7 Chapters to Supreme Entrepreneurship in Sierra Leone
Chapter 1
Be prepared to 'unlearn'
If you have only worked in Sierra Leone or you have worked out of Sierra Leone, this chapter applies equally. To become a successful entrepreneur in present day Sierra Leone, your have to forget how things were being done in a 'job', because, as an entrepreneur, you're the one giving out the jobs. That means, you should have envisioned that role, valued it - and this requires a lot more than just financial value, hire the right people and keep them motivated to deliver for you.
As an entrepreneur, you'll have other 'jobs' to perform. Doing business in Sierra Leone, for someone who has been working in Sierra Leone all their lives, will know all about raising finance for their projects. The entrepreneur from London will have been used to online banking that works as it should, spending little or no time in branches to get banking done. Well, not in Sierra Leone. Going to the bank could take all day, if you don't know the right people. If you haven't got the key contacts.
So you find that it takes longer, much longer in some instances to get things done. You gotta unlearn. Forget about spending 10 minutes in the bank. Access to information is a challenging one for obvious reasons. Online resources are getting better but we are relatively less reported and written about globally. We need to change this of course, and I guess that's partly what this is all about.
Unlearning is to be ready for your car to come out of the garage, worse than when it went in. All of this presents the new entrepreneur in Sierra Leone, whether they are Sierra Leonean or non-Sierra Leonean, the challenges are similar.
Sierra Leonean entrepreneurs from the Diaspora make one professional error. They put unqualified people in charge of their operations. Maybe it's part of the response we've developed because we see folks from other races come together successfully in business.
For example, the Lebanese and the Fullahs in Sierra Leone are amongst the most together people on the planet. At least from a business point of view. They support each other first, in so many transparent and not so transparent ways. We see the Jews in the US, the Indians in the UK and the Chinese, globally, doing the same and making progress.
Maybe we see this during our travels, us entrepreneurs from abroad, and we want to adopt the same. Well, we can. We just need to make sure that we are hiring the right people. There are many qualified Sierra Leoneans ready to ply their trade in Sierra Leone, but how do we connect with them?
Promo: do you know about the Positive Change Employment Agency? I have a friend, Sidi Koroma, who is part of the management team there. Why not register your contact details with her and see what happens.
Unlearning is about dealing with different travel issues. Be prepared to learn. That's Chapter 2 - coming soon.
