STEPHEN TWINOBURYO

Background to Scimatics Solutions: By Stephen TwinoburyoI am an immigrant from Uganda who arrived in S Africa in 1997. Soon after arriving in the country, I started teaching mathematics and science (by accident) in high schools. During my teaching career, I have taught at schools in Pretoria and Cape Town.Throughout my teaching career, I was always praised by my students for being a good teacher and that they enjoyed my work. During my time as a teacher, I studied a BSc Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (specialising in Financial Modelling) at Unisa. After that, I started making efforts to leave the teaching career. However, the more I taught, the more I connected with teaching and passing on knowledge. Also when I applied for jobs, most of them required experience which I didn’t have. One day I thought to myself: “If everybody is praising me in the work I’m doing and I have made an impact in teaching, isn’t this where my calling and wealth is rather than the unknown that I am pursuing?” I decided to take control my skill and experience in a way I could use them to make a difference through the service I gave while at the same time employing other people and having an income. I figured out I wanted the freedom to widen the scope through which I could impart skills in maths and science. Despite this, I continued to study, registering for a BSc Hons in Financial Engineering at the University of Pretoria but I soon found out that I was not interested in mathematical finance. My previous study was BSc Electrical Engineering in Uganda, where I also later found I was not interested in engineering.In 2008 I registered a company to offer mathematics and science tuition but did not start operating because I was not yet ready. Soon after, I started teaching part-time at University of Pretoria’s Mathematics and Applied Mathematics Department while teaching fulltime at a private school in Pretoria East.At the end of 2010, I resigned my fulltime teaching job and started operating my business in March 2011.I started my business in an area I knew most - mathematics and science. However, that’s almost all I had. I soon found that the costs of operating the business were far beyond the meagre savings I had made from my salary. Above rent for our premises, I found that I could not afford to buy sufficient furniture, study material and other requirements for the business.I eventually sold my car and then used the money to buy furniture and other requirements. For most of the first year, I used public transport and depended on friends. My secretary in the first year, who even had a car, did not even believe in me and thought I was on some kind of a joke. She indeed quit at the end of the year. One thing I knew was that I had something that people needed and I needed to provide it properly. Having also never operated a business in my life before, not even selling a sweet, I found that business at a certain level needed some skills. I hence became a business owner and business learner at the same time.I started my business one of Pretoria’s affluent areas where the top schools are located. When I started, friends asked me if I was going to survive in a 'white area' and advised me to rather move to city center. They told me that no white will come to a black person’s place. At some point, I almost thought they were right. And on their part, that's what they believed. But I was driven by my conviction to provide the best Mathematics and Science centre in South Africa. I believed in what I had to provide, rather than who I was. I also knew I had to be close to the top schools for us to be challenged to provide top quality service.I benchmarked myself against the best known provider in my field and decided that I would have to go beyond what they had to offer. Up to now, I feel I have not attained even a fraction of where I want this company to go.Beyond finances and business operation, I encountered two kinds of parents. The black parents were quick to believe in me while the white parents were very skeptical. Instead of paying a monthly fee, the white parents would try out one lesson - to see first. One time a white parent told me that she wanted to sit in my class and see what I was teaching. I objected and told her that if her child felt she had benefited, she would tell her, and I told her I was confident she would tell her so. After the first lesson, this mother ensured her daughter attended all the lessons and she indeed performed well in her final matric exams. The child even bought me a present to thank me for my efforts.From the initial two employees, the secretary and me, our company now employs over 20 multi-racial staff members and handles scores of multi-racial students, both from schools and universities.Having entered this field with completely no entrepreneurship experience, and only armed with knowledge, my journey of running a business has also been a learning process. The challenges of starting this business have been an inspiration to me and I will use that to inspire others. When I was asked why I worked in a ‘white area’, I thought I had made a mistake and almost went with the crowd but decided to stand my ground despite the difficulties. I have come to find that there are so many blacks that have so much money that there are not enough black compatriots providing them a good service. There are also so many whites looking for a good service that there are not enough whites to provide that service. At the end of it all, it is the quality and credibility of the service that matters.We operate three centres: Hatfield (Pretoria – Main Office), Faerie Glen (Pretoria) and Sandton (Johannesburg). More information about the business can be found on: www.scimaticssolutions.co.za.