Building a successful business in South Africa is not for the faint-hearted. But according to SA’s new Entrepreneur of the Year, Taryn Hunter Sharman – business success is indeed possible, if you are willing to embrace the realities of the journey.
“Building a business takes more than a good idea, passion, or a strong social media presence,” she says. “It takes discipline, commercial thinking, consistency, and the ability to keep going when cash flow is tight, deals fall through, or growth takes longer than expected. Success is often built in the unglamorous moments that nobody sees.”
She says the entrepreneurs who succeed long-term are often the ones who build strong fundamentals, stay adaptable, and keep showing up when things get difficult.
Here are 5 tips to take you from start-up to success:
1. Build a business, not just a service.
Too many businesses in South Africa are still stuck selling outputs instead of solving real commercial problems. If you’re not tied to revenue, growth, or measurable impact, you’re replaceable. The shift from supplier to partner is where real value and longevity sit.
2. Do the ordinary, extraordinarily well.
South Africans have been conditioned to expect average. Late deliveries, unreturned calls, work that’s close enough. That’s not just a service culture problem, it’s a business opportunity. If you show up on time, do what you said you’d do, and do it consistently, you’re already outperforming most of the market. Excellence doesn’t always start with innovation. Sometimes it starts with answering your emails.
3. Design for the reality you’re in, not the one you wish existed.
The South African market is complex. Disposable income is under pressure, trust is low, and competition is aggressive. The businesses that win adapt quickly, price smartly, and meet people where they actually are, not where strategy decks say they should be.
4. Your model matters as much as your idea.
Business owners spend too much time perfecting the business offerings and not enough time designing a business model that can sustain and grow it. What has worked for us at Faith & Fear is a modular, scalable structure that allows for flexibility, speed, and lower overheads. The idea gets you started. The model determines whether you survive.
5. Self-worth and net worth are more connected than people admit.
The biggest constraint in business is rarely strategy, it’s mindset. What you believe you’re worth shows up in your pricing, your partnerships, and the risks you’re willing to take. If you don’t deal with that, you’ll keep capping your own growth.
Business success is rarely a straight line. It demands resilience, commercial discipline, the willingness to make difficult decisions, and the ability to keep evolving as the market changes.
“There is no shortcut to building a sustainable business,” says Taryn. “It’s about making the right decisions consistently, even when it’s hard.”
She adds that success is not about chasing overnight wins or constant hustle – it’s about building something durable enough to withstand setbacks, uncertainty and growth pressures.
As South Africa continues to search for solutions to unemployment, entrepreneurship stands out as one of the most practical and powerful drivers for income and success.
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