, rather than on the actual execution of deliverables. This leads to the perception that one needs to display evidence of conspicuous consumption to evidence success, the sort of thinking that drives Covid PPE swindler Hamilton Ndlovu to buy five brand new Porsches in one day.
One of the key hallmarks of successful business people is investing in their enterprises first, and themselves second. Build resilience and sustainability by conserving resources, under promising and over delivering, and striving for customer delight.
The number of potential customers who will be convinced by a red Porsche to give you their business are far and few in between. Those that are will be as likely to be as flippant and carefree when it comes to settling your first invoice, as they are in giving you the order.
Vijay Naidoo is the CEO of the Port Shepstone Business Forum. He writes in his personal capacity. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.
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