Last week, Gift Lubele had the opportunity to speak as keynote speaker during a graduation ceremony for 27 entrepreneurs, at a programme he has had the privilege of contributing to through YIEDI, the team worked closely with the cohort across mentorship sessions, business strategy, and AI adoption over the past several months for our client.
Being part of the graduation, Gift wanted to do more than celebrate. He wanted to prepare them. Because the real test starts the morning after graduation, when the structure falls away and the building truly begins.
Here are the five things he shared, lessons drawn from his own journey of building companies, failing publicly, and learning to keep going anyway.
1. Expect the post-programme dip, and plan for it
“When the structure disappears, so does the momentum for many entrepreneurs. No more scheduled sessions. No more accountability check-ins. No more mentors automatically in their corner every week”. Many people mistake the end of a programme for the end of growth. That is a dangerous mistake.
“The discipline provided by the programme was a framework. Now, the entrepreneurs have to internalise it. They need to build their own rhythm, weekly reviews, and monthly targets. They should find an accountability partner, ideally someone from their cohort, and commit to checking in regularly.” The loneliest trap in entrepreneurship is thinking you have to figure everything out alone.
2. Their biggest competitor is their own excuses
Gift spoke about the the longest, most draining conversations of his entrepreneurial life, “Not with difficult investors or sceptical clients, but with myself” The internal voice that says it is too hard, too early, too risky. The version of himself that almost quit.
The pitfall he sees most consistently in entrepreneurs is not a lack of skill or access. It is distraction disguised as opportunity. Someone offers a side deal. A new idea feels shinier than the unglamorous work already in front of them. They pivot before their original idea has had a real chance. Focus is a competitive advantage. It must be guarded accordingly.
3. Revenue is validation. Everything else is opinion.
“Mentors, including those at YIEDI, can offer frameworks, feedback, and encouragement. But the market is the only stakeholder whose opinion is backed by real data”. One paying customer will tell an entrepreneur more than six months of planning, pitch rehearsals, or feedback surveys ever could.
“Entrepreneurs need to stop perfecting and start selling.” If nobody is paying yet, they should not file that away as something to revisit eventually. “They need to ask themselves why, today, not tomorrow. The answer will tell them everything they need to know about where their energy belongs right now.”
4. Use AI, but use it wisely
At YIEDI, a significant part of the mentoring work involves helping entrepreneurs understand what AI can and cannot do for their businesses. Gift has seen first-hand what opens up for small businesses when they adopt the right tools. He has also watched entrepreneurs use AI as a crutch rather than a catalyst, Generating content they have not read, automating decisions they have not made, and outsourcing their thinking entirely.
“AI should save entrepreneurs time, not replace their judgment. They should use it to write faster, research smarter, and operate leaner. But they still need to know their customers, their numbers, and their value proposition inside out.” The entrepreneurs who win in the next decade are not the ones who fear AI, nor the ones who blindly defer to it. They are the ones who direct it.
5. The network in the room is a real asset, and should be treated like one
“The entrepreneurs in this room have spent months alongside people who understand the loneliness, the uncertainty, and the sheer stubbornness it takes to build something from nothing. Most people in their broader lives will never fully grasp what they are attempting. The people in their cohort do.”
Gift went on to say, “You should not let these relationships go cold after graduation. You should collaborate, refer each other, and share opportunities before sharing them anywhere else.” South Africa’s economy grows when people grow each other. And in a landscape where access is still unevenly distributed, a strong peer network can open more doors than any single mentor or investor ever will. That is part of what entrepreneurship support programmes are designed to build, and it is theirs to maintain.
In closing, programmes like this do something that most business education does not: they meet entrepreneurs where they are. Not in a classroom divorced from real commercial pressure, but inside the actual mess of building a business. The 27 entrepreneurs graduating this week represent exactly the kind of grounded, resilient talent that South Africa’s economy needs.
YIEDI is proud of each of them and remains committed to their journey beyond graduation. They are encouraged to stay connected, stay curious, and keep building.
