Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Important Entrepreneurship Lessons To Take Home From Successful African Entrepreneurs

By Arthur Peterson


Success in entrepreneurship is never easily attainable. The often talked about ingredients for a thriving enterprise are capital and good market. However, there are other contributing factors that are less talked about. A vast majority of successful African entrepreneurs adopted these factors in their journey to business excellence.

As a continent, Africa has got a lot of growth potential for those currently in business and others aspiring to get into it. The sons and daughters of the continent who currently run thriving businesses, like Jason Njoku the Nigerian internet entrepreneur and Zimbabwean technology magnate Strive Masiyiwa, all have stories to behold. The common traits shared by these businesspeople include commitment, passion, paying attention to detail and the power to draw lessons from mistakes.

Jason Njoku has a story that has been relayed over and over by the best selling international business magazines. An activity that he used to undertake as a passion turned into the biggest internet streaming service in Africa. Prior to his entry into the scene, the only internet streaming service known to the continent was YouTube.

In his interviews with reputable entrepreneurship magazines, he often credits his success to his inborn passion for making people happy. With this passion, he got to learn what building a streaming service requires and the rest is history. These days, the world knows him as a venture capitalist with a keen interest in sponsoring aspiring businesspeople so as to help them attain their dreams.

As an important trait in entrepreneurship, commitment is what made the likes of Strive Masiyiwa to excel. The Zimbabwean is the founder and chairman of Econet Wireless, an international telecommunications service provider. Like all entrepreneurs in Africa and the rest of the world, Strive started his company from scratch and saw it grow despite resistance from the Zimbabwean government. Grueling legal battles with the government never made him back down. Instead, the level of commitment he had to see his company grow propelled him to heights he never thought he could get to.

The ability to accept failure and learn from it is as important a trait as commitment. When it comes to this, no one beats Gina Din Kariuki, a Kenyan born management consultant who prides herself with immense accolades. Her success, nineteen years in the making, was never devoid of failure.

Before forming her company and seeing it to success, she did public relations stints for many companies in her homeland. One mistake she has owned to date is her failure to research on market trends and leadership before quitting her job to start her company. Upon quitting, she realized she did not have the corporate structure and support she used to have as an employee.

Out of the blue, she was the one in charge of everything. With her mistakes behind her, she navigated the murky waters of business ownership and made the Gina Din Group a renowned company in Africa. These success stories, among many unmentioned ones, should inspire you to do more. If you follow in their footsteps, you will undoubtedly find your footing.




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