Growth in Africa.

Economic growth is robust and foreign investment is growing.  Its expanding urban middle classes are creating an internal market of global scale. The continent is actively harnessing its natural resources, but Africa is not just about the commodities boom. There is growth in manufacturing, technology, telecoms, finance, business services, outsourcing, retailing and hospitality. Each of these sectors are changing the face of the continent’s cities.

Which cities offer the best opportunity for economic growth will clearly vary by industry sectors – here is a list of 10 African cities that are likely to have the combination of critical mass of commercial activity and underlying growth factors to push them to the top of the continent’s city hierarchy.

The 10 African Cities on the international radar are:

• Mature : Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg
• Emerging : Accra, Cairo, Casablanca, Lagos, Nairobi
• Early Adopter : Addis Ababa, Luanda

Looking at the bigger picture, these are the 12 factors that we believe will underpin growth in Africa’s commercial real estate industry:

10 African cities poised for take off – read the full story on Moneyweb

I am concerned when I hear of entrepreneurs who put a business startup plan together and then approach a bank for a large loan. It’s the mindset that worries me . . . .

• This approach places a gatekeeper on your plans that you have little control over.
• This loan has to be paid back. This is an overhead that a new business cannot afford (profit should be used for expansion and enhancement)

When I was a high school student I was involved in every activity. These activities started before school and went into the evenings. Like the entrepreneur, I approached the ‘bank’, (my parents) for a solution i.e. a scooter at the very least.

The next day they presented me with a box i.e. a pair of running shoes. I was flabbergasted but they explained the elegance of the solution i.e. my school life was my domain and I needed to be in control. No petrol needed – my passion would make it work; the running shoes were merely a tool. It came with a zero overhead as I did not need a license, helmet or riding jacket. The running shoes were multi-purpose because running to a debating evening ensured that I was fit for the sporting events.

Look around you. Use an available elegant solution that is multi-purpose – that is inexpensive and ensures that you grow as a person; a solution that can be driven by your passion and a solution that is inherently sustainable unlike an expensive monthly repayment.

Self Awareness – The ability to be critically self aware in an accurate and productive way is one of the greatest strengths of spectacularly successful executives and entrepreneurs – check out the full story in Forbes

Think differently 1997 Apple ad – The Crazy Ones. The creative entrepreneur
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rwsuXHA7RA

The people in order of appearance: Einstein, Dylan, Luther King, Richard Branson (founder of Virgin, you can also see the logo in one frame), John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Buckminster Fuller, Edison, Cassius Clay, Ted Turner (founder of CNN), Callas (Soprano), Gandhi, Amelia Earhart (the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic), Hitchcock, Martha Graham (dancer), Henson (creator of the Muppets) with Kermit the frog, architect Lloyd Wright and Pablo Picasso. The girl that appears at the end is the niece of the composer of the music, Tarsem Singh.

You can lead your company using one of two styles. You can . . .

• Lead with the statistical facts of harsh reality.
• Look past the present circumstances and see a new world of opportunity

Does ‘future vision’ of success constitute lies and delusion or is it the pinnacle of innovation and leadership?

Delusion is defined as a ‘false belief or hope’. This is ridiculous as both ‘belief’ and ‘hope’ deal with the future whereas ‘false’ deals with present. No definition can have one foot in the future and one present; this is a contradiction – hope cannot be false and vision cannot be a lie. This has enormous consequences on the leadership styles we use when running our companies.

For the people of Silicon Valley in the 1980’s delusion and fantasy was the world of Steve Jobs the greatest creative entrepreneur of our time.

For 2014 the concept of fantasy and delusional business thinking excites me to my core.

Fantasy and reality are constantly changing concepts; therefore the line between them is imaginary. This is the world of the creative entrepreneur.

To take cognizance of thus imaginary line is to impose limitations on yourself, your company and your products. In fact it can be argued that the more formal knowledge you have the greater the limitations you impose on your future growth. When people limit their imaginations they limit their future.

Steve Jobs grew up during the 1960’s a period well known for its use of hallucinogenic drugs like LSD. LSD blurs the line between reality and fantasy mixing the senses and making unlikely associations. This is what Jobs was talking about when he refers to joining the dots (see quote). The more dots you have the likely your are to create a revolution within your industry and product lineup.

This is not to say that hallucinogens is the recommend route to product innovation! This is merely an anecdote to us as business owners to loosen up, to think freely, to think differently, to reject boundaries and to refute the ‘impossible’.

We have to find ways to broaden our experiences and to reject the imaginary line between reality and fantasy. This is applied imagination.

There are two economies. They are . . .
• ‘This is how it works economy’
• ‘I don’t want to know how it works economy’

As business leaders we made a choice about which of the two spaces we play in.

In the 1980’s IBM knew how it worked i.e. big business needed computers, people did not. Steve Job at Apple did not care about how it worked. He believed that people needed computers even if they did not know it yet. He told his team that people were waiting for their products when in fact they were not – their expectation was only in his head yet it was this ‘delusional’ thinking that drove and inspired his engineers to create not only the products but at the same time, the demand for the products.

It is up to us to decide which economy we are going to play in. If we choose the ‘this is how it works economy’ we play by pre-established rules. If we choose the ‘I don’t care how it works economy’ we are entering the Steve Job’s world of applied imagination – the creative entrepreneur.

If you are constantly having to compete on price then you are probably playing in the ‘this is how it works economy’. If price is less of a concern and you are more interested in performance , chances are you are playing in the ‘I don’t want to how it works economy’.

“Steve Jobs is a liar”.

This statement was true in the 1980’s when he spoke above the tablet that used your fingers as the stylus. Today the iPad in your hand tells us that he was telling the truth. This discussion about the truth is a powerful lesson about leadership and the leadership styles we use to run our companies.

Steve Job’s was well known for his outlandish claims. He lived in a ‘reality distortion field’. Hindsight tells us that his reality distortion was self fulfilling – his fantasy became our reality . He was the master of ‘applied imagination’ – a creative entrepreneur. (Source: “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson )

This calls into question what is ‘impossible’. The claims that Job’s made were impossible in their context but this begs a bigger question –
• Did the impossible become possible because one man had the vision to call it into being?
• If you have the vision and the courage can the impossible became a reality?
• Is impossible only impossible because no one has challenged it?

As you lead your company you have to consider the tension between the possible and the impossible (truth and falsehood).

The ‘possible’ brings mediocre success at best. The ‘impossible’ brings success beyond our wildest dreams.

Much has been said about opening a business in South Africa, often painting it as a danger when in fact it is an opportunity . . . . Consider the following  . . . .

• Lack of competition. Compared to countries like the UK or the USA the South African market is wide open; you can find an open place and make it your own. Naturally you have to have a unique selling point and your business must have a competitive edge but beyond that you dont have to use force to open a gap in the landscape or patiently wait for a lucky break; you can just go for it.
• In the first year or two of your business there is very little governance and red tape to slow you down; yes that may come later (see next point)
• The African mentality and culture has a certain amount of flexibility to it. African is a place where people are given a chance. Africa makes allowances for remedial and corrective action to be taken “on the job”. You are given time to conform because growth is seen as more desirable than governance.
• We have a first world infrastructure while still having an affordable workforce. With the right training and nurturing unskilled people can become skilled at the fraction of the cost in other countries.
• Being young is not seen as a disadvantage. Society perceives you to be an expert in trends and growth (while older people are seen as being experts in procedures and administration)
• Being small or a medium sized is often seen as an advantage because you can move faster and at a fraction of the price.

I have started many businesses and this has been my experience. Sure your reality may be quite different but I believe that the way you approach a challenge can determine your success or failure.

Do you have a business or are you involved in a money generating activity? Put your business to the following test and ask yourself . . . what is a business?

A) Is your business (going to be) profitable ? Bankers will tell you that this basic concept is often overlooked. “Profitable” means anytime, anyplace and anywhere. The business plan is robust and can weather season and fashion. What you offer taps deeply into human nature – people are prepared to pay handsomely for your product or your services. “Scraping by” is not a business.

One of the characteristics of a profitable business is its competitive edge – an edge that is difficult to duplicate.

B) Is your business scaleable ? This means that one person can live off this business with a small investment but equally 1000 people could be employed with an equally bigger investment. Your business can be scaled up in times of expansion and scaled down in times of recession but the doors would remain open under all economic conditions.

C) Is your business sustainable ? If the “ME” disappeared out the business, would it survive? Are you the brand? Are the skills, resources, systems and procedures in place to continue to make a profit under all circumstances? A business built around the genius of one person is not a business.

If A, B and C are true then you have a business which you can sell, which is the fourth characteristic of a true business.