Every year the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) releases its baseline report, which is a 10-year outlook on the agricultural sector in South Africa. We take a look at what happened at this year’s event.
Siyanda Mabaso, Afrivet Learnership Manager shares his expert knowledge on dosing an animal with Bathabile Modutoane in our latest episode of African Farming Digital.
by Safiyyah Boolay-Jappie
So, advocating something so simple and as commonplace as breathing is almost insulting. Please accept my apologies, I have no desire to insult you.
But I am not one to argue with science, and numerous studies have found that deep breathing induces a state of tranquillity. The best part is, you can get started right now; and it will cost you nothing; and no-one even needs to become aware of what you’re doing, because hey! They’re breathing too!
So here we go.
Place one hand on your belly and one hand on your heart, then inhale in through your nose and deeply into your belly for five full seconds. Hold your breath for five seconds or for as long as Is comfortable for you.
Then exhale slowly through your mouth for another five full seconds.
Try ten breaths this way, with your eyes either closed or gently fix on a spot slightly ahead of you.
You may gain awareness of any tension or resistance in your body. With your imagination see the tension slowly dripping from you like warm wax.
When you’ve completed a round of deep breathing, you can simply return to normal breathing and step away from the gooey wax of stress that dripped from you.
So simple, and you can do this as frequently as you need to.
Safiyyah Boolay-Jappie is a life coach, based in South Africa. She helps high achieving, ambitious women to create impactful careers without sacrificing their well-being, themselves, their relationships, and quality of life. She helps women to beat burnout and to thrive. Having worked in the corporate world for 20 years, most of these in complex leadership roles whilst raising two children, she understands the demands being juggled by professional women, both in their professional and personal lives. Today, she wants to share those learnings with other women through her personal coaching and training.
More articles by Safiyyah
by Lori Milner
You know you are swamped with deadlines, yet you agree to just one ‘small’ request. When you multiply these seemingly innocent tasks over a week, you are left with crumbs while everyone else gets the best of you.
Saying no is critical not only to protect your boundaries but your reputation too. It sounds counter-intuitive because you fear that saying no will make you come across as unhelpful, but if you say yes to too many things, you will begin to sacrifice quality for quantity.
If you drop the ball on delivering a task and the quality is not your usual standard, this is what you are remembered for. In the moment, no one cares that your last ten proposals were world-class.
Clearly, we know saying no is a challenge, but what if you didn’t have to say the word no. What if there was a different way to communicate the message with the same result? Here are four ways you can say no to someone without actually having to use the word no:
Ask for the actual deadline.
When someone asks you to do something, the A-type superstar in you wants to show this person how incredible you are, and you commit to getting it done the next day.
Instead of this default reaction, you can ask this person ‘when is the absolute latest you need this done by? What is the actual deadline for this?’
You assumed it was tomorrow, but it is most likely in a few days or even the following week. Of course, there will be times when the deadline is urgent, but you need to move away from assuming everything is urgent.
This simple question is the difference between creating days you look forward to versus days you want to escape from.
Manage expectations, not time.
When you receive a request, change your default yes to this phrase ‘Let me check my calendar, and I’ll get back to you’.
This magic phrase allows you to insert a mental pause button. Now you can genuinely look at your schedule and assess what commitments you presently have.
Rather than say no, you can respond by saying, ‘currently, my calendar is swamped until Monday. Would Tuesday morning work for you?
Again, this is not a direct no but allows you to put your priorities first. Of course, if there is an urgent deadline, you make a plan and show up, but the point is to move you away from defaulting to giving away your yes too quickly without the proper information.
When you begin to manage expectations rather than time, you become the master of your calendar.
Offer an alternative.
I am not immune to wanting to please people, but I have learnt that I don’t commit to something at the expense of my other projects or peace of mind.
When I am asked to speak on topics not entirely within my field of expertise, I thank them for the invitation and respond by suggesting other people who will do a far better job in this area than I could.
The version of myself, even two years ago, would have agreed and then spent hours researching this new topic out of the desire to please them. Ultimately I was stressed and resented the work because I was too afraid of missing out on what I perceived as a fantastic opportunity.
It was never a genuine opportunity; it was an opportunity cost. The time spent building something that was not my expertise took away hours of focusing on my passion projects.
If you receive a request, can you respond by saying, ‘I don’t have the capacity now, but here is another person, a book, a website, a tool or a resource that can assist you’?
You don’t always need to give your time; if you can help this person solve their problem with another means, you are being a contribution and that’s the intent behind your ‘yes’.
Put the ball in their court.
What happens when your boss or someone senior makes a request? Rather than default to yes, how about saying something like this:
‘Currently, I am working on these three tasks. What is the priority for you in terms of importance? Where would you like me to focus first?’
In this way, you are making it abundantly clear that you are busy, and now the ball is in their court to decide where your time is best spent. When you respond with this phrase, you articulate that one of these projects needs to lose focus to make space for this new addition. They can decide where your time is best spent.
Final thoughts.
Not everything is urgent, and not all tasks are created equally.
The ability to say no will change your life dramatically because you are no longer the victim of your calendar but the architect of it.
The key to managing anxiety is exposure.
It will feel so uncomfortable at first, and you will beat yourself up about what an awful person you are. But once you see that the world did not end and this person still respects you, you will begin to do it with ease.
You get what you tolerate. If you enjoy being the ‘yes’ person and agreeing to every request that comes in, ask yourself, what is it costing you?
My favourite quote is ‘failure to plan on your part should not constitute an emergency on mine’. You know this person, they come to you at the last minute and make their problem yours even though they have probably known about the request for the last two weeks.
Perhaps you can check in with them weekly and ask in advance – is there anything you will need from me in the next two weeks? Can your ability to plan help them to look ahead rather than land you in chaos and crisis? When people see you will not drop everything for them at the last minute, they will change their behaviour and plan.
Once you give yourself permission to put your life’s work first, you will open up space for the things that truly matter. In the words of Stephen Covey:
“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside.”
Here’s to owning your no,
Warm wishes,
Lori
by FutureSoft Team
Augmented Reality (AR) falls into that latter category — AR has a wide range of real-life applications and one area where AR is already being applied is customer experience. Innovative brands are using AR tools to create a seamless and more delightful customer experience.
In this blog post, I’ll be sharing 3 ways your brand can enhance customer experience using Augmented Reality.
To ensure you get the most of this blog, I’ll begin by explaining how AR works first.
AR Technology supplements reality with added digital elements. In other words, computer-generated content is overlaid onto the real world and the actual reality becomes augmented.
Complicated? Keep reading, it gets simpler! Chances are you’ve already used or heard of some form of AR Technology. For example, AR is frequently used by TV commentators when discussing live sporting events, just like in the example below. Now you know how AR works, here are three ways AR can help you improve your CX.
1. AR Can Help To Remove Buying Objections During The Pre-Sales Phase
Whenever a prospect meets your product online, they often have buying objections, especially if they are not familiar with your brand.
The furniture and interior industries are great examples where prospective buyers need to experience the product before making a buying decision. This is where AR comes in — AR has helped and is still helping shoppers from all over the world transform their homes into virtual showrooms. Wayfair View in Room 3D and Ikea Place are examples of two augmented reality customer experience apps that allow customers to visualize furniture in their own homes ahead of purchase using their smartphone.
They help customers answer questions like:
Does the armchair match the rug?
Will the sofa overwhelm the space?
Will the refrigerator fit in the kitchen properly?
These apps remove the uncertainty as they project the furniture or décor in 3D at full-scale, clearly showing the customer whether the item is suitable for their particular space, complete with accurate measuring abilities.
2. AR Apps Ensure That Customers Are Fully Engaged During The Point Of Purchase
Research has proven that enhancing sales through visual engagement has reduced the number of abandoned carts, delivers higher consumer conversion rates, and ultimately garners a greater level of success for your business. The reason is not far-fetched as the point of purchase is more of an experience than an exchange of cash.
The beauty industry has in recent times utilized this technology. Some examples are:
L’Oreal’s Style My Hair AR app which allows users to get a 3D virtual makeover, try out different hairstyles or hair colours right on their phones, before submitting to the stylist’s scissors or hair dye.
Sephora Virtual Artist AR app which allows consumers to virtually “try on” anything from lipstick to eyelashes and facial cosmetics. The app utilizes a smartphone’s camera to precisely map the shape of the customer’s facial features, and overlays the beauty products on their face so they can see what colours and brands look best before they buy.
The list goes on and on….
3. AR Can Be Used To Aid Customer Retention
A couple of brands are now stepping up their post-sales game by making AR-based self-service features available. Using a smartphone, customers can access the product knowledge base with FAQs, manuals, and training material displayed in an AR overlay. This has also helped to eliminate long hours spent in the back and forth between customers and customer service officers.
Visual Support allows customers to hold a smartphone up to the product and all parts will be identified in real-time by computer vision technology. Also, we all know how tiring bulky manuals can be, to shorten the time spent on understanding the product, brands like Hyundai developed an AR-based digital owner’s manual that shows drivers how to maintain and repair their cars.
I’m sure we can all agree that AR is a real game-changer and it is changing how people communicate and interact. Its impact is spread across various industries and can certainly be applied in your industry too. It’s time to start the process of creatively figuring out how you can give your customers the most amazing customer journey and experience using AR. My team at Futuresoft and I are glad to help — leave us a comment or send us an email on projects@futuresoft-ng.com.
by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
Having recently mentioned in one of our articles (here) the Chinese book ‘I Ching’ which as George Harrison (he of the Beetles fame) put it, is “…based on the Eastern concept that everything is relative to everything else, as opposed to the Western view that things are merely coincidental.”, we decided to crack on with Ben’s article, no matter the pain such truths from the great VC and PE investor might bring…
The article was entitled “The Struggle”, yes, not a good start! The Struggle is all about what entrepreneurs feel when things start to go wrong (and in spite of all the positive management books out there – things do and will go wrong!). Wrong things such as product problems…supply chain failures…great employees who quit…Cash Flow issues…customers saying they will pay (yet never do)…and so on. With your head in your hands, there seems to be a never ending flow of bad news that builds and builds. Oh, and then there are external factors such as Covid and out of the blue, a war starts impacting oil, gas and food/fertilizer prices and kicks hard the already battered global supply chain system. Can it get any worse you ask yourself, as you watch the US dollar shoot higher and higher?…
This is when Ben’s free verse poem (as we believe it to be) called ‘The Struggle’ hits home. Take a moment to read it here and there will not be many entrepreneurs who have not felt the cold chill as seen from the opening lines:
“The Struggle is when you wonder why you started the company in the first place.
The Struggle is when people ask you why you don’t quit and you don’t know the answer.
The Struggle is when your employees think you are lying and you think they may be right.
The Struggle is when food loses its taste…”
Ben adds that “When you are in the middle of the Struggle, nothing is easy and nothing feels right. You have dropped into the abyss and you may never get out. In my own experience, but for some unexpected luck and help, I would have been lost.”
“…unexpected luck and help”.
If you do find yourself in this difficult position, although there is never one thing that ever makes the difference between success and failure in business, those two – ‘luck and help’ are often mentioned by so many as they pull themselves back from the brink. ‘Luck’ of course is such a fickle friend, there is no way of controlling that other than trying to move the odds in your favour through practice (as Gary Player, the famous South African golfer, is alleged to have said – “The harder I practice, the luckier I get!”), hard work and actually turning up each day (the one way to guarantee you never win the lottery is obviously not to buy a ticket!). Our previous article on Luck is here.
‘Help’ is, however, something a little more tangible. Build that team, lean on your communities as we wrote earlier this month (here) and help yourself by rediscovering your focus. Look to where you can concentrate your energy, – the best way to help yourself stop running around like a headless chicken.
In a recent article by McKinsey (the management consultancy firm) they emphasize the following areas to focus on when going for growth – we have pruned this down to those that help regain focus during difficult times (here):
“Put competitive advantage first.” – Where do you have that advantage? Where are your products the market leaders? Think hard and then push here.
“Make the trend your friend.” – Do you have any really profitable products and fast growing markets? – push hard there. Don’t go throwing good money after bad. If there is an area or product that is struggling, look at why and perhaps pull back precious cash there to push it into areas/products where you are finding growth. Much like in the US NBA, when a player is ‘hot’ and shooting baskets from crazy positions, give her the ball!
“Don’t be a laggard.” Never be happy to just relax and ‘go with the flow’. While you are doing that your competition will be looking for areas to grow and leave you behind.
“Turbocharge your core.” What is your core industry or product area? – focus!
“Be a local hero.” Never forget your home base, they are your community and seriously – who are Lionesses without a community?!
“It’s OK to shrink to grow.” Don’t worry about taking a step back, from there you can build in safety and then take two steps forward.
Truly Involve Your Team. According to Ben some of the world’s greatest companies have become great and stayed great because everyone thought they owned a part of it. Employees worked as if they were actual shareholders. This start up phase where everyone believes in your dream and all pull in the same direction – the longer you can hang onto that feeling of togetherness, pulling in the same direction, to build the same dream, the better for your company – and certainly the better you will weather downturns and fierce headwinds.
This is where your leadership truly shows itself. Throughout all you have to pay attention to what matters most. Be Vigilant!
As the fascinating article ‘Vigilant Leaders: Paying Attention to What Matters Most’ – from ‘Knowledge at Wharton’ (‘KaW’) states (here):
“In vigilant companies, leadership attention is leveraged for greater agility and advantage, whereas in vulnerable companies, misdirected attention creates blind spots, myopia, and delayed reactions.”
So how can we ensure we are a ‘vigilant’ company?
Firstly, there is far too much information out there creating this ‘misdirected attention’. Daily we are bombarded with utter rubbish on social media and thousands of emails that within their fog (and polarization) hide essential information that could assist and alert us. What KaW suggest is that you create a team (we suggest simply encourage your employees) to “…voice hunches, concerns, doubts, or intuitions that would otherwise remain dormant”, you can then work with your management team to remove the chaff from the grain, to take seriously that which you believe to either be a threat or even an opportunity.
“Learn from the past, interrogate the present, and anticipate the future.”
KaW say you should learn from your past, by looking at past successes – why were these a success? Then using that information look to others in your market or even other close markets who have been successful to see why. Those who have “…a consistent record of seeing sooner and acting faster.”
“What is their secret?”
For the present we not only have to have our eagle eyes on social media in all its forms – having cleared the chaff of course, but also pay attention when seeing or delivering to our customers, so – who else is delivering, perhaps we can ask to see around their premises – certainly into their warehouse as we chat. Were they previously good payers, yet now there is always an excuse for the cheque/cash/payment not being ready…
There are warning signs all around – we just have to find them.
For the future, ask the questions of your team – what could really hurt us? What surprises could knock us to the floor? We would suggest that most of what we have seen over the past two years are surprises that none of us could have foreseen (‘Black Swans’), a massive pandemic, a European War, supply chains almost collapsing – and yet Climate Change is still with us (as tragically Pakistan is currently seeing), and has become almost part of the fog as countries rush to cover gas price increases.
As Melanie wrote recently in one of her GML Blogs (here): “If ever there was a truism in business, and in life too, it’s that things don’t always go as planned. It doesn’t matter how much we think we are in control, or how much research we have done for our business plans and strategies, sometimes a set of circumstances makes us rethink.”
Think through where you have been, where you are and where you want to be, then make sure as much as possible that boulders and rocks ahead in the river are well mapped. As Melanie in her blog points out this particular Lioness she was talking to saw the boulders and rocks ahead in the fast flowing river she was on and stepping back from her international drive “…refocused her attention on enhancing domestic business opportunities first, and only certain global markets second.”
Of course this is not easy. Of course the World (and increasingly Mother Nature) throws curve balls at us. Of course it is often a struggle. But with help in the right places and luck on our side (from helping ourselves and from mapping as many potential boulders ahead as we can), from not expecting ourselves to carry the entire load, from leaning on our Team and our community of Lionesses, from being happy to step back and rethink, we can get through this.
Ben closes his free verse poem by saying:
“The Struggle is not failure, but it causes failure. Especially if you are weak. Always if you are weak.
Most people are not strong enough.
Every great entrepreneur from Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg went through The Struggle and struggle they did, so you are not alone.
But that does not mean that you will make it. You may not make it.
That is why it is The Struggle.
The Struggle is where greatness comes from.
Stay safe.
Book Review
Jeanette Sklivanou, author of Nailed It!, knows from practical experience what it takes to turn an entrepreneurial dream into a big success story. Her business, Safe ‘N’ Beautiful, created in 2011 was inspired by her experience as a mother and her personal commitment to natural cosmetics and concern for appropriate children’s play products. This led her to launch her flagship product, Snails®, the same year. They are the world’s first Kid’s washable nail polish and No 1 in sales worldwide. As a relatively young company, Safe ‘N’ Beautiful has enjoyed resounding global success. Already the company exports to 79 countries around the world and those export partnerships are poised to grow. Safe ‘N’ Beautiful has also won esteemed industry recognition as Greek Export Award winner in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019. Today, Safe ‘N’ Beautiful PC is a visionary European cosmetics pioneer manufacturing internationally renowned, innovative and premium cosmetic brands for both children and adults.
Read Nailed It! to:
Learn the necessity of research before launching your brand
Discover how to build your own empire step-by-step
Turn your business idea into a reality
Understand the methods used by other business owners to thrive
Overcome failure and mould your business into a success
For anyone who is starting a business, especially women, the obstacles are massive and sometimes appear unsurmountable. Finding a unique selling point and developing a successful brand is a challenge.
I believe any woman can become an entrepreneur if she wants to. I’m writing this book not to brag about my success, but to share my journey with Snails in detail, to reveal how it was done. After all, if I can do it, so can you.
Anything is possible and with hard work and dedication, any dream can come true, however big it is.
Jeanette Sklivanou is a British-Greek entrepreneur. She launched Safe ‘N’ Beautiful to produce the first washable children’s nail varnish made in Europe. Jeanette had no experience in the cosmetics industry but her drive to design a product her daughters would love enabled her to build her Snails brand to become a global success. Ten years on, it is selling in seventy-nine countries and iconic stores such as Hamleys in London and FAO Schwarz in New York.
During the August Business Agility Webinar, Absa invited lionesses for in-person interactions with the four Relationship Bankers who were profiled in the recent issues of Lionesses Weekender digimag. The interest in the face-to-face meetups has been astounding. Between Absa and Lionesses of Africa, we are busy sorting out the logistics and will soon invite some lionesses for the first round of meetings. We hope for dynamic and genuine discussions and exchanges of ideas during these sessions. For Absa, our takeaway would be deeper insights into the individual entrepreneur’s needs and their expectations of the bank.
Thanks to the quick actions from Bongi Macholi to leverage broader existing relationships within Absa, the first confirmed engagement is the participation of 12 lionesses in the Communication for Art of Pitching Bootcamp. The event will be hosted by Small Enterprise Development Agency (seda) on 7 September 2022. We hope for lots of positive feedback and valuable learnings from the participants.
In the upcoming issues of the Lionesses Weekender, we will provide feedback on events that have taken place and plans for those ahead. This is an exciting phase of the Absa Lionesses of Africa relationship. We look forward to honest connections and valuable engagements with the lionesses beyond the computer screens.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
I enjoy sharing about my business journey and teaching people about business and helping them to start their own businesses. l love to see people make it and flourish in their businesses. l love to network with different people from different classes, social backgrounds, etc. This helps me with building my social capital, strengthening business connections, getting fresh ideas and a new perspective, gaining more knowledge regarding different areas, raising my profile, getting new opportunities, building long lasting personal relationships and the like. I also enjoy the clients satisfaction feedback about how they love their shoes and how beautiful and comfortable the shoes are, etc. The fact that we use some of the profits generated from the business to give back to the less privileged makes this entrepreneurial journey rewarding and worthwhile.
What’s the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Before you start a business, you need to do a research on the type of business that you want to venture into. For instance, the kind of product that you want to sell. Research about its availability, and easy accessibility.
Check about the quality of the product, for example if you want to do fashion business, most customers prefer good quality. Think about the pricing of the product, compare between the buying price and the selling; keeping in mind the profit that you will make. It is very important, to do a background check on the suppliers where you want to buy your products from. Are they reliable, genuine, trustworthy and do they produce and deliver the products on time? Think about where will you do this business, be it your home, renting a shop, at the flea markets or the streets, even online.
Try to look for somewhere where it is legal to avoid issues like your business being shut down by the City Council (Town Authority). It is also important to think of who will sell your products; will it be you or someone else? If it is someone else, are they reliable, honest and good to customers?
Then you should also look into the audience or clientele that you want to target. Can they afford the things that you want to sell? I want to encourage you to start a business for the purpose of significance and not just for survival or success.
When you start your business, Don’t give in to competition. There is no traffic when you are in your own lane! Remember you are running your own race. Prepare in advance for losses because they are bound to come one way or the other. Be ready when they do. When you get profit, use it to invest back into your business. Don’t eat your profits! The importance of this cannot be overstated. Consider each dollar that you receive as an investment soldier whose mission is to bring more finances into the business. Learn about financial management; you can do that by watching videos on YouTube.
Find mentors who are doing well in the line of business you are venturing into. And it’s equally important to celebrate other businesses which are doing well! You want your business to be successful; celebrate those who have successful businesses. You can never be/become what you despise!
And finally, doing business is not for the faint hearted. It’s not easy to start and maintain a business. Start small, and move on to the next level, one step at a time. Don’t give up! Make a vision board about your business; concerning what you want to achieve in a certain duration of time. For instance, over 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, etc. And make a list of your short and long term goals in your business and start executing them one goal at a time.
Contact or follow ProMJ
FACEBOOK | EMAIL drmejurychipato@gmail.com
Over the years, Roomila has been recognised for her achievements and was awarded among the Top 10 for Most Creative Young Entrepreneur Award, organised by JCI Mauritius. In 2019, She graduated from UNISA – University of South Africa for Business and Entrepreneurship Development for the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Programme. She also participated at an International Photography Exchange between China and Mauritius in 2018/2019, exhibiting the resulting photos at an exhibition in Mauritius on the occasion of World Photography Day 2022 at La City, Trianon, Mauritius. As a cinematographer, Roomila won an award from The Mauritius Film Development Corporation In July 2019 for the production of her first film – Aadha Pattharwa, The Half Rock and 5th Prize for the 7 Days Challenge Competition – DID, Dissociative Identity Disorder. Being an emerging micro company, Focus Events Ltd, under the leadership of Roomila, was awarded Special Jury Award for SME Excellence Award 2019. She believes in youth and women empowerment for a better society of tomorrow. Last year she received her Photo Album (best 76 photos from 3500+ international submissions) from UNESCO Head Quarters, France for “YOUTH LENS on the Silk Roads” Photo Contest 2019/2020. In 2022, she is among the 15 woman entrepreneurs selected for an accelerator program by ABSA Bank Mauritius, and Future Female Invest.
Lioness Weekender had the pleasure of speaking to Roomila Roothoorodoo to learn what it takes to build a successful, growing specialist business in the creative audio-visual industry, and her vision for the future.
When did your start your business?:
We started with Photography Training in 2010 and 5 years later we started to provide Audio Visual Services.
What does your company do?
Focus Events Ltd is an Audio Visual registered company based in Mauritius. We provide our services to both private and public organisations. Our team perform services to cooperates, weddings, parties and ceremonies. Focus also offers Editing and Montage; according to the taste or theme of the client, Drone (Aerial) Services, Graphic Designing, Personalized Photo shoots, Voice-Off for Advertisements, Video Publicity with Full HD or 4K rendering.
For the past 12 years, Focus has been providing training services in the field of Photography, Videography and Editing. The courses are running as part-time training programmes. More than 75% of our successful trainees are presently working as professional photographers in various sectors locally, but also around the globe as on board cruise ships photographers. The training department of Focus Events Ltd is very proud to be producing bright and skillful photographers who are occupying various positions in the field of audio visual.
What inspired you to start your company?
Photography has always been my passion. After completing my A- Level studies, I joined a Digital Photography, Photo Editing & Creative Videography Course. As a result, I gained more confidence as a Photographer. Since forever, I had the vision of creating an Audio-Visual company, which will provide high-end services, to both individuals and corporates. I took the challenge of accomplishing my goal. Focus Events Ltd has expanded in many other services like; underwater videography, aerial (drone) image, sound recording and advertising. At present, the goal I had has changed into a different aspect. Focus is not only a service provider, but also a job creator to many young Mauritians with the same passion.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
Focus highly uses the internet as a marketing platform. We hold a very active Facebook Page and an Instagram profile too. As content creators, we do produce our own marketing and advertising materials which are most often published digitally. Every 6 months, Focus prepares a Marketing Budget which we try to make the most out of. Nevertheless, we do believe in prints. We try as much to appear in magazines and newspapers too and have been present in different fairs and events during which we propose many promotions of our services. But there is small engagement during these fairs and events. Clients step towards us with more and more instant requirements, and meeting these demands is no less than a challenge.
Focus Events Ltd is not tied to any political, cultural or ethical belonging. As a result, we provide our services to each and everyone. The diversity of our clientele is absolutely broad. We have even provided our services internationally such as Trescon from UAE; organiser of The World AI Show with a Special Guest – Robot Sophia Conference in Mauritius, or Vidya Voxx, an international Bollywood singer, who performed during her concert and had to shoot to mix a video clip. Getting back to the local platform, we provide our services from Big Fat Wedding, to the simplest One Day Wedding, Birthday parties, Engagements or Family gatherings. We do evolve for cooperates also, be it Team Building, End of Year parties, to Seminars, Award Nights, Graduations or Product Launching.
Being registered with SME Mauritius has played a very positive role in working for different Ministries such as The Ministry of Arts and Culture, Ministry of TIC, Ministry of Education and even The Ministry of Commerce. Focus had the opportunity to work for the Commission of Environment in Rodrigues. We also have a regular client from Reunion Island dealing in Natural Cosmetic; Au Plaisir Du Bien Etre.
Instead of thinking of price as something we charge, we think of cost as something customers pay. This simple adjustment opens up a whole new strategy about sales and marketing. We propose a full range of options and as a service provider, we aim at customised/tailor-made services. This differs us from direct competitors.
Tell us a little about your team
At the launch of the business, we started with 2 persons and now my team has 4 full time employees including myself and more than 10 freelancers working as part timers or on large scale projects. That sounds great as it gives a good image of Focus Events Ltd. Focus has on board:
1. Roomila Roothoorodoo
Miss Roomila is qualified in Fundamentals of Digital Photography, Photoshop for Photographers and Creative Videography, she completed her courses back in 2015. Roomila bags 6 years of experience as a Professional Videographer and Admin Officer at FOCUS. Few years back, Roomila had the opportunity to help during the film festival in Mauritius, Festival Île Courts by Porteur D’Image and she was able to attend several presentations during the festival. It exposed the Focus Team about techniques adopted by filmmakers from Europe, Africa and even Asia. Subsequently, she also participated in Girls in Film in Mauritius.
2. Dilesh Sharma
Mr Dilesh is a trained, qualified and MQA registered coach in Photography and Videography. He started his teaching career in the audio-visual field back in 2010. He completed his diploma in Creative Videography from the Symbiosis University in Pune, India and has a certification in Implementation of Technology in Teaching from the Rhine University from California, USA. He is also a diploma holder in written and spoken Journalism in French from the Institute Media Excellence. He is the Co-Founder, Project Lead & Trainer of Focus Events Ltd. He was the writer of 2 award winning films and director of 1 award winning film produced by Focus Events Ltd. He has attended a workshop on Film Production by Mr Sanjay Joshi, Script Writer from India and Mr Ashutosh Deshmukh, Director, FilmZone, Mumbai (International Faculty Member from India) at Rabindranath Tagore Institute (RTI) in 2019.
3. Roomala Roothoorodoo
Miss Roomala is qualified in Creative Videography, Fundamentals of Digital Photography and Photoshop for Photographers from the Training School of Focus in 2016, Mauritius. She started her journey as a freelance Photographer in 2013 and for the past 4 years, she is working at Focus as a Professional Visual Technician & Photographer for the editing of Videos and Photos. Roomala has the responsibility of selecting the photos for our business page on Facebook. She has also attended a workshop on Film Production by Mr Sanjay Joshi, Script Writer from India and Mr Ashutosh Deshmukh, Director, FilmZone, Mumbai (International Faculty Member from India) at Rabindranath Tagore Institute (RTI) in 2019. Roomala has participated in short films competition as both a crew member and actor in the short films produced by Focus Events Ltd.
4. Shivraj Bignah
Mr Shivraj is qualified in Digital Photography and Photo Editing for Photographers from the Training School of Focus in 2020. He grew up in Mahebourg a real paradise in the South East of the island surrounded by amazing beaches, natural landscapes, markets and museums. His love for photography started at a very young age. He started as a freelance in 2017 before joining the Training Centre of Focus and in 2021, he joined the business as a Professional Audio Visual Technician. He has been flying drones for the past 5 years and he is presently the Drone Operator at Focus Events Ltd.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
It is my passion for photography which brought me to an entrepreneur journey, as I do not come from an entrepreneurial background. I have always been inspired by working women entrepreneurs, especially as they wear so many hats. Today, I am very grateful to be inspired and to inspire young girls in our society.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
In the field of Audio-Visual, there are constant changes in the technological inventions of equipment being used. From cameras to computers, passing through lenses, lighting system and software’s. At Focus we adopted, “beat it or just follow it!”
From the 1902 Georges Méliès’ film, “Voyage Dans La Lune” to the latest Peter Jackson’s film “The Hobbit” or even S Rajamouli’s film “Baahubali”, films and videos have always known Visual Effects (VFX). One of the most advanced technologies in terms of VFX is known to be Chroma Key or famously called: Green Screen. It requires a good set up and a lighting system which is on the dot. In the beginning of 2019, Focus had invested in a 170m2 indoor space for a video studio in the heart of Ville Lumière – Curepipe. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, we had to reduce in size. We are planning again to set up a bigger studio, with all facilities for the production of high end videos including Chroma Key VFX, a Sound Booth for a digital quality Audio and Voice-Over. The post production of videos with VFX is a pure state of art which requires a lot of digital resources. As a result, the company has already invested in 2 high end iMac Pro’s. These machines are the core of our AV projects.
As Focus evolves in the area of visuals, we need to make sure that we produce the highest quality final products. Therefore, we use the best high-end equipment only. From photo cameras to video cameras going through to computers, it is our first priority to treat all demands with the best quality option.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
As an entrepreneur you have to be ready for sacrifice, especially when your services are entertainment related. Most of the time, work is during festive seasons, and where others will enjoy the front stage, as a Photographer/ Videographer you are working backstage.
I’ll add more saying that a disciplined mind is important, as one needs not only to have your head on your shoulders but also have a good sense of respecting the audience and client. If you are attentive to your client and provide what is asked for, you can be sure of having a satisfied client which is more than the pay at the end. In this field if we understand exactly what the client wants, 50% of the battle is already won. Lastly, the day-to-day challenge, each project is unique in itself.
What’s the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
I believe entrepreneurship succeeds when one engages in conscious introspection. This requires; to reflect on the past, attend the present, prospect the future, and feel the passion. I would like to end with a quote “Where there is a will, there is way.”
And I look forward to sharing the same will and ways with other dedicated young ladies in Africa.
To find out more about Focus Events Ltd business offerings, or to speak to Roomila about a commission, send an email to: info@focus.mu or visit the company website and social media pages: