Tshepo Phakathi, group CEO of Phakathi Holdings and founder of Phakathi Capital, has mentored thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs. His seven lessons come from decades of actually running businesses, not theory.
Focus and up-skill constantly
Spreading yourself across too many trades invites competitors to take you out in each one. Pick a lane, get genuinely good at it, and keep refreshing your own skills and your team’s as the market shifts, because standing still is the same as falling behind.
Strategy, capability and hiring
Decide who you are and where you want to compete, then discard everything else, sticking with that strategy long enough to actually work. Your ability to execute depends on continually reconfiguring your capabilities, and hiring the wrong person costs far more than paying more for the right one.
Diligence and the customer
Short bursts of hard work are easy. Sustained diligence over years is what separates businesses that survive from those that don’t. And above all: retaining an existing customer is almost always cheaper than acquiring a new one, so treat every customer as if they were your only one.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most important lesson for a struggling small business?
Focus. Spreading a business across too many trades makes it vulnerable to competitors who specialise.
Why does customer retention matter more than acquisition?
Losing an existing customer, especially due to poor performance, is very difficult to recover from, while acquiring a new one is consistently more expensive.
How important is hiring to business survival?
Very. A wrong hire costs significantly more than paying for the right, more experienced person from the start.
Who is Tshepo Phakathi?
A South African serial entrepreneur and group CEO of Phakathi Holdings, who has mentored thousands of startup founders.
What percentage of South African small businesses survive long term?
Survival rates vary by sector, but consistent diligence and customer retention are cited repeatedly as the deciding factors.
Further reading: Can entrepreneurial success rub off on you?
Originally published in 2016. Updated September 2026.
