The Founder Files How to Build an Authentic Brand That Scales - Nic Eve & Marcel Hattingh, Donkey Long Tong
In this episode, we dive into the story of Donkey Long Tong, a uniquely South African business founded by Marcel Hattingh and Nic Eve. Donkey Long Tong manufactures long braai tongs and they’ve scaled into the US, UK, Canada and Australia! We get into how they’ve got their brand and marketing right to leverage word of mouth at scale and protect their brand. We also talk about how they’ve achieved a lean manufacturing process and smooth operations, and how they’ve developed a strong culture where their employees take ownership of their work. In between all that, some really cool lessons around their philosophy of scaling their business that are a bit counterintuitive but are actually working super well.
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This episode is brought to you by Metavolve.
Metavolve turns highly capable African founders into confident business leaders by helping them develop clear and comprehensive business strategies that make building a great sustainable business less complex. Reach out to our team to learn more: https://metavolve.co/
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00:00 Introduction
02:09 What is Donkey Long Tong?
25:28 The Issues Scaling Donkey Long Tong
29:22 Building Strong Relationships With Suppliers
33:31 Why We Started The Founder Files
35:40 Creating a Very Authentic Brand
39:37 Developing a Manufacturing Process That Allows for Scale
53:51 Charging a Premium Price and Maintaining Premium Quality
01:02:29 How to Get Staff to Take Ownership and Care About Their Work
01:17:11 Scaling Internationally and How it Affects Branding and Marketing
01:33:36 Impacting South African Tourism
01:48:39 Goals & Challenges of Donkey Long Tong’s Scaling Journey
01:54:32 Conclusion