Page 87 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 15

Economy

of education and training. They of control over one’s own situation in life. This mindset has meant that many
have learnt of the flimsy line that business people accept their non-growth as a normal situation. Their advice
separates success and failure and is that deliberate campaigns must be mounted in all African communities
have developed an awareness that to encourage our citizens to perceive entrepreneurial activities to be desir-
meticulous planning does not always able and as a value on its own. That is, the successful entrepreneurs must be
translate into superior performance. presented as role models. This will encourage many more growth-oriented
Everyday produces its learning ex- entrepreneurs to emerge. However, if African societies continue to encour-
periences and opportunities for re- age individuals to see themselves as being entitled to the wealth of others
flection and feeding forward of new through birth or ascription (rather than to create their own wealth) very few
knowledge in unfamiliar terrains. will choose the tortuous path of entrepreneurial life with all the anxieties and
As they hit significant milestones in sleepless nights it entails. When the determination is there, everything else
their endeavors, some look back and will begin to move in the direction that we desire. The moment we resolve to
attribute their success not exclu- be an achiever, every nerve and fibre within our collective body immediately
sively to their wisdom and prowess, orients itself towards our success. Our entrepreneurs need to cultivate the
but partly to some form of divine courage and wisdom to look far ahead into the future – not two year but two
intervention. or three decades and beyond. They must be encouraged to see their business-
es growing beyond their own lifetime.
They also spoke of the perva-
siveness of what we describe as a With such a long-term orientation, they will see any failures they might expe-
mindset of learned helplessness in rience as just temporary and continue to fight on. We need some farsighted
most African communities – i.e. loss leaders to guide us along the entrepreneurial path.

Authors: To order a copy of the book, How to succeed as an Entrepre-
neur in Africa - A Practical Guide and Cases, please get in
John Kuada is Emeritus Professor of International Manage- touch with Madei Mangori on WhatsApp +267 72620041or
ment at Aalborg University, Denmark. He holds two doctorate email madeimangori@gmail.com.
degrees – PhD from Copenhagen Business School in Business The price is 25 USD excluding courier
Economics, and a higher doctorate (Dr Merc) from Aalborg charges.
University in International Business. He has extensive expe-
rience as business consultant and training advisor in areas
of management, marketing and cross-border inter-firm
relations in many European and African countries. He is
author and/or editor of 25 books on management. He has
also written over 100 articles in scholarly and professional
journals on a wide range of international business issues
including entrepreneurship, international marketing,
intercultural management, leadership and strategy.

Madei Mangori has over 36 years of experience as an
organizational and management development expert
in Southern Africa mainly based in Gaborone Bo-
tswana. He turned academic in 2015 after obtaining
a PhD in Business Management from Aldersgate
College in the Philippines. He has published a
book and co-authored another. All are available
on Amazon. He is a founding member of Men-
toring African Research Network (www.resanet.
org). He is also the co-ordinator for business
and contextual ministry and is currently leading
the team working for the accreditation of
Botswana Bible Training Institute into a
multi-disciplinary tertiary institution operat-
ing in four countries in Southern Africa.

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