With #NationalBookWeek coming to an end this Sunday, why not use the rest of the week to cultivate a lifelong reading habit?
For recommendations we turned to entrepreneurs who are big readers, often turning to books for ideas, business development and inspiration.
We dug deep into our archives to share their favourites, including Tebogo Ditshego, founder of Ditshego Media, a Johannesburg-based public relations company.
Not only is Ditshego one of South Africa’s most respected entrepreneurs, he is a massive reader who launched one of the country’s biggest online book clubs, Read A Book SA. The platform has over 39,000 followers on Twitter, and over 15,000 books recommended by its followers. Ditshego is also the author of the book, ‘Kasi Nerd’, which he published and distributed through his company.
Need some book inspo? Here are the 50 business must-reads our entrepreneurs have talked about over the years.
1. David And Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell
2. The Snowball And The Business Of Life, Alice Schroeder
3. The Intelligent Entrepreneur, Bill Murphy
4. The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham
5. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building A Business When There Are No Easy Answers, Ben Horowitz
6. The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating And Avoiding The Pitfalls That Can Sink A Start-up, Noam Wasserman
7. Built To Last, Jim Collins
8. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work And What To Do About It, Michael E. Gerber
Some of the many entrepreneurs who have shared what they read (left to right): 1. Tebogo Ditshego recommended the book that prepared him to run his business, ‘The Intelligent Entrepreneur’ by Bill Murphy 2. Azania Mosaka is inspired by Shonda Rhimes’ ‘Year of Yes’ 3. ‘Timothy Maurice’ penned the branding book, ‘Personovation’ 4. Murray Legg has read ‘The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Start-up’.
10. I’m A Freaking Genius: Why Is This Business So Hard?, Mike Campion
11. The Four Purposes Of Life: Finding Meaning and Direction in a Changing World, Dan Millman
12. Wake Up To The Joy Of YOU, Agapi Stasssinopoulos
13. Year Of Yes, Shonda Rhimes
14. The Book Of Joy: Lasting Happiness In A Changing World, Nobel Prize Laureates – The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
15. Business In Africa: Corporate Insights, Dianne Games
16. Africa Rising: How 900 million African Consumers Offer More Than You Think, Vijay Mahajan
17. Doing Business In Africa: A Strategic Guide For Entrepreneurs, Marjolein Lem, Rob van Tulder and Kim Geleynse
18. What To Do When You Want To Give Up: Help For Entrepreneurs In Tough Times, Allon Raiz
19. Everyone’s Guide To The South African Economy, Andre Roux
20. Relentlessly Relevant: 50 Ways To Innovate, Douglas Kruger
21. Principles Of Franchising: A Step By Step Guide To The World Of Franchising, Kurt Illetschko
22. The Art Of Thinking Clearly, Rolf Dobelli
23. The Complete 101 Collection: What Every Leader Needs To Know, John C. Maxwell
24. Losing My Virginity, Richard Branson
25. Personal Branding Intelligence, Timothy Maurice Webster
26. I’m IN, Gil Oved, Lebo Gunguluza, Polo Leteka, Vusi Thembekwayo
27. What’s Your Moonshot?, John Sanei
28. Who Moved My Cheese?, John Maxwell
29. Immortal Man, Neville Goddard
30. Billions And Billions, Carl Sagan
31. 48 Laws Of Power, Robert Greene
1. Sorbet founder Ian Fuhr wrote the book ‘Get That Feeling’ 2. Gil Oved together with other Dragons released the inspirational book, ‘I’M IN’ 3. Lynette Ntuli’s book of choice is ‘The Glass Wall: Success Strategies For Women at Work’ 4. Donna Rachelson from Seed Academy is the author of the book ‘Play To Win’.
Online Learning for Entrepreneurs
33. The Art Of The Deal, Donald Trump
34. Screw It Let’s Do It, Richard Branson
35. The Four Hour Work Week, Tim Ferris
36. Secret Letters Of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, Robin Sharma
37. The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg
38. The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey
49. Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg
40. Shoe Dog, Phil Knight
41. You Can Have It All, Mary Kay
42. Feel The Fear and Do it Anyway, Susan Jeffers
43. The WOW Factor, Frances Cole Jones
44. Waking The Tiger, Peter Levine
45. The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws Of Business Success, Brian Tracy
46. A Hustler’s Bible, Napoleon Hill
47. The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge
48. The New Small Business Handbook, Nokwazi Mzobe
49. The Essential Finance Handbook for Business Owners, Precious Mvulane
50. The Startup Funding Book, Nicolaj Hoejer Nielsen
