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Please tell us what is a typical business day for you?My Business days are different depending on what I am doing or which cap I am wearing. Generally, I will start my day at 2AM. This is the time spent to read and reply emails and read business books online. I also use this time for social media updates. Around 6:30, I start sending out emails from my draft folder and creating contacts I need for my next interviews, meeting, reviews etc. I am usually in the office around 8:30 when I hold skype/ viber or face to face meeting with my team or clients. By 2PM, I am ready to hang out with some friends who inspire me or organising files and folders in some of my numerous online storage devices.
What made you start the business and how did you get started?
When a mother of 2 is faced with redundancy, ideas of what to do next started to manifest. With a previous experience in journalism, a husband who is an amazing web designer amongst other things, my abilities to connect with people, negotiation skills, high level communication skills and a love for all things creative, I decided to start a web business. One year later, it was no longer an ”I” business but a “we” business. With the pressure to satisfy different type of readers, we decided to turn our online magazine into a print magazine and later a magazine publication company into a Digital marketing agency.
What would you say has been your greatest accomplishment in the business world to date?
It is very difficult to name one achievement, but the biggest achievement so far has been my ability to influence change in people’s lives. This has been done through my natural coaching skills. As a coach, every positive result gives me great satisfaction and I can’t thank God enough for this gift. Other achievements include the publication of one issue after the other of our amazing FabAfriq Glossy magazine, collaborations with the amazing FabAfriq creative team to host Fashion events, facilitating workshops and seminars and the launch of a FabAfriq branch in Cameroon (Africa)
What has been your biggest challenge in business so far?
My biggest challenge has been managing across boundaries. With a team scattered around 4 continents, it is very difficult to manage time differences thus missing some key deadlines.
Further challenges are Funding availabilities. It has been very challenging, raising funds to run the business. As we all know, more than 60% of small businesses shut down due to lack of funding. So far, we are still trying to solve this issue but as you all know-where there is a will...
As a woman and a Mother, it is also very challenging to raise little children while trying to run a business (I have 3 kids, 19 years, 5 years and 1 year).
What are your future plans for the business?
We plan to publish every 2 months going forward from next year. This will give our readers an opportunity to enjoy exciting new articles at a regular interval. We have launched our consultancy, which supports businesses in Digital marketing and communication. We plan to grow over the years in human resources so that we’d be able to support our ever growing clientele.
If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?
When I look back at some of the mistakes that I made, I smiled to myself. In life it is OK to make mistakes, you learn faster. I think what I might do differently is to work on my relationship with anyone who has ever contributed to FabAfriq Magazine. Most of them were like butterflies, flying to FabAfriq only to fly away again-chasing other passion, bigger pay cheques and other adventures.
Why is it so important to inspire young women in particular to follow their dreams?
As we all know, women have been marginalised in the past. Inspiring more women means more women would be in control of their lives. We need to save our continent, statistics show that men are not doing a pretty good job- Inspire a man, you change his family, Inspire a woman, you change her village...just twisted that but you know it is true.
What advice would you give to somebody who wants to start a business in your industry?
1- Research
2- Plan
3- Gather a lot of images and articles. Make sure you ask for permission before you re-publish published work and please always include a reference link.
4- Kick start. You do not need all you need to start a successful business. Once you have kicked started your business, other things would fall into place.
What or who inspires you in business and why?
The final products always give me a kick to start all over again. I see every publications as a project, as soon as it has been published, I jump on the next project. Team FabAfriq is a very big inspiration, everyone takes their role as their best friend, delivering on time cost and quality.
My family, who doesn’t like a holidays in The Bahamas? I want to work hard, so that I can take them there every other year.
What is your favourite inspirational quote?
“Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” Albert camus
+FabAfriq Magazine
www.fabafriq.com
@fabafriq
You are always an inspiration and it is a great pleasure to work with you.
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