Pursue your dream or move on?

This case is focused on the difficult personal choice of Sonia Headlee, a co-founder and CEO of
Nigeria based tomato paste brand Inganci Tumatir.

For the past three years Sonia has been running the company together with her business school
friend Amanda Ibrahim. United by common values they created a start-up intending to control the
whole value chain of tomato paste in the Nigerian market. The company has already developed its
signature product, but it faced challenges in making a sale under their own label. Mistakes in
brand’s name spelling, regular seasonal droughts, specifics of the local market customs and recent
Amanada’s leave are challenging Sonia’s mind. She needs to decide whether to stick up for this
startup to pursue a dream or whether to take a post in a LFM capital, a Niarobi-based investment
firm to make a bigger impact.

Her first option would be to accept the offer from LFM and simply move on. After all the hurdles
that her own company has to suffer from the droughts, poor infrastructure and rigidity of the local
administration, this choice promises some stability. LFM is an impact investor based in Kenia.
Bonding with a bigger player, Sonia is hoping to get an opportunity to make an impact on a larger
part of the African food market. The company’s image would back her in the culture-related issues,
help her to outplay the political setbacks, like hidden bribes and unfavourable taxation tariffs.

On the contrary, the prospect of losing her entrepreneurship together with closing up Ingancy
joined by the aggressive promotion of the LFM post by Tendai Park stops her from accepting the
offer straightaway. The idea of becoming a part of the sell-out club by giving up on her and
Amanda’s child makes her feel sad. There is a local commissioner of agriculture, who promises
tariffs’ hikes on Chinese imports. Abdulsalam Sani is urging Sonia to develop the business by
offering more support from the state. However relieving it may sound, she remains doubtful, being
conscious of the corruption level, as well as the lack of transparency in Nigeria's governmental
system.

The case study ends with a gloomy conversation between two former partners. Amanda prevents
Sonia from making an overnight change, giving her some more time to ponder on all these matters.
In our point of view, Sonia has found herself in a sticky and doubtful situation. It is good to be
conscious about that before taking any further steps in her business. Following her trusted friend's
leave, Sonia has started to lose the mentality she and Amanda had at their business school. It is a
change for good, for Sonia’s personal development, and I would suggest letting it happen. There are
two main personal issues here: the consequences of the culture shock and lack of competence in
pioneering. Sonia may consider finding an experienced mentor, seeking a psychologist's advice. For
a pioneer resources are essential, which means she needs some resourceful partners. A good mentor
can assist in discovering a personal resource first and building a healthy relationship with a
resourceful person, as a next step. Shifting focus from climate issues to self-development, Sonia
may soon find an innovative idea that will finally help her dream to become true.