“I Almost Gave Up Investing Back Home”
“The lowest moment for me in this business of investing back home was the day after my second attempt at business collapsed and my brother insensitively said something on the phone that shattered me;
“It is just unfortunate that the business has collapsed. How soon can you send more money so that we try something else?”
The way he said it, he sounded so confident that I would send more money to be invested in yet another business that was bound to fail again. At that moment I felt so discouraged that I wanted to cry. That was the day that I would have surely given up.
Money was easier to earn out here… but it certainly did not grow on trees
I though of all the days I had spent standing the whole day cleaning and dusting and working two jobs at a time, and sometimes even three jobs, even as I tried to stay in college. Although money was much easier to earn out here, it certainly did not grow on trees like the folks back home seemed to think.
Mercifully out of that low moment a new idea was born in me that I have employed very successfully in running all the other ventures I got involved in after that. Not all of them have been a success but I can honestly say that the attitude on the ground has changed dramatically and as I write this, “the bank” is owed only about $275. Over the last 2 years or so “the bank” has received numerous installments to pay back the cash “loaned.” The money has been paid with interest of course.
Let me explain briefly. Since that wonderful day when my brother asked me when I was going to send more money the day after a business with my $1,500 went down, every money I have released has been a loan from a fictitious bank. Maybe not so fictitious because I like to think of myself as banker in the whole process; isn’t this precisely what I am?”
What you have just read is a real-life example of somebody who while starting out in the perilous business of running a business back home in Africa from the West ran into a common but very serious disease we seem to have in
The main reason why businesses fail in Africa
You would think that the main reason why businesses fail in
It matters little whether your person on the ground is your very own spouse or blood brother. The attitude seems to be the same everywhere.
The case study I have quoted at the beginning of this article did something very simple. He quit referring to the money that he sent back home as “something to help us through the setting up of a business” to “a loan from a bank that must be repaid.” He made his brother understand that if the money was lost, he would be affected badly. This was of course true and he even set up records using a spread sheet where all the cash he released was in the form of “a loan” payable with a small interest. There are a few other things that were done to achieve a turn around in fortunes but this was the key single step that had the biggest impact.
Approach had far reaching effects
This approach not only had a far reaching effect on businesses done, but it also introduced a lot of discipline. His brother stopped making excuses and started banking daily collections. No matter how little the cash collected was. Business ideas that had previously failed suddenly started showing signs of life.
The important lesson here for distant investors to take careful note of is that while we try and borrow business ideas and practices from the foreign countries where we are making our money, it is useful to remember that back home the culture is different. This must be appreciated and ways to overcome bad attitudes must be explored if one is to succeed in any business back home.
But even more fascinating is the truism that if you think about this approach a little more deeply you will realize that this approach of looking at all monies spent in any aspect of running a business as an investment with expected returns can revolutionize the way any small business is run.
