Skip to main content

The Eagle in a storm (Part 3).


__Protect the root of your business.

By Dr Strive Masiyiwa

A young man and his father were watching a huge fire coming down from the hills towards their family vineyard. At first, the young man tried to organize buckets of water but it was clear that the fire would engulf everything and consume the vineyard. Then to his surprise he saw the old man pick up an axe and run towards the vines. Systematically he began to cut the vines, leaving only the roots.
"We must protect the root, my son. Do as I show you."
And with this they saved a business that was several generations old.
Every business has a root, and you must know that root. You must be able to protect that root, when things are tough. Sometimes protecting that root looks cruel, but you must protect it at all costs. Sometimes it can come down to reducing activity to the bare minimum, with just a handful of staff. Your most valuable resource will always be good people.
There's no successful entrepreneur who does not know what I'm talking about. It may well be one of the most difficult things you'll ever do.
# Stay very clear about who you are and what business you're in.
# Don’t underestimate the crisis.
# Make sure you’re looking at credible data.
# Manage with grace under pressure.
# Review and revise your game plan as needed, acknowledging which plans aren’t working.
# Decide what you need to do in order to get where you want to go.
# Tackle the problems systematically. Don’t throw kerosene onto a fire.
# Don’t get distracted; make the tough decisions that you need to, without delay. One bucket of water won’t save a hectare of crisis.
# Seek and value professional advice.
# Don’t be afraid to try something new. Crisis is often how great innovation begins. (When the going gets tough, don’t give up on new growth!)
# Lead with courage and vision, even if your heart is sad.
Don’t panic. Pray and plan.

Image Credit: Shetzers Photography


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Starting a Business in Ugand PART 1-COMPANY REGISTRATION

Below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles faced by entrepreneurs wishing to incorporate and register a new firm in Uganda. It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with between 10 and 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income. This information was collected as part of the Doing Business project , which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 190 economies. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2016. Standardized Company Legal form: Private Limited Company Paid-in minimum capital requirement: UGX 0 City: Kampala No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Submit the Name Reservation Form to the assessment window of t...

10 Daily habits of most successful entrepreneurs.

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” ~ John C Maxwell How many of these top 10 entrepreneur habits do you have today? What good habits can you start and what bad habits can you stop to change your results tomorrow? 1) Create a routine - Set a rhythm to connect to the big 5 P’s every day: Purpose (why?), Products (what?), People (who?), Processes (when?), Productivity (how?) 2) Keep the mornings for the toughest projects - Start with what’s most important, not what’s most urgent. Make yourself 80% proactive, 20% reactive. 3) Work out & meditate - Richard Branson says the #1 thing he does to improve his business success is exercise. The universe will only look after you as well as you look after yourself. 4) Give a head start to tomorrow today - Design each day ahead of time and ask the same question Steve Jobs asked: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want t...

The most successful African entrepreneurs of the future __Think beyond borders of all kinds.

By Dr Strive Masiyiwa Amongst the many things I wanted to achieve with this platform was to get young African entrepreneurs to reach out and start talking to each other, doing business deals, and partnering to find solutions to Africa's many other challenges. I'm not sure if you saw this comment I made during our discussion on partnerships a while back: "Afterthought: Here is a secret! The most successful Africans in future are those who master the ability to partner with Africans from other African countries... Shhhh! (Keep this secret to yourself, because there are many enemies out there who will try and stop you from believing this.)" As an entrepreneur, there are huge benefits for you if Africa can shift its economic narrative to what I sometimes refer to as "Africanization." We as Africans need to open up this continent to development by Africans. However, this should not be to the exclusion of working with partners from other parts of the worl...