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Nicholas Bhero
You can cheat the referee but you can not win the game. The universe has a very strict (Video Assistant Referee) VAR process. Imagine playing soccer and you want to do a touchdown and claim a goal.
“Ndakanyuura” is a common term among Zimbabwe’s entrepreneurs, from “mapotato emumasaga”, quail rush, sponsoring artisanal miners ‘makorokoza’ to pyramid schemes. As a nation acclaimed for education, we ought to do better.
Nothing in this world exists and functions outside science. Even magic and miracles do happen within pseudo science.
Farming and mining form the bedrock of the Zimbabwean Economy. Yet the industries suffer serious losses year in year out. I took time to deliberate on why these very key industries continue to burn the fingers of critical investors.
To have a sustainable business model, it is important to note the five pillars one has to quickly establish namely market, technical know-how or expertise, resources, technological applications and comprehensive risk management. These are the core factors that form a viable business. Among these five pillars the most neglected are expertise and comprehensive risk management.
The major reason these are neglected is because they take resources justifiably for the wise and unnecessarily for the foolish. Sadly, it is these two that are built on or as the scientific formulas of operating within an industry. Whether it is in mining or in agriculture a lot of the small-scale investors neglect professional expertise.
Take agriculture as an example, how many farmers actually do things like soil tests, water tests or maximum residue tests on their produce. I have heard of spiritual ground resource exploration, yes spiritual search of ground resources.
As an entrepreneur, take time to study the market you intend to venture in. Who has an appetite for what you are offering, who can be made to have an appetite for what you intend to offer, how are you going to sustain that appetite.
Take time to understand who affords that which you are offering and is actually going to pay for it. I have seen entrepreneurs, especially those who fall under the networking marketing schemes, ruining personal relationships trying to force family and friends to either join their schemes or at least buy products they don’t even need and worse of products with false functional claims.
Yes, certain products are pushed as having the medical capabilities to cure diseases like cancer and HIV.
Comprehensive risk management is the enemy of most of my people. God will protect, is the famous saying. I have been offered opportunities to seasonally invest in agricultural projects, and one of my first questions is always, is there irrigation?
With all the climate change talk, and the droughts and dry spells we are experiencing, its high time all agricultural strategy focuses on irrigation development. As part of comprehensive insurance, beyond actually managing the actual risks, entrepreneurs should embrace the taboo topic of insurance.
Insurance is simply a coming together of a sizable number of all exposed parties to pool a portion of their resources aside and compensate the one who actually goes on to be victimized by the risks. This logic escapes a lot of entrepreneurs and the society at large.
Medical aid is quick to be sacrificed when a paycheck is threatened, but the challenge comes when a medical risk befalls the family and suddenly they have to lose more assets and run around to relatives to source for support.
This irrational practice is common amongst entrepreneurs; science of their industry will tell them of a risk that threatens the whole industry like frost, which threatens all farmers. Instead of spreading the risk exposure all over the industry through insurance, everyone bears their losses alone and thus sink their ships forever.
I once had a tour in Hwange National Park. Getting there, I thought the tour guides were there to protect us from the animals using guns. When we were leaving for the drive, I asked the guide if they were not forgetting the gun.
To my surprise, he said “I don’t carry a gun, otherwise we won’t some animals as they can smell the gun from afar.” Chills hit my stomach, however as we were driving to the tour areas, he explained to me a number of the rules of the industry.
We were not supposed to split the herd of animals into two, or make noise around the animals, we were to be aware of the possible proximity of lions whenever we saw the buffaloes. By following these simple rules of the jungle, I have completed quite a number of game drives and still came back in one piece.
It is one thing, to have an opportunity lying before you as an individual or to have the natural position to build an economy around an industry, it is another thing to take time to understand the scientific factors which hold the industry together and go on to create sustainable value for the nation.
Unless and until we restructure some of our industries and align them to the scientific formulas necessary for their success, we will keep on throwing investments down the drain.
Our mining industry ought to be founded on exploration, our agriculture industry ought to respect the basics of soil and water tests, climate analysis for crop compatibility from one region to another and take irrigation development as a priority.
In construction, our infrastructure should be built following the scientific formulas, which suit our environment to make sure we don’t see potholes before a road is even officially launched. Our educational industry should be having deliberate scientific formulas of learning that are structured to ensure specific outcomes.
As an entrepreneur, whatever opportunity lies before you, take your time to sit down with a professionally trained expert within that industry and ask if the product or the project you are setting up is indeed respecting the fundamentals of the industry.
Unless and until you have disruptive innovation around these fundamentals, I did rather you pass than to cut corners in all industries. The losses can be devastating and final, but if you respect the science of an industry your gains will be phenomenal and generational.
Nicholas Bhero is the chairman of Stir Zimbabwe Trust and can be contacted on 0783184726
Online Reporter