Sir Nigel's Journey…

I remember when I was growing up and every parent I knew wanted their child or children to achieve good grades so they could go to university, get a good job and ultimately climb that corporate ladder. I cannot for the life of me remember any parent advocating for their children to pursue the entrepreneurial route or even hands-on careers like being chef or a plumber. I am currently reading amongst others a book entitled 1000 CEOs.I’m particularly fascinated with the upbringing of people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and now Mark Zuckerberg. What does it take for parents to allow their children to simply drop out of college or university to pursue their dream? Is it faith? Lack of concern or have the parents just raised their kids to be entrepreneurs?

What do you think?

What else can I say apart from my typical response – ‘inspiring’. I only wish these clips made it onto other mainstream media outlets so people can see the other side of Africa. The Rebrand: Africa Movement continues….  

I came across this article almost 2 weeks ago now. I wanted to share it with others and also add my thoughts. The only reason for this was simply because I appreciate and value this way of thinking – to see the end and work towards it (one of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). Here is a story to illustrate this point. If you are currently following the African economy closely, you will no doubt have come across positive stats that illustrate economic growth on the continent and how it continues to reach new heights year on year. This in part is fuelled by the increasing investment from the Far East for example and what I personally like to call the increasing internal entrepreneurial spirit (IIES). This article epitomises the latter. Reading it I couldn’t help but smile. I vividly recall the day the news broke out about the new media licenses in Zimbabwe. I wondered how long it would take for all the newspapers that had been awarded these new media licenses to actually hit the streets. Not surprising NewsDay emerged first – a week after the announcement! I was already following NewsDay on Twitter prior to this announcement. Trevor Ncube himself was talking very openly about the paper itself and their general plans. I ask, how could a newspaper commence publishing as soon as NewsDay did? The simple and easy answer is: planning. As this interview below indicates they started planning on the 15^th of September last year. The management team saw that an opportunity almost a year ago and started planning way back then. Now NewsDay is available daily on the streets and online. Just recently, almost 2 weeks ago now – Alpha Media Holdings (the company that publishes NewsDay) announced that The Southern Edition of NewsDay is now available in Bulawayo. How was this all achieved? Once again I revert to that key word – planning. I have no idea what else lies in store for Trevor and his team but whatever it is, I’m sure that it’s being planned this very minute! There are many lessons to be learned from this case study.

Below is an excerpt of a Gill Moore interview with Trevor Ncube recently: -

‘Bizcommunity: The first South African media folk really knew about NewsDay was that the Zimbabwean Media Commission granted permission for new newspapers in the country and then a week later (on 7 June 2010), you launched NewsDay. I would imagine that you had been preparing for this for quite some time?

Trevor Ncube: Yes, which is why we have basically been able to hit the ground running. We have had over the past 12 months a core team to which we’ve been adding as we thought the prospects were improving for us to be registered [by the commission]. For me, the turning point was the inclusive government [with Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister]. When I saw it being put in place and in it there was a strong component about freeing up of the media, that was the window that I was looking for and I said: “This is our time; we’ve always wanted to do this.” So we started preparations then.

Biz: And this was about a year ago?

Ncube: Yes, on 15 September last year. That’s when we really started putting together a business plan in earnest and asking ourselves: “What do we need?” One of the first things I identified was that we needed was a printing press because we didn’t have one.’

Complete article here

1. Inspired entrepreneurs follow their inner calling
Inspired entrepreneurs have found the work they were born for and follow their specific and unique calling. There is a great fit between what they do and who they are, and they feel they are constantly drawn forward to become the person they were born to be.

2. Inspired entrepreneurs create businesses that support their own talents, passions and lifestyle
Inspired entrepreneurs know their business can be a vehicle for discovering and expressing their own unique gifts and talents. They create businesses that support them and their lifestyle. They don’t sacrifice their lifestyle to their businesses. Many small business owners sacrifice their own needs in order to be successful.

3. Inspired entrepreneurs have a higher purpose than just making money
Inspired entrepreneurs are very willing to make money. In fact, they love making money, but it is not the sole purpose of their business. They are motivated to create and contribute.

4. Inspired entrepreneurs always evolve their businesses
Small business owners tend to just work in their business and do what needs to get done to make the business work. Inspired entrepreneurs love working on and in their businesses. They intrinsically love what they do, but also love stepping back and thinking creatively about their businesses; how it can be more fun, inspiring, profitable and effective.

5. Inspired entrepreneurs love self-growth
Inspired entrepreneurs love learning and growing through running their businesses. They know that running their own business is the best personal growth seminar on the planet, using it as a mirror to highlight both their strengths and their weaknesses. They are curious about what they can become and love discovering what they are capable of. They are less interested in being competitive and more interested in realising their own potential.

6. Inspired entrepreneurs are fuelled by inspiration rather than motivation
Motivation is often about getting pumped up by some external force, whilst inspiration is about being lit by a fire within that will burn forever. Inspired entrepreneurs don’t need to be pumped up. They know they need to regularly kindle and rekindle their flame of inspiration by going to their own wells of inspiration and inspiring themselves.

7. Inspired entrepreneurs love understanding how they find and attract their ideal clients
Inspired entrepreneurs are endlessly curious about how to attract and serve their clients better. They love serving and contributing, and believe that what they do makes a difference. They enjoy getting the word out about what they do and getting people to act, but only in ways that are grounded in honesty and integrity. They are willing to give up being anonymous.

8. Inspired entrepreneurs work in inspired, smart and strategic ways
Inspired entrepreneurs know that hard work alone does not guarantee success. They don’t confuse being busy with being strategic. They have shed the prevailing belief of the protestant work ethic and know that success doesn’t come from pain, struggle and sacrifice, but instead from brilliant ideas that are well implemented. They know that taking ‘time out’ to generate new ideas and think strategically, is often more valuable than another hour at their desks.

9. Inspired entrepreneurs navigate their lives using joy as their compass
Small businesses tend to be more mechanical and repetitive, whilst inspired entrepreneurs navigate their business and life through a sense of joy, inspiration and aliveness. They also have a sense of destiny and rightness about what they do, knowing that their particular talents are being used to the maximum and that they and their businesses evolve through a sense of ongoing revelation about their next steps.

10. Inspired entrepreneurs value their hearts and minds
Inspired entrepreneurs know that they bring love and money together by marrying their inspired heart with their brilliant entrepreneurial minds. They become potent by using the one to support the other, and don’t think of them as enemies. They use great business strategies to support their inspired ideas.

Complete article: – More info here

Simply inspiring…

This makes for an interesting read, perhaps another angle for aspiring entrepreneurs like me to consider.

Forget Your Elevator Pitch — What’s Your Dumbwaiter Pitch?.

Tell me what you think…

In between all the madness of ZimBizForums and discoverZim I try to make time to catch up on some reading. As I mentioned a few months ago I am reading a book by Moky Makura entitled Africa’s Greatest Entrepreneurs.In the same breath I stumbled across this on youtube yesterday. This is a very inspiring story: – Africa Open for Business – Nigeria