Raksha Mahabeer — Entrepreneur, Visionary, Marketer, Modern Day Hippie

Once more it is what's involved. Welcome. So good to have you along with us. A special guest today and we're going to be finding out all about her. She sounds wonderful, she sounds creative, she sounds effervescent and bubbly. So I'm looking forward to chatting to her. Who is she? She is Raksha Mahabir. Hello Raksha. Hi David. It's good to have you on the show with us. So before we get into what we do, as I'd normally like to do with my guests, is find out a little bit more about their background and what led them to doing what they do today. So give me some background on Raksha. Cool. Thanks so much for the opportunity David. I'm really happy to be sharing a couple of minutes with you and your listeners. So let's get into it. Who is Raksha? This is always such an interesting question and there's so many ways in which we can approach it. But I guess at the core I am, I don't know, an earth child. I grew up at the ocean in KZN and after kind of doing a little bit of adventuring while studying, very quickly had to move up to Johannesburg for work. And my work just naturally saw me shift into a space of marketing where I held a corporate career in the marketing world. And from there I transitioned into starting up a creative design agency called Summertime. So my partner and I met in corporate and we just had this little, it's really a little dream story when I reflect on it now 13 years in. And we started our agency as an enterprise development company. So we had a lovely start with the support of a beautiful big corporate and Summertime was born. So we were involved in producing some really progressive campaigns for the corporate world. And from there decided let's start up an agency because it's actually the SMEs that we want to be working with. It's the guys who are going to create the jobs and alleviate the problems of unemployment and poverty and inequality in the country. So SMEs is where my passion has always lied. And so yeah, we started Summertime and established, quickly established a design branding and marketing agency where we work with SMEs to establish themselves in the market through smart strategic brand positioning and then marketing activity. So brand strategy and implementation and then marketing strategy and implementation. And what quickly started to happen for us was obviously it was a challenging time economically on a global scale with the recession and we saw a whole lot of our retainers start to dry up. And that's when my partner and I looked at each other and had a reality check that we actually didn't know too much about running a business. We knew a lot about branding and marketing, but not necessarily around the world of business. So that's where this whole world opened up to us around entrepreneurial development and support. And at the time we joined the Branson Center of Entrepreneurship in Brampton and we started our journey to truly intentionally building out a business. And from there, the rest I think is history. We clicked into a beautiful space on two levels. Number one, understanding a model for the business in terms of how we want to be working with entrepreneurs. And then that evolved to interestingly enough, get me into the space where I find myself right now. So the agency's summertime is still growing and going. And we work with, if not directly, the entrepreneur. We work with people who build and grow and develop entrepreneurs. So different enterprise developers, acceleration programs, incubation programs, etc.

And what I did during lockdown last year was I also registered a consultancy where I am providing mentorship, coaching, and master classes to help and teach entrepreneurs these different concepts around branding and marketing and sales and digital marketing and personal branding. And everything has now been laced with a strong foundation of mindfulness. Personally in my life, it's a huge aspect of how I live. So taking time out each day to center myself, to ground myself, reconnect with my core and my essence. And that comes in the form of different sort of breath work, yoga, and meditation. And I find that that gets infused now in both my businesses and in the way that I do everything. So that's where I find myself right now. I've recently relocated to the Western Cape and just finding that this global pandemic has had the ability to teach us so many lessons. And for those of us who have had the consciousness and the awareness to tap into it, there is an amazing liberation that comes from realizing how differently we can work and that I'm definitely moving more towards being myself for a living, as Robin would say, and now working near the ocean. Wonderful stuff. Now, with the summertime business, during lockdown, did you obviously find it the same as many, many other people did? Business declined rapidly?

You know, David, we work in the space of developing brands and doing marketing. And what started to happen immediately at the start of the hard lockdown was I think so many businesses were so afraid and unaware of what may happen that everyone almost pushed the pedal on the accelerator and they were like, oh, I've got to be out there. I've got to be seen. Let's get marketing. Let's get marketing. So I think for that first month and a half going into lockdown, I was frantically busy taking on sales meetings, crafting solutions, putting together project proposals, but just really busy in the whole body of sales more than actually delivering any creative. So there was this huge rush for businesses to want to be seen and be out there, be more visible. And what started to happen, I think from kind of eight, 10 weeks into that lockdown, everyone started to get their feet sunken into this reality that this may be here to stay for a while. And let's get a little bit cautious. We have uncertain futures. We don't know what's going to happen with cash flow, spend budgets, et cetera. And then things started to really slow down. And yeah, I found everything changed. My outlook on business, my outlook on relationships, and it was such a humbling experience that I think it's something I had been saying to myself for many, many years that you can build a business, you can build a compelling offering, but at the end of the day, people do business with people. And last year taught us that, that irrespective of whether there's a need in the business, whether there's a budget or not, if people are dealing with real life, painful situations, if they can't take a call because a loved one is in the hospital or they attending an online funeral or they medicated and in bed, there was such a shared reality around this human pain that everyone was going through. So yeah, it was quite a humbling experience and it did definitely slow down to answer your question. And yet in the middle of that, you decided that you're going to start a consultancy. Yes, absolutely. You know, I find that when something clicks, I guess it had been happening for a couple of years prior, but that whole pandemic, that lockdown, that whole situation really brought it staring me in the face. It was a mirror that was held up to me that I couldn't look away from that was saying for a good couple of years, I had been wanting to work more actively in the entrepreneurial development space. Because what we do in summertime from that perspective is we do go into ED spaces and we'll do brand audits and brand gap analysis reports for clients to show them where areas for development are in their business from a brand and marketing perspective.

But where I really started to carve out the specific offering and formalize it was during the lockdown when so many entrepreneurs won different developmental programs and they were reeling with this pandemic, totally lost in a crazy tumultuous sea, not knowing how to navigate themselves to some sort of stability or comfort. And that's where a good couple of my clients who either run these developmental programs for clients or run them themselves started getting in touch with me to say, can you come in and do some mentorship sessions with the entrepreneurs or let's deliver a masterclass for them on what's happening globally from a marketing perspective, what you should be doing, what you shouldn't be doing, etc. And a lot of it, like I alluded to earlier, also just happened from a mindfulness perspective. I remember running one session with an entrepreneur mentorship session and we were talking about the strategy and how he would pivot the strategy and whether his industry would even be around. And interestingly enough, he ran a business in the exhibition and eventing industry, which was put to a complete halt last year. And at some point during the session with him, he just stopped and he said, can I just take a breath, please? I am so afraid. I don't know what is going to happen. I'm going to have to close these offices down. I'm going to have to let go of my staff. All the equipment is standing still. I'm the breadwinner in the family. Does a man even have the space to stop and break down and cry and say that I'm afraid? And that whole session went from a marketing strategy session into breath work, meditation, centering, focusing session, because you can't possibly expect anyone to do anything of value if this tool, this instrument of the being is not in the right place to receive or even cope. So yeah, doing that last year was a very intuitive thing for me. And it's a space that I'm absolutely loving, David. Wonderful stuff. I want to talk some more about this. When we come back, we're going to be chatting a little bit more to Raksha, my special guest today. This is what's involved back in just a bit. And we're back with my special guest, Raksha Mahabi.

So two businesses. The one is the what's called a summertime. And then what is your new business called? It was such an interesting one for me, David, because I'm in the business of developing brands for clients who want to start up a business or who have been in business for a couple of years and need some smart strategic positioning. So it was such a beautiful moment for me to have to sit in the shoes of my client and want to now develop a brand for myself. So it was quite painstaking to be honest with you. And eventually I decided to go the personal brand route, because it's so deeply linked to who I am as a being that it's called Raksha Mahabi dot com. So it's Raksha Mahabi consulting. Wonderful. Okay. Well, at least people know who you are and what they're getting. Now, the important thing that I wanted to chat to you about, and I've talked to a lot of people over the years. And when we talk entrepreneurship, in fact, I do another entrepreneurial podcast as well. And my co-host there and I sort of have this point of contention between us, because he reckons that if you sort of small one or two men business, maybe three men business, you're not an entrepreneur, you are self-employed. And I tend to have a different view on that. But even now talking to you mentioned these entrepreneurs and they go in business incubation, etc, etc, etc. But what about that hundreds and thousands of people who don't get to do that? They don't get to go on a business incubator or any of those strange things. There's not a grant money that gets put to them. Who looks after them? Is this something you do? Absolutely. It's so interesting that you're mentioning that I'm actually delivering a masterclass next Tuesday on mindset. Because there's such a thing about it, you know, talking about whether I'm an entrepreneur, solopreneur, self-employed business owner, there's all this terminology. And I think we get so lost in the jargon of the world. And we get so lost in this need to fit into a socially acceptable box of this is my title, that in all honesty, I really throw caution to the wind. And I am confidently carving out the unique space I want to own in the world. So in all honesty, I've never been one for job titles or reference, I never really want to put myself into the box of what this means. So that's the first point on the solopreneur entrepreneur. But I guess from a support perspective, I was preparing for the masterclass hour next week. And I was doing some research and just doing some reflecting and when my partner and I started summertime 13 years ago, it is so vastly different to the way that an entrepreneur starts a business today. I had a session yesterday with a young lady who is exiting corporate soon to start her own business. And I was giving her some guidance on where to go and what to do and what tools to get and what the basics are that she should have for a start and how lean she should start it up as opposed to how we did it all those years ago. There is such a huge amount of support available. So whilst there is a huge amount of formal support in terms of enterprise development aligned to the BEE codes, quite a lot of programs, industry specific programs, segmented programs for women or people in technology or people in different areas.

There's also quite a lot of informal. I mean, from your large online universities, the learning management tools that exist online, amazing amounts of courses. I mean, I was having tea with a friend yesterday who's got a new job. And she said she's so excited about her new job. And it's in the early childhood development space. And she's like, oh, they've asked me to write content for a new school textbook or something. And she just said to me, you know, it's actually something I've never done before, but I'm not telling them. I'm quickly going to go on to Udemy, do a quick course over the weekend. And then by Monday, I'll start developing the content. I believe that today we have access to so many tools and so much of support like we've never had in the history of time. So to those who are struggling, I think from a more practical business tools perspective, I believe that there's a lot that exists out there from the softer stuff like mindset and prepping yourself to step into the psychology of actually being a business owner, right down to practicalities around what do I need to start? How do I set up a bank account? How do I register business? What's the basics that I need to put in place? And I just don't know.

Personally, I'm very intentional about networks. It's a huge part of how I've built up my business and my brands. So I'm constantly plugged into one network or another. And I feel really supported. If there's something that I need, if there's something I'm uncertain about, if it's an HR issue, a labor issue, a template that I need for something in business, a new type of tool or software, I find that people are really willing to help. So I'll often shoot out a question on a WhatsApp group or a platform online, and just get the feedback and look into different options. I hope that's answering your question, David. Yes, I think what I'm leaning more towards, and this is something I've noticed, and it's accelerated over the last year as well. And hence me chatting to Robin Wheeler about being yourself for a living and him then connecting me with you, is that there's been this shift in consciousness and more and more people are wanting to do meaningful work. Now, if you look at somebody like me, and I often refer to myself as somewhat of a fringe dweller, because I don't think the same way a lot of other people do. The thought of me having a big massive company employing hundreds of people, I would rather poke my eyes out of the blunt stick. However, I want to find a way that I can live my life in a meaningful way and give back to society in some way.

Now, part of me doing that is obviously radio, which is an absolute passion of mine, and podcasting, etc, etc. But I've come across so many people who are wanting to do these sort of, in terms of a traditional business, it's a little more esoteric, should we say. Where do people like that go for help and assistance? Because I think that's where we're going. I think we're becoming way more human and it's going to be about how do we express ourselves as our business. Absolutely. Such a great question, David. I think it's exactly like you say, our business is on extension of ourselves. So the tone, the personality, the culture, the values that one would receive when engaging with your business really is an extension of that business owner. I think one of the gifts that COVID handed to us, and I keep calling it the rise of the conscious consumer. From the consumer perspective, we are so much more aware of what we buy, how we buy, who we bind from, if it's aligned to our value system, etc. I mean, I've just relocated and I'm looking for something as simple as a new fresh produce, fruit and veggie supplier. And I'm like, I don't want to go to a big supermarket chain. I want to look for the small local farmer who's growing lovely veggies in the garden, and I'll just buy on a weekly basis based on what's there. And I think that example of the conscious consumer can be extended then to absolutely everybody. And I'm so pleased to say, when I hear you speak, it feels like a kindred spirit. So I'm so happy to be chatting to you today. But in summertime, my partner and I, definitely from the onset, from kind of choosing to exit corporate and start our own business, it really was about doing it our way. And that was around just, you know, this thing of work life balance, that's a discussion for a whole other different day, because I just, I don't know about this whole concept of balance anyway, it's just life. But that this is life and it's all integrated. And any life worth living should be a life that brings you joy. One way you spend every moment of every day doing only that which you want to do.

And there's been such a, I'm so pleased to see the shift in it happening, especially in the last 12 to 18 months, where people have had such a shared a huge on a global level, such a shared understanding that life is too short. People could be here in one second and be gone the next. So best I make every single day count and that extends to our careers and what we're choosing to do for work in life. So now I'm really thrilled to see more and more businesses rising in the space where the business is an extension of themselves. And the way in which they do business is so different. My partner and I went off to go and spend a month just with a co-working retreat overseas and look at what international business models are looking like, looking at what creatives around the world are doing like, are doing and what these different models look like. And we came back from that. And in 2018, already we closed our offices. We closed our offices, got a distributed workforce because we were building a traditional business model with creatives sitting in our office coming in from nine to five. And it was so beautiful to just see the quality of creative that comes in when people are given the freedom to create in their own space, in their own time with some guidelines, with some sort of a system. And that has been our world where we're able to do things in the way that we want to, and as a result, produce better. So David, to answer your question around the support for people like this, I don't believe it differs from the formal support that exists out there already, because I believe that this is now the new norm for businesses that are emerging in the market. I do quite a bit of work, like I was saying, with enterprise development companies. And I am meeting new entrepreneurs on a weekly basis, people who are starting out different companies. And they're all working in this model. They're all working in a way that allows them freedom, flexibility, while still maintaining professionalism, innovation, and building our teams the way they want to. Wonderful stuff. Yeah. And then there's another discussion, of course, in terms of the whole concept of conscious capitalism. But we won't get into that right now. I certainly have a lot more to talk to you about, though. It is what's involved. My special guest is Raksha Mahibir. We'll be back in just a bit. And we're back with what's involved. Okay. Time to be absolutely honest. Have you ever had one of those days when you thought everything was going perfectly and then suddenly it didn't? Well, that's what happened with my interview with Raksha and I. And for some reason, I only managed to record that part of it, which is kind of embarrassing. But I thought, hey, you know, this is radio and you need to know that I am around some of the time. So I thought I would just sort of go, I'm sorry. That is what's happened. I can't get hold of her. So what I'm going to do is try and get hold of her again and finish having a chat to her and maybe get her on for another show or something to that effect.

However, what I would like to tell you about is the fact that she is, as I said, she does some wonderful consulting and coaching also in terms of summertime. She does wonderful things there. So if you'd like to get hold of her, okay, you can go to RakshaMahibir.com. So that is spelled R-A-K-S-H-A-M-A-H-A-B-E-R.com. So Raksha, R-A-K-S-H-A Mahabir, M-A-H-A-B-E-R.com. Check it out there. She is a fantastic woman. Well worth getting in touch with if you just need a different way of looking at your business, at your life. She is fantastic with what she does. So go check it out there. We'll bring you more what's involved in just a bit.