Want To Become A Successful African Entrepreneur? 14 Traits You Must Have

If you want to become a successful African Entrepreneur coming up with an idea and collecting market data will not be enough. There is a much bigger science to becoming truly successful in business in life.

Today, I am very happy to share a new guest post on Africa Business Jumpstart by Narcisse Boissy, who like myself, has decided to start the journey. I think it is a fantastic article and indeed entails truth and wisdom. Becoming a successful entrepreneur in Africa is not easy, you will face knocks and cuts and pain on that journey. But if you endure, because your vision of your future life is so powerful, then indeed you can succeed. Narcisse, take it away! And my dear readers, please read carefully and truly take it in.

Do you want to become an outstanding African entrepreneur? Some of you may remember my blog post “Insider Tips on How Africans should do Business with China” here at Africa Business Jumpstart, as this is where I am currently based, in China. Today I would like to share an update on my entrepreneurial journey with you, as you may find value in the lessons I learnt.

I want to share with you what helped me and what really did work for me in my ‘wobbling’ journey of entrepreneurship in Africa.

To take you back a little, I have been involved in logistics in China for several years now, connecting with businesses in Africa. I partnered with a large company, Shenzhen Kam-Le Logistics Co., Ltd (a company of around 110 people employees www.kam-le.com ) to offer better shipping and logistics services to customers around the world, mainly in Africa.

But I did not stop here. Outside of my logistics activities, I have created also an import export company in Senegal (West Africa) two years ago. Given my connections, I wanted to create a bridge between my Senegalese customers and China, with offices and showroom in Dakar.

Starting a business in Western Africa, I quickly experienced that one needs to be more than ready for a long run. This is the number one advice I can give to those who are getting started – don’t expect big short-term results.

You may have a 6 months business plan with an expected ROI (Return On Investment) or you plan ahead for 6 months to get the business up and running on its own but the truth is that in reality, it may take you well over a year to even start getting feedback from the market – hence, better be prepared to stay longer than expected, especially if you are trying to set up your business while you still live abroad. Again, the period may vary from the businesses type but many businesses fail because their founders did not expect it will take more time than planned, and they give up, too soon or run out of money.

Today, I want to share with you what helped me realize.

For sure, you first need to find your strong personal motives, the real reasons why you want to do it. The “wants” and “don’t wants” in your life – that will really push you forward. This is essential. If you don’t have a compelling reason, it will be difficult to go far. By reason here, I don’t just mean money, but your personal “wants” and “don’t wants”… what really matters to you in life.

Here are the 14 steps that have worked for me along my journey on getting started.

#1 “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are”

This is actually a quote by Theodore Roosevelt. Look around you, what you have at this moment, what you are able to offer, what you know well that enables you to serve people around you. Start with that, or otherwise you may never get started.

#2 It’s all about solving problems for people

Making people’s lives better is the best approach to entrepreneurship. Be a problem solver – beyond every problem lies an opportunity that you can turn into a business. Look for problems and needs within your community, your industry, your work place. Do many people have the same problem or face the same challenge. This is good news for you. Focus on finding ways to solve these problems with excellent service.

Solving problem is not only about what you can offer (you may be an expert in your industry and think you know it all), but it’s also about listening.

Because every need is unique, every need is a personal need before being a wider ‘societal’ need. And that will look also different from country to country in Africa, and from community to community. If you want to solve individual’s problem with a ‘one size fits all’ solution at the beginning, you may miss some important points and won’t offer good services. Listening and learning is the first key to solving other peoples’ problems.

#3 Live your dream, not other peoples’ expectations

Time is ticking. The precious thing we all have in common- rich, poor, broke…- is time. How you use that will determine everything. No matter what you do, no matter who you are, you only have 24 hours a day. It will be sad to use your precious time to please others or to live a life you don’t enjoy.

Don’t accommodate yourself by accomplishing the expectations of others or of society. People will always have something good to tell you to do, but the only person you really need to listen to before taking any decision is yourself, your deeper self. Take advice from people if it serves you well, listen to people if you can learn from them, but listening to your deeper self is the only thing that really matters in the long run. “You were born an original, don’t die a copy” , John Mason said. “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken”, said Oscar Wilde.

#4 Find your passion

Find something you love doing, something that if you were rich and had all the time, you would be doing all the time. Or something you would even love doing for free. Do it to help others, don’t do it for money – because there will be times where the money will not be there to motivate you to keep going. Something that is worth being done for a better world, for the best of people, that can change other peoples’ lives. Only passion will keep you do something in the long run – even if you feel tired and want to quit. If there is no passion, there will be times when things will get really though, and the average person will quit – but passion will keep you in the game until your breakthrough.

#5 Learn to listen to yourself, your intuition, your guts…

They often say, “What makes you think you can do that?” “If it’s such a good idea, how come someone else hasn’t done it?” … “That will never work.” Or: “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” These words of doubts often get so loud that you may decide not to act. It’s not their fault, they may be just voicing their fears. But you need to learn to listen to that inner voice that will talk to you and that wants more of you.

Some people will decrease your motivation in doing something because they themselves aren’t able to do it, or because they have already tried and failed. Or simply because they don’t have the courage to do it.

Other people will discourage you because they do not understand or see things the way you do.

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right—for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.” , said Eleanor Roosevelt.

#6 BELIEVE in yourself

This one, I will say is the most important one. Everyone is unique. You are unique. The way you see things is different to the way millions of other people see things. Our fingerprint is unique and different to another. Someone can do something many times and fail, but you can do it only once and succeed. People failing in doing something doesn’t mean that you too will fail in doing the same thing. There are millions of ways to reach your goals – be open minded, find your own ways and have faith in yourself.

#7 Never compare yourself to others but only to yourself

We often talk about competition. Yes, there is competition. But your uniqueness can make you stand out. Find your uniqueness instead of copying or competing.

Never compare yourself to other people who have succeeded, they have their own story you surely don’t know. The only person that you can compare yourself with, is only yourself. Where you have been and the progress you made now. Where you are at now and who you want to become. Strive to become your greatest version.

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#8 Learn to say No

If you don’t feel it and you are not fully convinced, don’t do it. Don’t let life and people push you around. Sometimes we are asked to do something but we are not very sure and our inner voice is like “hmmmm, I am not sure. It does not sound right”. Be brave enough to say ‘no’. Saying ‘No’ can be empowering. It also gives more value when you do say Yes and you keep your word.

#9 Accept life, accept things around you, accept your situation – that’s how you can change things

There is no change within without acceptance of where you are first . To change something, you need to recognize first what you are not happy with. Accept the truth of your current situation, and then act towards changing it with dedication. But this is important: When you do this, focus on your « wants » instead of your « don’t-wants ». Work only towards achieving what you want…then your ‘don’t wants will suddenly get less and less powerful.

Be neutral with the people around you, accept the way they are and understand that each one of us has his/her own level of understanding and seeing things. You may be at level 10 in something specific, and at level 0 in something else. This is true for others, too. Hence, talk with respect, no matter to whom, be respectful.

#10 Be Contradictory in your Dreams and Actions

Dream Big, but act small. Talk is cheap, action is wealth. But do it step by step. Big dreams start with small actions, one after another. Focus on the moment, on the action, on every step, one move at a time. You have the big picture first, the end result that you want to create and then you start moving backward to build it one piece at a time, one step at time, one count at a time. Give every step your best.

Be a visionary but also a goal setter (if you can’t do both, surround yourself with both people – who are visionaries or goal setters). We can be a visionary type of person but not a good goal setter and vice versa.

The thing is you need to combine both in order to bring your dreams into life. Being a goal setter only, will not keep you moving in the right direction for the long run, you may end up asking yourself «what next for me?» Being a visionary will not help you bring life into your dreams – you need to organize and set up the different steps to make it happen. To become successful you really need to have both.

#11 Learn every day

Do not limit yourself by assuming that you know or you don’t know – both assertions can limit you. Most people focus more on “I can’t afford it, I can’t do this.”… which automatically shut down their brain. Focus more on “how can I do this?”, “How can I have that?”, “How can I get this ?”.

Read, read and read. Read books, news, articles… in your industry, field, passion… « It’s what you know that makes you money and what you do not know loses you money. » – Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad).

#12 NEVER GIVE UP. As long as you are alive, anything is possible. SUCCESS is just a succession of FAILURES. Success or Failure is not the most important. The most important is to have the Courage to keep on going. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill.

There is no success without failure. Circumstances are temporary. Failure is temporary, just depends on if you stop there or if you learn the lesson and bring it back into the next experience – to stay in the game.

Take failure as an opportunity. We fail to achieve our goals only to find there is another way to do so – failure is part of the process. Embrace failures. Learn from it to grow. Learn from it to not repeat the same mistakes. Learn from it to also develop your guts.

If doors are closed, accept it, don’t blame others, it’s useless, it’s simply not your doors. If doors are closed, better doors will surely open one day. If doors are still closed, you will end up going so far on trying to open them, that you too will be able to create your Own doors. This will not happen if you quit somewhere.

“You are not measured by what you have achieved, your accomplishments, you are only measured by what you went through to achieve your goals, to get there” – Unknown author.

“Most people never win because they are more afraid of losing. This is why I found school silly. In school we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet if you look the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk… Unfortunately, the main reason most people are not rich is because they are terrified of losing. Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success” (Robert Kiyosaki – Rich Dad Poor Dad).

#13 Always be true to yourself. Say what you do and do what you say no matter what people think about you. Don’t try to please others, if you do, you are not true to yourself.

Accept rejection and be ok with it in your deeper self, not just on the surface. Do not try to fit something that is not you because you want to avoid critics or rejection and so on. You are the only one that knows how much you’re worth. The most exhausting activity is pretending to be what you are not. If you put a mask, in the long run, it will be so difficult to take it off. Authenticity will keep you long enough in the game. You are a brand. It’s your most valuable thing when you are dealing with others. The only way you can ever get respect from the people you are dealing with (be it clients, investors, partners…) is when you show them you respect yourself.

#14 Be Aggressive and Patient – Aggressive in planting seeds and Patient in waiting for it to grow – planting hundreds and hundreds of seeds (be it marketing, selling, networking…), but this needs to be your daily habits. It’s not by planting only 2 – 3 seeds per day that you will get an increase in your business.

99.99% of success took time. Keep on doing what you love, keep on letting people know what you do, the benefit they can get from it, as well what you have already done, but be patient in getting the results.

“You can’t make a baby in a month by getting 9 women pregnant.” – Warren Buffet.

Thank you very much for reading. I hope these insights will be of benefits for most of you in your journey of entrepreneurship – as they are for me. What insights did/do work for you in your early journey of entrepreneurship? I will be pleased to read more insights from you.

If you want to get in touch:

We can offer very competitive rates from China air/ports to different destinations in Africa (both sea & air shipping services – you can direct contact with me for any need at overseas.9@kam-le.com ). And as to complete our services, we do also offer sourcing services and assist clients in their relationship with their suppliers and as well act as third party.

We are also representative agent of KPM Logistics – http://www.kpm-group.com/chine-bureau.php and are offering door to door shipping services from China to Congo Kinshasa, Congo Brazzaville, Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) and soon to Senegal and Mali.