Fish4Africa’s co-founder opens up about the highs and lows of entrepreneurship in a candid interview with Sandras Phiri in the Mother City.
Clean Bandit’s Rockabye is playing over the sound system as I climb the stairs to Workshop 17’s events room at the V&A Waterfront. It’s almost sunset on May 9th and I’m here at Startup Grind Cape Town to see Fish4Africa’s Nicolette De Freitas speak about her business journey as head of the group’s retail division.
I’m excited to hear Nicolette’s story, and to see some new faces, but my head feels like it’s been stuffed with cotton wool and I’ve gone through so many tissues in the past two days that Kleenex should give me shares in the company. Reluctant to spread my flu germs, I buy a Grapetiser and find a seat near the back. A few other people are sitting alone as well, fiddling on their phones or observing the scene, but most are networking near the snacks table. I’m just trying to hold in a sneeze.
Minutes later, Sandras Phiri greets the crowd. He’s the director of Startup Grind Cape Town and the host for this evening’s interview. Dressed in jeans, a Startup Grind T-shirt and a dark jacket, his style is what I like to call casual chic. What’s most striking about him, though, is his exuberance: it bubbles to the surface (like the effervescent Vitamin C tablet in my glass of water earlier today).
Sandras looks around the room as he welcomes everyone – and then gently chides those of us who aren’t mingling. “Okay, so one of the things we don’t do at Startup Grind is sit down by ourselves. Get up and go talk to someone with a different accent than your own,” he says.
I appreciate his encouragement, but my mother’s voice is ringing in my head: “Don’t breathe on people when you’re sick. Cover your mouth when you cough. Wash your hands after you blow your nose.” Eish! Maybe I should’ve stayed home in bed, with a cup of hot chocolate and strong medication. The thought has a certain appeal and it lingers in my mind. I’m still daydreaming as the seats fill up and Sandras starts speaking again, this time from the stage area.
He’s sharing some of his strategies for success as a prelude to his interview with Nicolette. Tonight, the focus is on growth through identity and Sandras is challenging all of us to carve out a niche in our respective fields. “Can you describe your identity in one powerful sentence?” He wants us to differentiate ourselves in the crowded marketplace by defining who we are and what we do. His advice culminates in a three-step strategy built around the word ACTION…
Sandras wants us to realise that sustained action is necessary to build traction. And once we’ve got traction, the world is bound to take notice. Because if we’re out there, making ourselves known and doing great things, word will spread. We’ll be seen. Acknowledged. Recognised. Engaged. And that’s a recipe for growth – personally and professionally. I’m impressed by his passion – and so is the rest of the audience: the energy in the room is almost tangible.
If you’re new to Startup Grind, you need to know that it’s an independent startup community working to educate, inspire and connect entrepreneurs in more than 360 cities around the world.
The Cape Town chapter organises regular fireside chats with business owners, founders, innovators, educators, and investors. These interviews are designed to highlight the successes and failures in every entrepreneurial journey – and to give attendees valuable information from enterprising people who’ve learned some of life’s toughest lessons first-hand.
May 2018 is Female Leaders Month at Startup Grind and women are being celebrated for their efforts to inspire, empower and lead in a diverse global environment. It’s perhaps fitting, then, that tonight’s chosen speaker is a woman who’s forging her own path in South Africa’s largely male-dominated fishing industry.
A sea change – and uncharted territory
Nicolette De Freitas. Photo: Startup Grind Cape Town (used with permission)
Nicolette De Freitas is petite. Even in heels, she’s dwarfed by Sandras as he shows her to her seat on stage. But you’ve heard that expression about dynamite and small packages, right? It’s a cliché, I know, but it’s also true in this case. The more I listen to Nicolette, the more I realise how much she’s accomplished in a relatively short space of time.
Born and bred in Cape Town, Nicolette is currently the director of Fish4Africa’s retail division, managing relationships with the SPAR group, Pick n Pay and Fish4Africa’s own franchise outlets. She left the corporate world to join the family fish business, which was the brainchild of her mother and father. “I was pushed,” she confesses, telling Sandras that she abandoned her career to jump in and help the people closest to her.
Nicolette admits the move from finance to fish was challenging. Although she’d grown up seeing both of her grandfathers and her parents involved in the fishing sector and various individual business ventures, she wasn’t sure how her newfound role would pan out in the long run. Her concerns were compounded by the catastrophic