Making SMEs Matter

May this final episode inspire you to go out there and build the business of your dreams. A business that lasts, one that touches people's lives and makes this country better. The path of an entrepreneur is not an easy one, but remember that you're never alone. There's power in coming together. Thank you for being part of this journey with us!

In this episode Marnus Broodryk has a conversation with Sir Richard Branson, Investec’s Co-Founder Stephen Koseff and Youth Employment Service intern Khensani Mongwe about entrepreneurship and how to tackle youth unemployment in South Africa.

Sbusiso Leope, popularly known as DJ Sbu, is a passionate musician and entertainer who used his marketing mind to turn a public platform into a business empire. In this episode he shares his entrepreneurial journey and gives us an update on the exciting projects he's busy with at the moment.

This is the story of Amanda Dambuza, the incredible entrepreneur who overcame great difficulty to reach the top of the business world in SA. She now serves as the founder and CEO of Uyandiswa Project Management Services.

Jonathan Smit is the founder and MD of Payfast. In this episode he shares his incredible journey as an entrepreneur, as well as some golden advice on how to create a memorable brand, build a hard-working team and create a product that truly helps your customers.

Ashley Regenass is the CEO at SynergERP, one of SA's leading software companies. In this episode Ashley shares his incredible journey to the top as well as some invaluable lessons about business and people.

The incredible journey of Gideon Galloway who went from being a waiter and leaving university without a degree to being the founder of King Price insurance, one of SA's most successful new brands in the space. His vision for doing things differently and building a unique company culture left Marnus and the team speechless.

Margaret Hirsch is an incredibly special entrepreneur who co-founded one of SA's top appliance and electronic retail organisations, Hirsch’s. Her mindset is absolutely bulletproof and this story will leave you feeling inspired to chase down your most ambitious business goals.

Ian Fuhr tells the story of building South Africa's beauty salon giant, Sorbet. His ability to focus on impacting customer's lives and being fully invested in his staff is what allowed him and his team to reach incredible heights.

This is an inspiring story that started many years ago when USN founder and owner, Albé Geldenhuys, was mixing his own supplements at home and selling them to his friends. It was his sheer determination to win and passion for helping others achieve results in the gym that drove him to build a globally recognised sports nutrition brand. Enjoy!

Ryan Bacher is humble and honest, yet also incredibly optimistic! His determination and willingness to try new things without being afraid of failure is what allowed their 'proof of concept' e-commerce website to grow into one of SA's most valuable online stores. This is 20-year journey of the brand we know and love, NetFlorist.

Stephen Koseff is the ex-CEO of Investec and one of SA's most elite business leaders. His passion, focus and entrepreneurial spirit were instrumental in building the world-class brand we know today. In this episode he shares the most important values and lessons that led to their success. Welcome to Season 3 of Making SMEs Matter!

These entrepreneurs have overcome adversity and built incredibly valuable businesses in the midst of a challenging South African economy. They are leaders in their field with brilliant lessons and life stories to share with you. Thank you for listening to Season 2 of Making SMEs Matter, hope you enjoy!

An exclusive interview with Dawn Nathan-Jones, one of SA's most influential women in business. Not only is Dawn a successful entrepreneur and CEO who built a car rental empire in South Africa, she also featured as a Shark on M-Net's Shark Tank. This episode was recorded live from her balcony overlooking a beautiful Cape Town sunset. Enjoy!

Mark Forrester is one of SA's tech icons who built WooThemes and WooCommerce, two platforms which were eventually sold to Wordpress.com due to their international popularity. Mark is a phenomenal entrepreneur with a calm approach to business and in this episode he shares the journey with us. Enjoy!

Warrick Kernes tells us which products are the smartest to sell online and which digital marketing strategy allowed him to build a successful business worth millions. He's one of SA's leading e-commerce experts and he shares important rules that helped him become a successful internet entrepreneur. Enjoy!

Bethuel Lebeya grew up in a village in Limpopo without having access to computers, a situation that didn't hold him back from eventually becoming the founder and co-owner of multi-million Rand IT consulting company, Command Quality. Him and his team are determined to develop SA's capabilities so that corporate companies no longer have to outsource software testing and development to foreign countries.

Keet van Zyl is a partner and co-founder at Knife Capital, an incredibly well-established South African venture capital firm. In this episode Marnus finds out how Keet got here, and together they discuss the current landscape of entrepreneurship and innovation in our country.

In this episode we flip the script and interview Marnus, the entrepreneur behind sme.africa and The Beancounter. He shares his thoughts on building exponential businesses with recurring revenue, hiring and training people effectively, using hyper focus to 10x your productivity, buying a 3D printer for the office and many more interesting ideas. Enjoy!

Benji Meltzer is a South African Engineer who partnered with a university friend, James Patterson, to build Aerobotics. Their company uses drone technology powered by AI and intelligent software to provide useful data to farmers around the world. Aerobotics is a true start-up success story and in this episode Marnus finds out what they've learned along the way.

Danni Dixon is an entrepreneur, a leader, a creative-thinker and now the head of marketing at Investec. In this EP she offers incredible advice to business owners who are looking to work with corporate brands in SA. Enjoy!

Pepe Marais founded Joe Public with two friends, one of whom had saved his life in a terrible drowning accident many years before. This is an incredible story of finding purpose in life and leveraging that to build one of SA's most successful advertising agencies.

Brian Altriche is an exciting entrepreneur who built one of SA's most successful new restaurant brands. In this EP he shares his journey with Marnus and the two of them unpack valuable lessons for the business owner to take home. Brought to you by sme.africa and Investec Business Cash Solutions.

Welcome to Season 2 of Making SMEs Matter, the top podcast for business owners in SA! Today I chat to Mike Stopforth, the founder of social media powerhouse, Cerebra. Mike shares valuable lessons learned along the way, as well as advice for how business owners can crush social in 2019. Enjoy!

Industrial Psychologist and founder of Talent Insight, Francois de Wet, explains how personality impacts your business. He firmly believes that you have the power to change and become a better entrepreneur if you set your mind to it.

Mike Sharman shares how business owners can leverage the power of social media to build valuable relationships with their customers. Mike is the man behind Retroviral, an award-winning digital communications agency who have worked with the likes of Nando's and RocoMamas.

Don’t let cash flow kill your business… This week Eli Michal, the founder and CEO of Payabill, explains how their trade financing works and how you, the SME owner, can tap into it to scale your business and smoothen out your cash flow.

Greg Tinkler is the co-founder and owner of Slender You, a weight-loss brand that exploded onto the market last year. Having founded a marketing company beforehand, he shares incredibly valuable techniques that will help you increase sales today.

Paul Kent shares his journey of moving to South Africa from the UK as a child to eventually leaving the corporate world and building Sureswipe, a Payment company with a turnover of R250million. An inspiring story for South African entrepreneurs.

Founder of Ubuntu Baba, Shannon McLaughlin, shares her battle with retail giant Woolworths who were accused of copying and selling her baby carriers. This episode contains valuable lessons for SME owners who have been involved in Intellectual Property disputes.

Tumi Phake, the founder and owner of Zenzele Fitness Group, shares his journey from working in a corporate bank to founding his own health and fitness brand. Tumi is a bright young entrepreneur with lots of wisdom to share, especially for those interested in the growing fitness industry.

We get to know Carla Verster, the founder and owner of Carla's Au Pairs - an international brand that places Au Pairs abroad. Carla shares her insights on being a female entrepreneur and the valuable lessons she's learned over ten years.

We speak to an entrepreneur who poured R1.4 million into a franchise business that is failing. Valuable lessons for franchisees or entrepreneurs running a business in the hospitality industry.

You might know my guest as the famous Jonathan from Radio Raps, but behind the character there is a great entrepreneur: Rikus. I was on his TV show last week. I wanted to share his story with you, so we created a podcast episode on the spot. He shared his lessons in building one powerful personal brand and also setting up the biggest sports bar in SA.

This week I visited the co-founders of Pineapple, an innovative new tech start-up taking on the insurance industry with a completely new business model.

In this episode I catch up with Vusi Ravele, the first entrepreneur to receive funding on Shark Tank South Africa.