Page 6 - Nine Yards Magazine 2021/2022 - Old Mutual Corporate

editor’s letter
Nine Yards wins in New York! Our launch issue won Silver (Best Print Experience B2B) at The Content Council’s 2021 Pearl Awards.
...and in SA! We also took top honours at the 2021 SA Publication Forum Awards for: • Best External Magazine (B) • Best Headlines.
‘What next!’ I’ve heard and uttered this exclamation many times since we launched Nine Yards just over a year ago. Now I often catch myself
asking ‘What else is possible?’ instead, spurred on by the curious, open-minded, open-hearted, courageous and forward-focused thinking in the air.
One of our own ‘what elses’ has been Nine Yards TV, a series of nine interviews with entrepreneurs about their business challenges and learnings. I have been inspired and encouraged by their stories as well as the genuine willingness to help that came from the small-business experts included in the series. (Don’t worry if you missed it. You can watch all the episodes on our content hub.)
The resilience they’ve shown, and especially the tenacity and commitment that got them through the past year, is what prompted our cover story featuring Itumeleng Lekomanyane, Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela and Louis Roux. All three had to weather a storm and find a new path. Turn to page 20 to see how they did it and what they have lined up next.
Not surprisingly, the theme for the most recent Global Entrepreneurship Week was centred around new ideas, innovation and resilience. It is also the thread that runs throughout this issue. As Louis said during our interview, ‘If there is one lesson the past year has taught me, it’s when an opportunity presents itself, make it your own.’ This is echoed by Bathu founder Theo Baloyi in our back page column: ‘I don’t want to look back one day and think that we could have been magnificent, but that I had been too afraid.’
This issue was therefore conceived to help you to make the most of all your opportunities with really useful advice on digital marketing (page 40), deciding between incubators and accelerators (page 42) or taking that crucial step from creating an income to building a business (page 46).
Here’s to what else is possible.
Gugu-Lisa Zwane-Johnson Editor
PS: What’s next for you? What has been your greatest challenge and achievement? I’d love to know. Mail me at nineyards@oldmutual.com
PHOTO: CATHY PINNOCK
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