#StartupStory: Sorbet Group founder launches The Hatch Institute

Ian Fuhr

Ian Fuhr saw an opportunity to launch a new coaching business whose unique purpose is to stem the tide of systemic racism that continues to undermine South African businesses, preventing them from building a truly inclusive economy.

We go behind the scenes with Fuhr on launching The Hatch Institute...

Can you tell us a bit about The Hatch Institute?

The Hatch Institute is a business that offers personal and business coaching, workshops and online courses. Our methodologies are based on ‘cultureneering,’ a philosophy that all business success begins when a company puts culture first. For us, culture is the bottom line.

We believe that, despite the complexity of the South African socio-political landscape, businesses that create a working environment that is conducive to the creation of a common purpose of obsessive customer service have the recipe for success.

This requires the leadership team to embrace the role of culture and become culture-driven leaders, and it requires everyone within the organisation to feel respected and included.

Through personal coaching, leadership coaching and group workshops, we give businesses the framework to achieve a fully inclusive culture.

When, how and why did you get started?

The Hatch Institute is the culmination of my entire career as an entrepreneur.

Before Sorbet, I ran a race relations consultancy called Labour Link during the crucial transition phase in the mid-1990s. These learnings and methodologies have also shaped our Hatch philosophies. We cannot ignore racism in South Africa. I believe this social injustice is at the heart of most – if not all – of South Africa’s problems. Business owners can lead the charge in addressing this situation and building a culture of respect and understanding.

When I launched Sorbet in 2004, it wasn’t because I had a burning desire to change the beauty salon industry in South Africa. It was because I had a culture framework that was ready for a business opportunity. I had spent 28 years building various businesses in the retail, music and consulting sectors and had developed what I believed was the blueprint for a thriving business culture. I launched Sorbet to test and refine my blueprint. I wanted to take a fragmented, mostly white industry and change it from the inside out.

I believed that building an internal culture of care and respect that focused on the contributions we can make to our customers would not only create a business that delivered obsessive customer service but could positively change the lives of everyone who worked for us.

Over the next 15 years, Sorbet grew into the largest beauty salon chain in Africa. By the time we sold the business, our staff complement was 95% black, and 45% of our franchisees were people of colour – in an industry that just a decade and a half earlier were predominantly white.

Today, I’m even more passionate about culture than ever before, which is why I’ve launched the Hatch Institute.

My family and I exited Sorbet in early 2019, and I began coaching business owners. I soon realised that what we had achieved at Sorbet was extraordinary – we had changed lives. We had also built a business based on delivering exceptional customer service. It’s a win-win – we had built a profitable business, happy employees and systemic change.

I realised that this was something we could help other businesses to do. I also know the personal journey I have been on, and that exceptional leaders need to have their own awakenings to be truly impactful in their lives and business.

It was these realisations that led me to formalised the frameworks and methodologies that I had used to build Sorbet into Hatch’s Cultureneering philosophies and frameworks. We have incredible coaches who have joined us, and together we believe we can have a positive and meaningful impact on South Africa’s business and socio-political landscape.

What is the core function of The Hatch Institute?

To create a new breed of business leaders and a culture of obsessive customer service in a complex and diverse workplace. This can only be achieved when we genuinely care for our employees and build an inclusive culture in the workplace – which in South Africa also means that we must address racism and race relations.

What are some of the obstacles you’ve had to overcome since starting out?

Not all business leadership teams understand the importance of culture. I have convinced some people and failed to persuade others. Leadership teams need to buy into the fact that shifting a company’s culture can have so many positive effects in a business – but it has to start from the top. Leadership teams that expect us to come in and make changes in the workforce without doing the hard work themselves will never reap the benefits of Cultureneering.

What impact did the Covid-19 pandemic have on The Hatch Institute?

It delayed our official launch, but in hindsight, this means that we are officially launching at a time when there is a spotlight on race relations.

Businesses need to address racism in their organisations, and I have spent decades building and perfecting the framework that can help them do that.

I have spent almost three decades developing Cultureneering, and the world has caught up with our philosophies.

How did you prepare for the lockdown?

As a startup, there wasn’t much we needed to do. My more significant focus was helping the business leaders whom I coach to prepare for lockdown, particularly from a mental perspective.

What’s the biggest challenge you are facing during this pandemic?

South Africa has been on the precipice of economic disaster for a long time. This pandemic may well push us over the edge. We care deeply about South Africa’s communities, and we believe that businesses can be the difference between economic survival and growth. Our challenge is convincing leadership teams that we are right. That their focus needs to be on culture – which is often viewed as a ‘soft skill’. When you’re in survival mode, you tend to look to other areas first. We know that this is the single most crucial starting point.

What sort of assistance will you need going forward?

More than anything, we need passionate advocates of Cultureneering to join our cause and make their voices heard. We also all – collectively as South Africans – need to face racism head-on. We can’t keep hiding from it.

South Africa is currently in Level 3 lockdown. What measures have you put in place for your employees?

Currently, our employees are all coaches and a core team that is building the business. We also work with other small businesses. This means we are 100% virtual.

Are you communicating with your customers? If so, how?

Yes. We have email channels, a WhatsApp line and social media channels. In many ways, we are still at the awareness stage, however, so our big focus is sharing what Cultureneering is, and why it is so important.

What do you predict the next 6 months will be like?

I believe that we will continue to see unrest build. The economy is suffering, and businesses are closing. Unemployment is on the rise. South Africa has always been boiling just below the surface – if we do not act now to address the inequalities in our society, that pot might finally boil over.

What has been your biggest lesson from all this?

That change is slow, but that it also builds momentum. If you hold to your beliefs and build on them, you will not only find solutions that work, but you tend to offer the right solutions at the right time.