How to Set a Course for High Growth

Welcome to Elewa, a bi-weekly series featuring Africa thinking and solutions for African business leaders. Here, we don’t just talk about data, insights and technology: we talk about the real drivers of business transformation. Vision. Leadership. Resilience. Inspiration

When it comes to future-proofing your business, how do you make sure you’re investing in the right areas of growth? To me, high-growth companies all have something in common: they’ve mastered the science of vector and thrust.

It sounds like something you’d use in a space programme. But this is a different kind of rocket science. A company’s growth trajectory relies on two key factors – the direction in which it’s heading (vector), and the momentum propelling it (thrust). Get the vector wrong, and you’ll end up at the wrong destination. Fail to generate enough thrust, and you’ll struggle to get off the ground. Get both right, and you’re on your way to stratospheric growth.

But what happens when you think you know your vector, or have a great business idea, but it’s going nowhere? Or there’s a high demand for your offering, and what you do as a business is talking to an opportunity, but you’re not getting the ROI you feel you should? For me, there are a couple of factors that could be in play here.

The first is that you’re simply not doubling down hard enough on your idea. You haven’t committed the necessary energy and resources to it. You’re not all in. Or maybe what you do, and how you do it, are simply not working well. In that case, stop trying to do it by yourself. Instead, figure out how you can partner with businesses that are really good at things like manufacturing, or fulfilment, or logistics, to unblock the logjam and set your business on the road to success.

The second option is to find a brand new vector. If you’re looking for the next big angle in terms of investment and growth on the continent, there is no shortage of possibilities for you to investigate and implement right now: delivery and fulfilment, clean energy, e-health, to name but a few.

But if you really want to know whether something is worth investing in, it’s a good idea to see what start-ups in the rest of the world are doing – and then collaborate with them, or rework their ideas for use in Africa.

One of my favourite African success stories is drone-delivery start-up Zipline, which was born in Silicon Valley, but really took off – literally and figuratively – in Rwanda. The company began operating in Rwanda in 2016, delivering blood, rabies vaccines and anti-venom to hard-to-reach areas. Today, more than 65% of blood deliveries outside Kigali use Zipline drones, and the company last year started operations in Ghana as well.

What this tells me is that ideas are everywhere: sometimes, we’re just not looking. Are we really opening our minds to what else is out there? Often, we think what we lack is money, but what we’re actually lacking is imagination. The money is out there: just ask South African AI manufacturing start-up Data Prophet, which has just raised a US$6 million Series A funding round to help it expand internationally. You just need the right vector, or idea.

We live in a multi-polar world, where the traditional powers are shifting. The West is moving East. The North is moving South. What this means is that there’s never been a better time to be having great ideas, and looking to grow your business in Africa.

If you do one thing today, it should be to slow down, and take the time to reflect on your business, and reimagine how you are going to grow the business. Think about what’s working, and what’s not. Are there new ways of doing business that you can consider? Do you need to find new ideas, collaborate with people who have good ideas, or simply double down on your existing good ideas?

Relevance is ours for the taking. The choices we take today will set a course for high growth. But here’s the thing: your relevance is your responsibility. Your growth potential comes from the choices you make as a leader.

What will you do tomorrow to make a difference?

Coming up next in Elewa: We’ll be talking about Black Panther, why relying on walk-in traffic will quickly put your business on the endangered species list, and the habits of highly resilient businesses. Reach out to me at any time with your views and comments below or on lee.naik@transunion.com. I look forward to connecting with you.