If you’re looking for a blueprint for starting from scratch and scaling up sustainably, these four key lessons will give you clear direction.
Side by side, Michelle Gebrial and Pinkie Setlalekgosi have built the country’s largest privately-owned couriers and logistics operation: Sprint Couriers.
How did you make your very first sales?
It was 2006. Every day, Pinkie and I would go out searching for potential clients door to door — all day, every day, for months on end. We literally walked the streets. It was gruelling. But essential.
We took every meeting we could, desperate for face-time with any potential decision maker who could send business our way. We learned as much as we could about their needs, and explained to them why they should choose us.
Yes, there was a lot of rejection. But slowly, our efforts started to bear fruit.
I think that a lot of new entrepreneurs are spending too much time in their offices, hiding behind a team of sales reps, rather than going out there and pounding the pavement, representing their brands in person.
✅ KEY TAKE-AWAY:
Early stage enterprises need sales fast. As the founder, you must be the one who goes out and gets them.
You seem to have a unique relationship with Pinkie, your partner.
Absolutely. We both had decades of experience in the courier and logistics business before we began.
I focus on admin and financial management, and Pinkie is an expert in operations.
It’s important to have a partner who brings complementary skills to the table. If you want a business partner, don’t look for a mirror image of yourself. You have to put your faith in someone who sees things that you won’t see.
✅ KEY TAKE-AWAY:
If you have a partner, the success of your enterprise depends on the strength and longevity of your relationship with each other.
Did you ever make use of government funding?
Not at all. I believed we would be successful without it. Personal savings was our main method of finance to get Sprint Couriers off the ground.
In the first year, we refused to pay ourselves a salary. That’s a hard way to live. But extremely valuable in the long term. We know what it means to sacrifice for the sake of the company — and you can only learn these lessons when it’s your own money on the table.
We started with 16 employees. Today, we have over 350. Financial discipline is a big component of this growth.
✅ KEY TAKE-AWAY:
Re-think your “need” for government funding.
Would you describe yourselves as ‘tough’ bosses?
Definitely. And why not? In our line of work, the smallest error or delay can result in massive inconvenience for the customer. Our customers expect a lot from us, which means we must expect a lot from each other as a team.
We would never ask anything of our team which we wouldn’t be willing to do ourselves. Our staff know that. We’ve built that sense of shared commitment and trust.
✅ KEY TAKE-AWAY:
Every business lives and dies by its standards.
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