YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Need Success In Doing
Business? Don’t Ignore
Some ‘Soft’ Areas!
By George Mbithi
T
here is a fallacy that Kenya, East
Africa and Africa as a whole lacks
entrepreneurial youth because our
education system is focused on preparing
the young people for employment. As
much as this may look like a truth, my
current job has shown me a different
picture!
I work for the Young African Leaders
Initiative (YALI), specifically at the YALI
Regional Leadership Center East Africa,
where I have interacted with young people
from 14 countries in East and Central
Africa. One outstanding observation
from these young people is that they are
brilliant, energetic, and hungry for success.
Most of them are from college, others
have set up their businesses, while others
are working for big corporations and are
considering stepping out of employment
to do business. There seems to be a
common understanding among a majority
that real success in life could be available
in entrepreneurship, and the networking
opportunities presented by the YALI
RLC East Africa program becomes a
stepping stone for them to venture into or
grow their business.
But, what makes a young entrepreneur
successful? It is not just networking,
skills and access to finance. When you
ask anyone about the biggest challenge
entrepreneurs face, access to finance and
lack of skills would come top of the list.
I do not dispute that these are essentials
for success in doing business, but there
are other “soft” areas that an entrepreneur
should build on.
One of them is ethics and values. Almost
every entrepreneur is raw and weak at the
time of start. They have little knowledge
and even meagre resources, besides being
pitted against heavy odds like established
players in the market who may have little
respect for ethics. There is no denying that
Ethics will win in the long term, provided
Some young people are losing it by trying too
hard to have a long-term vision in place, while
they only need an idea to run with. Yes , you will
need to spend time to research on your idea,
but be humble enough to start small and focus
on business survival as you craft a strategy for
long-term success.
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you survive that long to benefit from
that win. For short and medium term, it
is usually “hook or crook” attitude which
brings business success.
Given that ethics means moral principles
that derive from beliefs about right and
wrong, it is critical for young entrepreneurs
to define what is right for them and what
they will not do. Getting it right in ethics
will help the entrepreneur move beyond the
narrow focus on technical competence and
financial goals, which are fundamentally
important, but not sufficient for business
success.
The entrepreneur will also be able to
resist self-centred approaches in doing
business, and focus on the customer and
the community at large. We all agree that
a customer-centred business reaps the
biggest fruits in the long run.
Another essential aspect for success in
entrepreneurship is the entrepreneur’s
vision. Rarely does an entrepreneur start
with a 10 year vision in place. Almost
every entrepreneur starts small with basic
survival or “little riches” as the aim. The
vision, mission and all such management
jargons erupt only after a reasonable level
of success is attained.
Some young people are losing it by trying
too hard to have a long-term vision in
place, while they only need an idea to run
with. Yes, you will need to spend time
to research on your idea, but be humble