Olalah Njenga | Small Business Strategy & Strategic Planning Speaker – Small Business Economy Advocate & Speaker

Olalah Njenga : Trusted small business media source

Olalah is the chief executive officer and chief strategist at YellowWood Group, the consultancy she founded in 2003. As a result of her leadership, she has earned several awards of merit including one for leading her company to record growth despite a crippling national recession. An accomplished strategist, Olalah and her team have partnered with both private and public sector leaders to transform ideas into objectives and objectives into outcomes. Prior to founding the firm, which specializes in strategy development and strategic frameworks, Olalah worked in a number of enterprise operations, administration, legal, human resources, and technology roles with broad responsibilities.

As a lifelong learner, Olalah completed a masters level certification program at Cornell University with distinction and a management degree program at East Carolina University with honors. She is also a proud graduate of the North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership (NC IOPL) Fellows program.

Olalah is appointed to the NCWorks Commission and holds the designated commissioner seat representing North Carolina’s nearly 900,000 small business owners. In this governor-appointed role, she advocates for small business initiatives through the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the North Carolina Workforce Development System. Olalah also serves as the Vice Chair of the NCWorks Commission where she contributes to the steering efforts of the executive committee. She previously chaired the Commission’s strategic planning committee where she led the formation efforts of the biennial strategic plan for ratification by the North Carolina General Assembly.

Helping more small business owners become small business employers and ensuring they have a voice regarding workforce policies at the federal and state levels is Olalah’s passion. She serves on the Leadership Council for the National Small Business Association (NSBA) where she advocates for legislation to strengthen and protect the small business economy and serves as a member of its Health & Human Resource Committee. Olalah also serves on the North Carolina Leadership Council for the National Association of Independent Business (NFIB). In this role, she enjoys contributing to policy-shaping discussions affecting North Carolina’s small business owners.

A proud member of the North Carolina Coalition for Global Competitiveness, as well as a member of its economic development sub-committee, Olalah is equally committed to her service on the National Workforce Issues Council for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).

Olalah has served as a Braintrust Contributor® for Forbes Small Business and as a featured expert for the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. A trusted source for the media, Olalah’s media credits include BBC, NPR, New York Times, Marketplace, and Fox, as well as CBS, NBC, and ABC local affiliates.

SEGMENTS | SMALL BUSINESS HOT TOPICS

Hiring Interns

Mentorship Dos & Don’ts

Small Business Trends

Small Business Saturday

Mobilegeddon

Social Media

STRATEGY | BUSINESS OWNERS

You’ll work directly with Olalah and put her road-tested proprietary tools and unconventional strategies immediately to work. Olalah will provide a strategic framework to reduce your learning curve, strengthen your business acumen, accelerate your success, and help you get more done with less — less stress, less drama, less overwhelm, less worry, and less time. Strategy sessions are scheduled, structured, confidential, and outcome-driven.

TOPICS | PRESENTATIONS

While the petite powerhouse (as an emcee once called her) might not fill up the stage, she can and has broken a few fire codes with record attendance. Why? It’s simple. Olalah delivers a content-rich experience filled with anecdotes, musings, irreverent humor and real life truths about what it really means to be the best version of yourself and what it really takes to be a leader worth following. Her signature topics:

Strategy Is A Verb™
Achieving Strategy Excellence
Leading, Managing, and Thriving In Uncertainty
The 4 Forces of the Small Business Economy™

STRATEGY | BUSINESS LEADERS

Achieving strategy excellence requires more than vision and passion; it takes a capable, committed, and motivated team to own it and execute it. Olalah helps teams illuminate what’s possible and experience the value and importance of individual contribution combined with executive input. With her proven “bottom up” approach to strategy development, Olalah helps teams quickly develop meaningful and measurable strategic plans – and enjoy the process.

LET'S GET TO WORK!

Grow & Win® System : Created by Olalah Njenga

GROW & WIN® IS A PROPRIETARY SMALL BUSINESS TOOLKIT DEVELOPED BY OLALAH TO HELP YOU ACCELERATE YOUR SUCCESS

Olalah developed the Grow & Win® system as a simple to use planning toolkit. Grow & Win® allows small business owners to type, copy and paste their way through business planning workbooks and templates to develop a strategic plan, a sales plan and a marketing plan – the 3 critical plans needed to build, grow and scale their businesses.

Which Grow & Win® Experience Is Right For You?

Boot Camp Program – ideal if you are a highly motivated small business owner who is committed to using a 3-day group format (group is limited to 5) to capture what matters most and are driven to hit new levels of excellence – both professionally and personally.
Executive Program – ideal if you are an executive transitioning to a small business or entrepreneurial role, or you are a business owner who wants to leverage every possible strategic advantage to grow and win by working one-on-one with Olalah using a structured 5-session intensive format.

RAVES & SHOUT OUTS

It is a genuine pleasure to recommend Olalah Njenga. I have known and worked with her in various capacities for several years - marketing, management, consulting, coaching, training. In each of these Olalah has proven to be exceptionally well-versed and insightful and always assumes the leadership role - thus ensuring success of any effort. If you are ever fortunate enough to work with her, I envy you!
Jim Joyce, President / Sales Partners, Inc.

Olalah’s insight and business acumen have been acutely evident in every interaction I have had with her over the past few years. I am so pleased to be able to count on her as a ready marketing strategy resource.
Lisa Bresenoff Feierstein, President / Active Healthcare, Inc.

I have watched in admiration as this consumate professional has grown her business. Olalah has grown by giving of her time and talents and she has been rewarded. She is always very personable as well as creative in her approach to helping others grow their business. If you have not had the privilege of working with Olalah, then you are missing an opportunity to work with one of the best in the industry at what she does!
Thomas Schaffer, Personal Wealth Executive / New York Life® Securities

Olalah is the heat! I can't say enough good about her. She is absolutely an expert in her field and she is waaaaay passionate about sharing her knowledge with all us. Anyone considering hiring her or going through one of her programs should not think twice.
Scott Wittig / Author & Mortgage Executive

Olalah is one of the sharpest marketing minds I know. I value her insight and highly recommend her for any marketing programs or projects.
Margie Fisher, President / Zable-Fisher Public Relations

Olalah has been a long-time contributor to Wake Tech’s Business and Industry Services Division. She consistently receives high ratings from participants in the small business seminars she conducts and the entrepreneurship course that she teaches for us. I continue to be awed by the high quality knowledge and expertise that Olalah exhibits in these roles and the esteem that she brings to Wake Tech.
Fred Gebarowski, Director (former) / Wells Fargo Small Business Center at WTCC

I am on my third round in just the past two years of studying Olalah's programs, courses and recommendations for my brands and businesses. She has become one of the most influential people in both my business network and for myself due to her ability to see what others don't...and call you on the details so you are fully aware and see them with the clarity only Olalah can bring. She is truly an expert at bridging the marketing-to-sales space. Yes there is a difference!

Chris Wellington, CEO / foosye®

I was struggling with how to effectively market my business. Olalah and her team have been instrumental in helping me sort through the many budget draining options and worked with me to develop a sound strategy with effective tactics driven by data analytics to help me reach my growth targets. Over the last year, Olalah has helped me build strong foundational knowledge to make the right decisions with my marketing.

Genevia Liu / Strategic Sourcing & Procurement Executive

Olalah is truly a marketing expert. She understands that small business must have ROI and she delivers! Through her interaction she has the unique ability to extract key information which gives the decision making process clarity.

Scott Youmans, Director of Corporate Sales / PSG, A Geiger Company

I am happy to provide a great recommendation for Olalah for strategic planning and group facilitation. She has lead a terrific strategic planning process for an established non profit and provided invaluable assistance to the board of directors as they develop their vision for the future. She is very knowledgeable, objective, drives a clear and effective process and facilitates elegantly through difficult issues and alternative points of view.

Philip Kowalczyk, Chairman and CEO / The Robert Allen Group