business culture

The problem with unstructured entrepreneurship

Taura Khuluma Say it!!, , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

This is probably more of a problem in Harare more than the other cities but the explosion of on-street vendors in the CBD is interesting and worrying at the same time. Surely there is some money to be made otherwise why would all these people congregate there every day but when we say there is money to be made. How much is enough?

The laws of economics dictate that ultra-competitive markets selling homogenous products have little to no profit for the players of the market. So, by all being in the same place the traders are pushing their own prices before the market even demands low prices. This is a perfect scenario for bargain hunters but not for the traders. What’s the solution?

Here is a radical idea! Instead of 25 vendors all sitting on the same street selling the same things how about we think smart and form cooperatives and use our collective resources to widen the product range, economies of scale to lower prices and sell more and ultimately make more money. By reducing competitiveness from the market the cooperatives will be able to claw back some power in terms of setting prices on the market. Tomatoes can gain 10-15% margin by simply selling from 1 sales point instead of 25 points. But what will the other 24 members of the cooperative do?

Well the cooperative will need to be structured. People will be allocated different roles to match their skill sets. The traders have already show they have skills in sourcing, pricing, market scanning, administration and a host of other skills needed to operate on the streets successfully enough to make a living from it. Some of these skills will not be obviously know to them but they are there they just need sign posting. People will earn consistent wages, partake in profit sharing and benefit from a collective pool of resources to expand the scope of their business.

Once the cooperative is fully functional it can then look into market expansion, taking on more members and developing a retail model that is sustainable and profitable. I foresee green grocers developing from this idea but can we convince the traders to formalize their operations?

What are some of the barriers to selling the cooperative idea?

Single mindedness of Zimbabweans in general
Lack of trust
Short term thinking
Lack of Resources to cover incomes in the short term
Lack of Organizational thinking

But most of these barriers can be easily overcome if there is desire and determination to break new ground.

What do you want from new leadership?

Taura Khuluma Say it!!, , , , Leave a comment

I have just read a blog from one of my workmates, as part of a vast empire that is as vast as the commonwealth we are getting ready to welcome a new leader. We are n old organisation and some parts of us have failed to evolve with the changing times in the orginsation and this blog has captured the frustraton of working with systems that are our of sync with the norms of today. Here are the five attributes they would like from the incoming leader,

1) Compassion

We are entering a time of devastation. Our lives and businesses will be strictly defined by the world’s biggest problems that have grown beyond our control. Our next leader will have to be extra sensitive to the ‘real’ and ‘big’ problems growing around us and have the heart to re-evaluate our cultural priorities. The rules of building trust and understanding between people are changing. He or she will have to write a few of them.

2) Sense of urgency

Our next leader will have to find a way to turn this ‘Oil Tanker’ or ‘Dinosaur’ (pick your choice) much much faster. We are several generations behind in our technology. We can’t afford to build massive products that take years to deploy. Our internal decision making processes need to allow us to act faster. He or she will have to act fast, fail fast and learn fast.

3) Disruptive thinking

Our next CEO will have to be a big risk taker. We have to admit that some of our current business models are failing and will be irrelevant within the next decade. He or she will have to do strategic planning for much longer than five years, and make radical changes which may affect our short term gains, but will make us relevant and successful in the next 50 years. He or she should be ready to make a few enemies.

4) Tech Evangelist

If he or she doesn’t have at least 1,000 twitter followers, I will be disappointed. If he or she is not a LinkedIn influencer, I’ll cry. If he or she uses a BlackBerry, I’ll probably resign. Our next leader must be able to not just use technology, but use it to engage with his or her staff, his customers and future customers one-to-one on a daily-basis.

5) Unifier

Our next front face will have to somehow find a way to unify our scattered organisation. He or she will have to find a way to bring his or her people – from around the world, stuck in different departments, working in their silos – together and harmonize our global offer. He or she must be able to see beyond the limits of geography and act as a global thinker, a world problem solver.

The next generation cultural leaders are not made from the old political ‘ambassador’ mould. The emerging cultural icons are the young and dynamic mavericks who engage with billions of people on a daily basis making extraordinary connections between people from the far corners of the world.

the frustration is not with outgoing eadership but they wish for the new leadership to look at the current state of the organisation, its customers’  and employees’ needs in order to shape their leadership for the next five years. Coming from a country where there are questions about the state of leadership I started wondering if people could make up their list of 5 attributes in the next leadership, what would they be?

Can all business ideas work in all markets?

Taura Khuluma Say it!!, , , , , , Leave a comment

nofrills

So at the risk of making terrible assumpations as well as branding some ideas as in incompatible with certain markets, cultures and people. I would like to suggest that in my opinion some countries can not run certain busineses in the same way or loosely similar business models as other countries. I mean the people in those countries not the nations as a single entities. I came across these thoughts while discussing a business opportunity within my network in Zimbabwe which led to a focus on low cost, no frills airlines. The leading examples in this market are Ryanair and Jetblue which have shown that the airline industry can still be successful despite nealry all major international airlines issuing profit warnings as we await the publication of financial results for 2012/13.

My stance is based on a recognising that running a successful airline requires  arutheless determination to cut costs at all psssoble opportunities while driving revenue at the same time like Ryanair and Jebtblue. My questions is this,  can we be confident that the Zimbabwean business culture  as it is can hostthis type of business and stick to those requirements enough to deliver a successful business?

Honestly having regularly been at the end of customer service events, business meetings and even banking interactions in Zimbabwe, I have strong reservations that we have that mentality and culture required to run a succesful no frills airline with the same ruthlessness as Michael O’leary at Ryanair, actually not many in Europe can manage either. The issue is not so much the skills and experience to run such as business but I think its a cultural orientation issue in the African context.

But then again I might be wrong.

Any thoughts?