In the fast-paced arena of modern business, storytelling has become paramount in capturing audiences’ attention and loyalty. We talked with Beatrice N. Kabutakapua, a business storytelling coach who collaborates with individuals committed to making a positive impact in the world and helping them integrate business storytelling to become more effective, inspiring, and profitable.
by Juliana da Penha
Beatrice, the founder and CEO of The Business Storytelling Centre, shared, “The most important thing you can do today is to remind yourself that your story matters. Your story is valid, and you matter. Focusing on the lessons it offers is key.”
Born in Italy to parents from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Beatrice grew up experiencing the dichotomy of wanting to be invisible while being highly visible as one of only two Black girls in her town. “I was told I was shy, but then I discovered I wasn’t. At some point, I realised that there were so many parts of my story that I had forgotten,” she shared.
A common experience among migrants or children of migrants is the constant inquiry about their background, heritage, and history. For Beatrice, these questions became part of a journey of self-discovery. “The more I answered questions about my story, the more confident I became and connected with people. I started thinking, what would happen if people were given the tools to share their own stories in their way?” This question inspired her to begin coaching historically underestimated entrepreneurs.
In this insightful interview, Beatrice reveals her strategies for guiding entrepreneurs and corporations to strategically embed storytelling at work.
“The more I answered questions about my story, the more confident I became and connected with people.”
MWP: You help business organisations, entrepreneurs, creatives, and freelancers become more visible. Could you explain how you achieve this?
Beatrice: I guide them through finding their stories, owning their stories, and communicating their stories. The first two steps—finding and owning your story—are often overlooked in storytelling.
People are often told they must find and own their stories, but they struggle to do that because they don’t really understand what finding and owning their stories means. Very few people spend enough time thinking about what their story actually is or reflecting on what the story has given them.
Owning your story means accepting it as it is and understanding its lessons. Without this acceptance, sharing your story can leave you feeling vulnerable, exposed, and lacking confidence. This vulnerability can make it easy for others to trigger your self-doubt and imposter syndrome.
In practice, I work with entrepreneurs by offering group business storytelling coaching sessions and community storytelling sessions where anyone can join and start working on their stories in an informal way with my guidance. For corporate leaders, I offer workshops, training sessions, and coaching. I also regularly share suggestions and reflections through my content on Instagram and in my newsletter.
“Owning your story means accepting it as it is and understanding its lessons. Without this acceptance, sharing your story can leave you feeling vulnerable, exposed, and lacking confidence. This vulnerability can make it easy for others to trigger your self-doubt and imposter syndrome”.
MWP: What are the main advantages of business storytelling for small businesses?
Beatrice: There are three main advantages for small businesses; the first is confidence. Once you uncover the story of the business and the stories of its founder, you immediately gain more confidence because you know how to introduce the work you do, and you are reminded of how much you’ve done.
The second advantage is clarity. Finding and articulating stories helps people clearly communicate what they do, how they do it, and why they do it in a particular way.
This is especially important for founders and their team members. Clear storytelling makes it easier to communicate the business’s vision and culture to the entire team.
Clarity is also crucial for clients, which brings me to the third advantage: visibility. When you clearly communicate what you do, why you do it, and why you do it in a certain way, you attract the exact type of client you want and ensure they understand why you differ from other businesses offering similar services.
Being more visible through stories means you will be two steps ahead of other businesses that do not share their stories but only share their products.
“When you clearly communicate what you do, why you do it, and why you do it in a certain way, you attract the exact type of client you want and ensure they understand why you differ from other businesses offering similar services.”
MWP: Can you share a case study of a client that exemplifies the importance of your services?
Beatrice: My services focus on ensuring that people have clarity, confidence, and visibility regarding their stories and businesses. One crucial aspect of this is owning your story. I can think of many case studies, but two women in particular come to mind.
One of them is a woman who owns a company that creates postcards designed by Black artists. She approached me when taking a break from her corporate job and wasn’t clear about what she wanted to do.
She was very afraid of being visible online and sharing on Instagram. However, as we worked together on her story and how to articulate it, she began to understand how to find and own her stories and confidently share them.
But most importantly, she shared that she gained clarity on her business direction and became more comfortable with being visible.
She gained much confidence. Months after we worked together, she took part in an Instagram live, and she mentioned that she would have never had the confidence or clarity to do that if she hadn’t worked with me first.
Another example is a female entrepreneur who participated in my group coaching program in 2023. She started seeing tangible changes because when she joined the program, she had an email list and a small following on Instagram.
As she implemented what she learned throughout the program, she changed how she shared her story in her materials, gained more visitors to her website, and increased engagement on her email list. She also gained more followers and had more content to share on Instagram. Additionally, she felt more confident about what she wanted to share.
Even now, if you visit her profile, you can see she is confident and clear. Because of this, she has more content and stories to share, and she’s becoming more visible.
“My services focus on ensuring that people have clarity, confidence, and visibility regarding their stories and businesses.”
MWP: What’s the latest news from your business? Is there anything recent you’d like to share with our readers?
The latest news regarding my business involves engagements with corporate organisations, focusing on delivering my keynote speeches. I’m also working on a book on leadership and storytelling. I’ve been working on my group coaching programs for small businesses and entrepreneurs, running the quarterly community business storytelling sessions. Every week, those subscribed to the newsletter receive advice, tips, and reflections on how to implement business storytelling in their work.
Finally, I’m developing a new product focused on content creation, and I’d like input from business owners in the MWP community.
I’m also interested in speaking to founders and entrepreneurs about their content creation process. If you’d like to have a conversation with me, message me on Instagram or send me an email.
If you are in London, Beatrice will hold a training session on Thu, 6 Jun 2024 12:00 - 14:45 BST “Learn to Use Storytelling as a Leadership Tool”. More info here
Website:kabutakapua.com
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