Starting a small business partnership can be very exciting. Especially when you found someone who shares your vision, works well with you and has lots of great ideas. Together you feel you have what it takes to make your small business dreams a reality.

It feels great to find someone you are confident that you can start a business with. Whether your partner is a long-time friend or someone you just recently met. However, before you go about investing a lot of time and money with this person, it is important to take a step back and look at the small business partnership from all angles. Find out more about entrepreneurship, partnerships, leadership, and marketing in this episode.

In this week's candid conversation, @pat_mahlangu, and @mpumi_satsha have an exciting conversation about entrepreneurship, POB Awards, sponsorship, leadership, and marketing.

#entrepreneurship #marketing #partnerships

Recently, many brands are expanding their marketing activities through alliances with other brands. Partnering with other brands allows you to build a strong brand and make exciting and creative decisions with significantly lower financial risks A successful partnership not only introduces your brand to a new audience but also strengthens your brand's reputation in the minds of existing customers.

In this week's candid conversation, @pat_mahlangu and @mpumi_satsha discuss some of the most exciting brand partnerships, including Vaseline and Linda Mtoba’s partnership, Hennessy’s partnership with the NBA, and the impact of Russian and Ukraine invasions have on brands and also touch base on sponsorships. The candid conversation also explores the impact of the Operation Dudula movement on the South African economy and also highlights the entrepreneurial opportunities available in the townships.

#marketing

#entrepreneurship

#partnerships

#sponsorships

#politics

Township economies are the driving force of economic growth and development in South Africa. According to an article by Investec, an estimated 17% of South Africa’s total employment is through the township economy. In a country with a high rate of unemployment like South Africa, this sector plays a huge role and it should not be ignored. 

In this week’s episode, @pat_mahlangu and @mpumi_satsha are joined by Bulelani Balabala – Founder of the Township Entrepreneurs Alliance to help answer the burning question, what are misconceptions about the township economy?  

@bulelanibala, a young entrepreneur & business speaker. 

He has earned the name “Township entrepreneur developer & youth ambassador” because of the work he does that is aimed at empowering township and rural entrepreneurs. 

He is CEO of IAF brands - a township-based, award-winning social media marketing company.

He is also the founder of Township Entrepreneurs Alliance (TEA), an organization aimed at developing entrepreneurs in the informal & rural areas. Through this platform, TEA has directly impacted over 43 000+ entrepreneurs & 20 000+ high school students. 

He is a professional speaker who covers brand development, entrepreneurship & transformation and hasn’t found himself on media and shared platforms with business, industry, and government leaders. He lives by the motto #GetThingsDone

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on many employees and professionals, and forced them to change how they perceive themselves and their careers. Often times many employees feel attacked by negative thoughts, making it difficult for them to manage their emotions. These negative thoughts are often influenced by imposter syndrome or feeling not good enough. 

In this week's episode, @pat_mahlangu and @mpumi_satsha are joined by @thecorporate_athlete, Mirriam Mathebula - Founder of The Corporate Athlete, to help answer the burning question, “ How to navigate corporate like a boss?”

Mirriam Mathebula is a senior professional based in Gauteng. She holds a Financial Management Honours from the University of Johannesburg. She was born and raised in Middelburg, a modest town in Mpumalanga. Since elementary school, Mirriam has always understood the value of dreaming big and working hard. With her natural leadership qualities and willingness to serve, she is a prime mover constantly remodeling and cementing her seat at the table. As a wife and mother to two beautiful daughters, she is passionate about creating platforms that benefit youth development, women empowerment initiatives, and caring for her family.

Valentines Day is one of the most famous days of romantic love and admiration for many people, and other brands also celebrate this day. From digital campaigns to augmented reality experiences. Many brands cover all areas of this day focusing on the aspect of romance and creating Valentine’s Day campaigns while spreading the message of love and positivity. It is important for small businesses to take advantage of this day to increase sales.

In this week's candid conversation, @pat_mahlangu and @mpumi_satsha discuss South Africa's most exciting Valentine's Day campaigns, South Africa. Some of the highlighted campaigns include Radisson Blu #BookYourBalentinesBaycation, #SayItLikeYouMeantIt - Cadbury Ps, and #RealMagic by Coca-Cola.

Many women often face the problem of being overlooked due to jealousy, hatred, and rivalry. Other women even go further to drag another women’s dream down because of insecurities. A lack of unity and empowerment is one of the main causes of these problems. It was these issues that inspired Kovini to establish the Boss Babes Movement. BBSA is a Sandton based, all female-run digital empowerment platform, passionate about uplifting and empowering South African women through powerful content across their various digital

platforms.

In this week’s episode, Boss Babes founder Kovini Moodley, helps answer the burning question, what is the Boss Babes Movement?

Kovini Moodley is a philanthropist, Chartered Accountant, and Diversity Advocate. She is the founder of the Boss Babes Movement. Moodley grew up in a small town south of Durban in KZN, and as a young change-maker she always felt a strong desire to influence and contribute to causes greater than herself.

Her career path spans working for many large listed corporate organizations and driving change across industries by utilizing her global skillsets for organizational optimization.

As a natural seeker of truth, honesty and moral principles were essential to her life and the core of her soul. The establishment of the Boss Babes of South Africa was a natural progression for her.

Many small businesses often misunderstand and overlook the role of Public Relations in brand building. For small businesses to grow and survive, it is important for them to understand the role of PR. When done right, PR can attract great investors, partners, and customers, allowing the business to grow and scale quickly. On the other side, bad PR can be catastrophic for businesses of all sizes. 

This week’s episode features Ntsika Msuthu - Sponsorship, PR, and Brand Engagement Manager at DSTV. Ntsika helps with answering the burning question, how can small businesses leverage Public Relations?

Ntsika Msuthu is an experienced communication and sponsorship specialist with over 14 years of experience in crisis management, media relations, sponsorship, campaign management, reputation management, and communication strategy development. Ntsika has worked with some of the world's largest and leading companies such as Sasol, Nedbank, Renaissance Capital, Absa, Vodacom, IBM, Cisco, Coca-Cola, and Dimension Data.

He also has experience of all facets of sponsorship management – from initial proposal evaluation, contract negotiation, rights management, budgeting, hospitality and ticketing programs, implementation, evaluation, and measurement – as well as working with other departments such as advertising, social media, and PR to seize opportunities and achieve maximum value for the company.

The candid conversation is a new and exciting feature where the Pat on Brands Podcast hosts, @pat_mahlangu and @mpumi_satsha have one-on-one conversations. The hosts check on each other on their journey as entrepreneurs and the progress they are making as avid marketers. This feature highlights the importance of African brand storytelling and aims to archive content that can contribute to the history of African brands. It is very important for entrepreneurs and marketers to have these conversations to help each other grow and develop.

This week's episode looks at the most inspiring social media trends and campaigns. Some of those campaigns are the latest Twitter campaign #Tweetthingsintoexistence, featuring celebrity's previous tweets that proved what they aspire to achieve and that dreams come true. 

Listen to the episode to hear about other interesting campaigns.

Many entrepreneurs go through a lot of stress and depression while they pursue their entrepreneurial journey. When their businesses are not performing well financially they tend to be emotional and stress a lot about the success and failure of their ventures. Some even go further to committing suicide as they find it difficult to open up and speak about how they feel and the challenges they are facing. They want to deal with the pressure alone until they have a mental breakdown. Having stable mental health as an entrepreneur is very important in 2022!

In this week’s episode Nompumelelo Satsha and Pat Mahlangu are joined by Bongani Chinkanda - Managing Director at Bravado (A Brave Group Company), to help answer the burning question, how does one build strong mental health for 2022?

Bongani Chinkanda was born and raised in Malawi. He studied in Harare, Zimbabwe, and went on to complete his degree at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.

He has a strong belief in solving client business problems, specializing in the youth and mass markets, and he is passionate about bringing big ideas to the people. His passion lies in developing entrepreneurs and leaders in the CREATIVE ECONOMY. 

Bongani worked in trade and shopper marketing for companies like Unilever, BP, Kraft Foods, and Kimberly Clark from 2003 until 2008 before pursuing a career in advertising.

He founded Dzuwa Media in 2008 which supplied promotional material to the Malawian and Zimbabwean markets,  and in 2010 it developed into a brand activation campaign.

In 2016 they merged with Stretch Marketing now Elevator, to further extend their middle and mass-market offering.

Bongani joined HDI Youth Marketeers in November 2017, his dream of ‘African Brand Stories’ was reignited through the growth of HDI’s collective. 

After leaving HDI together in 2020 with the Brave Group and its partners, they formed Bravado, a Mass Market advertising agency. He currently is the Managing Director and shareholder.

Many marketers, entrepreneurs, and professionals are very curious and interested in knowing what digital marketing trends they will be using and implementing in 2022  to benefit and grow their brands. Marketing has gone beyond branding and advertising, and keeping these trends in mind will help brands thrive in 2022. 

In this week’s episode, Pat on Brands podcast hosts Pat Mahlangu and Nompumelelo Satsha take a closer look at the marketing and digital marketing trends for 2022 that marketers and entrepreneurs can use to grow their brands.

The 10 major marketing trends for 2022 are:

1 Augmented Reality and virtual reality are emerging.

2. Metaverse is everywhere.

3. Influencer marketing continues to evolve.

4. LinkedIn is growing and growing

5. Moving from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0.

6. Everything is driven by Algorithms.

7. Gaming advertising is the next big thing.

8. Video content is on the rise.

9. Collaborations with brands are gaining momentum.

10. Brands tap into the Vegan Market.