Who is she?
Sihle Ntsaluba is the founder & the Chief Executive Officer of Savvy Sov. She runs & manages the business, client relations & marketing affairs of the company & oversees the financial ends of clients & servicing for Savvy Sov’s P2P, B2P & B2B offerings.
What made you decide to start Savvy Sov?
I knew there was a market for the offering in mind & after through research within various sectors in South Africa & trade within the broader African continents context. Knowing the potential clientele size I aimed to service it.
What is a typical morning at work?
Work for me begins at 6:45 AM checking & responding to emails to about 7:30 AM. I then have breakfast & set up calls I need to make within my team & clients till about 9:30. I stretch, meditate & have tea from 9:30-10:15 AM then spend the rest of my morning doing follow up work needed towards deliverables be it too clients or within the tea till lunch.
What are some of the challenges of the job?
Building trust initially enough to convince especially the well established entities to adopt & adapt our solution against a working model they may already be using.
What were some of the life lessons which you have learned along the way in your career?
The biggest one certainly has been patience & the importance of allowing yourself to continuously be open to learning. Things won’t always work in your favor or timing & that can get frustrating especially when you are doing as you should. It’s important to give your best & let things unfold as they will.
Best advice someone has given you in life?
Never let the fear of striking out, keep you from playing the game.
Basically to park your fear as many times as possible and give opportunities the attempt they require.
As an entrepreneur yourself, what motivates you personally?
Every part of my services curation is with its customer in mind so knowing that the service I provide to those in the ecosystem in which it will operate will make both the system better & the lives of those in it easier motivates me & propels to refine it as many times as necessarily possible to not drop the ball on that.
Do you ever face biasness in your work and position because of your gender?
Gender & age/experience bias come hand in hand in an industry but I think that’s organic before trust is built & the most important thing to gain within the financial services sector is trust – handling an entities finances requires integrity, efficiency & transparency- al things built over time.
If I were not an Entrepreneur, I would be a _________?
An author.
Any inspirational quote for all the women in business & leadership out there?
Forward momentum is key, Fall forward, always fall forward. When you rise to try again you will be doing so with experience & there’s great power in that. Remember becoming better takes time so patience for yourself too is vital. To a problem in the market, You are a solutionist.
Connect with Sihle on her LinkedIn page.