Ladders and Trampolines

By Musa Kalenga

Do we, as Africans, know what it will take to make Africa great? 

Dynamic young business marketer and strategist Musa Kalenga introduces us to Ladders & Trampolines, his model for how to be effective in the competitive arena of contemporary marketing. 

The concept of a Ladder Mentality versus a Trampoline Mentality is a simple one. The step-by-step Ladder approach leads to incremental growth, which may be somewhat slow. However, the Trampoline approach, while using the same energy as climbing a ladder, produces exponential results. 

The world has changed and marketing as a discipline has evolved; to get the full value of today's ecosystem you have to seek out the trampolines. Trampoline thinking has been made possible by technology, access to information, and the globalisation of our society. 

But Musa's model is not applicable in business contexts only: for many young people it will be a powerful tool to help frame success, set more ambitious goals and dream beyond social and mental constraints. As both a change agent in his industry and in the digital arena, for the first time, Musa candidly shares his experiences in both the business world and in his personal life, in the process imparting knowledge that is both practical and insightful. 

Himself the embodiment of a new breed of African youth who are not waiting for Africa to deliver but are actively shaping the future they want, he extends a challenge to others to take up the mantle and become leaders who can turn any  scenario into a trampoline opportunity. 

Ladders & Trampolines is an honest account of experiences that encourages thinking big, dreaming broad and having exponential impact. 

Explore, embrace and hunt for those trampolines!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Musa Kalenga
• Release date: Jun 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9780620710978

Musa Kalenga

Musa is an author, marketer, brand communication specialist, writer and entrepreneur. He is a lauded speaker, author of Ladders and Trampolines and a strategist who was recognised as one of the Top 200 young South Africans by the Mail & Guardian in 2012. He is the former Head of Digital Marketing for Nedbank and former Client Partner for Facebook Africa. Currently he is the Founder and CEO of Bridge Labs, Chief Future Officer at House of Brave, Investor and Board Member of Lula and Loxion Connection. His passion is changing the communities we live in, African emerging markets and inspiring the youth through technology.  

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LADDERS & TRAMPOLINES

Anecdotes & Observations from a Contemporary Young African Marketer

MUSA KALENGA

Copyright © Musa Kalenga, 2016

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 978-0-620-71096-1

eISBN 978-0-620-71097-8 ePUB

eISBN 978-0-620-71098-5 PDF

design by Mzikayise Sithole (GrowCo) Back cover photograph by ©Tseliso Monaheng

FOREWORD

A few years ago as I was arriving at OR Tambo International Airport a confident young man with dreadlocks, also on his way out of Johannesburg, reached out to greet me and to remind me that I had not responded to his email. I promised I would – when he reminded again.

When we eventually met at my office I recalled that we had had a brief chat after a marketing lecture I gave to his class at Wits University, after which he’d sent me an email. Never one to waste an opportunity, the young man, whose name was Musa Kalenga, insisted I become one of his marketing career mentors. We connected immediately as I saw a lot, or even better, of my young self in him – entrepreneurial, multifaceted (he was a dancer, a student and working at Urban Brew while setting up his company, Monatefellaz) and ambitious.

It wasn’t long after he had finished his degree that he was co-presenting with me at a marketing conference in Uganda or shadowing me at places as diverse as Zimbabwe and India, working as part of my team at Brand Leadership in the rebranding of one of Africa’s leading SOEs, Transnet, or going to watch the inaugural F1 night race in Singapore. Ultimately, I had the confidence to pursue a partnership with him at our activation company, Ihop, prior to his moving on to gain experience in corporate Africa at Nedbank and ultimately Facebook.

Whether it was his entrepreneurial ventures or corporate triumphs at Nedbank and Facebook or starting a family, there’s one thing you were bound to get from him – passion

– as well as curiosity and diligence. He made it clear much earlier on that his career wasn’t going to be a whimper – but a meaningful sprint. He was going to use his passion as a channel to make the world a better place. It therefore was no coincidence that he became the youngest chartered marketer in Africa and completed his MBA. He is the embodiment of a new breed of African youth who are not waiting for Africa to deliver but shaping the future they want. Aptly, as Jay Naidoo challenged Africans at the Brand Africa Forum in 2010, he is helping to shape the agenda for Africa – because everyone has an agenda for Africa except Africans.

As he says in this, his first book Ladders & Trampolines, ‘We live in a bustling, exciting emerging market. We are not, and never will be, short of problems to solve.’ Having multiple African experiences and a heritage as a Zambian Malawian, who was raised in Scotland, Botswana and South Africa, and who has travelled the world, his anecdotes demonstrate colourful, hopeful and authentic observations and insights about our continent. While he questions whether at the age of 32 he is ‘experienced’ enough to write a memoir, his experiences in Ladders & Trampolines demonstrate a rich life that straddles success and failure, and massive revenge against failure at a young age.

His insights on leadership as the ultimate salvation for Africa is a response to the challenge by the first woman president in Africa, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, that ‘Africa is not poor, just poorly managed’. His challenge to young fellow Africans to take the mantle of leadership and ‘turn any ladder scenario into a trampoline opportunity’ is the right message at the right time for a continent whose future is firmly in the hands of the young. Ladders & Trampolines is a perfect pitch to his peers to take the future into their hands – and a glimpse of the immense talent we have to move Africa forward. It is a delightful, hopeful and insightful message for a new Africa by one of its brightest lights.

Thebe Ikalafeng

Founder and chairman, Brand Africa and Brand Leadership www. ikalafeng. com

PREFACE

This book has been a long time coming.

I was not sure what form it would ultimately take nor what I would write about. I have thought about academic books – but those can be limiting and I believe don’t capture the essence of what my soul seeks to express. I thought about writing a ‘biography’ type book. And that too would be a little thin. I am 32 years old and my best life is still to come. So, in a brave attempt to calcify my reflections I have attempted to do both – write a journal of experiences and overlay it with some thinking that can be modelled and hopefully scaled so that my son could read this book long after I am gone and understand some of my struggles, a few of my successes and my state of mind during all of it. There have been many occasions in my life when I silently wished that I had some sort of reference point, a guide, a reassuring voice to whisper to me in times of chaos, excitement and risk that ‘everything would be OK’.

I believe that being able to capture and reflect on our experiences as young Africans will be the key to liberating not only our minds, but also our economies. The history of Africa is both rich and depressing. For over 400 years slaves were shipped from Africa in trans-Atlantic trade from the Gold Coast of Ghana. I recently visited the Ghanaian Gold Coast and on 31 January 2016 I went to a place called Elmina Castle – the trading port where somewhere between 12 to 25 million Africans were shipped to Europe and the Americas. For context, the population of Ghana in 2016 is 25.5 million people.

On the long road back to Accra, I penned a poem that expressed my thoughts:

Shackled!

Slavery was not a mistake. Nor was apartheid or the Holocaust;

These were well thought out atrocities committed by humans on themselves.

Africa’s history was violently and brutally disrupted;

Our progression was shackled, anchored with a rock and thrown to the depths of the ocean;

Our ambition was suffocated in dungeons – dark as night – no window for air – filled with faeces and urine;

Our people were raped, molested and disrespected for over 400 years;

After all of this and for so long, it is difficult to think that slavery is not infused in our minds and baked into our DNA;

The process of separating this evil historic seed would be like splitting the atom. Simple explanation – complex in execution.

Yet once successfully executed, the power that is unleashed is catastrophic; I say – ‘Split the fucken atom – now is the time!’ Remove this evil seed sown over 400 years ago;

If not for ourselves, then for our children, if not for them, for the millions of slaves whose potential was beaten, drowned or suffocated out of them!

Musa Kalenga –

Frustrated, Angry and Inspired, 31 January 2016

1

IS THERE AN APP FOR THAT?

My alarm goes off at 5am.

It does so diligently every day and today is no different. This daily ritual means that my body is so synchronised that I subconsciously brace myself as my alarm tone creeps towards 4:58am. I am tempted to hit snooze, but I don’t. It’s a big day for me. It’s a big day for the country and it’s one helluva a day for our continent.

I have three appointments today, three defining moments that will change the course of my career and the lives of the people that I have come to call my family away from home:

09:30 – 10:30 : Legal team from Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs

12:30 – 14:00 : Lemique

14:30 – 15:00 : Bank, FNB

As I lie in bed recoiling from slumber I reflect on the day ahead and a familiar sound comes from my phone – it’s an SMS. Now most people know that an SMS from FNB (or any financial institution for that matter) at this time of morning is either fantastic news or the sound of cash being forcibly but legally extracted from your account. On this occasion, it is great news – half a million rand has been transferred to my account and while this provides momentary relief it is short lived.

I have three appointments to get through that will change things permanently. They will be defining discussions for which I wish someone had written a handbook. One of my greater character flaws is that I’m a bottler. I can go through tremendous anguish, pain and turmoil with no one around me being any the wiser. That is why today is such an important day.

At about the same time that I am getting lost in my thoughts, I get another message. This one is from a family member requesting a loan. The SMS begins in a roundabout way asking how I am and telling me how he ‘misses’ me. It’s predictable but pleasant banter as I brace myself for the punch line that starts along the lines of ‘Listen, Musa, I really need your help with something . . .’

In African culture it is difficult to be successful alone because many people stake a claim to your success as a result of being a citizen of the ‘village’ that raised you. It does not matter whether or not they were an active citizen in the ‘raising of a child’, they will come for what is due to them. Like SARS – without the fancy technology but at the same time with the most effective technology: emotional blackmail. What on earth do I do? I defer the conversation with a polite ‘I will get back to you, uncle’. Saved. For now.

The last SMS I receive is from one of our suppliers – an evolved relationship with a previously great friend, who had run out of patience and time. He worked closely with us on many projects and despite my attempts to explain the current situation, he demanded what was due to him. His language was now very colourful and his tone both dismissive and threatening. Something so great suddenly gone so sour. I couldn’t really blame him, though, and I had to find a way to fix it, soon.

The date was 11 June 2010. I was 26 years old at the time and leading an amazing life. I was running my own business, surrounded by beautiful, young, intelligent African souls. The business was a from-the-ground start-up that I bootstrapped and hustled to get where it was. The people I worked with were a random but perfect combination of youth, culture, energy and ambition.

Although my family relationships were moderate, things were generally good. I found out many years later that things were not as moderate as I thought. In the pursuit of my business interests and ambitions, I made great personal sacrifices in relationships with my siblings. I was completely oblivious of the extent of the damage. Despite all that, I was making it work, but I often still wish that I knew then what I know now. I wish there was a handbook that would help me understand where I was at, and what needed to happen next. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an app that could help you weigh up options and make a decision on the best possible outcome for you? Some find this help in mentors or people around them, but the degree of bias and human error is far too high for me personally. I am so close to the detail of everything and so emotionally, financially and physically invested that I cannot see the wood for the trees. I wish there was an app that could tell me what to do next for the best possible outcome.

The world was celebrating the first ever Soccer World Cup to be hosted in Africa and South Africa had taken global centre stage. In the preceding months, the media had painted such a negative picture of lack of preparation, crime and propaganda, but here we were. The World Cup was in Africa. Despite all that was happening this morning, I am excited. I was expectant of an amazing World Cup experience and rooting for our country to showcase African excellence.

Another SMS. ‘Have tickets to the opening ceremony tonight, are you keen?’ Without even thinking or hesitating, I respond ‘ABSOLUTELY! Time?’ What promised to be a very challenging day now had a cherry on top.

My day seemed to be set up and it was simple really. All I needed to do was put on my A-game, get through