MORARE MANAKA
Founder of African Entrepreneur and CEO of BAM-SA

"As collaborative leaders, we cannot allow the fear of failure and the unknown to overcome the power of our entrepreneurial spirit. Even a glimmer of hope can ignite a spark of opportunity and fuel a reality"

From an early age, Morare began showing a keen entrepreneurial spirit, working at his family's retail outlet during holidays, and also selling FMCG products while at high school and university.

Morare entered the corporate world by joining the South African Breweries (SAB) marketing department before both British Petroleum (BP) and Total SA head-hunted him respectively. To further develop his entrepreneurial acumen and enhance his own business psychology, Morare acquired a BComm Accounts degree and a Business Management degree through the Paris Chamber of Commerce to add to his Teaching diploma.

Even while working as a marketing development liaison for Total and excelling at initiating and implementing strategies in both the finance and business development sectors, Morare continued his passion for entrepreneurship and still kept his retail outlet alive.

Morare put his qualifications and experience to further good use and formed an independent consultancy which specialized in negotiating sponsorships and building partnerships to assist major national taxi associations secure larger market share. His love for local sports and culture saw him involved in the development of the first South African Football Supporters Association after South Africa's re-admittance to FIFA in 1992.

After four years, Morare hung up his corporate suit and combined his higher learning levels and acute entrepreneurial skills with his solid business sense and re-entered the FMCG sector. Here, he started a successful national distribution company with British American Tobacco. The wide dealer network he established was also later used for cellular products, after signing a deal with MTN.

Following his limitless entrepreneurial instincts, Morare ventured into the tourism industry and started an inbound tourism company that led to trade missions and market assessments in the UK, USA, Angola and Nigeria. This exposure to multi-cultural markets saw him heighten his entrepreneurial awareness immensely and he was involved in high-profile business negotiations in a variety of sectors, including aviation, ICT and Logistics.

Morare believes that developing and maintaining strategic alliances is always a key component in any entrepreneur's arsenal and he was responsible for implementing these in corporate and medium-sized enterprises through joint ventures, franchises and marketing networks between Angola and South Africa. After arming himself with a comprehensive portfolio of entrepreneurial skills over the years, Morare launched his own company, BAM Strategic Marketing, which focuses on delivering strategically-driven marketing effectiveness. To date, BAM Strategic Marketing has been intricately involved with providing knowledge-based solutions to many high-profile entities across Europe and the African continent. The company was also awarded the sole mandate to launch, strategically promote and market a key FIFA 2010 World Cup host city; a campaign that was regarded as one of the most successful in the local host city marketing arena. With BAM, his strategic marketing company, and fully supported by its strategic networks and partners, as well as a dedicated work-force of like-minded enthusiasts, Morare launched his true entrepreneurial dream; the African Entrepreneur programme. To date, this exciting, multi-faceted project has attracted significant interest both locally and globally. Importantly, African Entrepreneur has collaborated with, amongst others, the world-wide and acclaimed Center for Creative Leadership, a highly beneficial partnership with an international network, to increase African Entrepreneur's efficacy in providing and sharing true global-centric, market-related 'edupreneurship' content to entrepreneurial leaders and entrepreneurs.

"No entrepreneurial journey is easy, and never will be. Yet, amidst the failures and challenges, will always lie both answers and opportunities. And if managed correctly with hope, insight, collaboration and knowledge, entrepreneurialism is an exciting life-path to relish and enjoy".