Lesson from the collapse of tuskys, nakumatt etc
I thought as a parent we need to read this
A majority of you are young parents. Most of you have teenagers as your eldest kids.
Listen.
It’s entirely your responsibility to hold their hands and mentor them into wealth and business.
I just read in the Business Daily that Gideon Moi is selling Siginon Freight business valued at 10B to a foreign investor. For what it’s worth , Moi grew this business as one of africa’s largest logistics company. Today we’re not talking about his ‘source of capital’. That’s not the import of the post.
This captures well the shortcomings of Africans.
Every african business built by hustlers to billionaire status is always torn down after inheritance. Kirima, Karume , Tuskys etc are just few examples.
This is attributed to the fact that, instead of you bringing your children close to learn and be protective of the business, you chase them away to hustle. Then who are you building it for?
Also, our education system is very “employment centred”. Why don’t you take your kids to school to learn how to come and add value to your business?
Asians do it.
Europeans do it.
Americans do it.
Arabs do it
Africans have retrograde cultures that court poverty.
You Hustle to billionaire status, regardless of the means, but you don’t incubate your own kids from an early age. By the time they get to their twenties, they start wishing for your own death to inherit your wealth. The minute they do, they run it down, splurge, sell and their own children start Hustling afresh.
It’s like we love poverty so much that our wealth doesn’t last two generations.
Americans can proudly talk of 200 or 100 year legacy businesses.
In Kenya, you see a drunk in the local bar and you hear his grandfather was a senior Chief with a lot of wealth.
We are blessed with resources, hard work and talents. However, our own cultures and habits sabotage us.
Henry Ford is a man who started Ford Motor Company. His family has been in the board for generations. As you buy your Ford Ranger, remember that.
Kiichiro Toyoda started Toyota more than 150 years ago. Until today the Toyoda family control stakes in the Lexus, Suzuki and Toyota business. As you buy your Lexus 570 always know that.
Dell Computers, McDonald’s, Hyundai, name them.
Atwoli is a billionaire hustler. None of his children are running his enterprise. They are all over the place. 20 years from now, his billions shared amongst his wives and concubines will dissipate. His grandchildren will have to restart afresh.
In Kericho, we have a billionaire family called the Mutai’s. Their father worked as a loader at Kericho’s first wholesalers called Kericho Wholesalers owned by billionaire Asians.
After many years of working, the Mzee Mutai quit to start his own wholesalers business that was localized.
In few decades, he had built a strong business and he hired all his children. They worked as sales people, accountants, drivers etc. When he passed on, his sons took the hardware and wholesalers business to the next level. They are today, amongst the largest owners of long haul trucks plying the East Africa Corridor. They have never ending contracts with major cement companies and they own some of the best properties in the best area codes of nairobi, Mombasa, europe and australia.
If they induct their children too, they will make it a generational legacy.
Simon Nyachae is another great example of involving your children in the running and management of business from a tender age.
As you start Hustling however small, please educate your children on the principles of business so that they can grow and uphold your work. One day, when you’re old, you’ll be glad you did.
No, your children won’t waste your property, it’s your mentorship, your encouragement, your belief in them, your assurances that will make them protective over your legacy.
As you figure out your survival now, please think about the future as well. Don’t be that hustler who broke your back only for your grandchildren to work in a mjengo site as if you never existed.