7 Reasons Why Africans are Poor and How To Be Rich In Africa - Africa Business Classroom (ABC)

                   By Lewis Nasilele on Facebook 25^th September 2016

1.    MOST AFRICANS ARE RELIGIOUS, BUT NOT SPIRITUAL.

I don`t know why I started here but let`s move on anyway. Religion is a significant part   of Africans, but unfortunately, an average Africans really don`t know how God works. Most Africans (blindly) believe that God can make them rich, if they will pray enough. This is heresy and unbiblical. I love the way, Pastor Bukola put it, God doesn`t give us money. He gives us business ideas and strengths to work it out. God doesn`t give anybody money and praying for money is as good as praying for maize. Yes, God is the one who gives us maize to eat, but we are the one to plant it. Though we may pray that it rains at the appropriate time, we have responsibility to go into the bush and get dirty.

Do you go to the mountain to pray for 21 days because you want God to give you maize? If no, you don`t have to go to the mountain to beg God to give you money. He is willing to give you money. He loves you and has already prepared all the money you need to live a good live, even before you were born.

Read Matthew 6:8 and see what Jesus says there, your Father (God) already know what you need, even before you ask.

God loves you and he Is willing to give you money, but you have to understand how money is being made. Just as there are principles of planting, growing and harvesting maize, there are principles of money making.

2.    MOST AFRICANS HATE KNOWLEDGE, INCLUDING FINANCIAL KNOWLEDGE.

In the last point above, I made it known that farmers have to understand the principles of planting, growing and harvesting maize. How do they understand this? Well, not by praying or fasting, but by learning.

My grandfather was a farmer. He taught my father how to farm. My father taught all of us how to farm. Without the knowledge of how to plant maize, grow it, protect it from animals and insects and harvesting it, you can go and pray for 40 days, you cannot have a good maize farm.

Money making has principles… which has to be learned. someone reading book. These principles have long being discovered by rich men of old, starting from Abraham. These men (not Abraham now) have written so many books to reveal their secrets. Till today, books is still the greatest revealer of secrets. But Africans will not read. If you want to hide something from an African. they say, keep it in a book. I have tears in my heart. I am crying and telling my fellow continent people, we cannot be richer than other people around us except we know what they don`t know.

May be I should repeat that. You cannot be richer than people around you … until you know what they don`t know. Abraham was not rich because God gave him money. Open your Bible and read it. Father Abraham was rich because he knew what others didn`t know. While many people in his day were working as labourers (what you`ll call employee today), Abraham was a business man with hundreds staff (over 300 to be specific). Until we start learning, reading and upgrading our minds, Africa will forever be poor.

3.    MOST AFRICANS STILL LOVE JOB.

When will Africans start to hate job? We have to start to hate job today! We have to start telling our young children from age 9 and above that job is not available again, and if it does available, it is no more good like the days of our fathers. We are very poor because we love job.

4.    MOST AFRICANS ARE NOT BUSINESS ORIENTED.

About three days ago I was reading about the youngest female millionaire, Elizabeth Holmes who started his company at the age of 19 (just as Mark Zukerberg, facebook founder did) and she later dropped out of school when her business required that she do so.

How did a 19 years old lady get courage to start a business? Because she (and millions other young Americans) have been rightly oriented that job is a mess and that becoming a business owner is greatly rewarding. What do you think an average Africa 19 years old guys and girls are doing? Watching football matches, following fashion trends or best, getting busy with school to earn good certificate.

Nobody is out there to tell our young adults that they are the hope of this continent, that they are the one to create jobs for themselves and others, that they have to be entrepreneurs and not employees.
How can we be rich as a continent when we are not creating businesses?

5.    AFRICANS ARE POOR BECAUSE WE RUN BUSINESSES LIKE MERE ‘’BUYING AND SELLING’’.

Why majority of Africans don`t think about being business owners, those who think (or who condition forced to be business owners) are not running business like 21 century business, instead, they are running business like 15 century`s business.

You know, in the 15 century, all you have to do is to figure out a product or service to sell. If you can smile a little people will love you and patronize your business. Now however, business requires more strategies and innovations than ever before, just as the name of Seth Godin`s book sound, Purple Cow. If it is not purple cow (unique), nobody sees it or buys it. If you`re dull and your product/service is dumb, nobody notices you.

Most Africans are dull and their businesses are dumb. More of the reasons (should you care to know) lie on what I discussed with you in the second point above… about knowledge.

6.    AFRICANS ARE POOR BECAUSE AN AVERAGE AFRICANS IS IRRESPONSIBLE.

After all I am your brother, so you won`t say I am abusing Africans. Most Africans are so much concern about what they get, and not what they give. Few years ago I heard a man of about age 30 complaining that his father didn`t give him money (or something like that).

How dumb is that? Very dumb. An average 16 years old boy in many advanced countries of the world has being planning how he will get out of his father`s home and create his own life. Most 30 years old Africans still see themselves as infant, who need help. We love to receive a ready-made, stress free success. Unfortunately, maize doesn`t come to life until a farmer gets dirty. Africans have to (urgently) wake up and be responsible.

7.    AFRICANS ARE POOR BECAUSE WE ARE STILL PROUD OF SCHOOL AND CERTIFICATE.

I can see a time coming, when our so called universities and polytechnics will all be destroyed and our youths will be taught to embrace education in its true sense, but for now, the situation is pathetic, universities and polytechnics are not giving the kind of education we need now and therefore should be killed. There will ever be poverty in Africa until people embrace education and not certificate. As for me, library and Google are the best universities there are in 21 century.

Read. Read and read.

You want to be rich and wealthy? Go and start reading books about business and wealth creation. Do you desire a better marriage? visit a book shop and buy some good books about marriage. Do you desire to be more spiritual? Search Google, download some great books written by the great Christians of old.

Read and read, then you`ll know how to be rich, how to have a great marriage, how to be more spiritual and how to do just anything worthwhile.

Does school teach you how to be rich? Does school teach you how to have a great marriage? Does school teach you how to be spiritual? Then, what does school teach us?
Africans have to start loving education (not school) if we want to be rich.

Finally, I want to thank you so much for reading this article and I want to say that the above opinion is mine, and since I am a little boy, I may be wrong (or bias) in my expression.

YES YOU CAN DO IT !

When I was growing up, as a child, I used to wonder how some people were able to do certain things with ease. This was amazing to me.

I could not , for example, understand how some people were able to climb up a tall tree with great ease.

A lot us are capable of doing things we never thought of doing sometime back.

Before attending school, letters and numbers never meant anything to us. Once one is educated and trained in a certain profession, he or she able to do a lot of tasks which can only be done by those trained in that particular field.

Any individual is able to do anything as long as he or she has a passion for it.

I have always been interested in finding out how equipment worked from my early life. It is therefore not a wonder that I eventually became an engineer.

One's capacity to do anything is not restricted by any physical limitations.

Mental barriers are always playing the major role in what one achieves in life.

One chooses what he becomes in life.

Some people choose to be rich right from the beginning of their lives. In a similar vein, poverty is not an inborn situation, it is "acquired".

Circumstances always play a part in what situation someone finds himself in. It is the way one responds to the situation that determines one's destiny.

In the 1980s, it was unthinkable in Zambia for anyone to buy bottled water for drinking. With the advent of Cholera in the country that killed hundreds of people, mineral water became a must for all travellers and in most homes.

Drinking of tap water was a common practice before the Cholera epidemics. Most homes now drink only boiled water or mineral water.

The adage that says "necessity is the mother of invention" is true for getting out of most situations we find ourselves in.

"Difficulty situations are sent to reveal to us what God can do in answer to the faith that prays and works. Are you straitened in the valleys?

Get away to the hills, live there; get that honey out of the rock, and the wealth out of the terraced slopes now hidden by forest " -- Daily Devotional Commentary.

"Got rivers they say are uncrossable, Got any mountains they say 'can't tunnel through' ?
We specialise in the wholly impossible. Doing the things they say you can't do."--Song of the Panama Canal builders.

The Bible says:

"I am able to do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13).

Do not be afraid to show off what you are capable of doing. It is your birthright to do what you are good at.

Always remember this "Yes you can do it!"

As Mark Alofokhai puts it : "
Is it showing off when you do the extraordinary things you are capable of doing?... Is a bird showing off when it flies ? ".

Of course not!

Decide today to start a business that you have always been dreaming about.

Stay blessed and remain in the Lord's favour. Amen !

The Solar Energy Alternative

Zesco Ltd. recently put up a proposal to the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) to increase electricity tariifs by an average of 36%.

The reason given for the proposed increment is that there is a need for the company to raise capital for construction of new hydropower stations. This is to alleviate a serious power deficiency in the country.

Hydro Electric power stations have been the traditional source of electrical energy, which accounts for nearly all of the nation's soure of electricity.

The country is already experiencing a critical shortage of electrical energy, which has resulted in increased load shedding across the country in recent years. This is due to an increase in demand of electrical power, brought about by the incoming of new industries, mainly mines, in recent years.

The country has experienced two major blackouts in the last few years as a result of inadequate generating capacity.

Aging equipment of the nation's Hydropower stations is another factor that has contributed to the crisis.

A number of the equipment have been in operation for over forty years. Zesco Ltd. is in the process of rehabilitating the equipment and this calls for more money .

In order to supplement the Zesco effort of improving the reliability of the electrical supply, and to cushion the effect of increased electricity tariff charges, it has become necessary to look at alternative sources of energy.

One of these is solar energy.

In Africa there is an abundant supply of sunshine for most of the time during the year. The use of solar power is therefore an attractive alternative.

Solar energy can be utilized in two forms

1) Converting the solar energy into electrical energy by use of solar panels and storing it in batteries in form of DC power. The DC is then converted to AC mains by use of Inverters.

The initial capital cost for installation of solar panels to produce electricity is higher than that of hydroelectric systems.
With advancement of technology, the installation cost is steadily decreasing.

2) Direct use of the heat from the sun for water heating and cooking.

The former method is becoming common in the country, whereas the latter is not.

The method of using solar power to create heat, can be used to supplement the solar panel system. This method is technologically less demanding than the solar panel method.

A number of companies which deal in selling and installing Solar Energy equipment do exist in Zambia.

However, the business is still in its infancy.

Local companies in Zambia should be encouraged to invest more into this business, as is the case in the USA and other western countries.

References : -

1) Making and using a solar cooker by Joe Radabaugh Issue #30

http://is.gd/cl9ar

2) Solar Cookers International (How Solar Cookers Work)

http://is.gd/cl9ij

3) Solar Oven, Cooker and Dryer Tips and Solar Recipes

http://is.gd/cl9uH

4) Zambia - Solar Cooking Project

http://is.gd/cl9BH

5) Energy Savers: Solar Water Heaters

http://is.gd/clbZ2

6) SolarRoofs.com solar water heating, The Most Cost Effective Way to Go Solar!

http://is.gd/clcYf

7) Solar Water Heating Systems: Solar Hot Water, Solar Water Heaters

http://is.gd/cldhR

8) How to Build a Solar Hot Water System

http://is.gd/cldsm

9) Mr. Solar - Home & RV Solar Panel Systems

http://is.gd/cldFP


10) Mr Solar Energy

http://www.mrsolarenergy.com/

http://is.gd/cldSF

11) Solar Energy Retail Businesses in the World

http://is.gd/clhhT

Solar Energy Alternative

With the increased unreliability and ever increasing tariff charges from power utility companies, it has become necessary to look at alternative sources of energy. One of these is solar energy.

In Africa, there is an abundant supply of sunshine to enable a steady supply of energy for most of the time throughout the year.

The use of solar power is, therefore, an attractive alternative to mains power.

The initial capital cost for installation of a solar energy plant is, however, higher than of other types of energy sources such as hydroelectric systems.

With advancement of technology, the installation cost is steadily decreasing.

A number of companies, dealing with Solar Energy retail Business, have been established around the World.

In Zambia the solar energy industry is still in its infancy.

Business houses should therefore be encouraged to invest more in this type of energy source.

Reference:
http://energy.sourceguides.com/businesses/byP/solar/byB/dist/dist.shtml

Embracing ICT in National Development

The Zambian Government recently announced that it will adopt Information Communication Technology (ICT) as a major tool for national development.

The Government's ICT sector policy is "A Zambia transformed into an information and knowledge-based society and economy supported by consistent development and pervasive access to ICTs to all by all citizens by 2030".

The ICT policy was launched on Wednesday, March 28th 2007 at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka under the theme "ICT for accelerated wealth and job creation". (Zambia ICT Policy - http://www.widnet.org.zm/news.php?id=23 )

Since the launch of the policy, there has been a marked improvement in the growth in ICT investment in the country, which has recorded over 32 percent penetration rate growth in last few years , compared to 0.02 percent some 14 years ago. ( Lusaka Times - http://www.lusakatimes.com/?p=23496 )

A number of Government , Non-Governmental Organisations and Business Houses are now using ICT in running their day to day operations. This has seen a marked improvement in the dissemination of information and increased speed of processing transactions.

According to a Zambia Country Report by Shafika Isaacs of May 2007, ( www.infodev.org/en/Document.436.pdf ) , the penetration levels of ICTs in Zambia's education institutions remains low, with those schools that are equipped mostly utilizing second-hand and refurbished computers. The integration of ICTs in learning and teaching practice has been limited, although the introduction of computer studies as a school study subject has begun to change this.

The situation in the educational sector has not changed very much since the report was written.

The recent commissioning of the fibre-optic cable from Namibia, which connects the country to the rest of the world with high capacity and fast internet, should see a marked increase in the application of ICT in the educational sector.

With the availability of high capacity and fast internet, establishment of e-learning tools such as Electronic Libraries , Teleconferences and live Interactive Video Classrooms and Seminars are now possible.

The availability of internet in the country is now spreading to all areas of the country. However,there has been some complaint from customers , that despite the connection to the fibre-optic cable, the speed and availability of the internet has continued to be slow and erratic. This is frustrating for those who require a reliable internet connection for such use as Teleconferences and Seminars. There is a need for the Internet Service Providers concerned to upgrade their terminal equipment.

The fibre-optic cable gives a high capacity and fast internet connection, however, this benefit would not be realised with low capacity and outdated terminal equipment. It is more like driving a low-capacity engine vehicle such as a Fiat 127 or a Mini Cooper on the M20 Highway!

There are cases where, as many as 10 customers share connection to the internet via a single router. This has resulted in congestion and slow speeds during peak hours.

Customers who can afford single connections, should be encouraged to do so. However, single connections are more expensive than shared connections.

Introducing ICT into the country is a major undertaking, but it represents a good investment in the future productivity of the country's workforce and a down-payment on the country's future prosperity.

It will require a major commitment of resources, but the country will benefit from the change for many years to come.The challenge to the local business community is, therefore,to increasingly participate in ICT in order to realise the Government's ICT sector policy.