START SMALL. BE POSITIVE.
Many of us have been conditioned to believe that when we come out of school there will be jobs that will be waiting for us. Yes, there will be some of us who will get the kinds of Job we so desire but many of us without any big father or uncle to give reference to us to get such jobs, what will be left will not be those jobs that we will be proud of. In any case, many of us only have to find something to do because that is the way out. These points should get you less frustrated and more focused on doing something for yourself.
1. Understand that you did not go to school so that you can get a job. This reality has not gotten to many African youths who have come out of our universities. The reason we pride ourselves on what we call great courses and great grades. Maybe, there is such a thing as a great course but after you have had that and still have been at home for years without a job you should question your definition of a great course. The school was to equip you to have the tools for knowledge acquisition. The school was not designed for you to get a job and become rich. What was designed for your greatness is using the skills the school has given you and going after your dreams in life.
2. Be positive about life and about Africa. You need to solve this insistent mental liability that most of us as Africans carry around trying compare Africa to every other people to our disadvantage. We are mostly being told about bad leadership, corruption, poverty, disease in Africa. This has affected almost all of us such that we hardly are able to see the good things in us as Africans. Understand that so long as you are obsessed with the negatives it will be difficult to you have space for the positives. You need strength. You need courage. You need hope to create the solutions and take advantage of the many opportunities in Africa.
3. Start small. The beauty about starting small is that you get to learn the required skills as your idea mutates into a working business. And if it does not work as you expect you don’t lose much. The essence is that you are going to learn in building a business. You are going to make mistakes. And surely you will experience failure, disappointment, and pain, so starting small when you don’t have much money and expertise only helps you to manage the very things we all don’t expect. You can start small by selling something, a product. Visit our markets. Look at what others are selling. Visit companies, factories. Look at what others are producing. Be proud of what you are able to start no matter how small it is. That is the best way to gain skills and wisdom that need to building anything from the idea level. You need to overcome inertia. Don’t just think of great ideas. Start and you can always start from where you are. You can always start small.
One person’s problem is another’s opportunity. Don’t let yourself be conditioned to believe that there is nothing you can do. Don’t waste your time, your mind, energy, money, and other resources on things that are not making you become the person you desire to be. Become result-oriented. What can produce? What can you sell? Spend your time on these. Feed your mind with the right knowledge on finance and business. Build relationships with like-minded people. Plan your life for the next 10 years. Don’t trick yourself to believe that unless you travel outside Africa you cannot be successful. You want to become super-wealthy. It is in Africa. In the beginning, it can be tough but keep pushing.