Business lessons from 15 years in telecoms

George Golding, Euphoria Telecom director and founder

Starting a business is easy, keeping that business operational is not. A look at StatsSA’s monthly liquidations data will show you just how hard it can be, but getting it right is deeply rewarding.

As we share these reflections, we’re heading into Africa Tech Fest next week, where we’ll be celebrating our 15th birthday with the same energy and appreciation that have carried us through the past decade and a half. It felt like the right moment to look back on some of the lessons that have shaped Euphoria Telecom since 2010.

We’ve been feeling quite reflective as we mark Euphoria’s 15 year anniversary. Over the years, technologies have come and gone, regulations have shifted, and the way people connect has changed multiple times. We’ve had to adapt, anticipate and sometimes learn the hard way. These are some of the insights that have shaped us and may resonate with other local businesses navigating a fast-changing landscape.

Build for the future

When Euphoria first launched in 2010, we knew that businesses would be managing their communication via the cloud. VoIP, which had only been legalised in 2005, facilitated the shift to cloud telephony but the small business owners we were speaking to were understandably wary.

In tech, things evolve fast and the way people communicate has changed repeatedly over the past 15 years. Blackberry Messenger, Mxit, Telkom and even mobile service providers could never have anticipated how technological advancements like VoIP and WhatsApp would impact their businesses in just a few short years. Building for the future means you’re not only responding to the challenges your customers face now, but anticipating how their needs will evolve.

Plan for the unexpected

Contingency planning is not optional in South Africa. If anyone had told us when we were starting out that loadshedding, a term which had only recently been coined, would continue for at least another decade, we would probably have laughed. If you’d said that a pandemic would finally make the business case for hybrid working, we definitely would not have believed you. These two things presented massive risks and opportunities for businesses across industries in South Africa.

And while no one can predict the future, businesses that are flexible, agile and able to quickly respond to a threat or an opportunity are the ones that are going to come out on top.

Your people are your greatest asset

The evolution and adoption of AI is reshaping business but you cannot run a business without people. AI may be able to process data, automate tasks and generate insights, but it cannot replicate human judgement, creativity, empathy or trust.

In the tech sector, competition for skills is consistently tough. Treating your people like an asset is central to attracting and retaining talent. This doesn’t just mean big salaries and bonuses, it involves creating a supportive company culture, and providing people with an enabling working environment and the right tools to perform effectively. As AI shifts the way people work, this may also mean investing in reskilling teams to better use their talents.

Customers will always expect more

Even as a fledgling startup, we knew that one thing we wouldn’t compromise on is customer service. Service excellence is built into our company’s DNA but good service should be the norm so customers are always going to hold you to a higher standard.

Whether it’s the product offering, reliability or the way a business handles its support and after-sales service, no customer is ever going to be 100% satisfied 100% of the time. Rather than seeing this as a challenge, use it as an opportunity to innovate, and raise the bar to surprise and delight people even further.

Get to grips with regulation

The regulatory landscape in South Africa can make or break a business, especially in a sector like telecoms. Over the years, we’ve seen our fair share of regulatory issues ranging from slow spectrum allocation to rules around new entrants and technologies. These can feel like hurdles but they also create the framework for innovation.

South Africa, and the continent as a whole, are complex regulatory environments so we’ve learned that understanding the environment, anticipating changes, and engaging constructively on key issues is as essential to growth as your customer base.

Think long-term but stay flexible

If there’s one thread running through all these lessons, it’s that building a successful business means thinking long-term while staying flexible in the short-term. Technology will evolve, customer expectations will keep rising, and the regulatory and operating environment will never stop shifting. But focusing on people, staying adaptable, and keeping an eye on the bigger picture will set you up for the long haul.

Happy birthday, Euphoria!

Euphoria Telecom’s 15th birthday was celebrated on 4 September at the Victoria Cocktail Lounge in Camps Bay. It was a vibrant night filled with some of our longest-standing customers, partners and friends of the business. The atmosphere was exactly what a milestone deserves — great conversations, real connections, good food, a lot of laughter and a genuine celebration of fifteen years of building something meaningful together.

For the occasion, we brought together two things that were always destined to collide: our brand mascot, Miles — a fully functional business phone on wheels created by the Euphoria marketing team to physically demonstrate the mobility of our system — and South Africa’s king of prank calls, Darren Whackhead Simpson. Miles exists to make one point unmistakable: with Euphoria’s industry-leading mobile app, you can literally take your office phone wherever you go.

And our 15th birthday was the perfect moment to put that idea front and centre. Darren took Miles onto the Camps Bay promenade, pranking unsuspecting locals while posing as the mayor of Cape Town, before moving inside to a custom-built prank-call booth where he continued the fun with friends and family of our customers and suppliers. The booth, the mascot, the calls — it all came together brilliantly. The room was full of laughter all night and, once again, we proved that with Euphoria Telecom, dialling is smiling.

Darren summed it up best: “What a successful evening. Thank you for having me here. And what a great idea! Everything about Euphoria is novel, it’s fresh and it’s exciting. That’s what I love about it!”

If you’d like to watch the full collection of prank calls and relive the energy of the night, you can find them here: Euphoria Telecom's 15 Birthday

Join us at Africa Tech Fest next week

We’re excited to continue the celebrations at Africa Tech Fest from 11–13 November. This year, our entire stand is themed around our 15th birthday — complete with celebratory pastries, treats and a few surprises. You’ll find us exactly where we were last year: Hall 6, Stand I36.

If you’re attending, come say hi, grab something sweet and celebrate with us.