Entrepreneurship is a challenging road, and one less travelled because of this. After surviving her own entrepreneurial trials, Outsourced Finance’s managing director, Depo Ogunruku, shares three key attributes that are critical in aiding the success of an entrepreneur.

1.       Innovation

A successful entrepreneur requires the ability to be innovative and find gaps in the market to exploit for success. To have the ability to rearrange the current business norms and reinvent new ways of working results with a spectacular problem-solving ability that drives success.

A good example of this is Ryan Bacher, Lawrence Brick and Jonathan Hackner who are the founders of Netflorist. These three gentlemen had no intention of starting an online floral and gifting company – their initial goal was to prove to Makro that they could design and run an e-commerce site. But Valentine’s Day came and went, and the‘test’ site did so unbelievably well, they didn’t shut it off. Today, NetFloristis South Africa’s largest online gifting company.

2.       Resilience

The ability to recover quickly from difficult situations is an important asset to have in order to become a successful entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs often fail and are required to rethink their strategies. A case in point was Lebo Gunguluza who is the founder and group chairman at GEM Group, a turnaround strategist, motivational speaker and Dragon on SA’s Dragon’s Den. At 26, he bootstrapped his first company,Gunguluza Entertainment. By 1999 he had spent his R1 million profit and was broke, blacklisted and had his assets reprocessed. However, Gunguluza did not give up on his goals. Some 15 years later he heads a leading integrated media,hospitality and technology group.

3.       Integrity

A successful entrepreneur must have integrity. Integrity means telling the truth even if the truth is ugly. This has become the most valued and respected quality of the new-age entrepreneur. Having integrity is something Ogunruku not only ensures to instil in herself as an entrepreneur, but she also leads the example for the whole Outsourced Finance team to follow.

“No matter how brilliant entrepreneurial ideas are, if there is a lack of integrity, either customers or investors will pull out of the business,” said Ogunruku.

Being an entrepreneur is no easy task. Success does not come overnight, but embracing these three attributes will lay a strong foundation for future success.

If you are looking for more advice to start up a new business in South Africa, these tips will help get you started.