Travels from Johannesburg, South Africa
Allon Raiz's speaking fee falls within range: $10,000 to $15,000
When things got tough, Allon Raiz rethought his failing business and turned it into the most successful business incubator in South Africa. Today Raizcorp is one of the few profitable business incubators in the world, and hailed by the U.S. government as a model for Africa while Allon, its founder and CEO, is one of only 15 recognized global experts in the area of fostering entrepreneurship.
Allon currently supports over 500 businesses. He uses his vast experience to help entrepreneurs ask the right questions when they find that their business is “stuck”. Due to his expertise and extraordinary successes, Allon has been invited to address numerous organisations and government bodies around the world on incubator and entrepreneurship strategy including the World Economic Forum, the African Development Bank EMRC Annual Conference, South Africa’s Human Resource Development Council Entrepreneurship and Education Technical Task Team, and the President-led Competitive Investment Climate Strategy (CICS II) in Kampala, Uganda. He has also advised the Mauritian government on effective incubation and entrepreneurship strategy.
Allon has received numerous awards for his entrepreneurial pioneering and landmark accomplishments. He is the author of two bestselling entrepreneurial books: Lose the Business Plan and What to Do When You Want to Give Up.
Allon Raiz is regarded both locally and globally as a pioneer and maverick in the business incubation industry. He is the founder and CEO of Raizcorp, the only privately held, unfunded, profitable business incubator on the African continent, currently supporting in excess of 500 businesses.
Allon is the author of two bestselling entrepreneurial books – Lose the Business Plan and What to Do When You Want to Give Up. He hosted the first national radio show on entrepreneurship in South Africa in 2004; wrote and hosted the first South African prime-time, entrepreneurship, reality TV show; and also created and published an ongoing entrepreneurial cartoon strip. Allon is the host of his fourth season of the popular The Big Small Business Show on BusinessDay TV.
Allon is the co-founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation South Africa and Rural Roots, and sits on the advisory and judging boards of numerous local and international NGOs and entrepreneurial awards. Allon’s passion and focus on the development of entrepreneurs attracted the attention of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which, on 11 March 2008, awarded Allon as a Young Global Leader.
As an accomplished international speaker, Allon was invited to speak at the 2011 WEF Annual Meeting, held in Davos, Switzerland. In 2011, Allon was also invited to become a member of the WEF’s Global Agenda Council on Fostering Entrepreneurship, making him one of 15 recognised global experts in this field.
In 2013, Allon received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the Oliver Transformation and Empowerment Awards. The following year, he was recognised as the country winner, regional winner and continental winner of the Titan Award for Building Nations.
Since 2014, Allon has guest lectured every year at Oxford University, where he is recognised as the Oxford University Saïd Business School’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence.
In 2015, Allon received an invitation from the White House, on behalf of President Barack Obama, to speak at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, held in Kenya.
96% of businesses fail within 10 years; Allon Raiz reveals the factors that set apart the 4% that make it in the long run. While some entrepreneurs might claim they’ve been in a class of their own since birth, Allon draws from research and his own vast experiences to argue that successful business minds are not simply born, but rather crafted throughout a lifetime.
Citing that the majority of first-time successful entrepreneurs started their business at the age of 60 or older, he illustrates the skills that the “ultimate entrepreneur” needs to develop and practice, most importantly of all the self-awareness to identify a passion they will follow through on. “It’s not about the money,” Allon clarifies. “The thing that pushes you through is not the money. The thing that pushes you through is this movie playing through your head about what you could be.”
After learning lessons the hard way, Allon Raiz built a landmark business that has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs make their passions profitable. In these information-packed presentations, he shares the same priceless strategies and advice that he gives the budding entrepreneurs who partner with Raizcorp, challenging people to understand their business first, seek opportunities and navigate through the challenges because “in business, there will always be hurdles”.
Polite and open about his own failures, successes, and everything in between, Allon offers valuable takeaways for every stage of business, Even if you’re certain your startup is near its end, his troubleshooting tactics might just give your venture a fresh beginning.
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What to Do When You Want to Give Up
Being an entrepreneur is hard. When times are tough, it gets even harder.
What do you do when all the financial indicators are telling you that you are a failure, but a voice deep inside is telling you that you have something special?
When do you know whether you are conning yourself, or if indeed there is something worthwhile in your business?
How do you handle the disparity between what you portray to the world and what is really going on inside?
What do you do when you just want to give up?
Allon Raiz has been there, and has guided countless other entrepreneurs through the ultimate challenge of being an entrepreneur. He has faced the questions:
Using the case study of a real business, Raiz takes us from where we left off in his first book, Lose the Business Plan: What they don’t teach you about being an entrepreneur (which deals with starting a new business) and shows us how to assess whether your business can weather the challenges that face so many small businesses.
Lose the Business Plan: What They Don’t Tell You About Being an Entrepreneur
96% of small businesses fail within ten years — so what does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? How can you beat the statistics and create and grow a successful business? Allon Raiz challenges readers to find their entrepreneurial passion and to have the courage to stay focused and determined to find the path to business success. Raiz has made a business out of growing entrepreneurs and he knows that success is not about the business plan, it is about the drive of the entrepreneur. In Lose the Business Plan, Raiz shares the lessons he has learnt and seen others learn on the road to business success. Readers learn to recognise whether they have what it takes to follow this path and find the skills most needed for entrepreneurial success.
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