Business values need to be valued
We do a lot of workshops with people from all sectors of business. One thing that is common to all our workshops is the discussion around values. We do a very interesting exercise where everyone gets to define or discover their personal values and then share them with the others in the room: always a tense but revealing time for all.
We go on to discuss the difference between personal values and our business values. This almost always seems to provoke a discussion about how values change when money is involved. Comments such as” we must be honest at all times, but when there is a way to make extra profit we always take it” come to surface.
Why do we allow our personal values to be set aside when doing business deals? I do not buy into the fact that “everyone is corrupt” so we can do it too. We need to stand firm on how we do business and ensure that our personal and business values are entrenched in throughout the whole business and visible in all deals.
How well would you stand up to a Moral Audit in your business?
Never ever ever allow your personal value to be compromised in order to secure a sale, this is the beginning of moral decay in both your business and your life.
Compete in the ‘Olympics’ for startups
Are you a startup looking for funding? Do you want to compete against the world’s best start-ups and stand a chance of securing up to €1 000 000 (R 15 000 000.00) in investments into your start-up business?
Interested yet?
Get in the Ring: The Investment Battle is a worldwide competition for the most promising start-ups to secure their investment of up to €1,000,000. The competition is selected by the Kauffman Foundation as one of the ten featured events of the Global Entrepreneurship Week. In 2014 this competition will be organized in over 50 countries with over 2,000 participating start-ups. Through 50 National Finals, 8 Regional Finals 8 start-ups will be selected for the International Final which will take place on the 21st of November in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
This year, Get in the Ring (GITR) will be hosted in South Africa for the very first time. The hosts of the South African National Final event of GITR will be Silicon Cape in partnership with the bhive EDC an initiative of the Faculty of Economic Sciences & IT on the North-West University Vaal Triangle Campus and Silicon Cape. Find out more
What if Entrepreneurs played in a World Cup
If we had a world cup for Entrepreneurs, what would it look like? Would we get a bunch of high tech graduates from MIT, Yale or Oxford all showing off their new mobile apps or flying quadchoppers with micro spy equipment? Or would be see a bunch of people in white coats with microscope slides detailing the latest in GMO foods or grow-in-a-lab babies? Or the latest in financial investment schemes where your $1 could be turned into $5 by the end of the week.
Where would Africa feature? Would any of our team make the grade to play in the finals? Would the people who are faced with a daily experience of having to fix things themselves, using only what they have, some innovation and imagination, make the team?
Entrepreneurship in Africa is not on the big stage. Yes, we have our handful of inventions, but we can’t yet compete with the big innovation hubs at the business schools. Most Entrepreneurs in Africa operate as survivalists not finalists. Each day is a battle fought against red tape, government corruption, poor laws, uncooperative banks and non-paying customers. This daily battle just to keep your business open for another day is sometimes the only goal that entrepreneurs have.
This compared to the incubators, schools and Angel funds that offer fast tracking of any viable idea through the stages of development to sustainability, partnered with experienced coaches, professors and investors. Raising money for ideas seems to be a bit easier elsewhere in the world, than here in Africa.
I can count on my hand the number of high quality investments made to entrepreneurs here in South Africa. Some of these will never make it to IPO. We just do not have the foundation and backing of solid organisations or governments willing to put money and effort into the right people with ideas. Money and effort is always directed at political gain targets, trying to buy votes rather than sustainable job creation.
If we showed up at the Entrepreneurs World Cup, we would win first prize for innovative ideas and survival creativity, but be knocked out in the first round for lack of support, poor coaching and not enough funds to buy team jerseys.
Sad but true.
A Zanzibar Entrepreneur.
On our recent trip to Zanzibar we were met at the airport with a sign waving driver. He introduced himself as Abdul. Full name Abdul-Rahman Kesi Ali. Husband of two wives, father of 4 children, his youngest only a week old.
Abdul entertained and educated us about his country on the way to our resort and on many other tours we took during our stay. Abdul loves his country but has realized that the false promises of government and friends are as temporary as the high tide on the coast.
He has taken his future into his own hands and has developed a multi income stream business for himself that is destined to secure a solid financial balance for him and his family.
With unemployment around 65%, secure jobs are scarce. Abdul owns his own vehicle and runs a taxi and tour guide service during the day. Both his wives work and the kids are looked after by grandparents when moms are not around.
Abdul also imports and sells second hand cars from UAE direct from Dubai. The cars come in containers via ship. This is not an uncommon form of income, but he has worked out that filling up all the space within and around each car with cement, mattresses, tiles and appliances boosts his income profit 10 fold for each import.
His youngest wife is also learning to drive and will soon be able to double up as a second tour guide to fill her spare time after work and weekends.
We chatted to Abdul about business strategy and plans for his future was came to an agreement to trade some solid business coaching for a bag of sweet mangos and a free trip to the slave caves. Not a bad trade from our part. If we only had more people like Abdul in Africa we would begin to see a lot more financial control back in the hands of the citizens and away from government and corrupt officials.
Entrepreneurial lessons from Zanzibar part 2
Having recently visited Zanzibar, Tanzania for my honeymoon, I was struck at how different it must be to run a business on an island in an African state. Here is part 2 of my observations:
Service together with product is unseen: The ability to smile and sell does not seem to coexist in the same person. Selling is done on an aggressive forced manner that just drives tourists away. We had to, on more than one occasion, ask our guide for assistance to chase a person away from harassing us. Sales is all about meeting customer’s needs with the benefits of your product or service. No one willingly buys a product that is forced on them. I know competition is high, but then a niched product with friendly service will be an overnight success.
Business in Africa is different from most other places in the world. Survival is at stake and often just one sale could mean food on the table that night. I understand this but the business moral bar is just lowered all the time to cater form the quick sale with very little consideration for long term business plans.
We did how ever find one person: Abdul who seems to have broken the mould. More on him and his business ventures in my next post.