“Being by myself was the harshest reality that I had to deal with. Another challenge was realising that not everyone I knew was going to give me business regardless of them knowing me. As entrepreneurs we make that mistake of assuming that because people know us, they would choose us for their businesses,” said Tshenkeng.
Those challenges then forced Tshenkeng to learn the art of being able to sell his business outside his circle.
He also said he always wanted to work with brands that champion change in society, and the turning point came in 2015 when they acquired the Steve Biko Foundation as a client.
Tshenkeng calls that a turning point because that shifted his mindset from just working for money.
“I wanted to work for more because the foundation affirms blackness. Above all, reminding South Africans of the value of black people because we come from a painful history that dehumanised blackness.
“But working for an organisation by its mere existence affirms your existence and that was great,” he said.
Decode Communications is a PR agency that helps organisations increase their visibility and to be influential in societies. They help organisations to insert themselves in the right conversations but importantly, to speak boldly about the work that they do.
During the pandemic, they started producing reports about SA government leadership on Twitter reports.
Tshenkeng said: “With that same platform we were able to run the social media summit which is targeted at government communicators. That has placed us front and centre at our clients' value as people who care about developing communicators.”
They are now working with two organisations.
First is the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, an organisation that champions for the rights of children. The fund is lobbying for the prices of food to be reduced so that families give children nutritious meals regularly.
Decode PR is also working with LoveLife, which recently introduced an Oky app. It is a menstrual health and period tracker designed for young girls to navigate their cycle while they are being educated about staying hygienic.
“The impact is when we support organisations with educational campaigns, a lot more people become aware of the social behaviour change that they do, where people start making the right decisions for the betterment of the society,” he explained.
This strategic reputation management powerhouse managed to persuade leading public relations luminary Rams Mabote “out of retirement” to join the company as executive chairman.
Mabote is a veteran journalist and renowned communication strategist and brings rich experience in public affairs and crisis communication to Decode.
With Mabote and other five of Decode’s employees, Tshenkeng hopes to make his dream of having an everlasting company true.
“Why do we not have a black agency that is 100 years old? I’m aware that our democracy is only 30 years old, but the bigger vision now is to fortify Decode and ensure that it lives beyond its founder,” said Tshenkeng.
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Tshenkeng dusts himself off to realise new passion
PR agency helps firms to be influential, visible in society
Tired of changing professions and moving from one career to the next, Lorato Tshenkeng, 45, made a bold move in 2012 of becoming an entrepreneur after working as a communication adviser to Dr Mvume Dandala, who was a presidential candidate for COPE in 2009.
Tshenkeng had not always thought of being a businessman, but after his ideal teenage dream of being a medical doctor was not a success due to financial exclusion, he kept changing his occupation, moving from wanting to be an air marshal in the air force to joining SAA in the communications department.
“When I was still at school, I was inspired by my uncle to become a medical doctor. He finished school when he was 16 and when I also finished school at the same age, I already pointed out similar patterns.
“After matric in 1995, I went to Wits but due to financial exclusions and failing to receive more study loans, I was forced to drop out after studying for a year”
He believes that had it not been for the financial setback in his pursuit of being a doctor, he would have been Dr Lorato Tshenkeng today.
After SAA, Tshenkeng started working for an agency ran by Dr JJ Tabane, a communications strategist, political commentator, businessman and television presenter.
In 2012, he then started Decode Communications PR Agency and according to him, it was not an easy journey transitioning from an environment where there had been people who had designated a role that was assigned to him to a space where everything now solely relied on him.
“Being by myself was the harshest reality that I had to deal with. Another challenge was realising that not everyone I knew was going to give me business regardless of them knowing me. As entrepreneurs we make that mistake of assuming that because people know us, they would choose us for their businesses,” said Tshenkeng.
Those challenges then forced Tshenkeng to learn the art of being able to sell his business outside his circle.
He also said he always wanted to work with brands that champion change in society, and the turning point came in 2015 when they acquired the Steve Biko Foundation as a client.
Tshenkeng calls that a turning point because that shifted his mindset from just working for money.
“I wanted to work for more because the foundation affirms blackness. Above all, reminding South Africans of the value of black people because we come from a painful history that dehumanised blackness.
“But working for an organisation by its mere existence affirms your existence and that was great,” he said.
Decode Communications is a PR agency that helps organisations increase their visibility and to be influential in societies. They help organisations to insert themselves in the right conversations but importantly, to speak boldly about the work that they do.
During the pandemic, they started producing reports about SA government leadership on Twitter reports.
Tshenkeng said: “With that same platform we were able to run the social media summit which is targeted at government communicators. That has placed us front and centre at our clients' value as people who care about developing communicators.”
They are now working with two organisations.
First is the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, an organisation that champions for the rights of children. The fund is lobbying for the prices of food to be reduced so that families give children nutritious meals regularly.
Decode PR is also working with LoveLife, which recently introduced an Oky app. It is a menstrual health and period tracker designed for young girls to navigate their cycle while they are being educated about staying hygienic.
“The impact is when we support organisations with educational campaigns, a lot more people become aware of the social behaviour change that they do, where people start making the right decisions for the betterment of the society,” he explained.
This strategic reputation management powerhouse managed to persuade leading public relations luminary Rams Mabote “out of retirement” to join the company as executive chairman.
Mabote is a veteran journalist and renowned communication strategist and brings rich experience in public affairs and crisis communication to Decode.
With Mabote and other five of Decode’s employees, Tshenkeng hopes to make his dream of having an everlasting company true.
“Why do we not have a black agency that is 100 years old? I’m aware that our democracy is only 30 years old, but the bigger vision now is to fortify Decode and ensure that it lives beyond its founder,” said Tshenkeng.
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