We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Fatuma Khalif. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Fatuma below.
Fatuma, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?
One of the most important way i learnt to build up my risk- taking skills is to learn from Failure. Failure is inevitable when taking risks and i learnt that its not the end of the world, its always an opportunity to learn, improve and grow. I also got more comfortable with risks, being an entrepreneur itself is a risk, so by taking baby steps, with small risks and working my way up from there as helped me sharpen my risk taking abilities and now risks are part and personal of my everyday work plans.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m a serial entrepreneur, whose focuses are in the field of agribusiness, tours and travel, real estate, Tech and now this year of 2024, i founded a venture capital firm that will support women owned and women led businesses. All my businesses stand firmly with sustainable development goals and pro environment. What is exciting about my line of work is, no one day is the same or dull and my schedules for work starts as early as 5 AM and ends at 2pm, I got a dedicated team behind me that makes the work seem easy and enjoyable. Business is all about networking, as we know the famous quote by Tim Sanders: ” your network is your net worth” I net work with all professionals in my lines of businesses, and over the years i have built a amazing rapport and amazing business connections. we sell luxury properties from penthouses to farms houses and ranches, in Kenya and we have expanded to Dubai and Saudi Arabia this year, we have merged with other premiere real-estate in those countries that help our clientele. We also have an agreement of commission sharing policy between us. I’m also an exporter of fresh produce, cut flowers, coffee and tea. All grown in Kenya, we introduce the amazing test of our beautiful Country to the world and we have a large client database and we are still growing, this year we have allocated the funds to open our first regional office in the middle east, and so far so good, will love to have offices in all the continents and expand our percentage market share. Our fresh produce exportation has an agritech packaging, unique from all other exporters, our packaging gives fresh produce 45 days longer shelf life, making it the only packaging with CA FILMS Technology. our safari tours and travel company does exotic safaris, tours within Kenya. This year and last year, we had the highest international tourists who booked with us, during the world environment summit and during The Africa Tech Summit. We are strategically using Kenyan international events to get our safari clients, so far it has worked but will definitely want to expand other modes of attracting more clients to travel to Kenya for safaris. I’m a tech savvy and this new business partnership with a company from cape town, they have incorporated me as their partner and lead marketer for their AI powered applications that does many tasks, like content creating, website creation and its called smart AI. Above business i love to bring positive change in the community, and my foundation, The woman foundation uses the profits from my chains of businesses to bring about programs for youth and girls empowerment and scholarships. The biggest leap i took since i become an entrepreneur was to launch a VC firm and that is something i will share in the next year interview, how it flourished or struggled. But i have both hope and fear as i step into that journey, and I’m praying for it to bring about positive change and more funding, after all It will be part of the Silicon Savannah, where no dreams die!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three qualities that were and are the most impactful in my journey will definitely be ambition, dedication and willingness to learn. Ambition helped me establish a level of professionalism, demonstrate leadership abilities, promote innovative thinking and show determination to progress even when times are hard. My sheer dedication lead me to have attitudes of eating the frog, i handled the big tasks first and paved way for smaller easier ones, so I don’t procrastinate and achieve targets on time. I never stopped learning, i join a minimum three to four business accelerator programs in a year , to gain new set of skills and network with like minded.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
I believe that my parents have been the biggest influence on me as I have grown up. They have distributed their attributes to me, creating a dynamic woman full of passion and motivation. My parents both have extremely strong personalities and shared an epic ambition. The most impactful thing will definitely be education, from a young age, they taught me and my siblings to learn something new everyday, read as much and love books.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/umumohammadalfateh?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/fatmazahra-adan-232b29155
Image Credits
credit to me
