“We are innovative in the sense that we have developed our own unique service delivery model which assists small businesses with branding requirements in less than 12 weeks, and we don’t initiate our assistance with paperwork – we go and meet the businesspeople in person,” he says.
SUNDAY INDEPENDENT | ENTREPRENEURSHIP | Sept. 26, 2021
AGEISM aside, it is becoming crystal clear that young people are going to rule the world.
Based on his innovation and drive, one young man is proving that the world today needs the fresh eyes of youth to function better.
Tamane Murahwa, is founder and chief executive of Look Better Institute, which he describes as a nationwide Transformative Socio-economic Innovative Enterprise (TSIE) vehicle.
What it does in simple terms is give start-ups the much-needed visibility.
He says in corporate speak: “We focus on building the brand image of small businesses in marginalised regions, mainly in the township and rural environments for the purpose of scaling up their access to both capital investment and sustainable clients.”
With a young team of three, Murahwa assists small businesses with the much dreaded paperwork of starting out, from designing their company logo, letterheads, and websites, including the drudge of registering the business and making it compliant.
It is such a necessary service that the Department of Small Business is now on board. A few other large municipalities have shown similar interest.
They wouldn’t have not been keen to buy in, after all, he’s making the authorities look good.
“We are innovative in the sense that we have developed our own unique service delivery model which assists small businesses with branding requirements in less than 12 weeks, and we don’t initiate our assistance with paperwork – we go and meet the businesspeople in person,” he says, speaking the language of many young people who want to get started in business but are discouraged by the red tape.
“To date, since the official inception in July last year, we have assisted more than 30 businesses.”
The affable young entrepreneur says, “My hope is to see an equal society in South Africa being made possible by assisting small businesses from grass-roots level, because by reducing the unemployment rate through innovative solutions for small businesses, we contribute towards self-sustainability in communities and ultimately reduce societal problems that seem to be escalating on a daily basis such as crime, poverty and education inadequacy, among others.”
It is Murahwa’s firm belief that the government needs to partner up with social enterprises that have a similar mandate as theirs.
“In this way service delivery can be accelerated because social enterprises like ours are more flexible and innovative in their service approach whereas the government is a huge structure that can take time to catch up with the latest technologies to deliver assistance to the needy”.
He says he has the time, that the government doesn’t have enough of, to go around touching base with small businesses that need the kind of heads-up service his company offers.
Among the success stories Look Better Institute can boast of is assisting Thabang Kekana of Bloofold. “Bloofold is a new ‘challenger bank’ and through assistance from Look Better Institute with branding communication, it has managed to secure capital assets and strategic partnerships. Bloofold plans to announce the launch date within the next 8 months”, Murahwa says.
They do graphic design – identities, annual reports, magazines, adverts etc: printing, website development and intranet sites, communicatons plan and strategy, social media and digital marketing, motion graphics and video production, media buying, brand development training and media training.
“These are a host of services that were the government to try to offer it, it will take several years in office.”
“Look Better Institute has the energy - and youth – on its side.”
It worries Murahwa that a lot of black-owned township businesses continue to be negatively affected by the dominance of multinational brands.
He cites the example of Zinhle Mabuza, a young black woman entrepreneur who started her marketing consultancy business in a garage.
“Today, after implementation of her brand sponsorship programme from Look Better Institute, she is proud to now have secured long-term contracts and she is now operating from an office with five employees,” Murahwa says.
International Boxing Federation (IBO) lightweight champion Xolisani “Nomeva” Ndongeni is another beneficiary of the business acumen of Murahwa and his team.
“To take his career forward,” Murahwa says, “we designed a full branding sponsorship from Look Better Institute.”
Ndongeni says: “Through the brand development done by Look Better Institute, my boxing career has expanded into professional training.
“I am proud to be a trainer for top celebrities in South Africa and I have now reached a satisfactory level of financial stability.”
There’s only one way for the work this young man is doing for himself and others – and that way is up.