Whether football, cricket, rugby, baseball, or soccer from the time we are children, we have been members of a team. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why it might be tempting for the founders of a startup to take the team composition of their business for granted. Without a doubt, negligence in constructing your team will create a vulnerability for the success of your startup. With the wrong team members, you will lose time, money and reputation from which you will find it extremely difficult to recover. Therefore, when choosing your partners be sure that each potential partner gives evidence of having reliably demonstrated the following seven team attributes:
- Integrity = a commitment to honesty and transparency;
- Chemistry = a positive proactive mindset with esteem for the business and other team members;
- Character = the ability to work credibly and reliably;
- Competencies = effective skills which align with the challenges and opportunities of the startup;
- Resilience = the ability to respond and view challenges as opportunities;
- Vision = a deep understanding of the purpose and transformative impact that your startup will have on your community, your country and our world; and
- Hope = deep positive internal determination and belief that the startup will be a success.
Through these seven team success essentials, we believe that you will create an effective team, as necessary for the profitability of your startup. A team which will be a portrait of “Harambe” which in Swahili means working together, pulling together, helping each other, caring and sharing. Just IMAGINE!
Call-to-Action
First, list the names of the individual(s) that you would like to invite to be members of your STARTUP team.
Now, carefully evaluate whether the individual meets the criteria to be considered for membership in your STARTUP team by asking each of the following questions:
- Is this a person of integrity and someone I can trust?
- Does this person add value and synergy to our team?
- Does this person’s character indicate that I can trust them with my company’s assets?
- Is this person someone who will treat my startup’s customers with esteem and respect so that they become loyal returning customers?
- Does this person indicate resilience with a positive mental attitude through good and bad times?
- Does this person have the required passion and understanding of the customer’s need and the solution provided by our startup?
- Does this person express genuine Hope for the positive impact our business can make in the lives of our community and our world?
Only if the answer to each of these questions is YES do we recommend that you invite them to be a member of your STARTUP team.
Now get ready to IMAGINE & INNOVATE!!!
Mentoring Moment
Madey Adeboye – Healthy Food Startup Café: Green & Grill House (Nigeria)
Madey Adeboye is a Nigerian lawyer who launched a healthy food café in Lagos, Nigeria. As her niche, she chose a specialty of green and nutritious food through which African delicacies could be enjoyed. She states, “I love okra soup – so I choose to make it with healthier meat; instead of using beef, I use chicken and fish”. When asked how she creates a profitable business, the Nigerian entrepreneur said, ‘Find a problem and solve it.’ In just two years, she became a household name in Nigeria for healthy cuisines. She says she has a passion for healthy foods. Having healthy food is a big problem in Africa. Adeboye identified the problem and solved it by launching the Green & Grill House. She believes by healthy eating, the citizens of her community can experience an improved quality of well-being. Adeboye says that changing her personal habits and seeing amazing results inspired her to do the same for others.
Now it’s your turn to IMAGINE!
