Changing markets

I recently walked into one of Kampala’s growing business hubs and was blown away. There are protagonists, quietly building enterprises that offer value to the target audiences in ways that one could think are unimaginable in an economy like Uganda.

For me, these men and women, will define the future of the marketplace. As I walked in on some of them, as a pretend customer inquiring about their services, I kept on asking myself, “how do I fit in this paradigm? How do position myself to benefit from these new opportunities?”

You can ask yourself the same question; how do  you fit in this emerging market structure that will define the way we do business in this country?

The power of being an innovator and not a follower

Starting a business may seem an easy idea, even sound glamorous. Once you start, you soon realize that the ‘easy idea’ is not that easy after all. Many young entrepreneurs fall into the trap of copying other ideas and this leads to the failure of their business. Why? Well it wasn’t their idea in the first place so to keep it sustainable and fresh would always prove to be a problem.

I understand the thought process of why reinvent the wheel? If something works, follow it. This is great for systems but does not apply to taking another idea and building your business model based on this philosophy. Africa is rich in many ways and the spirit of entrepreneurship is fairly new to us. We’re on the tipping point of great resources, ideas, people and opportunities.

Nothing worth it in life ever comes easy and the life of an entrepreneur is far from glamorous. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t all doom and gloom, I would not trade it for anything but you need to be prepared to work. The work starts from the genesis, your idea. Emphasis on ‘your’. Why is there a need for this service or product? Workshop the idea yourself before getting out the parking lot, then take it further once you believe in it 100%.

This is vital on your journey of being an entrepreneur, you will most certainly come across many people that won’t buy into your idea and if you don’t believe in your idea, this will be a tough obstacle to overcome. You need to be confident that no matter what, your idea is worth giving it your all. The power of being an innovator and not a follower is that it identifies you as a strong and confidant person. Entrepreneurship teaches you many personal lessons in life and these build your character. I like to call it the university of life! Why rob yourself of these valuable lessons by merely copying an idea that will only teach you the opposite of what you can learn about yourself from the start? Nothing good ever comes from copying. Yes I know, almost every idea is out there, except yours! You can do it and you have everything on the inside of you to get there.

Make the first step and keep going. One day at a time. I’d rather live my life knowing I did my best and as authentically as possible. I would never want to live my life based on somebody else’s dream. I was created to be an individual and so everything I do reflects who I am. How about you?

Entrepreneurial thinking is about recognizing opportunities in the marketplace and understanding how and when to capitalize on them. Becoming an entrepreneur is not necessarily an inherent trait. It takes time to train yourself to use your talents and experience to see opportunities where others do not.~ Jonathan R. Aspatore

Cyril Naicker
Creative Director
Cape Town In Vogue
Twitter: @cyrilnaicker