Black Narratives: How This Head of Network Teaches Startup Founders to Embrace Mindfulness
Keji’s Story to Find Herself and How She’s Helping Founders Keep Cool
Introduction:
Being a startup founder is stressful and disconcerting, especially if you’re looking for venture capital investments. A Harvard study shows that these entrepreneurs are in the highest risk category for burnout and mental health issues.
But amidst this cold, data-driven environment, some people recognize investments in wellbeing as of utmost priority. Consequently, a CEO’s composure can be his or her most valuable asset. This proves that the strongest tactics of venture capital have a human connection at their core.
From an inspiring story of going against the grain to mentorship and a compassionate approach to business, here’s what I learned after talking to Keji Mustapha about her journey of self-taught self-discovery.
Keji is the Head of Network, Brand & Culture Ops at Connect Ventures.
From The Conventional into The Unknown:
“I’m of Nigerian heritage and in my culture, you could either become a doctor, a lawyer, or a banker. I see them as comfortable careers but not autonomous enough for me. I had to go my own way.”
When faced with the prospect of endless paperwork in the shadow of senior lawyers, Keji knew that law was not going to work. Instead of pursuing an unfitting career, she did what most people don’t have the guts to do. She went in headfirst and explored the unknown.
She had no prior guidelines for how to discover her passions or any plan for how to make it work. In other words, it was all self-taught.
This unforgiving process of trial and error was an assumed learning experience. She needed a reliable income stream to pay for rent, but this did not discourage her. As a curious, wandering soul, always searching for new opportunities, her experiences ranged from the fashion industry to non-profits.
“Many of these jobs were temporary gigs done just for fun, especially in fashion. I wanted to test the waters in many industries, to see what would give me the intellectual rigour I enjoyed from Law, allow me to play to my strengths whilst also giving me a dash of fun. But the three months of rent my father agreed to pay for were coming to an end, and I still did not have a stable job. I was definitely not going back to a law career, so I had to figure it out fast.”
Although it was not a conventional career pattern, this search paid off when she met her mentor. Though she cannot be named, this iconic businesswoman is an absolute powerhouse. Her mentoring pieced Keji’s unconventional skills together and directed her to the domain that would later become one of her many spotlights: Operations.
The factors that could have made her tap out of this journey are numerous.
- Normative social pressures
- The comfort of a career she already studied for
- The pressure of having to pay rent
But she held on strong. By being surrounded by supportive parents, driven mentors, and an unhinged attention to personal wellbeing, Keji pulled through when others may have given up.
This experience now lies at the core of her approach with Connect Ventures. Concretely, her approach to building value for Founders stems from her ability to empathise with people and relieve ongoing pressures by helping them battle sleepless nights spent thinking about company building at seed stage, raising future rounds of funding, and scaling themselves at the speed of their companies.
More on the Connected Thesis here!
A New Perspective on Venture Capital:
After landing her position at Connect Ventures, Keji was fascinated by the rapid pace of creating value from scratch, building the firm’s value network to facilitate Founder’s growth.
Though this works, Keji knew that founders are still human beings that need support in a fundamental way that breaches the standard commitments of most VC’s.
“I knew falling back on personal wellbeing and mental health management was crucial. Many startup founders burned out because of mismanaging themselves, so I decided to engage with them on that level i.e. as human beings.”
She identified 3 common reasons why most startups fail to scale up and remain afloat:
- Conflict among co-founders;
- Mismanaging people;
- Burning out due to overwhelming stress and depression.
In other words, it’s not always about the market not being large enough. Something worth more attention is how Founders and Co-founders mismanage their problems.
With this in mind, she focused a great deal of attention on helping founders be more mindful about their wellbeing. Connect Ventures created a network in which founders can openly talk about their problems and support each other.
Additionally, she strongly supported the idea of retreats, meetings in which business was not a discussion subject. Instead, founders discuss wellbeing, mental health, personal growth and mentorship, ideas often left outside the office.
She advocates for openly talking about problems, deadlocks, and mess-ups. Instead of shame and disappointment, these interactions built empathy, understanding, and the acceptance of learning from mistakes.
Keji translated her personal journey into how she approaches value-add at Connect, focusing on how to effectively manage energy, stress, and overall well-being. Giving as much genuine value to their founders is the Connect way.
It costs nothing to be kinder to other people.
Takeaways:
Keji’s journey is a spring of wisdom and guidance for those venturing into unknown waters. She demonstrates that resilience, courage, and kindness always find the light at the end of the tunnel.
Keji’s key ideas for maintaining your well being are:
- Recognising that wellbeing must be a priority to maintain resilience
- Feel the fear, then do it anyway;
- Kindness is free, so sprinkle it around like sugar.
