My story begins with helping my mother put food on the table. It continues through eight failed businesses, learning how to operate, building companies and becoming the mentor I wished I had.
Entrepreneurship was not originally about status, wealth or a grand vision. It was about responsibility.
I grew up watching my mother take on piece jobs, style hair, run a small shop from home and eventually build a daycare centre. She taught me that resourcefulness is not a slogan; it is what you practise when the obvious resources are missing.
In Grade 3, I began selling snacks at school. By Grade 7, I had learners across three schools selling for me. Those early businesses taught me to notice a need, make an offer and take responsibility for delivering value.
That foundation still shapes how I coach founders, evaluate investments, speak to audiences and build ventures today.
The most important turning point was admitting that my first ventures had not failed only because of funding, resources or access. I was not yet prepared to operate a business well.
Her daycare centre was built through persistence, door-to-door customer acquisition and the careful use of limited resources. I helped with research, business plans and the daily work, learning that a business is built through repeated acts of service.
What it taught me: a mentor can shape how you see opportunity before you have the language for it.In Grade 9, my team created a solar-powered umbrella that could charge phones and power a small study light. From 15,000 learners, we reached the top nine and won first place in the Step Up to a Startup competition.
What it taught me: a useful idea needs a clear model, a compelling pitch and the confidence to be taken seriously.I tried catering, printing, photography, tutoring, graphic design, t-shirt printing, events management and computer repairs. The variety looked entrepreneurial, but I was moving between ideas without the operating skills required to build a durable company.
What it taught me: having ideas and being busy are not the same as running a business.When I reviewed my proposals, emails, client management and decisions, I saw that I had not been speaking the language of business effectively. I returned to the drawing board and deliberately learned sales, systems, communication, leadership and scalable execution.
What it taught me: the founder must grow before the business can grow sustainably.With stronger skills and systems, I rebuilt the marketing agency and went on to develop a venture-building model and an entrepreneurship community. The failures were no longer a detour; they became the operating education behind the next chapter.
What it taught me: experience becomes an advantage when it is converted into better systems and decisions.I wrote Navigating Entrepreneurship, developed founder programmes and built my coaching practice to give entrepreneurs a clearer compass. My aim is not to run the business for them, but to help them understand what to do next and become stronger operators.
What it taught me: good mentoring creates capability, not dependence.
As a business coach and mentor, I help entrepreneurs start with greater clarity and help founders improve sales, systems, leadership and execution.
As a speaker, I turn the lessons of entrepreneurship, failure, investing and company building into practical keynotes and workshops.
As an investor, I selectively consider opportunities where Akha Ventures Group can add operating capability and strategic value alongside capital.
As a venture builder, I help create companies within a shared operating group that provides stronger systems, governance, talent and commercial support.
The work is designed to make complicated business decisions clearer and turn knowledge into action.
We start with what customers, cash flow, teams and execution are actually saying — not with the story the founder wishes were true.
Every engagement should produce a clearer priority, a useful framework and a next action that can be implemented in the real business.
Strategy matters, but businesses move through sales, systems, ownership, rhythm and the discipline to keep executing when the energy changes.
Ask about business coaching, mentorship, a founder programme, a speaking engagement, investment or venture-building support.
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