Barbados continues to grapple with the challenge to sustain its cost of living in harsh economic times. One avenue which is a historical fact is the significant contribution which Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) contribute to economies, especially those which are successful. BU hopes bloggers will post submissions, ideas, feedback about how we can fan the flame of entrepreneurship to the Entrepreneur Corner.
Thanks to Moneybrain for this idea.
An awesome story, thanks for posting.
Are Americans Enamored with the Wrong Kinds of Entrepreneurs?
November 11, 2016
Americans adore entrepreneurs. In every poll that I have seen, entrepreneurs are held in high esteem even as big business is generally viewed with disdain. Why?
Americans’ positive feelings about entrepreneurship are related to their positive feelings about small business, with which entrepreneurship is often conflated.
Small business gets its rosy glow partly from the well-propagated claim that the small business sector creates all the jobs in the economy. That is largely true, actually, but it is also an example of the ubiquitous practice of lying with statistics. Generally speaking, businesses less than 100 employees in size create the largest number of jobs every year, compared to medium-sized businesses (101–499) and large businesses (500+). However, small businesses also destroy the most jobs every year. So the small business sector is simply the biggest job churner in the economy — not the biggest net job creator.
This is a remarkably sloppy article. I have read quite a bit of Roger Martin’s work, he used to be Dean of business at U of T and has written cogently on social entrepreneurship, but this is not up to his usual standard.
He does not proffer the statistics which substantiate his implication that big business does not destroy jobs at a rate equal to or greater than small business, especially when you consider that the disruptive innovation that he idolizes kills entire industries, not just individual firms. Facebook and Google, for example have appropriated a huge fraction of the cash flow that used to be directed to traditional media industries, but provide less than 5% of the number of jobs that these industries used to support. It’s a great deal for Facebook and Google shareholders, but it makes nonsense of the implication that small businesses are “the biggest job churner in the economy.”
Martin and many others fall for the myths of Heropreneurship. We all love a hero. Everyone remembers the name of Dr. Christian Barnard, the surgeon who performed the world’s first heart transplant. His pioneering work has helped thousands since, but you don’t base a health care system on Christian Barnard, you base it on the millions of health care workers who don’t gain hero status. Entrepreneurship plays a parallel role in the economy; heros are nice, but they are not all that matters.
@Peter
But hold on — there’s more to the story. The most valuable companies for the economy are little ones that become big. These companies do create huge numbers of net jobs — and they create jobs that become high-wage, high-productivity, high-innovation, and that drive high exports. The entrepreneurs that create and drive these sorts of companies do deserve the admiration heaped on them.
The big take away from the article stated or not is that a few small companies will morph into mega companies. Microsoft is the mother of all examples.
Exactly! That’s why the tone of the article is self contradictory. The best job creators are small firms that grow rapidly, so why then pour disrespect on small firms? When they are startups no-one has any idea which ones will be the spectacular successes, we need to create an environment which gives them all the best chance to prosper.
Peter, you are absolutely correct imho.
Motivating yourself to WIN in life.
No one can deny the power of a good quote. They motivate and inspire us to be our best.
Here are 38 of my absolute favorites:
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” -Mother Teresa
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou
“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” -Henry Ford
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” -Vince Lombardi
“Life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent of how I react to it.” -Charles Swindoll
“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” -Oprah Winfrey
“Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” -Jimmy Dean
“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” -Audrey Hepburn
“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” -Les Brown
“Do or do not. There is no try.” -Yoda
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” -Napoleon Hill
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” -Michael Jordan
“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” -Albert Einstein
“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” -Stephen Covey
“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” -Henry Ford
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” -Alice Walker
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” -Amelia Earhart
“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” -Aristotle Onassis
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” -Robert Louis Stevenson
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” -Ayn Rand
“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced. -Vincent Van Gogh
“Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.” -Farrah Gray
“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.” -Dalai Lama
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” -Albert Einstein
“What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” -Bob Dylan
“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” -Leonardo da Vinci
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.” -Helen Keller
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy.’ They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” -John Lennon
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” -George Addair
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” -Plato
“Nothing will work unless you do.” -Maya Angelou
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” -Theodore Roosevelt
“What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” -Plutarch
“Control your own destiny or someone else will.” – Jack Welch
Did I miss any? Please share your favorite quotes for others to enjoy in the comments section below.
The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” – Scott Hamilton I am a believer that anyone can do anything that they put their mind to.
There is no right way to do a wrong thing” by Harold Kushner
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Henry David Thoreau
Mark Twain “It’s not what you don’t know that hurts you; it’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so”
Churchill. “Never give up, never never never give up”
I have a friend his name is Dr. Bob Rotella – and he is the world’s leading sports psychologist.
Bob has worked with Olympic gold medalists, world tennis champions, the winners of 84 major golf championships, NCAA champions in basketball, soccer, lacrosse, and track and field, and some of the world’s greatest musicians.
Many of today’s finest athletes, including LeBron James and Rory McIlroy, consult with him regularly.
He has also worked as a consultant to many of the world’s largest companies, including General Electric, Ford, Coca-Cola and Merrill Lynch.
Bob has devoted his life to helping people who want to be exceptional. And he summarized some of his most important findings in his latest New York Times best-seller, How Champions Think.
Throughout his career, Bob discovered that great achievers share many attitudes and attributes.
Here are just a few of his findings about what sets the best competitors – in business and in sports – apart from the also-rans:
Intense optimism. It’s tough to achieve great goals without an unwavering conviction that you will achieve them. Exceptional people generally do this through intense, purposeful visualization. Optimism keeps them juiced, excited about their prospects and willing to work harder than others. Optimism alone doesn’t guarantee anything, of course. But it is an essential ingredient. There is an almost perfect correlation between negative thinking and failure.
A confident self-image. We all construct a mental picture of ourselves. To a great extent, that self-image determines what we become in life. Champions view themselves as winners. And they devote their lives to making that image a reality.
Habits of excellence. Exceptional people follow strict habits that make success almost inevitable. Commitments are a dime a dozen. But unwavering perseverance is a virtue in short supply. In Bob’s experience, people who struggle generally have habits that undermine their efforts.
An unwavering commitment to process. Exceptional people don’t just pursue a dream. They fall in love with the process that makes it come true. They don’t just work longer and harder. They work smarter. Bob claims that if you’re not aspiring to dominate, to be the very best, you’re coasting. And you can coast in only one direction. Backward!
Single-mindedness. Champions don’t generally live well-rounded lives. They know they cannot be great business leaders, great parents, great athletes, great socializers and tireless contributors to their communities. They have a passion for one thing and pursue it with the zeal of the newly converted. In Bob’s experience, champions spend most of their waking hours striving to become the very best at what they do – and spend their remaining hours with their families.
Honest evaluation. Many people set high standards for themselves. But then they go easy on the self-evaluations. Average achievers tend to overestimate how hard they work. Champions don’t. They define excellence in specific terms and commit themselves to the most rigorous standards.
Failure is inevitable in business and in life. But exceptional people don’t let it define them. They find something to cling to, some hope for the future. Each setback comes with some lesson to be learned.
Robert Frank would counter that plenty of people are talented and work hard but – because they aren’t lucky – don’t achieve great business or financial success.
What he doesn’t seem to realize is that working hard is the bare minimum for exceptional people.
Working hard doesn’t guarantee success. It guarantees only that you can live with yourself.
With great achievers, long hours are just a starting point.
They also understand that their biggest struggle is the one within themselves. Anything that causes them to prepare less meticulously or execute less perfectly is a distraction, a hindrance, an encumbrance.
That’s why they surround themselves with, and listen to, those people who will help them succeed.
As Bob writes, “The exceptional person has a vision – of great performances, of a great career, of a great something – and doesn’t care what others may say or think. He ignores information that suggests his dream is unrealistic. He just sets about making that vision a reality.”
Does this really sound like luck?
By sheer coincidence, I read Bob’s book at the same time I read Frank’s. It felt like I was inhabiting alternate universes.
In one, success is determined by greatness of vision, indomitable will, laser-like focus, persistent striving and uncommon resilience.
In the other, well, it’s just a roll of the dice.
And if this is true of business, how about the stock market? After all, no matter how smart or well-informed or hardworking you are, you can’t control interest rates, commodity prices, currency fluctuations, GDP growth, corporate earnings, Fed policy or any of a dozen other factors that affect share prices.
So isn’t stock market success really determined by luck?
you still haven’t heard of billionaire Robert F. Smith, it’s time to start paying attention.
The Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners has lived his life mostly under the radar, granting limited interviews about how he’s built a private equity empire and net worth of $2.5 billion. He is No. 274 on the Forbes 400 List of Richest Americans and is richer than basketball legend Michael Jordan and BET founder Bob Johnson.
Although the 54-year-old Smith has kept his life and work mostly behind the scenes, his business moves to support the black community are hard to ignore.
Smith’s $20 million gift to the National Museum of African-American History and Culture (NMAAHC) came only second to Oprah Winfrey. He’s also backed up his commitment to increasing the number of black students in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) with support for youth coding programs and a $50 million gift to his alma mater, Cornell University, to bolster African-American and female students in the College of Engineering.
And he isn’t just writing checks.
Recently, hundreds of young black professionals and graduate students filled the International House at the Columbia Black Business Student Association’s 35th annual conference to hear him speak. Smith, a Columbia Business School alum, dropped knowledge on everything from economic empowerment to how to build the next generation of leaders in the black community.
Here are five key truths for success that came out of Smith’s candid talk:
Be an expert at your craft.
“The most important thing you can do as a young person is to become an expert. There is no substitute for becoming the best at your craft.”
Smith grew up in the era of segregation and was a product of school bussing. While still in high school, he had a knack for computer science and called the offices of Bell Labs to ask for a summer internship normally reserved for upperclassmen. They said “No.”
So he continued to call them weekly for five months. Despite being repeatedly turned away and eventually ignored altogether, one day, he finally got an offer after an older student didn’t show up.
Smith would go on to earn a chemical engineering degree from Cornell University.
Lesson? Smith knew his stuff. And when it was time to ask for a seat at the table, he could deliver based on his merits and persistence.
Create your own.
“I started Vista because I knew no private equity firm would hire me. I saw what they were looking for… So I created my own firm.”
After graduating from Columbia Business School with honors in 1994, Smith landed a coveted job at Goldman Sachs, focusing on technology mergers and acquisitions.
He successfully led those efforts for six years but eventually wanted to venture out on his own. Smith recalls feeling like no private equity firms would look at him as a desirable candidate.
In 2000, Smith took a leap of faith to start his own private equity firm focused on software and technology-enabled businesses.
The fact that Smith, a double Ivy-League graduate with a masters degree in business, felt he could run into roadblocks shows that even when you are qualified, realizing your unique vision might mean creating your own path.
As of last year, Smith’s company managed more than $26 billion dollars in assets and is considered to be one of the top private equity firms in the country.
5 keys for success from African American billionaire Robert F. Smith business GettyImages 628116640 1 200×300
Robert F. Smith is one of black America’s richest billionaires. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for RFK Human Rights)
Be an example to others.
“I now have the ability to inspire some young African-Americans to say, ‘I can now go actually do this.’”
Smith remembers in his younger days reading a spread in Black Enterprise magazine about black business leaders. The staggering amount of money they earned blew him away.
More than their net worth, Smith says seeing their faces inspired curiosity about their work and made him feel he could pursue the same path.
Even once he earned his first million at 35-years-old, Smith says he kept a low profile “by design,” choosing to develop his skills and company rather than seek limelight.
After being featured on the cover of Forbes magazine in 2015, that privacy really went out the window.
“I lost the ability to go to a movie with my wife and kids,” Smith says. “It comes at a cost.”
But for Smith, the trade-off is well worth it. Just as the stories of black business leaders inspired him then, he wants to do the same for others.
Know your purpose.
“Be thoughtful and conscious about what is your highest and best use.”
Smith recalled enjoying social life during his college years with his brothers from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, on Friday nights, then getting up as early at 6 a.m. the next day to tutor youth in the Ithaca area.
“You didn’t get paid for that,” Smith remembers. “But we also knew because of the divinity of where we’d come from that somebody had done that for us.”
Smith’s parents were both schoolteachers who supported civil rights issues.
He suggested to the crowd at Columbia Business School that not everyone has to be rich or have a high-powered business job to make a lasting difference.
“Maybe [the highest and best use is] for you to read to a child daily,” he said.
Asking yourself which of your talents and gifts inspire you to get up in the morning is time well-spent.
Invest in the future.
“People have put barriers to us for hundreds of years and been thoughtful about it… So we need to be thoughtful.”
New developments in technology have been compared to the “fourth industrial revolution.” But Smith insists there is a lot at stake if black people miss out on the current boom in STEM.
“These are the on-ramps in our community. The greatest wealth building opportunity in the history of the planet,” Smith remarked.
“How do we get a part of that wealth? I guarantee it’s through technology.”
Smith says in the same way that football scouts start early in finding young athletic talent in elementary school, black communities should invest resources in uplifting our own young tech stars.
“It’s intellectual property resources that you have unique dominion over,” says Smith.
“There is a system that has been developed, that we have to develop in technology. Then what happens is, leaders will emerge.”
LEARN from Mercy!
Mercy Kitomari is the founder of Nelwas Gelato, a Black-owned organic ice cream chain. Based in Tanzania (East Africa), her company makes 30 different flavors of rich and creamy ice cream. Truly, what began as a woman’s dream to make her own ice cream has turned into the sweet taste of success!
Started out in her mother’s kitchen
Mercy started out making ice cream in her mother’s kitchen. However, in 2013, she officially launched her business after traveling to London, England to take a course on how to make ice cream.
But her ice cream creations are different! She makes healthy and organic gelatos and sorbets using fresh ingredients and exotic African fruits, spices and nuts. As a non-fat alternative to regular ice cream, her product is lower in calories, fat and sugar.
Her delicious flavors include passion, coffee, lemongrass, mango, raspberry, cookies n cream, peanut butter, wild berry, pineapple, pear, cinnamon, chocolate, and more.
More than just another ice cream chain
In addition to running two locations in Tanzania, her business also includes catering for major hotels and catering for events such as birthdays, weddings, music festivals and even home deliveries. But her ultimate goal is to open ice cream parlors all across Tanzania, and eventually other parts of Africa.
She says she is already using social media platform, such as Instagram, to expand her dessert business. She strongly believes that focusing on her fresh ingredients will attract many customers.
To learn more about Nelwas Gelato, visit her official web site at http://www.nelwas-gelato.com or follow her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NelwasGelato/
We live in a world of accelerating change. New industries are constantly being born and old ones are becoming obsolete. A report by the World Economic Forum reveals that almost 65 percent of the jobs elementary school students will be doing in the future do not even exist yet. Both the workforce and our knowledge base are rapidly evolving.
Combined with the effects of technological automation on the workforce, this leaves us with a crucial question: What are the skills future generations will need?
Education expert Tony Wagner has spent a lifetime trying to answer this very question. Through investigating the education sector, interviewing industry leaders and studying the global workforce at large, Wagner has identified seven survival skills of the future. These are skills and mindsets young people absolutely need in order to meet their full potential.
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
We spend so much time teaching students how to answer questions that we often neglect to teach them how to ask them. Asking questions—and asking good ones—is a foundation of critical thinking. Before you can solve a problem, you must be able to critically analyze and question what is causing it. This is why critical thinking and problem solving are coupled together.
Wagner notes the workforce today is organized very differently than it was a few years ago. What we are seeing are diverse teams working on specific problems, as opposed to specific specialties. Your manager doesn’t have all the answers and solutions—you have to work to find them.
Above all, this skill set builds the very foundation of innovation. We have to have the ability to question the status quo and criticize it before we can innovate and prescribe an alternative.
Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence
One of the major trends today is the rise of the contingent workforce. In the next five years, non-permanent and remote workers are expected to make up 40 percent of the average company’s total workforce. We are even seeing a greater percentage of full-time employees working on the cloud. Multinational corporations are having their teams of employees collaborate at different offices across the planet.
Technology has allowed work and collaboration to transcend geographical boundaries, and that’s truly exciting. However, collaboration across digital networks and with individuals from radically different backgrounds is something our youth needs to be prepared for. According to a New Horizons report on education, we should see an increasing focus on global online collaboration, where “digital tools are used to support interactions around curricular objectives and promote intercultural understanding.”
Within these contexts, leadership among a team is no longer about commanding with top-down authority, but rather about leading by influence. Ultimately, as Wagner points out, “It’s about how citizens make change today in their local communities—by trying to influence diverse groups and then creating alliances of groups who work together toward a common goal.”
Agility and Adaptability
We live in a VUCA (Volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world. Hence, It’s important to be able to adapt and re-define one’s strategy.
In their book, “Critical Thinking: How to Prepare Students for a Rapidly Changing World,” Richard Paul & Dillion Beach note how traditionally our education and work mindset has been designed for routine and fixed procedure. “We learned how to do something once, and then we did it over and over. Learning meant becoming habituated,” they write. “But what is it to learn to continually re-learn? To be comfortable with perpetual re-learning?”
In the post-industrial era, the impact of technology has meant we have to be agile and adaptive to unpredictable consequences of disruption. We may have to learn skills and mindsets on demand and set aside ones that are no longer required.
Initiative and Entrepreneurship
Traditionally, initiative has been something students show in spite of or in addition to their schoolwork. For most students, developing a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial skills has often been part of their extracurricular activities. With an emphasis on short-term tests and knowledge, most curricula have not been designed to inspire doers and innovators.
Are we teaching our youth to lead? Are we encouraging them to take initiative? Are we empowering them to solve global challenges? Throughout his research, Wagner has found that even in corporate settings, business leaders are struggling to find employees who consistently “seek out new opportunities, ideas and strategies for improvement.”
Effective Oral and Written Communication
A study by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills showed that about 89 percent of employer respondents report high school graduate entrants as “deficient” in communication.
Clear communication isn’t just a matter of proper use of language and grammar. In many ways, communicating clearly is an extension of thinking clearly. Can you present your argument persuasively? Can you inspire others with passion? Can you concisely capture the highlights of what you are trying to say? Can you promote yourself or a product?
Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson has famously said “Communication is the most important skill any leader can possess.” Like many, he has noted it is a skill that can be learned and consequently used to open many opportunities.
Assessing and Analyzing Information
We now live in the information age. Every day we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data. As this infographic shows, this would fill 10 million Blu-ray disks.
While our access to information has dramatically increased, so has our access to misinformation. While navigating the digital world, very few students have been taught how to assess the source and evaluate the content of the information they access. Moreover, this information is continuously evolving as we update our knowledge base faster than ever before.
Furthermore, in the age of fake news, an active and informed citizen will have to be able to assess information from many different sources through a critical lens.
Curiosity and Imagination
Curiosity is a powerful driver of new knowledge and innovation. It is by channeling a child-like sense of awe and wonder about the world that we can truly imagine something even better. It takes powerful imagination to envision breakthroughs and then go about executing them. It is the reason Albert Einstein famously said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
We consistently spoon-feed students with information instead of empowering them to ask questions and seek answers. Inquisitiveness and thinking outside the box need to be treated with the same level of importance the school system gives to physics or math.
Transforming the Future of Education
There is a stark contrast between these seven survival skills of the future and the focus of education today. Instead of teaching students to answer questions, we should teach them to ask them. Instead of preparing them for college, we should prepare them for life.
Beyond creating better employees, we must aim to create better leaders and innovators. Doing so will not only radically transform the future of education and the workforce, it will also transform the world we live in.
Thanks Brain, a good article!
6 Life Lessons
Live Below Your Means
Warren Buffett has a net worth of 77 billion. But he still lives in the same house he bought in 1958 for only $31,500. Compared to his income and net worth, Warren Buffett lives frugally. The rest of his money is protection in case of emergencies. Because he lives frugally, he can also invest more money, which will reap more rewards. Not only will his wealth grow faster, but it is unlikely he will declare bankruptcy. Consider this quote by him:
“I’m not interested in cars and my goal is not to make people envious. Don’t confuse the cost of living with the standard of living.”
Skip Meetings and Other Unnecessary Time Wasters
Instead of having long, unnecessary meetings every year, Buffett sends a letter to each of his companies, praising victories from the past year, and stating his goal for the current year (see also: Warren Buffett’s “Not To Do” List). The result is he has more time to work on more productive projects and his employees have more time to work and accomplish goals.
Warren Buffett’s business partner Charlie Munger jokes about Buffett:
“You look at his schedule sometime and there’s a haircut.
Tuesday, haircut day.
That’s what created one of the world’s most successful business records in history. He has a lot of time to think.”
Practice Your Communication Skills
Buffett hated public speaking when he was younger, but he knew it was necessary for him to be successful. So he enrolled in a public speaking course that eventually broke down his fear of public speaking and helped him become a successful public speaker. He now tells young entrepreneurs that the key to success is good communication skills.
Research Before You Invest
Always research before you invest. Buffett researches each of his companies thoroughly and makes sure he can understand them before he invests. After he has deemed a stock to be strong, he invests generously. He also likes companies that can be easily run. After all, companies that are “so simple even a fool can run them” are relatively safe investments – even when fools ARE running them. Warren Buffett does not keep his researching method for investing a secret (see: The 4 Warren Buffett Investing Principles). You can use this as well when you invest:
“We select such investments on a long-term basis, weighing the same factors as would be involved in the purchase of 100% of an operating business:
(1) Favorable long-term economic characteristics;
(2) Competent and honest management;
(3) Purchase price attractive when measured against the yardstick of value to a private owner; and
(4) An industry with which we are familiar and whose long-term business characteristics we feel competent to judge.”
Resist Trends
There are always trendy stocks to buy like Facebook, Apple, Snapchat, or Twitter. But Warren Buffett stays away from these, instead investing in stocks that have a proven track record. After all, there is no telling where the newer trends will go and how long the trendy investments will turn a profit.
Have Fun, Work ar What You Love Doing
Warren Buffett does not understand why people will take jobs they do not like just to get ahead. He is a big believer in doing what you love because life is too short. Warren Buffett loves his job and investing which is why he spends effort and work on it. If he did not like his work, he would probably care much less about it and put a lot less effort into it and he certainly would not be happy. He once compared taking a job you did not like for the promise of future rewards to saving up sex for old age. He also once said:
“Not doing what we love in the name of greed is very poor management of our lives.”
Twin brothers, Jonathan and Jarrett Logan, are the owners of Castle Black Construction in Memphis, Tennessee. One of few Black-owned construction companies in the country, they launched their company back in 2005, and after re-branding themselves, they have tripled in size.
Able to manage any kind of project
This successful family-owned business has worked on many projects, and they have a database of over 100 subcontractors and it’s still growing. They can manage any project from concept to end, and their construction includes retail, religious, medical, residential, and pre-engineered building construction.
They are on track to record about $4.5 million in revenue this year.
Why have they tripled in size?
Castle Black Construction is licensed in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas – and there are tons of development going on in all three states. So, the Logan brothers have decided to grow their business so that they can take on bigger contracts.
They project that they will soon be the largest minority contractor in the city, and the only one able to make competitive bids on multi-million dollar projects. And their mission, as stated on their web site, is to “provide clients with the highest quality construction services within the marketplace, and to create customer relationships founded on mutual respect.”
Challenges of being a minority-owned business
During a recent interview with Moxye, Jarrett commented, “Being a minority contractor, let’s just be honest, we’re at a disadvantage… Financially, we have to be bankable to bankroll projects… And it’s harder for minority companies to prove ourselves with clients and financial institutions.”
So the answer to that problem is that Black people, rich to poor, must form BANKS. This is how Bank of America started with Italian immigrants who were discriminated against. Koreans and Chinese among other minorities have conducted the same strategy.
Expanding the promise of entrepreneurship in developing economies
The diversity and complexity of ordinary life in an average developing economy gives bold entrepreneurs and investors a compelling, reason to train their sights on these countries.
Jul 20, 2017, 08.21 PM IST
The diversity and complexity of ordinary life in an average developing economy gives bold entrepreneurs and investors a compelling, reason to train their sights on these countries. The variety and urgent nature of problems that these economies present—and at the scale that they do—demand a quick turn-around of entrepreneurial solutions that are simultaneously inventive , affordable, and scalable.So, whether it is about unearthing solutions to provide safe, easy ways to bank, have groceries delivered at your doorstep, deliver tech-based education for children unable to attend school, enable remote access to specialized diagnostic services in remote parts, or provide new modes of efficient transport for urban residents—developing economies have it all.
To make these possibilities more challenging is another given: developing economies often have fuzzy and unclear regulations regarding business models and lack the infrastructure to support them. Although hazardous, the lack of clarity turns into an advantage for innovative entrepreneurs who are ready to take on some calculated risk. It provides them with an opportunity to push the envelope in terms of edgy new ideas, typically out of bounds in developed economies due to the prevalence of heavy and strict regulations.
So why is it that there isn’t as much traction in the start-up space in these economies as there should be given the existence of these conducive factors and what is it that can be done differently to maximize the potential they intrinsically have?
Embracing failure
Unlike in the US, several developing economies are home to cultures that discourage and look down on failure. Not being able to succeed at a public venture is associated with shame and guilt. The customary expectation is that whoever (or whatever) fails must learn a lesson to never try his or her hands at another endeavor again. But this clearly goes against the grain of what lies at the heart of entrepreneurship: of building a new company based on a new, untested idea that aims to solve a problem with the hope that it will eventually, after a few possible rough turns, take off.
However, the last few years has seen some improvement on this front. The Mexican startup ecosystem for instance long known for such an approach, has begun to actively promote a culture more accepting of failure. This has encouraged a greater number of entrepreneurs to come on board and establish companies with varying levels of risk. Most however continue to believe that the edgiest ideas pose the greatest risk and therefore also the greatest danger to investors and founders. But our experience over the last five years spent investing in dozens of startups has shown us that truly innovative projects have a greater chance of succeeding simply because they are premised on better ideas. Projects that are not mere imitations of global sweethearts, but are authentic local startups, or well thought out applied models of new technologies, are able to establish a sound base and are more likely to steadily scale up, simply because they factor in the very nuances of a place and a people and the challenges they face every day in more accurate ways.
?
Compelling value propositionsTake for instance Weex, a Mexican virtual mobile operator that targets millennials. Established in 2015 from one of Coca-Cola’s global innovation programs, the company is now the fastest growing and third largest virtual mobile operator. It has successfully closed three rounds of investment with VCs and corporate investors.
What Ricardo and John, its founding team, got right was correctly identifying the unmet need of millions of young Mexicans that could not afford prepaid cell phone plans. Weex created the first app-based prepaid mobile service that lets users spend credit based on app usage instead of calls and megas. Weexers took back control of their digital life. As it grows its user base in the highly competitive Mexican telecom market, Weex is looking to expand its offering to financial products to further empower its used base. Success in developing economies is all about a powerful value proposition and a consistent execution.
Forging close ties with the Mecca of entrepreneurship
Although it is impossible to think of anything entrepreneurial without first in some way invoking that Mecca of entrepreneurship—Silicon Valley—developing economies and those interested in supporting its startup culture must always remember that there can be no second Silicon Valley. And yet it would be prudent to find ways to forge close relationships to it, and try to attract not only its capital but also its talent.
The case of Startup Chile is a good example. Pursuing one of the valley’s most salient strength, the Chilean government created a program to attract the talented founders from all over the world by basically subsidizing any entrepreneur who wants to launch a company in Chile. If you are an Indian engineer or a French designer, you go to Chile and you get up to $90,000 to start your company. You don’t need to prove anything but your ambition to solve a problem with tech and your willingness to launch it from Chile. Since starting in 2010, hundreds of companies from 80 countries have moved to Santiago for the program. This rich talent pool kickstarted in turn a new vibrant ecosystem of accelerators, VCs and corporate programs.
The humane scope of applied AI
I believe that programs like this indicate the vast scope a globalized world offers to extend change to the places that need it the most. Just as entrepreneurs in Latin America stand to benefit from having close ties to the entrepreneurial and experimental spirit of Silicon Valley, so too can startup founders and their investors in the US and the rest of the West learn from the many applications of AI technologies that local entrepreneurs are creating in developing economies.
Why AI? Because it is in my view the first disruptive technologies to have emerged in the last years which has the potential to help imaginative entrepreneurs in the developing world solve an array of pressing problems with nuanced solutions that only they understand completely.
Aerobotics, a Cape Town based startup is using AI to power a fleet of drones that assist farmers in South Africa to enhance fertilization and yields of crops such as wheat and sugar cane. An Indian startup, SigTuple aims to set up a platform that will help detect diseases by using machine learning software to analyze medical images and patient data. And a Mexican architect hopes to scale Lupe, an IoT-based gaming system that runs on a machine learning platform that will be enabled to measure and boost children’s creativity.
As more start-ups post success stories in developing economies, they will inspire others from both inside and outside their geographies to join in. And while some will be inspired by business ideas already vetted in the West, several others will owe their roots entirely to the special and distinct context in which they were imagined. The next generation of unicorns will come from unlikely visionaries based in remote geographies.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETtech.com does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETtech.com shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organisation directly or indirectly.
About Federico AntoniFederico Antoni, Stanford Business School lecturer and VC investor
http://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/catalysts/expanding-the-promise-of-entrepreneurship-in-developing-economies/2495
Branson’s Top 10 for Success
Follow your dreams
You will live a much better life if you just do it and pursue your passions. Those people who spend their time working on things they love are usually the ones enjoying life the most. They are also the ones who dared to take a risk and chase their dreams.
Do some good
If you aren’t making a positive difference to other people’s lives, then you shouldn’t be in business. Companies have a responsibility to make a difference in the world, for their staff, their customers – everyone.
Believe in your ideas
Belief in yourself and belief in your business ideas can make all the difference between success and failure. If you aren’t proud of your idea and believe in your plans, why should anybody else?
business_is_an_adventure_seattle_richard_branson_3.jpg
Image from Virgin Atlantic
4. Have fun
Fun is one of the most important – and underrated – ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to try something else.
Don’t give up
On every adventure I have been on – whether setting up a business, flying around the world in a balloon or racing across the ocean in a boat – there have been moments when the easy thing to do would be to give up. By simply not giving up, brushing yourself down and trying again, you’ll be amazed what you can achieve.
Keep setting yourself new challenges
If you don’t write down your ideas, they could be gone by the morning. Write down lists to keep track of your goals, and you’ll be amazed what challenges you overcome.
richard branson strive hike
Image by Adam Slama
7. Learn to delegate
The art of delegation is one of the key skills any entrepreneur can master. If you find people who can take on tasks you aren’t good at, it frees you up to plan for the future. It also gives you time to spend with your family and friends, which is the most important thing of all.
Look after your team
If your staff are having fun and genuinely care about other people, they will enjoy their work more and do a better job. Find people who look for the best in others, praise rather than criticise, and love what they do.
Get out there and do things
Rather than sitting in front of a screen all your life, switch off the TV or the computer and go out into the world. There are so many fascinating people to meet, exciting adventures to embark upon and rewarding challenges to take on that there’s no time to lose.
Virgin Sport Hackney Festival of Fitness Richard Branson and Mary Wittenberg stretching
Image from Virgin Sport
10. When people say bad things about you, just prove them wrong
Some people will react to success by trying to hang onto your coat tails. The best thing you can do is to not only ignore them, but to prove them wrong in every single way.
It’s been 4 years since I ever so proudly quit my day job in PR, posting a photo on Facebook of my first day of ‘freedom’, sipping on a latte at my local cafe with laptop in tow posting ‘My new office!’ for all to envy…
But then there I was three years later sitting on the edge of my bed quietly sobbing, head in hands, having barely been paid a salary since leaving my day job, and wondering what the hell was wrong with me that I couldn’t seem to make this self employment thing work.
You see, the sexy ‘build a freedom business’ line that many in the online world have been selling has been omitting some fairly large truths.
Truths that I intend on shining a light on. Not ‘the’ truth. But my truth and experience.
And as your fellow entrepreneur, I feel a sense of duty to protect you, to protect your passions, and to share my own personal life lessons.
My intention is to make sure you know that, despite what they tell you, despite what they market and sell you, despite what you might tell yourself even, you are already doing EVERYTHING possible to make this thing work.
There is no ‘missing key’ or business building secret you aren’t in on.
I know who you are, courageous entrepreneur.
I see how hard you work.
I see how persistent you are.
I see your endless determination.
I know you have grit, hope and positivity.
I know you are already doing scary things outside of your comfort zone.
I know you are showing up.
I know you are investing in yourself, your personal growth and learning new skills.
I know you are committed and brave beyond measure.
So don’t listen to anyone who says you should give more, push harder, work longer, think more happy thoughts, visualize your future more, blah blah blah.
It’s all bullsh*t to make you buy their stuff, their ‘solutions’. Because they are suffering as much as you are.
You are ALREADY doing and being ENOUGH! More than enough.
I know this because I am just like you. And after almost four years of hustling like an absolute mofo, I was exhausted, burnt out and financially plateauing at best.
But the part that really kills me…
I started to think I was missing something…
That I just wasn’t made of tough enough stuff or that perhaps I wasn’t working hard enough…(OMG seriously?!).
And maybe you’ve had these thoughts too…
You see, the problem with the world of entrepreneurship is the sales pitch that success can happen almost overnight.
It doesn’t.
I guess the sales pitch ‘Build your freedom business and break even in five years!’ isn’t really that sexy…
So, with that said, I want to share with you 6 things I wish I knew way back when I first decided to take the plunge into self-employment. Life lessons, if you will, from my entrepreneurial journey so far.
And if you take nothing else from this sharing, I hope that you will agree with me that you are already doing a freaking amazing job!
1. Slow down to speed up
If I have one regret about my entrepreneurial journey, it’s that I wish I had stayed in my day job until I had at least started to earn an income that could continue to cover our basic expenses.
From day one I hit the ground with the background pressure of ‘make some money and quick!’ which was not at all helpful!
I also left a job that was actually pretty good with people I enjoyed working with and at which I could have easily stuck it out. In hindsight my actions were irresponsible and put my family (and business) under pressure that was ultimately not necessary.
I had an itch about living my passion and at a moment’s notice decided to scratch it! I had bought into the overnight success myth.
My advice: If you can slow down and lengthen out the transition phase from your current job to the new venture (unless your current situation is completely untenable) then it not only helps you make course corrections with the space and perspective to do so, it also allows everyone else around you to adjust — whether that’s just to the idea of you building a business/leaving your day job or to change spending habits/cut expenses.
Slow down now to speed up your potential success later.
Passion cannot exist inside of financial stress
When I quit my job with zero safety net and little clue of what this business venture would actually look like, it meant that we could no longer afford to rent our apartment and decided to move into my mother-in-law’s basement with our then 3 year old son. I vividly recall sitting in that basement in front of my computer, staring at the screen and feeling particularly exhausted.
I wasn’t working out, meditating or taking many breaks in-between daycare pick ups because I felt I had no right to relax. After all I was the one who had put my family in this predicament in the first place and so my passion business became this thing that I had to defend and justify — making promises to my husband that any day now I’d be making money and our bank account would be thriving again.
My advice: If you are under financial pressure (and the pressure point will be different for everyone) then it gets pretty hard to enjoy your passion business, as it was for me at times. So what’s the point? If you are stressed ‘living your passion’ you might as well be stressed back at your day job earning a salary. Protect your passion and creativity at all costs, even if it means you dabble on the side for the first few years. Don’t let your passions be tainted or die because they can’t carry the weight of the financial burden, hustle and expectations. What you have to offer the world is too precious.
Build a safety net and then don’t touch it!
I hear a lot of people talk about how they built up a safety net before taking the plunge, which is great in theory but then that safety net gets slowly eaten into as their income dives and they dip into that fund to cover expenses. Don’t quit your job and then just watch your safety net dwindle away. The purpose of a safety net is that it remains in place, not that it slowly falls apart leaving you exposed.
My advice: As someone who never even had a safety net (I know…), let alone protected it, I may not be one to talk, nonetheless, my advice is to build up a safety net of 6–8 months of expenses and then start to dabble and experiment and see if anyone is actually prepared to pay you for what you are creating. If you start to think to yourself ‘I’m going to have to dip into my safety net’ then consider that a red flag that you need to generate income some other way while you figure out this entrepreneurial thing.
It’s ok for your passion to remain a side project
For the past four years I fell into the trap of very black and white thinking: either it’s my passion OR a day job. But in reality it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s very possible, and it’s my recommendation, that your passion remains a side project (at least for the first 3–5 years). I certainly got caught up in the whole ‘live off your passion’ sexiness and read story after story of people who had ‘made it’ and thought that it was only right that my passion also be my full-time gig.
But I have since come to realize that:
It’s ok for my passions to remain just that and that I personally experience the full joy of the things I love when financial pressure is absent
a 9–5 day job is the best option for me personally to earn a competitive salary which in turn allows me to experience more joy partaking in my passionate work on the side (because the financial pressure is off)
a day job can actually be something that I enjoy and enables me to contribute to the world, just in a different format, and
I can actually earn more as a whole by working a 9–5 while transitioning my passions into a sidehustle business thereby allowing me to enjoy what I love without the financial expectations and sales goals.
My advice: Give yourself permission to enjoy your passion project as a sidehustle for the first 3–5 years, then reassess based on data and feedback you have gathered along the way to decide if the project has legs as a full-time business venture.
You must be prepared to sell and hustle
If you do decide that you would like your passion business to earn income, the one thing I wish I had of known was that one of the top skills you must have or learn is sales.
I initially wanted to do all the comfortable stuff: build a website, write content, create social media accounts ect. But I slowly realized that none of that stuff was the 80/20 that would actually propel the business forward financially. I had to sell what we were offering (oh lord!).If you aren’t prepared to have sales conversations, to market yourself, to have prospecting meetings etc, then what you are creating won’t be seen by those who might need it and ulimtately buy it.
Any by the way, no matter how financially successful your products or services become, there is no summit where you are suddenly exempt from selling or hustling. In fact, some of the most successful entrepreneurs are also some of the fiercest and highly converting sales people I know.
My advice: No matter how amazing your creation, be prepared for the fact that it won’t sell itself. That’s your #1 job now and forever — to sell.
6. Dumb luck accounts for a much larger proportion of success than you probably realize
I seriously have no idea what the formula for success is in entrepreneurship and I’ve taken my fair share of courses! I have no idea how some people are able to sustain themselves financially off their passion business while others with equally as good businesses do not.
I’ve had opportunities and exposure many in my space dream of, like speaking in front of crowds of 1,000+ ideal potential clients and a regular writing spot on a popular personal development blog read by 250K+ subscribers.
And yet still I wasn’t able to come even close to replacing my old salary of four years ago. There could be a multitude of reasons why, but it does leave me to believe that dumb luck must be a factor and perhaps accounts for more of the success than we realize.
There are countless entrepreneurs who have phenomenal ideas, solid foundations, intentions, and natural gifts but who never ‘make it’ because they never experienced enough dumb luck along the way.
And dumb luck unfortunately can’t be fabricated or strategized (lord knows I’ve tried!). You just have to be at the right place at the right time — kind of like that beautiful girl that gets discovered in the mall and becomes a supermodel. Someone has to share your project to an influencer, or you get featured on a prominent platform with a ready-made audience, or perhaps you get invited to deliver a keynote speech or accepted to give a TED talk etc.
My advice: Cut yourself some slack and know that dumb luck may or may not intersect with this particular journey of yours. Let it go, keep showing up, and just enjoy the ride as best you can.
Don’t ‘Go hard or go home’; instead ‘Slow down and sustain’
Despite all of the challenges we entrepreneurs face as we strive to do what we love and despite how exhausting it can be, it’s clear to me that taking this path is simply the best kind of education anyone can ask for.
And not just that, entrepreneurship is the only way we are going to find solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges right now.
We entrepreneurs cannot afford to become exhausted and burnt out.
You are too important. We are too important. Your ideas are too important.
Now more than ever the world needs your unique contribution, it needs your ideas, your alternate thinking and your ability to maintain the pace to bring that contribution, idea and thinking into reality.
I know who you are, courageous entrepreneur. You are doing an amazing job.
MB
Entrepreneurship in a small class conscious,crab in the barrel and corrupt society can be problematical, in my days with NGOs I came across many hurdles from govt agencies indifference to assisting community business programmes to ministries simply refusing to release funds.
Another factor that was peculiar to Bim from the 70s onward was our developed country status,I recall going on begging missions to Washington and seeing my St. Vincent counterpart getting through licking with grants for their Ag. projects whilst those doors were shut to me. On a funny note one agency looked at one of my Ag. projects that needed a tractor and said to me that they saw a similar one for Columbia and they were able to fund a pack of mules for them.
Another scenario was offering unemployed community group individuals $500.00 to purchase grapes,apples,fruit in general and set up a stalls with scheduled repayments and resplenishment of stock…..one bright spark at the meeting got up and said….Sir,if you give me the $500.00 now, I can bring it back by midday with interest.
Entrepreneurship is best left to those with the vision and drive to overcome the hurdles.
Note the blackmarket is alive and well…..which is what keeps Bim afloat.
Vinni,
Your comments are valid and personally I like not to depend on Govt where practical.
These days with the internet etc advice can be given via a blog where mature/ retired Business and Professionals types could answer questions provide advice and articles similar to this site. Notice how I mentioned above TV programs with very knowledgeable participants like Mark Lemonis “The Profit”, Dymon John, Sharktank with Mark Cuban, Dragons Den et al, Restaurant —much more.
U could have a section on the various functions and How to Prepare and Attain a Bank Loan/ Financing..with forms for Accounting, Marketing, Production etc.
@Vincent
You cannot have your cake and eat it too. Barbados has always ranked high on the HDI compared to the St. Vincents, the developed world as is their right has a cutoff for aid/grant money. The greater issue is that the Barbados player have lacked the entrepreneurial ethos to compared to the other islands especially Jamaica.
MB
Chuckle……BU is for old geezers to recall their past and berate the present holders of the responsibility of leading the country forward. Not to impose ones thinking on the young brigade.
David
No disagreement with your comment,whenever I went I knew the cards were stacked against me.
David,
The HDI is self-reporting, it is not an objective metric. It is the same as claiming that Barbados has 9 per cent literacy. We are so desperate to punch above out 166sq ml weight that anyone comparing us to global standing gets us excited. Why is our university not in the global 5000? And why do Mona, St Augustine and Cave Hill score differently in global university rankings?
98 per cent
The HDI is self-reporting, it is not an objective metric.
…………………………………………………………………………………..
…….it was objective enough for the agencies in Washington to refuse grant funds based on our developed country status.
"…..the amount of funding has grown. Peru now boasts a whopping $100 million fund to promote micro, small and medium-sized enterprises; the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loaned $40 million USD toward the fund, with the Peruvian Ministry of Finance putting in $60 million USD. Even more, The World Bank approved a $45 million USD loan earlier this year for the development of science, technology, and innovation in Peru…"
So what was the turning point for the ecosystem? Most notably, the government began to invest in innovation. Ministry of Production initiative Startup Peru was launched in 2012, with an objective to promote the emergence of Peruvian startups and innovative products. Just this year, 837 projects applied for seed capital from Startup Peru — of those, 106 ventures were chosen to receive the equivalent of $5,000, $46,000 and $153,000 USD in funding.
There’s also Innovate Peru, which the Ministry of Innovation launched in 2014. Its goal is to strengthen companies, entrepreneurs and support systems within the Peruvian ecosystem, and facilitate collaboration between them through dozens of specific funds — such as offering money for scientific equipment at institutions, or high-impact projects for the Peruvian economy, society or environment.
And over the years, the amount of funding has grown. Peru now boasts a whopping $100 million fund to promote micro, small and medium-sized enterprises; the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loaned $40 million USD toward the fund, with the Peruvian Ministry of Finance putting in $60 million USD. Even more, The World Bank approved a $45 million USD loan earlier this year for the development of science, technology, and innovation in Peru.
Additionally, Lima is currently working with the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program — a two-year initiative that works with local government, academia, investors, entrepreneurs and corporations to develop an actionable framework for strengthening innovative and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Other notable players in the ecosystem include Universidad del Pacifico, where much of the tech talent arises, Peru’s first accelerator Wayra, accelerator Endeavour Peru, as well as 10 other accelerators and incubators in the community.
David,
We need a Govt that understands how to manage and encourage Development and Growth. It starts with the correct environment in terms of Attitude, Work Ethic, Education—Excellence must be our mantra. This is why the easy peasy Corruption environment must die because it filters down to too high a proportion of the populace and then few want to work, take risk / invest time, money, energy etc.
We must insist on a non-partisan approach to solving the future or not the future may not be too bright.
@Money Brain
Nurturing the entrepreneurial culture in Barbados will be difficult given where we have come from i.e. wholesale retail way of doing business. Our school structure is primarily based on a traditional approach etc etc etc. We have our work cutout although it is not impossible. We should have used the economic crisis of the last 7 years a lot better to force transformation.
David,
Exactly, it has to be thoroughly thought out but it is very broad Economic Planning and ACTION. Not just BS discussion for the sake of talk. Bim is worth saving but proper Comprehensive planning, strategic direction and Action must be conducted immediately.
Education wise Bajans should learn from Canada’s mistakes of over emphasising Uni, instead of what makes sense for the individual and Nation’s needs.
Canada has an oversupply of Uni Grads with bogus degrees, who are unemployed whereas there is a dearth of Plumbers who make $ hundreds of thousands per year. Prestige does not get you pass the checkout counter legally. Fully 25% of Uni grads go on to Technical College having wasted the People’s $$$$$$ learning garbage—so instead of 4 yrs they spend 6-7 yrs in order to start making a living.—WASTE.
How can UWI not produce enough Accountants for Bim’s needs ? Ridiculous!
We have some of the best sillica sands at Springfield Sand Mine St.Joseph.
https://www.facebook.com/mashablescience/videos/10155350750449705/
Our UWI could be looking at wind&solar energy,self powered cars,etc,etc
Go students!
Dutch Students Design Biodegradable Electric Car
Students in the Netherlands have built a biodegradable electric car that …
ecowatch.com
Legalise ganja and start growing it.
He knows a business opportunity when he sees it.
This former minister expects to make $22 million next year selling marijuana
He smoked pot in high school, but that was a long time ago.
cnbc.com|By CNBC
http://cnb.cx/2hLklvk
@Vincent
Do you know if the UWI, Cave Hill has done anything with the land at Dukes that was donated by the Edghills?
David&MB
My point with the above examples of doable and achievable projects for Bim was to show that all is required is the will to do it.
…presently a youngster does exquisite glass figurines using that sand
….why cannot Headley’s energy at UWI be replicated
…..We have a number boys inside and out of Dodds who are self taught in the production of this herb…….we have loads of land under cow itch and mossie that needs a cash crop which can be rotated with sugar cane.
I agree with MB that the theoretical focus of UWI needs to undergo a dramatic change and not to creating auditors as that was originally for BIMAP and the Community college.
David
Not a word about that land at Dukes……..who knows these former plantation lands like the ones at Dodds maybe awaiting approval for use as agricultural lands……with this govt all things are possible.
Hopefully it will not go the way of the solar research started by the late Oliver Headley.
Of course the challenge in Barbados is that startups are stigmatized and there is limited opportunity for venture capital.
Job Creation Is Done By Startups: Wolfgang Will, Senior Director, South Asia, Lufthansa Group
Entrepreneurship is the driving force of the Indian economy. We at Lufthansa feel privileged to be at the heart of this nationwide movement celebrating entrepreneurship, says Will
CIBC mulls offering Caribbean subsidiary on U.S. stock markets Globe&Mail Dec 13 2017
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is considering listing its Caribbean banking subsidiary on U.S. stock markets, seeking options to redeploy resources away from a region that has been known as a risky place to do business.
Canada’s fifth-largest bank has a long history in the Caribbean, with interests in Barbados and Jamaica dating back to the 1920s, and now owns nearly 92 per cent of FirstCaribbean International Bank. But CIBC has more recently turned the focus of its international strategy to the United States, where it acquired Chicago-based PrivateBancorp Inc. for $5-billion (U.S.) earlier this year.
The prospect of publicly listing FirstCaribbean, a Barbados-based lender that does business in 17 countries, is still a work in progress. But it would provide a new way for FirstCaribbean to raise funds, freeing CIBC to redirect capital to other priority areas across North America. Reuters first reported the possibility that CIBC might list its Caribbean arm in New York.
“FirstCaribbean is considering a potential stock market listing in the U.S., the world’s deepest capital market,” said CIBC spokeswoman Caroline Van Hasselt, in an e-mailed statement.
“While no decisions have been made, such a listing would provide CIBC FirstCaribbean with access to a larger investor base, enhanced liquidity, and greater access to capital to support long-term growth.”
Caribbean banking has suffered from a challenging economic environment of late, compounded by a recent series of hurricanes that battered the region’s infrastructure, adding to CIBC’s loan losses. And at times, the region has proven to be a reputational minefield for some banks, prompting other lenders such as Royal Bank of Canada to pull out, though Bank of Nova Scotia maintains a robust Caribbean presence.
In recent years, CIBC was rumoured to have considered selling its Caribbean unit, but reportedly struggled to find interested buyers. Instead, CIBC began restructuring FirstCaribbean in 2013, and took a $420-million (Canadian) goodwill writedown in 2014, while setting aside $123-million to cover soured loans. Further restructuring charges followed in 2015, by which point the bank had cut its work force by roughly 15 per cent and consolidated back offices.
Under current chief executive officer Gary Brown, who took over at the start of 2016, FirstCaribbean has made some strides and begun tidying up a once-shaky loan book. The lender now accounts for about a third of CIBC’s gross impaired loans, after accounting for more than half only two years ago.
But in the meantime, CIBC’s priorities have shifted, prompting a need for flexibility in its capital deployment as it seeks to build a more competitive U.S. footprint on the strength of private banking and wealth management.
The former PrivateBancorp, newly renamed CIBC Bank USA after merging with CIBC, contributed $57-million (U.S.) in profit during the three months that ended Oct. 31, marking one of the best quarterly results the bank has had. But CIBC is in the process of rebuilding its capital levels after the deal, having paid a steep price for PrivateBancorp following a year-long courtship. CIBC’s common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio stood at 10.6 per cent at fiscal year-end, down from 11.3 per cent a year earlier.
In a previous interview, CIBC CEO Victor Dodig said he aims to build “one of the most prominent business banks in North America,” with the U.S. arm contributing a quarter of CIBC’s profits. And that could require further investments, similar to CIBC’s July deal to buy private wealth management firm Geneva Advisors for up to $200-million.
The option to pursue a public listing of FirstCaribbean would open an avenue through which CIBC could gradually reduce its stake or leave the Caribbean altogether. But there’s no guarantee a public listing would signal a hard exit.
“We continuously review our business and if and when decisions are made, they may be subject to regulatory approvals, and stakeholders are advised as appropriate,” Ms. Van Hasselt said.
Another interesting piece, in light of the public debt owned by banks.
How badly does CIBC want to solve its Caribbean problem? Globe&Mail Dec 13 2017
From the moment he took over as chief executive officer, Victor Dodig confronted a nagging problem: What to do with FirstCaribbean, CIBC’s troubled unit based in Barbados?
The division had been a slow-burning fire inside the bank for several years. That fire became a blaze right before he was named CEO in September, 2014.
In May of that year, CIBC took a $420-million writedown on the division, and by the end of that fiscal year, more than half of CIBC’s total gross impaired loans – that is, loans the bank believed would likely not be repaid – were housed in a tiny cluster of sun-drenched islands. Meanwhile, the division contributed only 4 per cent profit of the bank’s total revenue.
This week, investors finally got some insight into what Mr. Dodig might do, with CIBC confirming it is weighing whether to spin off FirstCaribbean and list it on a U.S. stock exchange, which would allow it to reduce its nearly 92-per-cent stake.
The crucial question is whether investors will show any love. The odds seem long: A U.S. listing could be a hard sell. Jamaica’s National Commercial Bank tried something similar, but ultimately pulled the offering in 2016.
CIBC has tried an outright sale of FirstCaribbean but got nowhere. Talks with Trinidad-based Republic Bank resulted in nothing but lowball offers, according to people familiar with the negotiations. The U.S. spinoff seems like a last-ditch effort.
FirstCaribbean is certainly in much better shape than it was. The bank started slashing costs a few years back by consolidating back offices and shedding close to 15 per cent of its work force. Once Mr. Dodig took over the parent bank, he sent Gary Brown down to Barbados to do even more heavy lifting – the assumption being that Mr. Brown would polish FirstCarribean for a sale after his success unloading some U.S. capital markets businesses to Oppenheimer in 2007. He also helped clean up CIBC’s structured credit portfolio during the financial crisis.
Last year FirstCaribbean posted a $142-million (U.S.) profit, and gross impaired loans have fallen to one-third of CIBC’s total. Its thinly-traded shares are up almost 40 per cent since the start of 2016 on the Barbados Stock Exchange.
But how much better can things get? New investors are going to want to see some upside, and growth prospects aren’t encouraging.
Revenue growth at FirstCaribbean has been effectively nil for five years, and Canadian competitors Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Nova Scotia, who also operate in the region, have admitted it’s tough going down there. Scotiabank has quietly been getting rid of troubled loans, and some are rumoured to be going for 10 to 20 cents on the dollar, according to a person familiar with the sales.
The roots of these troubles spread wide. To name a few: Trinidad, a big economic hub, has major exposure to plummeting gas prices because of its offshore production; hurricanes have ravaged a number of countries; and sweeping cost cuts are hard to enact because bank operations are spread out across multiple countries, each with its own government, and the workforce is largely unionized.
FirstCaribbean is particularly challenged by its home base of Barbados. The country’s tourist dollars have returned somewhat from their post-financial crisis lows, but the local economy is still in rough shape. In September, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the country’s debt rating to CCC, deep in junk territory.
Because the debt rating is so weak and foreign investors have shied away, the government is having trouble funding itself. Its answer has been to put more pressure on local banks, and come January, they will be required to hold 20 per cent of their domestic deposits in government securities.
That’s especially troubling because the risk of a debt restructuring in Barbados is quite high. Should it happen, a best-case scenario might involve extending the debt terms by a few years, meaning the banks wouldn’t get their money back for a longer period. But there’s a chance there will be a significant haircut on the value of these government securities, which would wipe out some of the banks’ deposit base.
Regulatory risks loom, too. In 2015 allegations emerged that FirstCaribbean may have been used to help facilitate an illegal payment to an executive at FIFA, soccer’s governing body, and earlier this month Barbados was added to European Union’s list of tax havens, a collection of countries that the EU argues does not do enough to stop tax avoidance programs.
Despite all that, CIBC should be relieved that FirstCaribbean currently turns a solid profit: $142-million in net income is not something to shrug at, considering that Chicago-based PrivateBancorp, which it bought for $5-billion, posted a $208-million profit in 2016. But the Caribbean is a market with much lower potential than the U.S. Midwest.
It could be that CIBC gets a deal done by trying to spin off the asset for cheap. It just depends how badly Mr. Dodig and the board want this problem solved.
Dodig must be looking over his shoulders at his Bay St. rivals and realize that RBC is catching up and may soon surpass CIBC in share price. RBC is trading at the $100.00 (CAD) mark while CIBC is about $120.00 up from approx. $114.00 in recent days. The value of RBC shares are increasing at a faster rate than CIBC, ( RBC had a stock split in 2006 while CIBC’s last split was 1997) perhaps Dodig doesn’t want the ignominy of seeing RBC shares surpass CIBC on his watch given such a head start. The top dogs on Bay St. are not lacking for egos.
Bottom line CIBC may jettison the local arm and focus on other markets (mainly US) it went the electronic route (in the US ) a few years ago but it was ahead of the market, it seems to have changed its strategy with the most recent acquisition. CIBC bought Barclays assets a few years ago now it looks like it may follow Barclays lead and exit the region and reduce the footprint of the Canadian Banks in the area.
An article on ruling by the SCC on the liability of auditors.
An issue that BT frequently has referenced.
The actual ruling itself can be located by a link within the article, or via this…https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/16920/index.do
Beyond his amazing business success after dropping out of school when he was 15, Richard Branson is unusual. He is unafraid of controversy while managing to live without regrets, as his mother taught him. And in a new interview on Freakonomics Radio released today, he ups the ante.
Forget the M.B.A., and even basic business basic savvy like knowing the difference between net and gross if you want to be a successful entrepreneur. There’s something far more important to understand: people. If you can trust, inspire, promote, and work with people, you can do amazing things. Here are some of Branson’s points.
Put yourself out of business.
Some people are meant to be entrepreneurs and others are far better suited to other roles. “I actually believe that people should delegate early on in their businesses, so they can start thinking about the bigger picture,” Branson said, advising that entrepreneurs should find people as good or better than themselves. “Put yourself out of business, and let them get on and run your business day to day.” When you do, you free yourself to focus on bigger issues and even start other businesses. Plus, many of the people you find will be much better at particular jobs than you would ever be.
Business terminology is not the most important thing.
Branson said that he was 50 before he understood the terms net and gross, and it took someone drawing a picture with crayons of an ocean, fish, and a net to get it across. “But the bizarre thing is that by then we had the biggest group of private companies in Europe,” he said. Knowing terminology isn’t so important. “What matters is, you know, have you created the best company, the best airline, or the best record company? And if you have created the best, your figures will add up at the end of the year, and you’ll have more money coming in than going out, and you can employ some accountants to work out the difference between net and gross.”
Business professionalism is fine for MBAs.
There’s nothing wrong with professional management in companies. But entrepreneurs are different. “They need a passion, absolute passion for what they’re doing,” Branson said. “They need an absolute belief in what they’re doing. They need to be wonderful motivators of people.” He also said, “If you’ve got a happy, motivated group of people you’re working with, you can achieve anything.”
Treat employees like family.
Companies get nowhere through fear and intimidation. “If you treat your people badly, they’re not going to go that extra mile when things get tough,” Branson said. Instead, treat them like family. “I mean a lot of our time we spend at work, and work should be fun. It should be enjoyable. And you should also have policies that follow through with that.” Let employees work from home, take time off, and otherwise have flexibility to make adult decisions so they can do their work and live their lives. Branson has found that people don’t take advantage of the attitude because they feel trusted, and so treat the company well in return.
Give people a chance.
Branson has been unusual in his support of former convicts by given them jobs and opportunities. “Because we give them that trust, not one of them have ever re-offended,” he said. “And somebody who will do everything they can for the company because the company has given them that second chance.”
Promote from within.
Branson’s preference to promote from within, including CEOs, is actually solid management theory these days. “I think there’s nothing more discouraging for, say, a thousand people who work in a company for a so-called expert to be brought in from outside,” he said. “And generally, if you can’t find a good CEO within a thousand people in a company, there’s something wrong in the first place. You should have deputies who are quite capable of stepping into the CEO’s position.”
Put women in charge.
Not that Branson places women as CEOs just because they’re women. But he recognizes talent and uses it. “I mean, you know, women are a breath of fresh air actually, in most areas,” he said. “So I think we need to kick start it, it needs to be forced on companies. … I think there’s a danger that men will continue to appoint men.”
Sounds a lot like “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”
That said, I have know a lot of people who left jobs not because hey could not do or did not like the work or could not do it, not because they were not willing and able to work hard, not because the pay was too small, but because supervisors/managers/owners cchose to use the fear and intimidation thingy.
In all cases the employees gave as little notice as legally required–sometimes giving the notice while on vacation far far away–lol!, and in all cases went on to do excellent work other places.
I mean if my employer is treating me like @hit, like a good passive/agressive Bajan, I arrange my annual leave, I go far far away, and email in my notice. I return to work on a Monday 3 or 4 weeks later. Do a good day’s work, then pick up my bag and leave, straight into my new job Tuesday morning.
Nah ya int getting me to spend a minute helping to select or train the new fella.
Why would I do that for you?
Idiots.
Here are some good role models for business.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=226&v=37SNRJh6peU
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