Forging a new path for entrepreneurs
If you ask today’s young Nigerians and Africans who underdeveloped their countries, the blame will likely be heaped on the adults in their 50s, 60s, and, in some cases, 70s. In a way, this sounds plausible, since the wave of independence was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s. Therefore, it is possible to blame the ‘founding fathers’ for not laying a strong political and economic foundation.
The above would sound like a great argument. The only problem is that nobody wins a trophy for crafting the finest blame game out there. So, whether those before you made things bad or good might be immaterial. If your predecessors had made everything perfect, what then would you be doing in your own time, enjoying or building on their success? If you can do the latter, then you can still build.
Two generations from now may not know most of the adults in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, but they will certainly know you and your generation. Would you tell them that before you messed things up? What if they ask you: What did you do differently in your own time, How would you respond? If those before you failed, do you also want to fail? What stops you from laying the foundations your predecessors failed to lay, so that those after you can build on them?
If there is no space for you to lead on the political front, how about the economic front? Almost everyone is aware that the political leadership has been disappointing, so, how exactly is that the cause of your own incompetence and inability to make a telling impact on the economic front? You will next argue that politics controls economics, but again, remember that economics does not bend to politics. Whether in good or bad political leadership, those who know how to make money will always make money, it simply means that bad politics cannot effectively stop a great entrepreneur.
What is often lacking is the right mindset for each climate. Bear in mind that an attacker will always have more options than a defender. A defender is never going to always succeed in preventing an attacker from striking, except if the attacker is not an intelligent one. To lead on the economic front, you must position yourself as an attacker, and you will always have more options than your detractors.
Where you fail and fail again, who can succeed there? And where you succeed and succeed again, who can fail there? You have blamed your ancestors, present and past leaders enough. If you don’t want the same treatment to be meted out to you in the distant future, then you must make up your mind to succeed where your ancestors and leaders failed. You also have the liberty of not going alone, so that you can always attack from multiple fronts.
Now it’s your turn to be different, do not disappoint your afterbears.
