Business Fundamentals
The Business Fundamentals Workshop
The 3-Day Workshop That Reveals Where Your Business is Stuck — And Exactly What To Do About It
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It started with a school that had never turned a profit.
In 2021, I was appointed executive director of a school in Limpopo. My role was to turn the business around. It had not made a profit since its inception, six years prior.
There was infighting amongst the staff. Parents were defaulting on school fees. Management was constantly under siege with problems. I was also overwhelmed.
So I consulted one of my mentors — a retired CEO of several listed companies — and he introduced me to a framework he calls Business Logic.
He said: when you study a company’s financials, they tell you about the business operations. When you study the operations, they tell you about the people and how they run the business. When you study the people, they tell you about the organisation, structure and business model. When you look at that layer, you learn about strategy.
This is the logic he used to diagnose, turn around, and build some of the largest companies in Africa, including Massmart, Transaction Capital, and Imperial Group. Perhaps you can guess who I am referring to, here.
I used his Business Logic to make sense of the chaos in the business I was now leading, and to make coherent decisions, one by one. By the end of the year, we had doubled distinctions in Matric, successfully implemented e-learning, reduced the debtors’ book, and restructured management. This resulted in recognition and a prestigious award from DaVinci Business School and TT100 at their 30th Business Innovation Awards.
I eventually left all my corporate roles, went on sabbatical, and started my own business, skybookings.com, which runs on the same business logic.
As the business gained traction, I started showing this framework to friends. Many applied the thinking to their own businesses — with convincing results.
By word of mouth, I was invited to consult for some of South Africa’s largest companies and government agencies. Then in 2025, I accepted a role as a faculty member at the world’s number 1 corporate education institution, Duke Corporate Education, where I facilitate workshops for managers and C-level executives throughout the continent.
Through these experiences, I realised that leaders in large companies — and those lucky enough to get scholarships — can access valuable tools through MBAs and companies like DukeCE because they have the resources. However, the vast majority of companies in South Africa are small businesses, run by founders and families who do not have R400k for an MBA, or R80k per day for an elite corporate educator. Yet these are the people who carry the economy and employ the vast majority of people.
That’s why I decided to build this workshop: The Business Fundamentals Workshop. It’s a three-day workshop, held at a scenic lodge just outside Johannesburg, away from the noise, in which founders diagnose their businesses, come up with solutions, and map a path forward with their peers.
As a founder, I also know first-hand the lonely path of entrepreneurship and leadership. This is therefore not just a workshop, but also a supportive space where we can share the weight of leadership and find powerful solutions together. For this reason, expect to also join a strong alumni community, filled with opportunities for breakfast and dinner with accomplished leaders in our network.
This is the first time I am running this workshop, and I intend to run it once a year. This means the founding cohort will get more of my direct attention than any group after this. Yes, mistakes will be made, but every penny will go into getting our cohort out of the madness of leading a business and into a clear and coherent system they can trust.
If you’d like to be part of it, join the waiting list below, and I’ll be in touch as soon as preparations are underway.
How to read a business
Business Logic, Briefly
Study the cash, and it will tell you the operations. Study the operations, and they will tell you the people and culture. Study the people, and they will reveal the organisational structure. Study the structure, and it will reveal the strategy.
Hi—
I'm Vusi Sindane
South Africa has no shortage of entrepreneurs or innovative ideas. What we lack are businesses that last as long as they should. There are many reasons for that — but I have chosen to focus on giving founders a clear and coherent way of understanding their businesses.
Clear logic is the foundation of a sustainable business, great leadership and systems that work.
I learned that the hard way. If you only focus on money, you miss the underlying systems. If you only focus on systems, you miss the culture and people who run the systems. If you focus only on people, you miss the organisational principles and business model that inform them. And without a business model, you are chasing every shiny opportunity and misallocating resources — you have a poor strategy.
This is what I teach. If it resonates, let’s connect at the next workshop.
Vusi.
Here’s what you get
A three-day, in-person workshop at a lodge just outside Johannesburg — away from the noise, phones down, focused entirely on your business. A live online link is also available for those who can’t make it to Johannesburg.
Structure: One layer per day — Money, Systems, People, Business Model, Strategy — worked in diagnostic order, applied live to your business.
Cadence: Run once a year. This is the first cohort — smaller by nature, and with more direct access to me than any cohort after it.
Environment: A small, encouraging peer group, not a room of strangers watching slides. Part workshop, part shared space to carry the weight of leadership together.
How to join: There’s no live application or fixed price yet — join the waiting list and you’ll be contacted directly as soon as the cohort opens.
By the end, you will have run your own business through the full Business Logic diagnostic, know exactly where the leaks are — in money, systems, people, model, or strategy — and leave with a framework you can reapply on your own, long after the three days end.
What people say about Vusi's capabilities as an educator.
Vusi is a faculty member at the world-leading Duke Corporate Education, where he facilitates training sessions to C-Level executives in the largest companies in Africa, including Absa and Hollard. He specialises in Disruptive Innovation — as a software engineer with more than two decades of experience— strategy and ethical leadership.
In response to numerous requests, he has designed a program for first-generation and first-time founders to gain real traction and build worthwhile and impactful businesses.
Feedback from a strategy session Vusi facilitated for Absa — 4.4/5 average rating.
Feedback from a Duke Corporate Education session on innovation, facilitated for Hollard — 9.40/10 average rating.
What’s the format?
Three days at a lodge just outside Johannesburg, away from the noise, working directly on your own business alongside a small group of peers. Can’t make it to Johannesburg? A live online link is available too.
Who is this for?
Founders already running a real business — with real revenue, staff, and stakes — who want a structural way to diagnose what’s actually going on, not another set of hacks.
How much does it cost?
Pricing hasn’t been released publicly yet — join the waiting list and you’ll get it directly, before anyone else.
Have you run this workshop before?
No — this is the first cohort. That means smaller numbers and more direct access to me than any future intake will get. I’m a faculty member at Duke Corporate Education, the world’s leading corporate education institution, with extensive experience designing and running workshops for executives and managers worldwide — this is my first time running one built specifically for founders.
What if I don’t have a business yet?
This workshop is built to diagnose a business that already exists, so it won’t be the right fit yet. In the meantime, the free newsletter is a good place to start — join it below, and come back to the workshop once you’re running something real.
How is this different from generic “business fundamentals” content?
Business logic is diagnostic, not just descriptive. Instead of teaching five topics side by side, it teaches you to read one part of your business through another — money reveals systems, systems reveal people, people reveal structure and business model, and structure reveals strategy. You leave with a method and a roadmap, not just a framework.
Join the First Cohort
Business Logic works the same whether you’re carrying a family business toward its next generation, building the business you left corporate to start, or fighting for a turnaround with everything on the line: money reveals systems, systems reveal people, people reveal structure and business model, and structure reveals strategy.
This is the first time this workshop runs — three days, once a year, with more of my direct attention than any cohort that follows.
Not ready yet? Join the free newsletter instead.
Not ready yet? Join the free newsletter instead.
