Using Your Past to Shape Your Future: How Personal History Informs Your Business Journey

Learn how to inform your business journey through personal history and your sphere of influence will never be the same again. In an increasingly competitive creative economy, it is not just your skills or products that set you apart but your story. For entrepreneurs within the African diaspora, your personal history is a unique asset, and you need to learn how to use it as such.

Want to learn more about storytelling? Start by downloading the first chapter of The Storytelling Mastery.

This is the point, your personal history gives depth and meaning to your entrepreneurial vision and helps establish genuine connections with your audience.

By embracing and integrating your past, you can create a powerful narrative that resonates across cultural boundaries and markets, giving your business the edge it needs to stand out.

Embracing Your Roots: How Identity Shapes Purpose

As a purpose-driven entrepreneur, your cultural heritage forms a vital foundation for your business. In the African diaspora, your story is often one of resilience, adaptation, and perseverance. We talk about this about this a lot in The Diaspora Storytelling Serie.

In case you are hearing about that for the first time, the African Diaspora Storytelling Series is a LinkedIn audio live event dedicated to empowering individuals of African descent through the art of storytelling.

The LinkedIn audio Live event is organized every 14 days as a transformative journey for members of the African diaspora community to share their experiences. Inspired by Obehi Ewanfoh’s Storytelling Mastery, the events offer insights from a decade of storytelling expertise to help you get started with the power of storytelling.

Never underestimate the power of your stories. These are strengths that can shape your mission, brand, and customer engagement. Embracing your identity and heritage isn’t just a personal journey, it’s an essential business strategy.

This is the point, by understanding where you come from, you can make clearer, more meaningful decisions about where you’re headed.

As an entrepreneur within the African diaspora, you need to realise that you possess a wealth of experiences that may not be found in traditional business playbooks. Your journey could include migration, growing up in a dual-culture environment, or overcoming barriers of racism and inequality.

See also Harnessing the Power of African Diaspora Heritage for Positive Change

These struggles, while challenging, give you an invaluable perspective that not only shapes your purpose but also makes your business authentic. For example, African and Caribbean immigrants in the United States have a high rate of entrepreneurship compared to other immigrant groups, with about 27% of Black immigrants owning or operating businesses in various sectors. You don’t want to downplay that.

Whether you are exploring the vibrant “African Shops” lining the streets of Italy, France, or Germany, or admiring the innovative tech, fashion, and food startups by members of the African diaspora in the UK or US, one thing is clear: this entrepreneurial spirit is deeply embedded in the diasporic experience.

Perhaps, it can be attributed to a strong sense of cultural identity and resilience that informs a unique approach to business.

The Impact of Past Experiences on Entrepreneurial Decisions

Every experience, from the roles you have held to the challenges you have faced, contributes to your entrepreneurial toolkit. Your past informs your present decisions and shapes your future success.

If you look back, you will see how many of your current business strategies, goals, and values are the result of formative experiences in your life.

Perhaps you worked for a company where your creativity was stifled, prompting you to start your own business where you could be free to innovate. Or maybe you grew up in a family that valued community and mutual support, which now informs your customer service approach.

Every entrepreneur has a history, but for you, that history holds special significance. Your past, with its victories and failures, serves as a guide for your professional journey.

In many African cultures, community, and family are at the heart of decision-making. These values are often carried into entrepreneurial ventures. Consider the growing number of small businesses across the diaspora, particularly those focusing on providing community-based services.

For instance, a study by the African Development Bank highlighted that African diaspora entrepreneurs frequently invest in businesses that create jobs and foster development in both their local communities and their countries of origin.

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By reflecting on these values and personal experiences, you can make business decisions that align with your core identity and serve a higher purpose.

Storytelling as a Business Strategy: Turning Your Journey into a Competitive Advantage

One of the most powerful ways to differentiate yourself in a crowded market is by telling your personal story. Storytelling is not only an art but also an essential business strategy.

People connect more deeply with businesses that have an authentic story. By sharing your journey, you invite your audience into your world and give them a reason to care about what you do. Authenticity is a key differentiator that makes your brand memorable and relatable.

For many entrepreneurs in the African diaspora, the story is one of overcoming obstacles. Perhaps you’ve experienced displacement or have had to navigate a new country’s cultural landscape.

Or maybe you’ve had to deal with the complexities of maintaining your heritage while adapting to Western norms. These are not liabilities; they are competitive advantages that, when shared authentically, can resonate deeply with your audience.

A 2020 study from the Harvard Business Review noted that customers who feel an emotional connection to a brand are 52% more valuable than highly satisfied customers alone.

The deeper your audience connects with your story, the more likely they are to become long-term, loyal customers.

For example, African-owned fashion brands like Maki Oh or Brother Vellies have effectively leveraged their founders’ personal stories, rooted in African cultural heritage, to capture global attention and build loyal customer bases.

Reframing Hardships as Triumphs

Every challenge you have faced, whether economic hardship, migration, or personal struggles can be reframed as a triumph. These experiences demonstrate your resilience and adaptability, qualities that are essential for any successful entrepreneur.

For example, many entrepreneurs in the diaspora come from countries where access to resources, education, and opportunities is limited. However, the ability to innovate with minimal resources can turn into a powerful business asset.

In the tech space, you see African diaspora entrepreneurs using their experiences of growing up in resource-scarce environments to create solutions tailored for emerging markets.

One notable example is Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, a Nigerian entrepreneur and co-founder of Andela and Flutterwave. His journey, influenced by his experiences as part of the African diaspora in Canada and Nigeria, helped him build companies that solve real-world problems, not only in Africa but also globally.

Aboyeji’s ability to connect his personal experiences to larger market needs has been a driving force behind his success.

Unearthing and Leveraging Your Past for Business Growth

To fully unlock the potential of your personal history, it’s important to take time for reflection and reconnection. Consider the pivotal moments that have shaped your life. How have they influenced your values, goals, and worldview?

By making these connections, you can better understand how your past has informed your present and how it can shape your future.

Journaling, reflection exercises, and personal timelines are useful tools to help entrepreneurs like you unearth these key moments. You can start by asking yourself questions such as:

• What values were instilled in me as a child, and how do they impact my business decisions?
• What hardships have I overcome, and how do those experiences define the way I run my business today?
• How do my cultural background and personal journey align with the story I want to tell through my business?

Once you’ve uncovered the key elements of your personal history, you can craft a narrative that aligns with your business mission. A clear and compelling narrative can help you build a brand that stands out and resonates deeply with your audience.

Building a Brand Around Your Story: Examples from the Diaspora

Across the African diaspora, many entrepreneurs are successfully weaving their personal histories into their brand stories. Their success demonstrates how you, too, can leverage your unique experiences for business growth.

Consider the fashion industry, where designers from the African diaspora are blending traditional African aesthetics with contemporary design to create globally recognized brands.

See also Purpose-Driven Work: Aligning Your Professional Path with Personal Values

One prominent example is Stella Jean, a Haitian-Italian designer who integrates her mixed heritage into her designs. Jean’s fashion is inspired by her dual cultures and uses vibrant African textiles alongside Western silhouettes, creating a powerful narrative that reflects her diasporic identity.

Through her personal story and designs, she has garnered attention and admiration worldwide.

Another example is Tope Awotona, founder of Calendly, a widely used scheduling platform. Awotona’s journey from Nigeria to the U.S. and his experience overcoming personal and professional challenges have been key to his approach to business.

His story of perseverance, combined with his entrepreneurial mindset, has made Calendly a highly successful tool used by millions of people globally. The following is from Tope Awotona’s profile page on Forbes.com:

• “Tope Awotona is the founder and CEO of scheduling software company Calendly.
• Awotona, a former salesman for tech firms including EMC (now Dell EMC), founded Calendly out of his own frustration with the back-and-forth emails required to schedule meetings.
• He bootstrapped Calendly for years before taking on a $350 million investment in 2021 that valued the firm at $3 billion.
• Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Awotona immigrated to the United States as a teenager.
• Before founding Calendly, he had started a few other businesses, including one that sold projectors and another that sold garden tools, that flopped.”

In his own words, this is how Awotona summed up his entrepreneurial journey and mindset: “In my life, I’ve benefited from not taking the conventional wisdom. It’s benefited me personally, and I think it has benefited the business.”

These examples highlight the importance of using your personal story not only as a source of inspiration but as a strategic business asset. Your story is unique, and it is one of the most powerful ways to differentiate your business in a saturated market.

The Future of Story-Driven Businesses in the African Diaspora

As an entrepreneur within the African diaspora, your story isn’t just a part of your past—it’s the key to shaping your future. By embracing your unique experiences and weaving them into your business, you create a brand that resonates on a deep, emotional level with your audience. This authentic connection is what drives loyalty, growth, and long-term success.

See also Own Your Story and Unlock Client Connections Through Authentic Narratives

The African diaspora is an engine of economic growth, both in the countries where its members reside and in their countries of origin.

According to the World Bank, remittances from the African diaspora reached a record $45 billion in 2021, underscoring the economic impact of the diaspora community. As more diaspora entrepreneurs leverage their personal stories and unique perspectives, this influence is set to grow even further.

Conclusion: Your Story is Your Superpower

As a purpose-driven entrepreneur, your past is not just a collection of memories—it’s a blueprint for your future. Every experience, challenge, and triumph has shaped you into the person you are today, and it has equipped you with the tools you need to succeed in the competitive creative economy.

Your story is your superpower. Embrace it, share it, and use it to fuel your business journey. By leveraging your personal history, you can build a brand that not only stands out but also inspires, connects, and makes a lasting impact.

In the crowded creative economy, your past is the key to shaping a future where your business not only survives but thrives.

Want to learn more about storytelling? Start by downloading the first chapter of The Storytelling Mastery.