Celebrating 19 Years in Business

19 Years of By Appointment Africa: Founder Story

This month By Appointment Africa turns 19 and it makes me stop and smile because when I think back to how it started it feels like another lifetime entirely.

I remember those early mornings so clearly. I worked from home on my own at a tiny desk waiting for the computer to connect to dial-up internet. The internet connection was so new ! If the line did not connect nothing moved. Telephone lines went down regularly. Power cuts were part of daily life (not much changed there!). We had telephone handsets that physically dialled and I spent hours trying to get through to the telecommunications company to get back on line. The world was a much slower place back then. 

I borrowed 100k from a friend to buy a computer and a printer and to keep myself going for three months. That was the plan. Three months to see if it might work. Looking back it seems almost innocent. I was a single parent mother of a 2 year and 18 year old. My mother was in a constant state of anxiety and thought I was mad to give up my good job. 

I however had total and utter blind faith. My grandmother used to say I was brave or stupid or both. She was never sure as even when I was a child I did things other children would not, but the difference was I never thought much, I just jumped. 

I had come from the airline industry and I was lucky to be well connected. Clients came surprisingly quickly. Two became three. Then the work became relentless because I was doing everything myself and working every hour I could. It was time to get an office and some help. I couldn’t interview in coffee shops any more, I needed a hand and I finally had the funds to employ some help. 

That was the moment I realised this was no longer an experiment. It was a business.

Fast forward to today and the contrast is extraordinary. We now have fast internet sophisticated systems, AI tools, recruitment software and technology that would have felt like science fiction back then. 

The pace of change over the last 19 years alone is staggering. 

What has fascinated me most is what has not changed.

I always knew I wanted a small but mighty team. I had managed large teams before and whilst I loved it, I no longer wanted to be a supervisory manager. I wanted to work in the business, not on it.

I love working closely with my girls. We know how each other think. We trust each other completely. We work tightly and with care. It feels far more like a family than a workplace and that is exactly how I want it.

Technology has helped us enormously but it has never replaced the heart of what we do. Recruitment at its best is still about relationships. Long term relationships with candidates. Long term relationships with clients. One client relationship lasted fifteen years. That does not happen by accident. It happens when you listen properly stay curious and do the work with integrity and build trust and deepen the relationship constantly. They also became part of us and we part of them in many ways. 

Nineteen years in and I can honestly say this has been a joyful business. Not perfect. Not always easy. There were peaks and troughs moments of doubt and moments of pride.

What I know now is this. If you build a business around people rather than process and you genuinely love the work, the business has a way of giving back. Sometimes in unexpected ways. That feels like a very good return on nineteen years.