To win in Africa, You must keep playing…
Building a business in Africa is an endurance sport. To succeed, whatever success means to you, you must keep playing.
You may be driven by the fear of lack and poverty, because you grew up on the poor side of town, with several siblings sharing the same room, towel and toothbrush. And everyday that you encounter a difficult situation, you’re afraid that your business failure will lead you or your children to going back to the same situation.
You may be driven by ambition. The drive to be recognized and famously known as one of the country or continents’ most successful, innovative or rich individuals. You want to be on the cover of Forbes, you aspire to be top 30 this or top 100 that. You’re determined to become the most influential this or the most promising that. Your drive to business success is more tied to your name than it is to the company itself.
You may be in business because you feel constrained and obligated to take over the family business. You don’t like the work, hate the industry and find no passion in running the enterprise, however you don’t want to disappoint your parents, and you love the prestige, honor, money and opportunities that come with your inherited position. You’re in business more out of obligation than pleasure and you dread the future because it looks more like the present.
You may be a free minded individual, innovative and creative. You want to live life on your own terms, and you quickly realized that there was no freedom in being employed. You want to wake up and go to sleep when you want. Buy what you want and sell when you want. Your business is dependent on your moods and feelings, hence why you’re constantly changing direction or googling about HOW TO FOCUS.
Whatever type of entrepreneur you are in Africa, you must play this game to win. Winning this game is not a choice, its an obligation. From the moment you decide to build or grow a business in such a difficult environment where we have consistent infrastructure gaps, lack of adequate resources, talent and financing and constant social, political or environmental challenges, we can’t allow ourselves to give up along the way.
Starting, building and scaling a business in Africa is a noble act. Creating value, creating jobs and contributing to growing the economy by paying taxes and supporting the growth of other businesses within your ecosystem of supply and distribution is a divine responsibility. Our people are in such a need of opportunities that entrepreneurs are angels with a divine mission to offer dignified and better living standards to the people they serve and employ.
I know this sounds like a very rosy and aspirational view of what entrepreneurship is. And others would argue that entrepreneurship is hard everywhere. May it be in the Valley, Paris, Tokyo, Nairobi, Cairo or Dakar, entrepreneurs must overcome the same types of challenges.
That’s a fact. Entrepreneurship is hard everywhere. But after doing business in different parts of Africa, I can assert with confidence that it is harder than most places. In Africa, you’re not in business for yourself. Most of the time, your business also belongs to your family, your community or the influential people in your local or national government. This Ubuntu-inspired social bond that makes us unique, is also what sets us apart and most often, holds us back.
In Africa, when you fail, most of the time, you’re warned not to try again. The Gods, ancestors, neighbors, politicians or omens are against you, your idea, or business. And if you ever dare to try again, you will suffer greater defeats.
In Africa, you are rarely encouraged to think, tinnker or create something new, innovative, inventive or different. We are criticised since childhood that blacks are inferior to whites, we don’t like to work, to read or to excell. This limiting belief, is the biggest mental and spiritual stronghold that is leading many of us to never try again, or not even try at all.
We rarely find people who have made their dreams a reality and are able and willing to share exactly how they did it. And even for those who can share their successes and failures, we are often told that their realities, cultures, economies and opportunities are very different from ours.
But I digress. What I want you to know is that being an entrepreneur here in Africa has a more profound meaning than anywhere else. We are the richest continent in terms of natural resources, yet we have the poorest populations.
The only people endowed to inverse this curse are the entrepreneurs who will commit themselves to building a financially sustainable, environmentally friendly and socially responsible business in Africa or at least die trying. These are the people who will transform the livelihoods of their families, their communities, their countries and the entire continent at large.
According to a McKinzey report, Africa in 2018, currently has more than 400 companies with annual revenues of $1 Billion dollars or more. In the same report, we find that more than 700 companies in Africa have yearly revenues above $500 Million.
Now the loosing and pessimistic Africans, would hear these numbers and scream: That’s small O! It’s even more than I could have imagined. We’re still far behind China, America, Europe, etc.
However, the winning Entrepreneurs, like myself, see opportunities in adding 3 more zeros to those numbers, and are determined to be amongst the shareholders of the 400,000 African companies that will have an annual turnover of more than $1 Billion in the coming decade.
Rather than just dreaming about it, we are sharing our successes and failures, improving and inspiring young and old people, engaging governements and investing in other winning entrepreneurs to create the culture, environment and ecosystem that will allow us to make this dream into a reality.
So, for whatever reason you’re in business, leave it on the table. Find a bigger purpose as to why God has made you an entrepreneur in the Africa of today. You could have been born in Asia, 5 decades ago, or in Antarctica 100 years from now. In both cases you wouldn’t be reading this piece. But you’re here. It means that you have a role to play, and a contribution to make to improving the livelihoods of the 1,2 Billion Africans with whom you share the same challenges and aspirations of seeing Africa become a global giant.
This dream is not going to happen by itself, but if you’re determined to win no matter what, there’s no other future to expect than this one. A prosperous, peaceful and well-developed continent, and the history books will recognize and remember you for it.
