We were lucky to catch up with Thamsanqa Ndlovu recently and have shared our conversation below.

Thamsanqa, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I have had an eclectic career. I started out as an attorney where I practiced in the mergers and acquisitions department of a mid-size law firm that was later acquired by PwC USA. From there, I started a construction business in my home country of Zimbabwe, but after realizing that I had a lot to learn about business, I decided to attend business school in Boston, Massachusetts. From there on, I stayed in the US and worked as a market researcher at a research and consulting firm in Boston, where we served a portfolio of private equity clients across the US. I gained a lot of experience there, but unfortunately I lost that opportunity during the pandemic in 2020. Around that time, like everyone else, I had a lot of time to reflect on my life and the future. After taking a long stare at my life at the time, I realized that I was both unhappy in my career and personal life. I lost the enthusiasm to return to work, and started thinking about alternatives to a traditional career. That’s when I decided to put my existing skills from law, business and market research to create a market research and consulting service. Putting my business together was both daunting and exciting. On the one hand, I was uncertain that this would work, but on the other, I knew that companies needed data to make crucial decisions. I decided to lean into that need, and have never looked back. The journey has been rewarding – I have a better work-life balance now and have learned A LOT while doing this. It has been a fun process!

Thamsanqa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My business is called Datadvise. We are a market research and consulting service that helps clients make better decisions based on the data we provide. We work with a variety of clients, but mostly those in technology and marketing industries. In a nutshell, we assist these businesses to understand the market landscape that they operate in by providing them with a 5000 ft snapshot of their business environment. This means analyzing their competitors, customer needs and emerging industry trends. In this way, our clients have clarity on any headwinds or tailwinds that could affect their business, and they are able to manoeuvre accordingly.

What sets us apart is the ability to provide customized white-glove services to our clients. Instead of receiving generalized industry data, our insights are tailored to our business partners, giving them an edge over their competitors.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My entrepreneurship journey has not been all peaches and roses. I have had my fair share of struggles, particularly at the beginning of my business journey. The hardest part was transitioning from employment to getting the first few paying clients. There was a period of about six to eight months where I often wondered how I would pay bills, rent or where the next meal would come from. In moments like those, quitting is always the easy way out, but I decided to stay as close as possible to the objectives I had set, until I got that breakthrough. At some point in that period, I could not afford a bed and I had to borrow an air mattress from one of my housemates at the time. I recall it kept getting holes, which I had to cover in duct tape. Haha. That was one of the hardest periods of my life.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

We now live in an attention economy, and I believe business is no different. If you can get a co-sign from some of the more reputable organizations, that social proof sheds a lot of light on the work you are doing. Fortunately for me, I have worked with some big brands like Microsoft, Canva and X that have validated my work. Big Fortune 500 brands have expansive networks and a long memory, so leveraging their recommendations has helped a lot. Besides that, I regularly publish the Datadvise Newsletter, teach workshops, and share some thought leadership on professional networks like LinkedIn, which has also played a role in showcasing my expertise.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.datadvise.io
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thamiglobal
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thamsanqandlovu1991
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thamiglobal

Image Credits
Alex D Rodgers