Searching Through Dustbins

by Abed Tau

  First published by Tracey McDonald Publishers, 2019

  Suite No. 53, Private Bag X903, Bryanston, South Africa, 2021

  www.traceymcdonaldpublishers.com

  Copyright © Abed Tau, 2019

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.

  ISBN 978-0-6399928-4-6

  e-ISBN (ePUB) 978-0-6399928-5-3

  Text design and typesetting by Patricia Crain, Empressa

  Cover design by Ron Olivier, incynq solutions

  Narrative assistance by Lisa Witepski, Creative Copy

  Stickman illustration by Nkgabiseng Motau

  Graphs by Thabile Gumede

  Digital conversion by Johan Koortzen

  This book is dedicated to my loving parents, Richard and Elizabeth.

  Thank you for all the sacrifices you have made for me and my siblings. I owe you everything.

  And, to my beautiful wife, Tebogo. You are all my reasons.

  Contents

  INTRODUCTION

  PROLOGUE

  THE FIRST DOOR THAT YOU OPEN MAY NOT BE THE RIGHT ONE

  WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO?

  BORING IS GOOD; STAY FAR AWAY FROM EXCITING

  THE FIRST 100 DAYS

  CRICKET: THE GREATEST BUSINESS METAPHOR IN THE WORLD

  THE ART OF SHOWING UP

  THE ROLE OF TIME

  KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE

  SUCCESS: WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

  IS THERE A PERFECT TIME TO GIVE UP?

  ON RAISING FUNDING FOR YOUR BUSINESS

  LISTEN TO YOUR INNER CHILD

  CHANCES AND OPPORTUNITIES: WHAT TO DO WITH THEM

  IDEAS ARE LIKE BILLS: EVERYBODY HAS THEM

  UNPACKING THE BUZZWORDS

  DO YOU WANT TO BECOME FAMOUS OR RICH?

  I HAVE NEVER MET A MILLIONAIRE DRESSED IN A SUIT

  LISTEN, TAKE GENUINE INTEREST, BE AUTHENTIC

  LESSONS FROM PINKY AND THE BRAIN

  LESSONS TO TEACH YOUR KIDS

  STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH

  EVERY DAY IS THE SUPER BOWL

  THE OPPORTUNE TIME TO START

  NOT EVERYTHING THAT’S SHINY SHINES

  IF IT’S BROKEN, DON’T CONTINUE TO BREAK IT

  COMPETITION IS FOR LOSERS

  WHEN YOU FINALLY ARRIVE, DON’T FORGET THE TASTE OF TWO MINUTE NOODLES

  YOUR FIRST HIRE COULD BE YOUR LAST

  FISH WHERE THE FISH ARE

  THE POPCORN I REGRET GIVING UP

  PART OF THE JOURNEY IS THE END

  STAY IN TOUCH

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  INTRODUCTION

  FOUR MARRIAGES IN FIVE YEARS, AND FIVE CHILDREN LATER

  I have been married four times – and I intend to have many more weddings!

  These marriages have given me five children, and we are hoping (make that expecting) a soccer team in the years to come.

  I am not talking about a conventional marriage. Rather, I’m talking about the number of business partners I have and the number of businesses we have started and continue to run. I refer to these as ‘marriages’ because your relationship with your business partners isn’t all that different to a marriage. You fight, you laugh, you build together, you love each other, and you sometimes hate each other. The businesses that you start are your children; each has to be nurtured and taken care of until it becomes a responsible adult and can begin to function on its own.

  My marriage partners over the past five years – years which have given me the adventure of a lifetime, as I pursued my entrepreneurial dream – are people I admire and respect enormously. They may have started as business partners, but they quickly became friends and, eventually, family. Without them, none of the small successes our companies have enjoyed to date would have been possible. Together, we have learned the most incredible lessons in business, and in life.

  I began sharing these lessons on Facebook in a series called ‘Searching Through Dustbins’. My aim was to share an authentic account of my business journey and the lessons I had learned along the way. To my surprise, the series had a great reception. The posts were shared by hundreds of people and received thousands of comments. I started out posting every Wednesday, and it reached a point where my inbox would be flooded with queries from strangers and friends asking for their entrepreneurial dose if I missed a week. I grew my Facebook friends from around 800 to over 3 000, and every time a post went live, I’d receive hundreds of friend requests from people who wanted to hear more.

  As time went on, I started seeing the same comment over and over: when are you writing a book? The more I thought about it, the more it made sense – not because I was interested in becoming an author, but because I really wanted more people to hear my message.

  That message is simple: entrepreneurship is necessary for our country’s growth, but – in spite of its often-­glamorous image – it’s not at all romantic. It is usually difficult and painful, even if it is rewarding.

  So, here we are: just over a year after my first ‘Searching Through Dustbins’ post went live, all that learning has been captured in a book. Over the next few chapters, you’ll learn about the experiences and lessons that shaped my partners and me as businesspeople. There is a disclaimer, though: we’ve only just started on our journey, and we’re still learning so much. Our children are very much just that: children. Some have started to crawl; others are like Benjamin Button, ageing in reverse. On the plus side, the fact that everything is still so new leaves room for Searching Through Dustbins: Volume 2!

  This book would not have been possible without my business partners – or, as we call ourselves, the wolf pack of four guys and a girl. Most of the stories shared in this book are lessons that we experienced as a team, so it’s fitting that I introduce you to my four business partners, and our children, in chronological order.

  Tebogo Sehume: It was love at first sight (Marriage 1 and Child 1)

  Tebz is a serious focal point in the story, because she was my partner from Day One: we both quit our jobs at the same time, back in May 2014. Tebz has a Master’s in Tax and worked on the tax team at Deloitte Consulting. She also happens to be my wife. We have been friends since university, and we have spent five of our ten years together building our business. Most of my Facebook posts started with ‘Tebz and I’, to the point where my good friends started calling me ‘Tebz and I’. Tebz and I (see what I did there) gave birth to our first child, Thamani Consulting (Pty) Ltd, after six unsuccessful months of trying our hands at being venture capitalists; failing dismally at it and running out of savings.

  Thamani Consulting was born out of a need to make some money just so that we could stay alive and pay our bills. The company provided accounting services like payroll and management accounts to SMMEs, and Tebz and I did all the work until we could hire staff.

  Thamani Consulting is still going today, and continues to provide accounting and tax services to an array of awesome clients.

  Fun facts about Tebz:

  She is always laughing.

  She hasn’t yet changed her surname, Sehume, to mine, Tau, even though I’ve paid lobola in full.

  She’s an amazing human who cares about our company culture and staff; she’s super organised and very smart.

  Dylan Hyslop: The white BEE partner (Marriage 2 and Children 2 and 3)

  Dylan features a lot in the story because of the businesses we founded together, which have been my greatest teachers.


  We started out in 2016 with an edtech business called Tuta-Me, which we dubbed the Uber of Tutoring. Tuta-Me is positioned as a solution to the education crisis in South Africa.

  We also started Silicon Maboneng, a software development house, that same year – it made sense because Dylan is a software engineer by profession, and a very talented one at that. Dyl and I didn’t start out as friends, but he is now one of my closest mates, and I have enormous respect for him.

  Fun facts about Dyl:

  He can fix anything, from light bulbs to cars. If my wife is ever stuck somewhere because of car trouble, she knows to call Dylan before she calls me.

  He has an extremely practical approach to life, which is why his entire wardrobe consists of one pair of formal pants, two formal shirts, and two pairs of shoes (one formal pair, and one pair of running shoes that he’s owned for nine years).

  Thuto Motsie: The arrival of the coconut (Marriage 3 and Child 4)

  Thuto joined us in the middle of 2016, two years after Tebz and I left Deloitte. Like me, Thuto is a Chartered Accountant, and joined the Deloitte Consulting team shortly after completing his articles.

  If you have ever spent time with people from a management consulting background, you’ll know that they excel at making perfect slides and stating simple things so eloquently that you feel that you want to pay them just for those words. That’s what Thuto brought to Thamani: with his fancy lingo, he’s the guy we send to close the big sale when the client wants to speak to someone with a superlative command of the English language and an ability to make outstanding slides.

  On a more serious note, Thuto’s arrival gave birth to Thamani Advisory, which focuses on services like corporate finance, internal audit, flexible resources and BEE advisory services, and typically services medium to larger enterprises. Like Dylan, Thuto and I didn’t start out as friends but he, too, has become one of my good mates.

  Fun facts about Thuto:

  He went to Parktown Boys’ and I went to KES, so we will argue about who is superior ‘til kingdom come.

  He says he can speak African languages, but we are yet to hear this. He even laughs with a British accent – that’s why we call him a coconut.

  We have played over 200 squash games together, of which I have won 180 – but he loves to boast about the 20 games he has won.

  Nathan Maduna: To gain weight you must eat (Marriage 4 and Child 5)

  Nathan is the newest member of the wolf pack. He’s also a Chartered Accountant, and is a former Deloitte employee.

  With Nathan’s arrival, Thamani Assurance Inc was born. This is our audit division, specialising in assurance services.

  I would say that Nathan has the clearest vision for Thamani of us all: he is determined to build a massive professional services firm so that we can leave a legacy that outlives us.

  Fun facts about Nathan:

  He desperately wants to put on weight (he is the smallest of the four guys in our business), but he hardly ever eats.

  He dresses formally every day. That’s just his look – even when he’s dressed down, he could land a part in a James Bond film.

  He is process driven, super reliable and ready to burn the midnight oil whenever it’s needed.

  The searching never ends …

  They say that if you are the smartest person in a room, then you are in the wrong room. That’s because you’ve already learned all you can from the people in the room with you. If you want to learn more, it’s time to move on.

  I am happy to report that every day of the past five years, has presented a challenge as I try to keep up with my four business partners, both intellectually and from the perspective of work ethic. I work with truly brilliant people who I learn from every day. They have challenged me and helped me develop as a businessman – and they continue to do so. If it’s true that we are the sum of the four people we spend the most time with, then I really am the luckiest person on earth.

  Now that you’ve been properly introduced to the wolf pack, it’s time to read about everything we’ve learned together. I hope you enjoy the lessons in the coming chapters – and remember: no matter where you are in your own entrepreneurial journey, there are always plenty more lessons to be learned.

  Happy searching.

  PROLOGUE

  The idea of quitting your job to become an entrepreneur is so romantic. If you’ve previously indulged this fantasy, you’ve probably imagined that your new nine-to-five looks something like this: you’ll set up your MacBook (finally you get to use it!) at your favourite coffee shop (cue hippy indie music) and the clients just pour in. Best of all, you get to do all of this while wearing your best pair of jeans and Nike Air sneakers.

  Sadly, the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Entrepreneurship is harder than you could ever imagine. Just how hard, you ask? Picture the most stressful, trying challenge you can possibly imagine – and multiply that by ten.

  I’ve heard so many friends and acquaintances say that they believe they’ll find their passion in entrepreneurship; or at least a sense of purpose and meaning. While that’s entirely possible, the truth is that you’ll have to search through dustbins to find it. And you’ll face a lot of rejection in the meantime.

  That’s why I think it’s important to prepare yourself mentally before you make the leap from corporate to start-up – it is, after all, a monumental leap of faith.

  CHAPTER 1

  THE FIRST DOOR THAT YOU OPEN MAY NOT BE THE RIGHT ONE

  I have wanted to own my own business for as long as I can remember. In fact, I’ve been experimenting with various businesses from my schooldays.

  My very first business was a car wash I started in matric with my friend Tafadzwa Gotha. Armed with buckets and sponges, we walked the streets of Houghton every weekend, hoping that one of the homeowners would give us a chance to deliver our sales pitch. To our surprise, a number of them not only listened; they also let us wash their cars. We earned enough to splash out on McDonald’s and, occasionally, new sneakers, but we stopped the business after six months – not by choice, but because one day we accidentally released the hand brake on a car we were washing. As the car rolled backwards, it ran over a dog’s tail and the owner’s Hoover. The dog recovered, but the Hoover didn’t – and we realised that, in the absence of personal liability cover, shutting up shop was the wisest option.

  Tafadzwa and I then went on to set up a promotions business. Although we went to different universities (he studied at Wits, while I attended UJ), we both noticed that there were always people handing out pamphlets on campus, or companies running campaigns targeting students. Although we didn’t want to be promoters ourselves, we thought we might be able to run campaigns on behalf of clients. After meeting with the national marketing manager at Nashua Mobile, we secured a one-year contract to hand out T-shirts and pamphlets at our respective universities. We hired people to do the legwork, and we were in business. The company made good money (from a student’s perspective, anyway); enough to pay for tattoos and a month-long holiday. Sadly, though, our contract was not renewed.

  But this wasn’t the only student job. One of the day houses at UJ, Vorendag, was notorious for its punch parties. I teamed up with some mates to get in on the action: we bought the cheapest vodka we could find, then sold it at the party. The brand in question cost only R18 for a litre; needless to say, it wasn’t triple filtered, nor was it going to win any awards. Our serving style was hardly more sophisticated: we arrived at our first party armed with two bottles of vodka each, along with white plastic cups ‘borrowed’ from McDonald’s that functioned as our shot glasses. We charged R20 for one shot; we recouped the purchase of one bottle of vodka with our very first sale. Of course, there was a trick to selling the vodka: it helped if the people at the party were already too drunk to pay attention to the brand! We each made around R2 000 profit during the year we sold
shooters, but stopped because the day house eventually realised how much money we were making and shut us down – oh, and because we were never quite confident that people weren’t suffering nasty side effects from our super cheap vodka!

  After selling vodka, I moved on to selling coffee. For this, I took advantage of the amazing social activities on offer for students living in residence at UJ. For example, a first-year concert was held every year, along with a singing competition between all the residences called Serrie. Teaming up with friends, we saw an opportunity to sell coffee and snacks outside the auditorium at these events. This was a great business; in our first year, we sold only coffee and hot chocolate, but over the years we added other menu items, like boerewors rolls and other snacks. We carried on for three years, until the SRC took over the business. In truth, though, we were happy to stop by then; by the time we reached our Honours year we no longer had the gees to cart urns full of boiling water around the university.

  By the end of 2009, I had finished my studies and was ready for my first year of work. However, I still had to complete my academic articles. I decided to stay on at the university and spend my first year of articles lecturing rather than going to work at a firm. This turned out to be a great decision, and I had one of the best years of my life. It also gave me a chance to flex my entrepreneurial muscles: on a trip to the University of Limpopo, where I was to deliver an update class, I noticed that the students were in serious need of extra support, especially since they didn’t have access to the same resources we enjoyed at UJ. I contacted the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) to ask for permission to host extra lessons over the weekends. Initially, I wasn’t going to ask for payment, although I asked SAICA to cover transport costs for my team of tutors; however, we reached a point where we were earning more from these lessons than from our day jobs – mind you, it wasn’t difficult to beat a first-year article salary! Even so, with our accommodation and transport paid for, it felt like we were earning enough money to have fun. Sadly, it had to end when our first year of articles was over and we had to find jobs at corporates – none of which were willing to give us Fridays off.