Learning Articles

When I grow up I will do a budget

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When I was a little girl money seemed so easy to be in relationship with. Perhaps because the only money I ever had was the one that jingled in my pocket and my pool of funds never ran empty. As the hand stretched out so the coins poured into it. My needs and wants were so minuscule; a barby doll here, a sticker book there, a bit of candy in between and BAMM I had rocketed all the way to the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Self-actualization at the age of 5. My Toddler- Diva lifestyle led me to believe that I was fluent in the language of money. I watched my parents as they drew many lines on paper using a ruler to make sure they were straight. I knew it was serious business. They looked pensive and somewhat perplexed, I shrugged and carried on sifting through my goodies which I was growing increasingly bored with. While they murmured and muttered between themselves I picked up the words; budget and balancing and “hazvizi kubhalansa”, that is colloquial Shona for “it is not balancing”. “What is not balancing?” I asked myself as my mind wondered to images of the circus trapeze acts. Perhaps they are planning a circus act? If that’s the case, I decided I wanted in. When I grow up I will do a budget and my balancing act will be a success.

Little did I know my dear parents were not planning a circus act, they were steadfastly trying to sustain us. It is only when I had to go out into the world on my own, that I realized what money was about.

 My relationship with money was far from the romantic fantasy I carried in my mind for so long. It was hard knowing, I had to give to receive. The hardest part was knowing, that though I once sat on the throne of self-actualization adorned with plastic tiaras and plastic jewels, I spent most of my life not knowing what self-actualization even means and here I stand so far from it; aspiring to achieve the physiological needs.” When I grow up I will do a budget” I once told myself “and my act will   balance”. Yet here I am falling so short and so far in debt.   My journey has made me wonder whether the model needs to be readdressed. The most common African model is one in which parents work and earn money, cover bills and children go to school and spend the money while they await their turn to work and earn money.

Money is seldom discussed in the home except in possible arguments between spouses, in which children dare not way in. The most a family will discuss money is when the child ask for some and either gets a yes or a no. If the family has a family business the most, the kids know is what the family business retails or what service it provides. Until children are much older they are not involved. I put it to the world that there is a need to make dialogue concerning money as prominent in our homes as our need is to spend it. Let us teach our children where money comes from, and where the money they get from us comes from. Let us teach them the concept of working for money and let us also teach them delayed gratification. All this so that they are equipped to handle the challenges of getting started in life on their own. Budgets can be done with sweets. Business traits taught using sticks. It’s never too early but I believe it is possible for it to be too late.

Entrepreneurship = solving other people’s problems

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There are so many articles being written on entrepreneurship in Africa these days. Articles highlighting amazing entrepreneurs (especially women), articles talking about the vital part entrepreneurs play in African economies, articles encouraging people to invest in entrepreneurs and even specifically designed university courses springing up. This is all interesting and relevant and it’s a truly exciting time as the world looks to invest more in Africa and confidence builds in the ability of Africans to change their lives and the continent.

But this article got our attention because it has a great description of entrepreneurship: “The biggest “aha” moment for these entrepreneurs is the shift in perspective from “starting a business” to solving another person’s problem.” With entrepreneurship and the idea of entrepreneurship being so pervasive on the continent and with so many still facing a daily struggle to put food on the table, it’s easy to see how the idea of starting a business so you can make money it so attractive. And starting a business and being an entrepreneur are often seen as one and the same thing. But as this article points out, true entrepreneurship is actually focused on the customer, on their needs and on designing something that meets that need in the marketplace.

There’s a lot more in the article, including the awesome YALI program, and if this is a topic you’re interested in, you should definitely read the whole thing.

entrepreneurship

The reason this description of entrepreneurship resonates is it’s precisely the reason that Zimbabwe Car Hire and INDIGO Group were started. There was a need – in the case of Zim Car Hire it was the desire to solve the personal frustration of never having enough vehicles for all the visitors coming to Zimbabwe on holiday, and a passion to build a business that can be a sustainable income stream for Family Impact. Similarly, INDIGO saw a need to help small business in Zim really fly by providing branding and marketing services as well as access to a portfolio of consultants — from specialists in financial management and tax planning to branding and social media — to assist businesses with the skills they need for just a short time. This helps small businesses become more professional and boosts them over those humps, releasing them to grow and develop.

Solving people’s problems and releasing potential – that’s what entrepreneurship is all about. To join us on the journey, contact us here.

Working Smarter, Not Harder: 4 great articles to help you

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We have been sharing a lot of great articles on Facebook and Twitter recently (please like and follow us if you’re not already!), but we thought it would be good to gather them all in one blog post and explain why we think the tips, tricks and other advice is so good.

Small business owners, especially start ups, are busy juggling a myriad of tasks. Managing and prioritising your time well is one of the most important things to learn to do. There really are a million different tools and apps out there these days to assist you in keeping track of those tasks and ideas, but the tools themselves will not solve your time management problems or get your to do list actually done!

Three Time Management Tips: this one is so short, but the tips are really powerful and they come from CEOs of successful start ups, so they are worth the 2 mins it will take you to read this article.

The first four things you should do every workday: This one sounds a bit like it could be kinda lame, but actually, it really resonated and from experience, we’d say these tips really do work. So why not give them a go?

One of the tips in the article above refers to to do lists. Everyone has different ways of managing their to do lists. Some have gone totally electronic, some prefer good old paper, but whatever system/tool you use for to do lists (and if you don’t have one, you really should get one…like, now!), this article on the value of an end of week brain dump gives some great advice on how to really make those lists work for you.

And finally, still along the lines of keeping track of things/to do lists, two things to do after every meeting is really valuable advice and what’s better, it really works! All the meetings in the world do not actually get things done. You need to have meetings to communicate, discuss and decide what needs to be done, but then you need a way to make sure what is decided on actually gets done.

So, there you have it. 4 great articles on managing your time and your tasks that will help remove the clutter in your head, focus how you spend your time and increase productivity. What are you waiting for? Have a read, choose one or two tips…or all!…and start experiencing the benefits!

Correcting misconceptions about ‘Africa’

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Last week the US news channel Fox News came under heavy criticism for their headline relating to the Pope’s visit to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic which described the entire African continent as “war-torn” (view here: http://bit.ly/1l5WenP). And much of that criticism was from groups such as Kenyans on Twitter who generated the hashtag #someonetellFoxNews and quickly reacted to correct the headline’s insinuation that all of Africa is ‘war-torn’. In fact, BBC World Have Your Say did a whole show getting feedback on the headline (http://on.fb.me/1jxbg0s – 28 Nov post).

war torn africa

There are a few reflections that come out of this for me; firstly that there definitely is still a misconception that what is happening in one part of Africa is the case in all parts of Africa. Ebola was another classic example of that. Secondly, that social media has definitely taken off in parts of Africa and people are using it to be aware of world events and are also not afraid to use it to call people and organisations to account. And thirdly, that news shows only have so many characters in which to fit a headline and grab attention and sometimes they miss the mark. Sure, you could argue that Fox was aiming to do just that – grab attention – and that anyone who listened to the story in detail or read anything on the net would soon understand the full story – no harm done. But that’s not the point…..

We all have misconceptions and incomplete understandings of the world we live in. No one has been everywhere, seen everything and read everything and no one has a complete knowledge of anything. But while some misconceptions or incorrect statements are relatively harmless and sometimes quite amusing, others really do cause harm and are worth speaking up to correct.  And just as there are many ways in which and reasons why misconceptions and misunderstandings are created, there are also a number of ways emerging to try and correct some of the ones about Africa, some with equal combinations of sarcasm and passion! I mentioned Kenyans on Twitter earlier and a couple more are below.

I was both amused and encouraged by www.africaisacontinent.com which appears to have emerged with the sole purpose of raising awareness of the fact that Africa is a continent, not a country and that it is a very diverse continent at that.

I also love this map (http://bit.ly/1NETzho), which provides a different perspective on just how big the continent of Africa is. China, India, the United States, Japan and the majority of European countries fit into the landmass of Africa. In other words – it’s a pretty big place….which should also tell us how diverse it probably is, given that simply moving from one suburb to the next in most cities can bring significant contrasts.

true_size_of_africa_v3

And as I looked at @KOT and the africaisacontinent website I was also reflecting that when we start to use sarcasm to correct misconceptions, we can very quickly become ‘holier than thou’, losing all humility, and possibly losing the ability to really share with people and encourage them to find out for themselves.

So part of what we want to do through our work at lynneknight.org is to help provide a new perspective, or a broader and different understanding of this amazing, diverse place called ‘Africa’ which we call home, and which so many only know through the selective reporting of mainstream media. Why not come and visit us and find out for yourself!

Joanna Lee

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