Educated, respectful, loyal, hard-working....does that describe you?
Every nation has it's own labels...the way it's citizens are generally viewed. When you think arrogant, Americans come to mind. It turns out that when you are in the US, they are the nicest people you ever come across; think drug dealers and scammers, and Nigerians come to mind. And so the poor Nigerian passport holder is targeted for thorough searching at every port of entry. In my experience, Nigerian academics and doctors are the unsung heroes working in remote corners of South Africa, or other far flung places. But to undo this labelling will not be easy.
Zimbabweans, we are in the lucky position of having the label of "educated, well-spoken, respectful, loyal, hard-working". This sounds very positive, doesn't it? But is it really. Read those words again...educated (for whose purpose, to whose service), well-spoken (in whose language?), respectful (to whom? fearful of authority actually and any authority figure!), loyal (to the master? So the phrase "murungu wangu" (my white boss) continues to be used even when the boss is mostly always black), hard-working (in building whose dreams?).
These awkward question arose in mind recently when I phoned the local distributor of the paper I subscribe. The manager is a pleasant sounding young Zimbabwean woman whom I have spoken with on various occasions and so she is comfortable sharing what happens in the company (mainly poor salaries and non-payment) leading to disruption of service.
So I asked her a simple question - How complicated is the logistics of distributing newspapers? What resources are needed? And how easy is it to snag contracts?
It turns out that it really is not that difficult. She has been involved in the system, she knows the networks and what is need is a small vehicle and from what I have seen, that should not cost too much of an arm and a leg. Then I asked her if she had ever thought of setting up her own thing seeing as she was really the one running the business already. This was met with a silence and bewilderment which reflected that in her loyalty mentality she had never thought she could actually own the business; she was not entitled to it.
And she is not alone. I have known Bigsy since my Chivhu days. He is a man steeped in the service culture of the hotel and restaurant culture. To-day he manages a restaurant franchise in Cape Town and has over a quarter of century of experience, and yet, I am not convinced that he has ever thought about getting his own branch, or owning shares of the current one. Perhaps he has, and thought he doesn't have the financial muscle to get into the game. But who does? One of the things we need to do as Zimbabweans is to network good business ideas with good funders, whether informal or formal. There are many other people in my networks I can think of who are quintessentially Zimbabwean - educated, well-spoken, respectful, loyal and hardworking - myself included - but we are not using these attributes to create wealth for ourselves. We are the equivalents of the working class honey bee, toiling every day to feed the queen bee.
The funny thing is that when I meet Zimbabweans in the diaspora, they all talk about going home to start their own business! Well, fat chance, now Zimbabwe is a nation of vendors, and vendoring is the most entrepreneurial of all things - you engage and close the deal, you use just-in-time logistics and you need to be extremely agile and flexible. So with your systems thinking and business school formalities, this will be a tough space. A few years ago, speaking to Zimbabweans in Dallas, Texas, I urged them, "So you want to start your own business? Start where you are! If a business can start where you are, it will be easier to grow at back into Zimbabwe much easily. The other way is nigh impossible"
So, what's my point? Let's turn the positive attributes which the world sees in us, it something that builds businesses not just exhaust us to death. If you are a work now, work, but also think about how your understanding of the nuts and bolts of that business is so valuable that you can turn that knowledge into your own business. Let's get a bit more rebellious, a lot less loyal...
Every nation has it's own labels...the way it's citizens are generally viewed. When you think arrogant, Americans come to mind. It turns out that when you are in the US, they are the nicest people you ever come across; think drug dealers and scammers, and Nigerians come to mind. And so the poor Nigerian passport holder is targeted for thorough searching at every port of entry. In my experience, Nigerian academics and doctors are the unsung heroes working in remote corners of South Africa, or other far flung places. But to undo this labelling will not be easy.
Zimbabweans, we are in the lucky position of having the label of "educated, well-spoken, respectful, loyal, hard-working". This sounds very positive, doesn't it? But is it really. Read those words again...educated (for whose purpose, to whose service), well-spoken (in whose language?), respectful (to whom? fearful of authority actually and any authority figure!), loyal (to the master? So the phrase "murungu wangu" (my white boss) continues to be used even when the boss is mostly always black), hard-working (in building whose dreams?).
These awkward question arose in mind recently when I phoned the local distributor of the paper I subscribe. The manager is a pleasant sounding young Zimbabwean woman whom I have spoken with on various occasions and so she is comfortable sharing what happens in the company (mainly poor salaries and non-payment) leading to disruption of service.
So I asked her a simple question - How complicated is the logistics of distributing newspapers? What resources are needed? And how easy is it to snag contracts?
It turns out that it really is not that difficult. She has been involved in the system, she knows the networks and what is need is a small vehicle and from what I have seen, that should not cost too much of an arm and a leg. Then I asked her if she had ever thought of setting up her own thing seeing as she was really the one running the business already. This was met with a silence and bewilderment which reflected that in her loyalty mentality she had never thought she could actually own the business; she was not entitled to it.
And she is not alone. I have known Bigsy since my Chivhu days. He is a man steeped in the service culture of the hotel and restaurant culture. To-day he manages a restaurant franchise in Cape Town and has over a quarter of century of experience, and yet, I am not convinced that he has ever thought about getting his own branch, or owning shares of the current one. Perhaps he has, and thought he doesn't have the financial muscle to get into the game. But who does? One of the things we need to do as Zimbabweans is to network good business ideas with good funders, whether informal or formal. There are many other people in my networks I can think of who are quintessentially Zimbabwean - educated, well-spoken, respectful, loyal and hardworking - myself included - but we are not using these attributes to create wealth for ourselves. We are the equivalents of the working class honey bee, toiling every day to feed the queen bee.
The funny thing is that when I meet Zimbabweans in the diaspora, they all talk about going home to start their own business! Well, fat chance, now Zimbabwe is a nation of vendors, and vendoring is the most entrepreneurial of all things - you engage and close the deal, you use just-in-time logistics and you need to be extremely agile and flexible. So with your systems thinking and business school formalities, this will be a tough space. A few years ago, speaking to Zimbabweans in Dallas, Texas, I urged them, "So you want to start your own business? Start where you are! If a business can start where you are, it will be easier to grow at back into Zimbabwe much easily. The other way is nigh impossible"
So, what's my point? Let's turn the positive attributes which the world sees in us, it something that builds businesses not just exhaust us to death. If you are a work now, work, but also think about how your understanding of the nuts and bolts of that business is so valuable that you can turn that knowledge into your own business. Let's get a bit more rebellious, a lot less loyal...
