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By Amanda Ellen Nicola Jojo
IN order to build an entrepreneurial empire that is meaningful and impactful, Jonathan Ralph Kadurira had to unearth his purpose and align it with the core mission of his business interests.
For the founding CEO of Springtide Cleaning the success of his entrepreneurial journey has been anchored on embracing purpose driven solutions appeal to an ever-growing range of consumers.
“My philosophy of success is purpose fulfilled. If I manage to fully exhaust everything that God deposited inside of me to better the lives of many I would have made it in life
“I try to function in a way that helps me pursue my purpose. I grew up in Harare. I was raised by a single mother after my father died when I was 9. Being the first born had me have that sense of responsibility at a very young age. I did my primary, secondary and tertiary education in Harare and Marondera,” Kadurira told The Entrepreneurial Magazine.
The youthful businessman’s inspirational story shows that passion and determination are more powerful than age or experience.
He said: “As soon as I got into University I knew definitely I was going to venture into business. I was always enterprising. I would sell perfumes to students and lectures and many other people outside school.
“As a student studying IT I also ventured into fixing student’s phones. That was the era of BlackBerry and would fix those to have them work and be compatible with the Zimbabwean networks and many people had these phones and had that challenge.”
He runs a cleaning services company called Springtide Cleaning. It is a fully integrated cleaning business that seeks to serve both Commercial and Residential clients providing them with clear effective cleaning solutions.
He also have a training and development consultancy business called PIGA CONSULTANCY.
Additionally, he is the founder and convenor of The Mesh Zimbabwe which is an event that seeks to cultivate good networks among young adults in terms of business and social relations.
“We recently launched in the UK in September and soon to launch in Capetown in December. This is to show how big we are expanding and people have been receiving this event pretty well over the last 5 years.
“My desire is to have a relaxed networking web where young adults come through to interact and share ideas with mentors and among themselves gave birth to this initiative,” he said.
It is without a shadow of doubt that aspiring entrepreneurs are always equipped with potential and promise, however Kadurira testified that challenges and risks are inevitable in the world of business.
“Starting something has always been a challenge for many. When I started off Springtide Cleaning and being a person with just an IT background and nothing on business was a challenge. The biggest challenge was we have been bootstrapping from day one. Funding of businesses is still a challenge in our economy. The lack of financial muscle also deters our desired and deserving growth. You need money to make much more money,” he lamented.
Studies show that having quality leadership skills plays an integral part of formulating and articulating the company’s direction. As such, Kadurira has firm leadership skills that have been useful in getting his operations off the ground as well as running them.
“My basic principles on leadership are, leading by creating a vision, getting out of the way by delegating, nurture people who share the same values of the company. I believe in empowering and having the people own the vision and run with it,” he stated.
Businesses do not operate in a vacuum as such Kadurira has unique perspectives and approaches that has set him apart from his competitors.
“I love books. Not because I am an author but because I am reader. Reading opens and stretches our minds. Once stretched the mind will never go back to its former position and thus it keeps growing and develop more and more ideas of innovation or expansion. By that we are a people who are always striving to do better. With books one can never go wrong.
“One of the best things I do and always encourage and even foster in others is the spirit of learning,” he emphasized.
Speaking on his ideal retirement he said: “My ideal retirement is having built institutions that help young people to discover themselves and their life purpose and empower them to do more so that their lives are economically and socially empowered to empower the next generation. I would love a transgenerational legacy.”
KEY TAKEAWAYS ON INTERNATIONAL MEN’S DAY: I always just joke by saying I don’t know why world’s toilet day is also on the same day as ours as men lol. However this day for me is a reminder that as men our role is to lead and make sure our generation is taken care of, economically, socially and spiritually. Everyone must be empowered and we men must lead that empowerment movement.
PARTING ADVICE TO ASPIRING AND STARTING UP ENTREPREPRENEURS:
- Formalise your business
- Keep detailed records and be disciplined
- Separate business money and personal money
- Be creative and offer better solutions to clients. Make them enjoy your product or service comfortably.
- Stay focused and agile!
- Develop and nurture a healthy good team.
