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.

Your Mindset Determines Your Destiny !

This year, citizens of the Republic of Zambia will be going to the polls to elect new civic and political leaders from a number of political parties.

It is during this time like this that each party is trying to outdo others by massive campaigning to attract the attention of the voters.

Very well written manifestos will be distributed around the country.

As usual, the electrorate is promised good developmental programmes by each political party.

After 47 years of political independence, my heart bleeds when I realise that, despite the campaigns, the attitude of an average Zambian towards basic things like hygiene and self development is still wanting.

As an example, I was recently in Kitwe City Centre when I decided to go home by public transport. The family car was being used for another purpose in town, so I took a shortcut to the bus stop, via an alley that passes between two commercial banks on one end and some shops on the other end.

The water drain was full to the brim with stagnant and dirty water.

On closer look, I noticed that the water could not flow freely because people who walk along the alley have thrown away all sorts of litter into the drain, thereby choking it !

An average Zambian who has gone to school knows that stagnant water is a good breeding ground for mosquitoes, which is the cause of the deadly malaria disease. Thousands of people are killed by malaria across Zambia every year.

It is a pity that after so many years of Independence the mindset of an average citizen is not tuned to self discipline towards looking after surroundings.

There is a general tendency amongst us that the Government and local authorities will do everything for us.

If litter is thrown away so carelessly resulting in water drains being blocked, what sort of development are we expecting in the country ?

Is there any political party that will change our mindset to develop ourselves?

What every citizen should know is that this country will not be developed by any politicians if we are not tuned to develop ourselves in the first place.

Do we need a council policeman to guard that drain for 24 hours to prevent irresponsible people from choking the water drain by throwing away litter
anyhow ?

Do we need foreign experts to come and show us how to look after our cities properly ?

Remember your mindset determines your destiny !

NOTE : -

To see the water drain referred to click the link below:-

http://files.myopera.com/hmsialex/operamini/1302872245.jpg

The Deception of Wealth

Have you ever wondered why money keeps on losing value every time ?

Just after Independence, the Zambian Kwacha was equivalent to about two US dollars. Today it takes nearly five thousand Kwacha to exchange it for one US dollar.

We have heard of countries whose national currencies became worthless, to a point that to buy a loaf of bread, one has to carry a suitcase full of cash!

Money in itself does not represent wealth. Money is a means of exchange of wealth or value.

To illustrate this:- Suppose you were given one million US dollars cash today, you would be an instant millionaire and would be jumping all day long.

The one million dollars would have some value if it was given to you in a city flourishing with all types of goods and services that money can buy.

If you were given that sort of money and left with it at an isolated oasis in the middle of a desert, would it be any use to you? Certainly not. If no food and water was brought to you in time you would certainly starve to death!

For money to be useful to people wealth must be made.

Wealth comes in form of consumer goods and services that are produced by people working to have them realised.

Wealth can only be created in the nation when everyone is involved in productive work that produces value.

It is very sad to note that nowadays many societies are slowly changing from producing to consuming products.

In many countries political leaders are voted into power by promising the electrorate developmental projects in their areas.

These projects are either funded by money borrowed from other countries where wealth is produced (people working hard) or taxes of the working class.

The question we should ask ourselves is : Can development in any country be brought by merely changing political leaders ?
The answer is certainly a big NO.

Wealth can only be created when the citizens of any country are productive.

The role of the political leaders in any country is to put in place policies that will encourage productivity amongst its citizens.

If citizens are not empowered to produce wealth from the country's resources, no amount of political propaganda and bigotry will bring development to that nation.

Mistaken Identity

Cattle rustling is one of the biggest headaches that local peasant farmers face.

In Zambia, this crime now attracts a minimum of seven years imprisonment, with hard labour.

The cattle rustlers usually strike at night when the cattle is kept in kraals or sometimes taken away after attacking the herdsmen.

Some criminals have been caught red handed, and have received the wrath of the owners, which in some incidents has resulted in the deaths of the culprits at the hands of "instant justice" mobs.

In some communities of Africa, cattle is form of wealth, which is comparable to that of millionaires in Western societies. A man's status would be determined by how many herds of cattle one has and not necessarily how much money he has in the Bank.

Cattle has been used as a means for payment for various services rendered, which include dowry settlement and payment for being treated of an ailment by a witchdoctor.

With the development of the countries from a traditional to urban setting, cattle has become an input in the Butchery industry found in urban areas.

The cattle slaughtered in the Butchers are either purchased from commercial ranches, or from the traditional herdsmen found in rural areas.

Due to increased population in urban areas, the demand for cattle has outstripped the supply.

This has resulted in some criminal elements taking advantage of the situation, by involving themselves in cattle rustling. In some instances as many as thirty herds of cattle would be stolen in a single theft.

This new development has resulted in cattle owners to take some drastic measures to stop this scourge.

One of the methods is for one man armed with a shot gun to spend a night in the cattle kraal to wade off any would be attackers.

Alternatively, the cattle herd would be kept very near the village, this however, is not often done due to the strong stench of the dung of the animals.

After taking these measures, the number of incidents reduced drastically. The rustlers had to go to out flung areas where they were not known.

In one of their missions, a group of five rustlers travelled a very long distance deep into the bush to look for cattle.

After crossings a number of isolated grassy plains they were informed that across one stream there were some "cattle", which apparently was just roaming about, without herdsmen.

They got a shock of their lives when the "herd of cattle" they were told about turned out to be wild buffalo.

The men had not seen buffalo before. As they approached the animals they realised that the cattle was not what they had seen before.

The animals were not amused to be disturbed by the men.

They charged at them and in the process two of the men were impaled to death by the sharp horns of the male buffalo. Three others managed to escape by climbing up a tall tree.

The story of the men's death spread very widely across the neighbourhood. Castle rustling activities in the area were thwarted for sometime.

Youthless Society !

In a recent article "Love Beyond Measure" I talked about the challenge parents have to bring up their children into mature and responsible adults.

March 12 has been declared a Youth Day holiday in Zambia. On this day the youth of the country are given an honour . A youth is an indivual who is below the age of 35 years.

During the struggle for political independence the youth wing of the UNIP party was the most dreaded in the then Northern Rhodesia. The youths were involved in activities that frustrated a lot of the colonial masters' oppressive machinery. They became so powerful that the mere mention of the word "youth" used to bring shivers amongst the ruling white colonial elite.

After independence in 1964, the youth were given a special task to participate in the country's development . This saw the formation of the Zambia Youth Service which later became the now Zambia National Service.

Today more than 80% of the country's population (estimated at 12 million) consist of the youth. The unemployment level in the country is very high. The majority of those not in employment are the youth.

As we observe youth day we should look at ways to find a lasting solution to the plight of our youth. A formation of a "Youth Development Commission" would be a very good idea.

We are a "youthless society" without the participation of our youth in national development.