Brendan Nkala turned generic advice into a specific dream
Brendan Nkala came to Canada in 2016 with the intention of starting a business, but four years after first arriving he kept asking himself two questions: Am I going to do the thing I love or am I going to keep working for someone else doing what they love?
Originally from Zimbabwe, Nkala came to Halifax to do a master’s in technology entrepreneurship and innovation at Saint Mary’s University. He thought the program, coupled with his undergraduate degree in marketing from a university in Malaysia, would give him a unique skill set.
“Package that together and that was the dream,” Nkala says.
But after working for a couple of marketing firms in Halifax, he wasn’t achieving his dream of starting his own business. He was confident in the work he was doing, working with big-budget clients and being the front face of the projects with them.
“If I’m doing this autonomously for a big-box agency, I can definitely do this for myself and put the money in my own pocket,” Nkala says.
In August 2020, he decided to go out on his own and started Luminous Media Consulting, which specializes in social media advertising for platforms such as Facebook, Google, YouTube, and LinkedIn. His work involves creating a marketing strategy, executing, optimizing and managing it, and post-campaign reporting. He also offers website design.
For international students, it can be challenging to find work after graduation, especially compared to local graduates.
“People who have grown up here, gone through the entire school system here, they have a leg up on me, they have an added advantage,” Nkala says. “They’re able to leverage relationships and networks they’ve established over many years.”
To overcome this, Nkala’s number one priority as a student was to network as much as possible. He says it’s generic advice people often offer.
“Sometimes, you can’t do it all alone,” he says. “It’s important to understand that and realize that, but the sooner you do, the better for you.”
For Nkala, this meant he’d take part in events held on campus and make connections with the speakers who provided guest lectures. After the lectures were over, Nkala would talk with them about their speech and would then see if his objectives and the opportunities they had aligned.
If people are looking to start a business, Nkala says they need to think about how what they have to offer is different from competitors, as well as the added value they can offer clients.
“When you specialize, you separate yourself from the pack,” he says.
