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.

The Comfort Zone Trap !

Some fifteen years ago, whilst I was working for one of the mining companies on the Copperbelt, some of my children were attending a Primary School that was run by the company.

Our home was very close to the school. The children were, therefore, able to walk to and from school on many occasions.

I was then working as a project engineer and this saw me working out of town most of them. I only had a few occasions when I would work within town and then I could drive them to or from school.

Since my children were then very young, the school had a rule saying that children would only be released when they were escorted by an adult. Our domestic servant was tasked with the duty of escorting them to and from school at specified times.

One day, I happened to be working in town. I informed our domestic worker that I would pick our children from school, as I was coming home for lunch.
There was some drama at the school, when two children of one of the senior managers in the Mines refused to be picked by the company driver, who was sent to pick them from school.

At first I could not understand the cause of the commotion raised by the children until when I came closer to see what was happening.
The two children, a boy and girl, were not happy to be picked in what they called “an inferior vehicle”.

Their father used to send the driver to pick the children his company Mercedes Benz.

On this particular day, for some reason the "usual" vehicle was not available. The driver then picked another vehicle from the company Transport Pool. I can not recall the make of the “offending vehicle”, but I was really surprised why the children could not accept the other vehicle!
After a heated argument with the driver, he was told off and instructed to go away with the “cheap” car! The children then rang their mother to come and pick them.

A few days later I learnt that their mother only managed to pick them after about an hour after she borrowed another Mercedes Benz from a family friend!

At one time I came across some foreign nationals who had "invaded" the Copperbelt and started mining precious minerals in the 1980s and later.
I and some colleagues were visiting some public bars in one of the townships where these foreigners were mostly found. There was a group of five young men whom we found drinking beers outside the premises of one public bar.

They were driving two brand new BMW cars and they had a lot of cash with them.

They had in their company, was a group of women who seemed to be their mistresses or business partners.

They had bought some three crates of beers from inside the crowded public bar and were drinking straight from them. Nearby there was a Braai Stand where chicken, beef and goat meat was roasted.

From the look of the state of matters, they were having a very good time which was spiced with dancing from the music blaring from the stereo of one of the BMW cars and a lot of laughter.

As we watched them having “fun”, there was an incident that left us amazed.

Since there was no nearby water tap where the foreigners and their mistresses were enjoying themselves, one of the men in the group of the revelers started washing the cars with beer from the crates. At least two crates of beer were used for this unusual task!

The scenario above is very common amongst the affluent in our society who believes that being “wealthy” allows them to enjoy life as they so wish.
Has it ever occurred to you to think about the difference between having money and being wealthy? Did you know that there are some people who have a lot of money and yet poor?

Wealth is goods or services that human beings want, such as food, clothing, cars, houses, gadgets, etc.

Money on the other hand, is a means of exchange for wealth in a predefined area. For example, in Zambia our means of exchange of wealth within the boundaries of the country is the Kwacha. In South Africa it’s the Rand and so forth for other countries.

Whenever you travel outside the country, you have to exchange your local money into that which is used in the country you are travelling to. Some money such as the American dollar is accepted as a means of exchange of wealth across many nations.

Money in itself is not wealth as demonstrated below:-

Suppose you were, for some reason, given $1 million today, you would certainly jump up in joy because you will be an instant millionaire!

Suppose that amount of money was given to you in the middle of a desert, where there is no food and water nearby, would it be of any use to you? Of course not, because if you were not rescued in time, you would certainly die of hunger and thirst.

On the other hand, if you had food, water and some shelter from the great heat of the desert you would survive for a greater length of time without the money.

People find themselves in possession of money due to the wealth that they create to give to society. Wealth is what you posses which can not be taken away from you without your consent. For example, knowledge and education is not transferable from one person to the other for free. On the other hand, poverty is in abundance because it does not require money to acquire it!

When an armed robber steals money from a Bank, he has not created any wealth of his own because he has not worked for it. Since this money does not represent real wealth, it would be quickly spend on buying luxuries which soon disappear into thin air. That is why you would never find a robber who is rich for the rest of his life. Many of them end up being killed or jailed for many years.

If you find yourself in possession of a large amount of money, such as winning the Lotto Jackpot, you should have had a plan or project for it. Many Jackpot winners end up poor because they have no plan of how to use the huge amount of money, which comes into their possession at very short notice.

In fact, before putting some money in the hope of winning the Jackpot, you should have a plan for it! Otherwise one should never participate in any lottery at all!

In a similar manner, if one finds oneself born into a rich family, one should ensure that he follows the footsteps of the parents of how they made the money.

Many children born into rich families end up living poor lives in their adulthood when the parents are no longer alive or are unable to provide the money. What this means is that inherited money can never last if is not sustained by wealth.

Many working class people end up destitute after retirement because they depend on being workers who live on a monthly salary for most of their working lives.

On retirement, they are usually given some terminal benefits in a form of a pension. This pension, in most cases, is not adequate to maintain their previous standard of living. Many end up dying prematurely due to depression.
There are many ways of making money legally without solely depending on a monthly income from an employer.

The underlying fact is that one should identify what he is good at doing which other people would like to have in exchange for money.

For example, if you are very good at making handicrafts or music which people like one can make money from that. When you provide goods or services that are in perpetual demand you would end up a rich person. In one post, I wrote about “Nurturing Your Passion” which I believe is the right approach to making money.

Not all that is given to society in exchange for money is always good. For example illicit drugs and sex can not sustain one for long without adverse consequences.

The comfort of being in employment and getting a salary at the end of the month, in possession of easy money or being a child of the affluent always acts as trap for many people who could also look at other means of making money.

This is what I call the comfort zone trap!

Education and Poverty

Some few days ago, I wrote an e-mail to an old colleague I once worked with in the Mines to pass my regards.

On reply , he informed me that one of the electricians at one of the Mines I used to work at, sustained serious burns in an electrical accident. This was some two weeks ago.

I replied that I was not aware about it.

He wondered why none of my former co-workers and subordinates had informed me about it.

I told him that human behaviour is such that once one is out of sight they also get out of the mind of others.

He replied that such a serious incident should have been reported to me. I left the Mine some ten months ago.

I jokingly told him that maybe it was due to their lack of "Lorex" !

"Lorex" is the acronym for local medium exchange of cash or the "Kwacha". This is the unlike "Forex" which is the overseas medium exchange of cash or being the US dollar and others.

To some people, even sending an SMS, which costs only K250, is like having a tooth extraction !

A recent observation by the "Family Financial Intelligence " guru on Facebook, says that 80% of Zambians are literate. This means that our educational attainment, as a nation,is quite impressive.

However, one wonders why some 86% of the population is poor.

The unemployed level in Zambia is over 50% .

Those in formal employment, are paid so that they are entirely depended on their employers for survival.

Take away their salaries, they soon become destitute. It is more like a garden plant which soon withers when the irrigation water is cut off !

The reason for this poverty is not due to lack of money but lack of financial education.

When I was working as a Plant Engineer in the Mines, within a time frame of five years, I came across some thirty emerging companies which won contract work from the Mines.

The average contract price was $20,000 with some contracts going as high as $400,000.

Assuming a markup of 20%, these companies made between $4,000 and $80,000 nett profit from the contracts.

What surprised me was that out of all these companies, only six were still operating at the end of that period. The majority had gone under due various reasons.

My observation was that once the money was paid, the owners of some of the companies went into a frenzy of uncontrolled expenditure.

There is this young director of a company which had just been paid some good money.

He used to drive a Toyota Corolla for about three years as he was establishing his company.

One weekend, I found him in town. He was parking a Mitsubishi Pajero besides my fifteen-year old Toyota 2.4D Hilux.

I have been driving the Hilux vehicle for all those years because I have been maintaining it. After having done some 140,000 kilometers since I bought it, it is still in a very good mechanical condition.

Knowing that his father was a businessman for many years, I presumed that the Pajero belonged to his father and so I paid no particular attention to it.

Since he realised that I was not showing any signs of being impressed by his latest acquisition, he boastfully told me that he had just bought the Pajero.

When I asked him what had happened to his Corolla ? he told me that he has given it away to one of his younger siblings.

I had no choice but to "congratulate" him, as he had expected me to do.

He told me that he used to feel very inferior when he came for important meetings with senior Mine officials.

He told me that it was not proper for a Managing Director to drive what he referred to as a "Ka-jilijili" (Corolla), whilst other Directors were driving "good" vehicles!

I am sure he was also telling me that it was not proper for a Plant Engineer to drive a fifteen-year old Hilux!

I really had sympathy for him because I knew that his company would soon kiss dust as has happened to others I have witnessed doing likewise.

The young man, due his lack of financial education, did not see it fit to reinvest the profit he got into expanding his company. Instead, he shrunk its capacity by purchasing an expensive vehicle, which he could not maintain for too long.

Why should one's status be determined by the type and class of a vehicle one is driving ?

It reminds me of one my favourite British comedies called "Keeping Up Appearances".

The hapless husband of Mrs. Buckett was, on many occasions, forced to show the outside world that the couple belonged to the British aristocracy. This was far from the truth !