Zimbabwe: Its not money, all is required is damn culture change I have had the opportunity to interact will most people from all walks of life in as far as Zimbabwe is concerned. I have brushed shoulders with decision makers, politicians, technocrats, academics, pastors, dealers, legislators, dreamers, vendors, rural dwellers, criminals, CEOs, employees & employers, students and have come to the conclusion that no matter how much money was to be poured into the Zimbabwean economy without culture change nothing will come out of it. Even if dirty money or Mafia money was to be poured generously into the economy am telling you it will all go to waste. Just like butter falling on a white hot stove it melts before it even touches the plate so will the money that comes into Zim it will just disappear within the systems without achieving anything at all. First thing that need to change is the way we treat money, the way we look at money, the way we use money which has been distorted by the hyper inflation environment which clogged better judgment to decision making. As a country we have devalued the dollar to levels that the outside world doesn’t understand and only there to be gnashing of teeth when things stop balancing and leaves a huge deficit that will take a life time to cover. If as an individual one cannot balance their finances then how do we expect them to balance their businesses as captains of industry or as ministers of huge ministries? By the same token if individuals live beyond their means how then do we expect the country to live within its means? If we are hunting and gathering mince but we continue to feast like we have killed an elephant nothing will balance in a million years. The country is its people therefore a country exhibits part tendencies of its individual citizens characteristics. The country in trouble financially resembles financially troubled citizens. It will be useless to concentrate on the country rather concentrate on the individuals attributes for a better country. As a people, a good culture will translate into an excellent one countrywide. It is this culture that has seen good policies not implemented, led to wrong policies implemented all together, lack of policy synchronization, procrastination, individualism, isms and skisms, corruption, lack of visionary business leaders among other warped culture traits that has made even pouring in money useless unless things change on the ground. A look at culture traits, which have condemned the country to leprosy like destination for funds. These are the limitations but not limited to: Rewarding mediocrity and non performance legate had this say to his fellow delegates at an European conference”… if we continue to reward mediocrity and celebrate non –performance we will all go down into oblivion as Africa has …” I did not think it was a racially laden comment . It was a fair comment made from observations in the way in which Africa conducts business. These are serious reservations regardless of the source. The manner at which non performance and mediocre performance is being tolerated has led to the demise of many businesses. It is just unfortunate some captains of industry do not know what they are doing but still remain at the helm of these industries to the detriment of Africa. There is need to reward and nurture talent accordingly and those that have shortcomings pave way for those that can deliver. How at times those golden handshakes are arrived at leaves a lot to be desired. Why not just fire the CEO’s ( save on his terminal benefits since its his/her mess) and send a good example if as a CEO you don’t perform you will get fired. It’s a bold message and sends the right strong message across. This breeds a cutting edge culture and breeds high performers Lack of priorities ..... The lack of priority in terms of resources is a scary concept that has been adopted by businesses. Businesses generally run on the premise that all that has to be done at the same thus thinning resources with serious consequences on viability of firms. Firms are just doing everything at one go. Everything is urgent, but how can all operations be urgent. If business cannot identify priority areas to channel their resources with their limited funds then we are heading for demise that is a given. Misplaced priorities and miss-allocation of resources .... At times the priorities are utterly misplaced either for personal glory of lack of know how. Buying of liabilities instead of buying assets that will improve future cash flows and increase income is a fashionable and famous one. There are a lot of investments at the top and ignoring the functional divisions at the bottom which are the major revenue earners. In some instances the perks are just a priority at the expense of the means of production. Even perks to be sinfully heavy at the top at the expense of the ground soldiers that are drivers of the necessary revenue. This in turn causes industrial actions that affect revenue generation or take up financial resources in litigations, industrial stoppages and all. At times we have seen ego trips or Board/CEO’s projects that don’t make financial sense being implemented for personal appeasement. Lack of knowledge vs. Mr. Know it all. .. The Holy Bible has on record stated “my people perish because of the lack of knowledge”. The lack of knowledge has caused many a failure a company .Those appointed to lead industry at times disappoint because they don’t have proper sound business acumen. Even the Mr. Know it All approach is just the lack of appreciating vital wise counsel in business matters. Thy shall seek business knowledge in the various spheres of business to enrich the well of knowledge and then impact it to the business. The need to get proper sound business through consultation is the way to go in this day and age. Trial and error is costly in a world were resources are scarce. Be wise get advised and do not be so instruction proof were you fall short. If you don’t know consult or get those that know to execute it for you. Pride at the expense of the business is treasonous. Lack of appreciation of what figures mean .. Figures never lie. Figures are a radar on business performance and the lack of appreciation is recipe for a huge downfall. The need for the drivers of industry to appreciate these figures is of paramount importance. If the major players cant tell whether the company is coming or going how can they tell when it has stopped moving. Maybe it’s the fear of not wanting to know that is going on within the companies that make people not want to know about their figures that measure value of their businesses. MoB Capital is saying: What you don’t know will kill you and kill you fast. You are better off dying knowing what is killing you. In some instances figures are available but the interpretation is not there. In these cases ignorance is the killer as remedy action will not be executed as no-one knows what is taking place in the business. It’s about figures, figures and figures Corporate governance issues & Best practices ... It is one area that is a serious cause of concern. The distinction between business and individual does not exist. What is for business and what is for the individual has no separation. Business and individual are the same to the detriment of the company. Corporate governance is not followed at all despite being written on paper and filed somewhere within the company premises. All procedures are informal neglecting best practice standards. Violation of code of conducts has made businesses to collapse in their infancy, just before they grow or has brought empires tumbling down. Rules and regulations are ignored .On this one, one can go to town about it as it has become a headache for the entire world and it’s not unique to Zim only. All other factors can nearly fall into this category one way or the other. Procrastination is a thief of time The lack of urgency in dealing with business issues is now a culture imbedded in our business dealings. Some projects have not be done or finished on time, urgent natters are put aside and in fact there is no hurry in doing business but time is money and this had led to businesses facing profitability challenges as those that move with urgency have grabbed limited opportunities and run with them to ensure viability. This has even gone to policy formulation, policy implementation, funding issues etc etc. Business is about doing right things at the right time all the times. Playing it small Gone are the days when playing small was the way to go. Small was convenient but not any more. Play small at your own risk. It’s the BIG world now. Whatever you do, do it BIG. It’s about volumes, forget about your streams and tributaries you need oceans. It’s the sums total game. When you dream, dream big, move volumes and have no fear. The smaller you want to be, the dangerous it is because its either you will get swallowed or will fold business from stiff competition. Many businesses want to remain small in their operations only to get a rude awakening when dynamics change significantly. It’s about the economies of scale, enjoy these and remain viable. Leaving everything to God God only help those that help themselves. If we fold our arms and think our neighbors ( that we are in competition with) will come and help us then we have another thing coming . The need for an organization to play its part to compete and be made attractive for capitalization is only left to its self not neighbors or sympathizers. For all you know maybe your status quo serves them well . Do what you need to do to sustain your operations without waiting for sympathizers and thinking someone will come and magically rescue you. The solution lies and ends with you as a company . Simply put play your part in the business world and over reliance on outside help will not help and when it comes it might be too late too little to have any significant impact on what you want to achieve. Think Globally, Act locally It whatever we do as business we need to think as a globally village but act in a local manner that is suited to local needs and wants. Let not companies confine themselves to what is happening around their local areas of influence. Get ideas from without your sphere of influence and implement them in your sphere of influence. That is what we call finding relevant solutions to your local challenges. This thinking in capturing markets far beyond us increases net worth of companies. This mentality increases dominance and existence .Such companies land the best deals in the country be it investments in whatever areas of need. The biggest asset of them all is the mind set of companies it is an intrinsic value that you would not see on the balance sheet. Lack of accountability and responsibility At least be afraid of something whether its God, Gods or amadlozi as this brings accountability. How do we put check and balances if business is not afraid to break the rules? No one is accountable to anyone. When we do as we please, without consequences we lose focus on goals. It creates glutton and greed which is cancerous to society. No one takes responsibility of their actions and we expect the nation to prosper. Not in a million years. We need values, principles, ethos , UBUNTU to adhere to and have fear to break rules and regulations as that is what makes a society respect each other and move towards financial freedom. We can’t have a free for all we are humans that are guided by integrity. With accountability and responsibility we build brands that will create employment and self-sustainable communities. If you believe in karma then you are bound to be fair in all your business dealings on a day to day basis. The ME & I syndrome Everything is about me, myself and I . We have become so selfish that we cant think beyond our noses. We only concerned about ourselves only .How do we prosper when we think of ME only. This has led to resources being abused and people pursue personal glory/agendas to the detriment of the economy at large. If only we could be less selfish and think about others a little bit Zim will be the best place .This applies to companies as well since these are run by individuals thus they exhibit individual traits. AS THEY SAY DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD LIKE THEM TO DO UNTO YOU. If you steal they will also steal from you, just to use a crude example. If you overprice you, will also buy overpriced raw materials. If your perks are immoral( while surrounded by poverty) then you will not receive blessings. The above if not put into check or stopped will lead to perpetual agony either as an individual ,community, country, or Africa as a whole. Aspire to Inspire Before You Expire We leave you on musical tip please listen to The Man in the MIRROR : Michael “Wacko Jacko” Jackson and his message is “ … asking the man in the mirror to change his ways… for a better world…” Let those with ears do the noble thing.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 08:39:11 +0000
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