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SAMIRA MUSA landed her first big break after university as an assistant director on a feature film. Yet this valuable opportunity turned out to be an alienating experience. “There’s not a lot of money in it and there’s a rite of passage for which you need to be financially stable,” she recalls. “I didn’t have financial support from my family and left the industry, thinking that I didn’t belong.” Musa then worked in retail at Apple, branding at Latitude Agency and as a PA to a charity CEO before returning to film. She set up The Creative Roots in 2018 while also pursuing her passion for coaching through Hack Camp. She is a member of the IoD.
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director.co.uk
HOW CAN I GROW TWO VENTURES AT THE SAME TIME?
Samira Musa is a film producer and life coach. Passionate about the two businesses she set up a year ago, she is keen to hear advice on dividing her time between the ventures and positioning both for growth. Our panel of experienced IoD members offers its guidance
Words Marc Smith
Samira Musa is a busy entrepreneur. The founder of coaching firm Hack Camp and film production company The Creative Roots is meeting Director between training sessions that will help her to qualify as a transformative life coach – and before her trip to a film location in South Africa. “People say I’m crazy, but for me there’s no such thing as saying ‘I can’t’,” she says. A graduate in film, media and cultural studies from Middlesex University, she started both ventures in late 2018. Now the sole owner of The Creative Roots after the departure of its co-founder once they realised they “weren’t on the same page”, Musa creates short films and also a range of content for corporate clients. There are “a couple of feature films on the slate too. These should come to fruition in the next couple of years,” she adds.
The venture made a loss in its first year, but Musa expects it to break even in 2021. There is no one else on the payroll, which keeps its fixed costs down, as she hires freelance specialists for each project. While she admits that the USP of The Creative Roots is still a work in progress, her aim is to focus on the theme of cultural identity. “I’m a nomad, I’m Somali,” she says. “I’ve always been travelling – and storytelling is an essential part of my life. I’m also focused on enabling diversity behind the camera.”
Between organising shoots, Musa is developing Hack Camp. She fell in love with coaching after being coached by “an amazing woman who showed how it can really support your life by giving you space to explore how to achieve your life goals”. After meeting co-founder Isabel Sanchez at an event, the two women decided to self-fund the business. “My drive is offering things to people who do not have a ‘rite of passage’ or
the means to have a way in,” says Musa, who adds that Hack Camp is “in beta”. This means that the founders will not market its services until they have completed their training. Sanchez is set to qualify first, in early 2020. But the pair are already coaching customers who come to them via word of mouth. Honing their skills this way is a key part of their training and it’s already proving profitable. Their aim is to make Hack Camp accessible to a target market of young professionals by developing an app. Reflecting on an extraordinarly busy year, the double business founder is now wondering what to do to ensure that both enterprises grow “at the correct speed”. Over to our expert panellists.
To join Director’s reader panel or to seek its advice, email directormagazine@
seven.co.uk, quoting your IoD membership number
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