The Entrepreneurship Option: Changing your Mindset to Move Forward in Life

30th May 2016   | 5 min read
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In the beginning, it is said that God gave man two options: To eat or not to eat. One would think that the instruction was simple enough to follow and implement. As legend has it, it proved actually so easy to select the option that God wouldn’t rather man selected.

In today’s world we have made very many options available to us in any and every area of our lives. The internet revolution has thrown a spanner in the works and now we potentially have solutions and in equal measure a nightmare in selecting the best solution(s) for anything and everything we need.

We have to shift through hoards of imposters, pretenders and multitudes of legitimate and authentic ‘solution providers’.

I know I am supposed to give people advice on this blog on how easy and fast they can be ‘lucky’ enough to get a job. However, today I am going to break your hearts a bit. Yet hold on. This advice for today could be one of the biggest solutions we can have in the job hunting phases of our lives.

On 14th May 2016, I had a privilege to speak at an event at the Cavendish University Uganda. Located close to the American Embassy in the Suburbs of Kampala, this institution has attracted students from far and wide. I interfaced with students from Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Rwanda and all the way from Nigeria.

My topic of discussion in the Seminar Series dubbed ‘Making A Great First Impression’ was on the correct use of Technology and Social Media. I was also supposed to talk to them about Peer Pressure, something that I declined to do because honestly, University Students are not kids anymore. They are adults who should know what to do at their level and not to be side-tracked by childish issues like peer pressure. But I digress.

What really struck me most was the way that nearly everyone in that institution had narrowed down their ‘next steps’ to one thing: A Job. I mean, of all the options for the next steps in life, a host of these people from all those different countries were all interested in a job.

 

 

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I told them (coming from the employment and Entrepreneurial world) that ‘there were no jobs!’ That was a shock and a big disappointment to them. I told them that their thinking must change. The same advice I have to repeat it to you here: Your thinking that, “there are many jobs out there” must change. Your thinking that “the only option you have after school is a job” must be altered instantly?

Why?

Simple; because that kind of mindset has produced the most ‘unemployable’ generation of all time. Why do organizations the world over find it so difficult to get the right people with the right blend of skills, attitude, aptitude and qualifications for their vacant positions?

The mindset that focuses only on jobs reduces graduates to people who only work on their CVs and job applications. Their major focus is getting a job. To show you how desperate this has gone, you find someone with A Degree walking into an organization asking to be given “any kind of job that is available”.

That mindset should change. We need people who are problem solvers, critical thinkers, people who daily or occasionally find a way of doing things better in an organization. We are not looking for zombies: people to be given instructions every morning and followed up every two hours to find out if they are on track!

But that is exactly what you will become if all you do is work on your CV so that you can get a job. A host of people get their jobs “while on the go”. They do not just sit there and wait for job advertisements. They find problems within their vicinity get proactive and start creating solutions for these problems. As they do, they are actually improving their mental capacity, their critical thinking, their resilience and by extension, the content of their CV.

Ever thought about Entrepreneurship? Did you know that it can create a job for you too? No. You do not need to start a kiosk selling this and that. That is not the complete definition of Entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur is someone who has learnt the art and science of grabbing opportunities in what already exists.

Let me give you an example. A few weeks back, I received two successive calls from would be conmen that wanted to take advantage of me through Mobile Money. Unbeknown to them, I was the one who brought Mobile Money to Uganda and I am so particular about KYC (Know Your Customer) principles.

The following day, I went to the mobile company’s offices and reported the issue, but the customer care rep seemed oblivious of the issue. According to her, these things happen and I should be careful. I thought to myself, this is a massive Telco brand. If one customer gets conned through one of their services, who loses? The Telco! So I thought of a simple way of dealing with the issue: It required the mobile company in question to hire someone (for a specified period of time) to implement my solution.

So supposing you are jobless and you have the above data, how about you walk into an organization armed with the problem as well as the solution and exactly how you seek to implement it. Don’t you think it is better than dropping your CV at the reception?

So instead of spending lots of your time adjusting your CV, ‘tarmarcking/potholling’ (if you are in Kenya), or on ‘Streetology’ (if you are in Uganda), why don’t you put on an entrepreneurial mind and think differently?

 

lawrence
 

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79 COMMENTS

    • We would advise you to carry out extensive research about all the possible businesses you would like to get into.

  6. that is grate. youths should embrace dat idea instead of complaining dat, they hav little resources. i advice them to stat small and they will grow big.

  7. thank you
    am also in the process of dealing in produce since I have free land in the village. I think it can be a good start

  12. Wooow thanks so much i wish i had read this article two years back i would be some where i can’t imagine.

  13. Even some of us who already have jobs still look for better jobs instead of looking for better investment opportunities. I have realized that many of us like to be bossed around I mean working under some one. Recently I know of an organization whose project has been running for the past eight years. the project is finally closing operations in Uganda but you can still see how much the staff are stressed of how they are going to survive in the next few months after the close of the project. You can clearly see that even these staff who have worked for many years with the organization were not able to make any investments or savings. This is happening because of the the mind set that we must be having jobs at one time and go to school to get a job. I want to thank you for this articule and I hope it has inspired many job seekers out there to start looking some where else instead hunting for JOBS WHICH ARE NOT THERE

      • I like that Gladys. May of those who are doing business are doing it and are successful because that is the only option they hard. But those who have jobs good enough for a startup capital just seat back in the comfort zone until they hear the whistle one day or remain broke for the rest of their lives.

  19. While am in agreement of the enormous opportunity surrounding all of us.
    Also coming from an entrepreneur and white collar back ground combined, we are enormously engulfed by not just mindset and culture but limitations as well. While you could have gotten an ear to bounce your solution off of, most organizations open their doors to solutions coming from reputable organizations and not un known individuals. Brilliance is walking the streets of Kampala and Uganda but all it lacks is nurturing and stewardship. For example what are the odds that those con men could be given an opportunity to expose the security flaws of mobile money to be paid for it. I particularly think for us to change mind sets and work towards a solution oriented work ethic, light needs to be at the end of the tunnel.

  21. Really this is inspiring,i wish all our youth out there could grab this and see how life will be better thereafter.
    I am already working but am planning to create my own venture because i know it’s only through this that i will progress at the pace i want.

  23. with my one million shilling advise on the type of business i can start in kampala surbab .am thinking of motorcycle spare parts

  25. In my oopinion, the mindset of the general public is the cause for all this! Funniest of all, the current education in uganda never addresses the exact challenges in the country

  26. Thanks it is making me scratch my entrepreneurial itch harder, instead of “potholling” or continue being on “streetolgy” band wagon. Very inspirational and I like the new terminoligies as well.

    • Dear Alfred, you can always leave your comments and ideas here. They will surely be picked up. We look forward to hearing from you.

  28. The article has inspired me, i feel i should work for few months from now, begin my own business. Thank you brighter monday.

  29. I had the same jobseeker mentality when l was at campus but realised later that it doesn’t work.
    Bef4 joining university l had worked with local gvt as an Office Attendant. I there4 held a misconceptn that it was a matter of getting good grades and go bk 4 reinstatement &promotion. Yeah, I got good grades with 4.17 CGPA in a course relevant to local gvt. However, I found out later that jobs in local gvt are not given on merit. lnstead of having good grades u need a big wallet. lnstead of impressing the pannel u need to motivate the pannel. Thus I was neither reinstated nor taken up as a fresh entrant.
    This opened my eyes. lt was a time when mobile money business was at it’s peak. l didn’t have money to start the business but realised that people who had money to start it needed companies but didn’t know how to register them. So I started helping people to register companies. l’ve done this since 2012. l’ve now started agribusiness as aditional income stream & a desired career.

  31. Thanks, Brighter Monday

    For such information. How i wish all could use the media as you do. Encouraging and informative

    Thank you

  32. brighter monday
    i have come to realize that most of the jobs do not have the details as to how one can apply for it except your apply now button and its an incovinience

    • Hello Josephine, thank you for your feedback, we assure you that the apply now button is not an inconvenience. It actually eases your application process. When you apply,your application goes straight to the employer you are applying to saving you the time and cost you would have spent in directly applying to the company.

  33. Thank you so much, your advice come in the right time i was desperate to be my own boss, i started a small business of selling silver fish, yes silver fish. people despise it so much for a graduate to deal in such a low class business but you have encouraged me to move on. my challenge has been small market but i know i will succeed, thank you.

  36. Thanks a lot for this impressive option. Actually I am one person who is stuck in life. I have a degree but can’t find a job.. But I look forward to starting a business but still don’t know which one???? with your support I have to be a good business man.!

  37. Am a student of Cavendish University Uganda was lucky to have attended ur series but it’s not the case as u stated here we are working hard and most of us are interested in creating more jobs but they luck the practical skills to go there

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