Waterloo Entrepreneurial Development Programme: The role of a business coach

by Sthe Ndzimbomvu

As a business coach my responsibilities are to coach:

• people who have business ideas and want to develop them into businesses and don’t know how to,
• people who are already in business who want to expand their businesses but don’t know how and they need assistance,
• people who have interest in community development in terms of seeing their community develop in various areas such as better schools, parks in the area, environment and human well being in the areas they stay in.

A client will come with a business idea and my role as a business coach is to coach that client on that business idea and together with the client turn that business idea into a business that is sound and sustainable. The idea should be based on the TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE requirements in order for me to coach the client. The idea should be ECONOMICAL, ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY and SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE in the community.

A client comes with an idea, I listen to the idea and I work with the idea the way the client wants it to be. I have no rights whatsoever to approve or disapprove a client idea. My role is to make sure that I use all the skills and tools I have to lead the client to the right decision.

Our philosophy is to always create a space for the client by doing so allowing the client to talk and make decisions about the life and their business at the end of the day. I do not do things for the client, but the client does everything to allow for internalised learning to take place because I strongly believe in the Samuel Smith philosophy which says help from within is more strong and powerful then help from outside.

I use the T-GROW approach to allow the client to vision and to create the space for the client. It is a very excellent approach, before I never thought it might work but now it touches every single part of my body when I use it.