I have heard horrible stories about businesses not surviving in Africa. Some entrepreneurs lament that whenever they start a business and employ citizens, they all turn out to be thieves that destroy both the capital and the gain. They say that on the contrary, when they employ foreigners, the businesses prosper.
Why is this so? Well, we can write books on this issue, but I will just put a few points forward and let us discuss it. I can raise personal experiences on each and every point I raise here. But here they are :-
Without supporting thieves, we need to address a few issues about being entrepreneurs in Africa that differentiates other climes.
For every staff employed, there are at least nine family members nuclear and extended looking to that person. The moment s/he gets their first paycheck, the plates are ready with several demands written on them. To deny these demands is like sending them to the gallows because truly most of them depend on it to survive.
Therefore until our African governments wake up to their responsibilities towards the citizens they represent, executing a welfare system as they do in yonder climes, it will be very hard to nurture and raise honest workers. Abject poverty does not lend itself to honesty. One rich man in the midst of a thousand poor people is the poorest person on earth.
2. We need to address the genital recklessness of our people. Don’t go having children as if it was to you personally that God told to be fruitful and multiply. Don’t litter even if you are capable of raising them now. What happens if tides turn and you are no longer able to? What happens if you suddenly drop dead or fall into some serious calamity such as a draining health challenge? All these require money and without an efficient health care system, one diagnosis could turn a millionnaire into a pauper in a week. This again addresses the need to build health and social infrastructure that caters for the need of all, not just a few privileged ones.
3. Our uncontrolled socio-cultural tastes – the taste for state of the art things and ostentatious or riotious living. I don’t think any African should be using an iPhone whatever the reigning one is. You need to address what a phone is for and pick one that meets that need. That way, if you lose it, the world doesn’t end. Same goes for cars. We don’t make them here (although we could) so, trying to impress your neighbours that you are better off doesn’t cut it. Weddings – who told you that it must be big? How much did Adam spend on marrying Eve? All those cows, goats and chickens and aṣọ ebi wont make a solid home. Indeed most marriages are breaking up from the moment they start the preparation, yet the law only requires the consent of the parents and if they withhold it unnecessarily, as long as you are adults, all you need are one witness each and you can get one at the registry.
Funerals – all the ‘befitting burial’ nonsense means nothing to the dead, you are only trying to validate your position among those who would still mock all your expenses. Ditto for naming ceremonies, chieftaincy titles and other silly stuff including graduations and birthdays.
4. Africans must put survival over and above religious needs. Honestly there is absolutely no compulsion in tithes and offerings when your household is barely able to afford a square meal. If your god is so hungry that he wants you to fast and pray to survive, keep that god aside and work on your own survival before trying to meet the needs of your pastorpreneurs.
5. If you hire people, please pay them well and in our climes and until government is able to cater for the greatest need of the greatest number, please have a listening ear to the social requirements of your employees. If they don’t have that emotional support, they will pilfer to meet it. Sometimes, what some people need is counseling to prevent wasteful spending.
Methinks if we address most of these issues, Africans will be able to trade, manufacture and sustain businesses beyond one or two generations.
What d’ya think bearing in mind that personally I don’t believe that business is for everyone. The notion that workers never make millionaires is another message that has pushed many to their untimely death. Businesses are fraught with their own challenges especially in a society where nothing is certain. Somebody could lose a million and still go home to a good night’s sleep, if another loses 500, they could suffer a heart attack and die. If you have no knack for business, settle down and be a conscientious worker. You won’t die as long as it meets your needs.
