They say good things take time.
Well, this one took its sweet time.
It started with dishing out advice to my colleagues and friends over the years.
Then it really took root while I was at AZA Finance, building out the Revenue team’s LinkedIn thought leadership to bring in B2B leads. At the time, that was the fastest and easiest way to reach the right people compared to ads. We all knew this. Decision makers in our space were on LinkedIn.
Slowly, it grew out of my workplace into my own profile and into the profiles of people around me. I knew this was it when I convinced my own partner to take LinkedIn seriously, even when he thought it was “cringe.”
And would you look at that?!
The founder who thought LinkedIn was cringe
He had previously tried engaging a social media manager to “push” the company pages, but I kept telling him things would only take off if he agreed to “push” the startup himself.
You won’t believe this, but he finally got nudged by ChatGPT.
Today, he’s getting leads almost daily and the page keeps getting the right views – only after he started telling his story and making the right moves on LinkedIn.
Beyond him, even for more senior people – CEOs and board members who have consistently posted online – you still see the same pattern: by simply committing a few moments each week to engage on LinkedIn, everything shifts.
And notice, I said engage, not post. You don’t have to post all the time.
The “try it and see” experiment
Let’s talk a bit more about the experiment that ended up being my partner’s online go-to-market — and how we coupled it with on-the-ground activations, which he has always been great at.
Firstly, we started with finality. It was a go hard or go home moment.
Stealth had had its time to shine. Now it was time to make the big announcement and run with it. What’s the worst that could happen, right?
Secondly, we got rid of the jargon. One thing that I’ve seen consistently prove hard with complex products (that I have worked with a lot) is trying to sell them like we’re selling to people who already understand the complexities. We are not.
So instead of saying stuff like web3, tokenisation and RWA, we dialled it back to public transport and digital payments.
We talked about why this mattered to him and to the sector.
We drew from his experience in the sector that he had never really shared publicly.
Immediately we started this content rhythm, the first post shot through the roof compared to his previous (mostly reposts). We got very specific comments about booking meetings and alternative ways to approach the venture. And soon after, the project started getting mentions by thought leaders in the space. All these in two months.
And btw, this was not just about his visibility. We did not leave the actual brand behind. We’re constantly optimising the website to make sure it pops up on search and AI engines as the project that is first in the said space.
How Executive Visibility is shaping up at Thamani today
Today, I am talking to all kinds of professionals. From:
- Brilliant but shy operators
- Founders who “hate talking about themselves” or “don’t know how because they are very technical”
- Women who’d rather focus on work than “building a brand”
Most times, they are afraid of:
- Giving away too much of themselves
- Looking like they’re bragging
- Saying the wrong thing
- Not having time to “do it properly”
However, the moment they see results when we do just one post (alongside other moves in the background), they sit up and lean in.
Cue:
- More confident posts
- Clearer profiles
- People starting to find them (speaking, roles, intros, partnerships)
And what are these other moves in the background? Executive visibility is not just about your LinkedIn. It’s about what you do before and after posting.
- The meetings and networks in real life
- The comments you drop on other posts
- The events you choose to exhibit at or partner with
- The associations and communities you plug into
- The way your website, socials and bio tell one coherent story
All of that works together.
So what is executive visibility for founders and operators?
I’ll tell you what it is not first.
It is not the cringe “personal branding” content. The weird selfie post on LinkedIn with a caption that has nothing to do with the picture. It is not spamming your followers’ feeds. It is not talking about yourself all the time.
Executive visibility, the way I practice it at Thamani, is:
Owning your narrative with clarity and seasoning it with context, so that the right people understand your project and mission — and they also know where to turn when they need your offering. Because they trust you.
You end up getting invited into the right rooms, receiving warmer intros, making brave decisions, and building quieter confidence.
Not every business in Africa needs this. However, most digital-facing ones do. Founders and leaders who are building across multiple markets. Owner-led brands who’ve been working for years but don’t show up online. You know the kind. You might be running one too.
My own executive visibility path
A little note about how I am 100% sure this works: I have practised it on my own career pivot.
In the past two years, I have been contacted by people I have never met and landed great leads and roles, simply because I have an active online presence (and networks!). Speaking and podcast invites, job opportunities, partnerships… they have all come through a mix of visibility and relationships.
Ultimately, these organic requests nudged me into building Thamani Digital properly. Within hours, I had put up this website and launched services around something I was already doing full time. While the brand is 5 years old, I had sat on it for years. So you can basically say I also had that owner-led brand that was not showing up online because I had other things to do. It was time to go hard, or go home.
Finally…
If you see yourself in these stories — if you are a shy founder like my partner who knows you need to show up, or one who is doing your own full-time thing like I was and don’t want to shout about your dormant side-hustle, or run a brand that you know needs a revamp in this very digital world — stop overthinking it or struggling to do it alone.
DM me or email shiku@thamanidigital.com and I will help you tell your story without becoming a “content creator.” 😉
Learn more about my Executive Visibility service here.
Book a quick call here.
Or simply ring or chat with me on WhatsApp.
