Business A Letter To The African Entreprenuer By Ogbemi Kesiena

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Can you still remember the exhilaration you felt, the joy, the fear, the excitement, all mixed up in one, that euphoria that filled your heart and mind the minute you thought of that idea. It started growing in your mind, growing until it took on a life of it own. You imagined that this would change the world and it should, it was brand new or was it?

Then reality sets in, how will you pay for this? Should this be a side project or a full time thing? Will your family support you? Will you have the capacity to lead a team of people? Will anyone believe in your vision enough to follow you? How will you fund this?

At this stage, just before you are ready to take that leap of faith, there are more questions than answers and make no mistake, if you decide to go this route it will shake everything in you and bring out what’s inside, it will ask more from you that you have ever asked of yourself. You see this is Africa, long before Western Influence the rule of the jungle was simple, survive or die, there was no middle ground, no forgiving terrain or chances and certainly very few safety nets. Its still very much the same now, granted you now have the internet where vast array of data and help is available and yes you now have government and institutional programs that can help you bring that idea to life. The honest truth though is that they are few and far between and only a few lucky people gain access to them. The vast majority will still have to find answers to the questions they face by themselves.

Why should there be a special letter at all to the African entrepreneur, why can’t you just copy and paste what everyone else around the world is doing. The reason is painfully simple, unlike the rest of the world, we lack infrastructure, here there is no social service to fall back on, if you put in all you have into this one idea and fail, there is a high probability that you will suffer for it for life. I am not being dramatic, neither am I trying to dissuade you, on the contrary I think the right path to understanding is facing reality. You need to come to terms with the fact that our markets are difficult. Everything and anything can and often will fail you.

The Savannah is not completely barren though and there is a chance for survival if you know what to look for and how to navigate. In this harsh terrain experience and foresight are golden keys you should never leave without, so also is patience. Like the Western world though you must learn to build relationships, fall back on the ones you have already and build new ones to move ahead. You must learn to trust where trust was never found and seek first to understand before being understood. You must be innovative but not just the innovation that covers the pages of glossy magazines, this is a new kind of innovation. The one that learns to create a river where none existed, that forges new, faster and less expensive ways of doing things.

You must forget about the glitz and glamour and bend your knees in the sand to dig for the wealth you seek. If you were in search of fine clothing and wine, this is not the life for you. Here, You one rope must stretch to cover many miles and a basket must come from straw. Many will tell you money is hard to find, ignore them, build your idea and keep knocking doors. Knock until either you have no hands left or they give you money just to get rid of you, just make sure that the day you have the chance to showcase your idea, you are ready. This is not the land of second chances.

Believe in yourself, believe in your idea, let your belief be so strong that it can keeps you going when no one encourages you. Yet be open to see the fault lines within, be open to see better options. A man who wishes to build a strong house, listens carefully when he is told the beams are weak, lest his efforts fall to futility.

Africa needs you, she may not support you, she may not cheer you on but she needs you. She needs you to show her new lights, to teach her new ways to come out of poverty, she needs to be able to raise her head high and feel pride once again. She cannot do this for herself, she needs you to help her. Help her even if she denies you and casts you aside, help her in-spite of herself.

Ogbemi Kesiena is a Senior Business Professional

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