Stay dedicated to your ideas and committed to your business. Eventually that hard work and dedication will work for the best.
Kingdom Mugadza is the founding partner of Tirisano Partners, an investment and consultancy business based out of Johannesburg South Africa.
Most notably, Kingdom Mugadza has led the business in industries such as renewable energy where Tirisano Partners has worked with some of the industry’s largest names to bid or implement renewable energy projects in South Africa including Enel, GDF Suez, Marubeni, Sun Edison and Lanco Solar. In addition to his work in renewable energy, Kingdom Mugadza has led assignments in mining, battery storage, fintech and the oil and gas industry.
Before starting Tirisano, Kingdom Mugadza was a Portfolio Manager with the Old Mutual Infrastructure team. He oversaw investments in power, gas, toll bridges and railway lines spanning, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa Prior to employment in the infrastructure sector, Kingdom was Head of Corporate Finance at Vodacom, having started his career at JPMorgan.
Kingdom Mugadza has sat on numerous boards including WBS I-Burst, Kelvin Power Station, Beitbridge Bridge Concession Company, Solar Capital and Bushveld Vametco. Kingdom Mugadza has a degree in Finance and Economics from the University of Cape Town – South Africa, a diploma in Japanese Studies from Waseda University – Japan and an MBA from the University of Oxford – UK.
Where did the idea for Tirisano Partners come from?
The idea to start Tirisano Partners started when a few colleagues in banking and private equity saw there was a lack of advisory capacity in project finance in Africa and left to start a project finance advisory practice. We now had a fully fledged advisory and project development platform focusing mainly on energy and fintech.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
It’s a typical investment banker day of pitching, modelling, deal structuring and meeting clients.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Through our extensive network, we are able to originate transaction and then we work to bring life to it through our structuring capabilities.
What’s one trend that excites you?
I am most excited about the direction of roof top solar. We believe that roof top solar production in Southern Africa will be come at least 25% of the energy generation capacity of the region and banks are better starting to appreciate the pricing of such deals.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
In America they say the customer is King, I used to live in Japan and there they say the customer is God. We work day and night tirelessly to make sure that our clients goals are met.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t flog a dead horse. Sometimes the deal just won’t work. Dust your shoulders, move on.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
If South Africa prioritizes the development of its gas reserves, it can become energy independent within 10 years and that will be its first port of call in becoming a middle income country
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
I am always worried on any deal where I am over confident. It means I haven’t thought of a risk. It’s healthy not to believe your own press and have vulnerabilities.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
Dedication. Stay dedicated to your ideas and committed to your business. Eventually that hard work and dedication will work for the best.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
We haven’t always believed in ourselves so we put the breaks on growing staff. We should have thrown caution to the wind and gone with it.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
We doing a lot of start up work, particularly in mobile payments. Its going to be a Unicorn Fest. Start a micro mobile payments company for your town only or your college or wherever you have influence. The bar is pretty low right now but soon you will get bought out and make a fortune
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
About $120, I took my now wife on a first date. NO matter how successful you are, a beautiful family ranks paramount.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?
Lucidchart is a wonderful program. It is a simple flow chart builder that can help organize ideas and strategies in an easy to read format.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
It probably has to be Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers. It crushes the idea that champions are born. Great leaders are made by a series of small decisions made by themselves or their parents to ensure that a person can become an outlier. It’s as great a business book as it is parenting book.
The other is Richard Thaler’s book Nudge. Its about behavioral economics and the idea that people can be incentive to do just about anything. That’s a really powerful idea.
What is your favorite quote?
By CS Lewis “The truth is, of course, that what one regards as interruptions are precisely one’s life.”
Key Learnings:
- Focus on what is important
- Reflect on ones failures and successes
Connect:
Steve (Stefan) Junge hails from Germany and helps with the day-to-day publishing of interviews on IdeaMensch. While he and Mario don’t share a favorite soccer club, their enthusiasm to help entrepreneurs is a shared passion.