How To Be Resourceful In A Slow Growth Economy

Africa is the next growth region . Like China was in the early 2000’s, Africa is primed for the next economic boom. With a 1.2B consumer market, of which about half are under the age of 19; Africa’s working population will surpass that of China in 6000 days. So, as a big firm, you should be looking to take your place and increase your footprint in the major cities of Africa, starting from those which are growing nicely, such as Addis Ababa, Nairobi to vulnerable growers like Lagos and Luanda. And the transition will be smoother than China, as the region is an eager adopter of digital and mobile technology. With over 120m users of mobile financial services, and 636m smartphone connections by 2022, entrepreneurs have an opportunity to leverage the rising mobile data traffic to address untapped markets and unmet needs. Africa's Next Baobab To become the next big firm, Africa’s next baobab; you as an entrepreneur need to think long term, while solving the short term needs of yo...

I'm back again on the question every business leader needs to periodically ask; which is,  what business am I really in?  And in this post, I will be discussing a response, few know about. Popular African speaker, Vusi Thembekwayo relayed a remark he heard from a CEO,  businesses don't compete against businesses, rather value chains compete against value chains.  Where are you along the value chain in your market, and what is the value chain of your business? Let's take a deep dive into this question, so every entrepreneur can understand, what kind of player they are, in order to position themselves for success. The Goal Of Every Business Most businesses that sell products are retailers, selling directly to the customer, but that part of the value chain is price and volume sensitive; and there are many competitors in that arena. As an entrepreneur, your goal should be to invest in scaling up the value chain, to become the  source.  That's where most o...