27/10/2025
Some business reflections
1. Don’t start any business with your family or friends in mind to buy from you.
2. Start your business by addressing the need in mind in your place of location.
3. Don’t start a certain business because every one is doing it. Have a personal plan and conviction that it will work.
4. The fact that you come from a certain area does not meet you should trade in what is commonly traded. You may wish to be a supplier of those doing common business. ( For example if you are at Tsangano it’s not automatic that you should sale onions, potatoes or tomato. Why don’t you consider selling torches or have a restaurant).
5. Don’t get into business with someone because they seem to have resources. Make sure you align your values and purpose.
6. Don’t start to plan on business banking on relatives or government to help you. Let them find you doing your thing and if there are opportunities to work together so be it.
7. Don’t mix business with religious, cultural and political affairs. Make sure you remain neutral in all aspects unless your business is directly linked to such.
8. Always pay yourself for value you are bringing to the organization and don’t just combine your money and business money. Pay yourself a salary, a bonus etc etc for more growth.
9. If in partnership or company make sure all participants are pulling in the same direction with no passengers on board.
10. Business is about sales, sales, sales! Make sure for start up you push sales and that every person should be a sales person including the accountant.
11. Be agile and adaptable to changing environments. Always learn, unrelearn and relearn.
12. Failure in business should not frustrate you. You will not be the first to fail. Learn from those that have done it before and quickly rise once you fail even if it means doing something different.
13. Never get emotionally attached to a business. It has to make money sense. It’s not till death separates us. It’s only a business, it’s only a property.
14. Always build resilience, determination by listening to stories of those that have overcome. You may have heard about how Thomas Edson discovered a light bulb after trying and not being successful a 1,000 times. But you have local Champions that have made it big and small in people’s eyes. You can learn from your local as well as global champions. Generally principles will be the same at any level.
15. Always look out for opportunities to see how technology can be used in all that you do. Trust me what you are doing is being done differently elsewhere