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Notes from a hijacked corporate career

I hated Monday mornings as much as the next guy.

Weekends went by too quickly and Sunday evenings were spoilt by the thought of work the next day. A passionate entrepreneurial venture recently hijacked my corporate career and now I look forward to every day of the week.

The catalyst for the decision came from an unexpected source.

My career in asset management had taken me to Dubai where my best friend called in a favour, asking me to tutor his son.

Coming from a previously disadvantaged background, my parents didn’t have access to a decent education and made me very aware of its value. I had no hesitation in agreeing.

After successfully passing his exams I received a long e-mail from my young protégé.

He couldn’t thank me enough, I had clarified concepts that had complicated his life for the best part of three years.

I had thought very little of the few hours I spent helping him, but the results allowed him to reach a significant milestone in his life.

There are times when the meaning of life is absolutely clear, this was one of them for me.

The next day at work I began contemplating where my career was heading. I realised then that the only day I ever looked forward to was payday. I was working to live.

My career still carried promise, but I wanted a bigger return for my daily efforts than a paycheck – even if it was a tax-free salary paid by an oil rich government.

Transition out of the corporate world

It was then that I started making plans to transition out of the corporate world.

Eight months later I left Dubai bound for Madrid, to do my MBA at IE Business School. IE offers a highly ranked MBA that has a strong entrepreneurship flavour.

Entrepreneurship

It was at IE’s accelerator programme that I started Next Generation Lab with founding partners from Brazil, China and the United States.

Through the use of start-up techniques we take family businesses back to their entrepreneurial roots to tackle the challenges of continuity, succession planning, innovation and global competition.

Having grown up in a family business the company not only called upon something that I had first hand knowledge of, but it also took me back to my entrepreneurial roots.

It’s still early days for the company, but I have certainly enjoyed celebrating our small successes. I have also had fun doing things I would never have done in my asset management role, like setting up our social media platforms.

It hasn’t been easy though, it’s actually been tougher than I thought it would be.

There have been times when I’ve questioned myself, the company’s value and whether I should continue. There have certainly been days when I’ve missed payday.

I’ve learnt that as an entrepreneur, perseverance is a trait that needs to stand out above all others. Risk and reward are twins separated at birth.

Next Generation Lab is slowly climbing towards profitability and it has already started to make a social impact.

We have sourced skills to fill gaps and developed new ventures that have the potential to employ many more. Above all, we are ensuring that family businesses survive for tomorrow’s generation.  

It was Henry Ford that said "almost any one can think up an idea. The thing that counts is developing it in to a practical product".

Ideas by themselves are cheap. All of us have a few stored in secret vaults.

Unless we explore their potential they will be little more than reminders of what could have been.

Find your catalyst and persevere down the road less taken.

* Abu Bakr Cassim is the founder of Next Generation Lab.

- Fin24

* Share your experience of setting up a business or simply ask a question. Our business panel can put you on the right path.


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