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Fomba Trawally’s story is another great one, it’s so amazing how this Liberian refugee started a business with a very little amount and built it into an empire. This is how he did it.

Fomba Trawally was born in 1971 to poor parents in Liberia. Growing up, he attended the Voinjama Public School in 1975 and subsequently the Kakata Islamic Training School in 1981. His mother had no formal education and sold peppers and aubergines in order to feed her children. His mother later died in the year 1980 and this was when her eldest son, Mr. Trawally, started his entrepreneurial journey with selling shower slippers in a wheelbarrow.

Then the civil war broke out in 1989, and Mr. Trawally and his family had to flee to Gambia as refugees. At the end of 1991 he returned home and - with $25 (£16) that he had saved and $120 that he got from a Malian friend - he started his business, Kumba Beindu and Sons. The company imports plastic products, shoes and cosmetics from countries such as China, the United States, Turkey and neighboring Ivory Coast. In Liberia it supplies hundreds of smaller businesses in Monrovia, the capital, and several provincial towns. With tens of employees, Kumba Beindu and Sons, main site is located at Monrovia's Waterside Market, and residents flock to it in search of items normally available only at his place.

Now his import company is one of the biggest in Liberia. “It's very easy to make business in Liberia. You'll see many Liberians that are doing business now. In just one year's time we were able to grow up to $3,000… and now we have businesses all around the country. I was not expecting that at all. I was not dreaming about it. My dream was only to get $500 in my life “he told BBC's series African Dream.
"So I was not thinking that I'm gonna talk about $1,000, I'm gonna talk about $10,000 and end up with $1m… If I could get $500, then I could go to a Nigerian market to buy goods from Nigeria," he said. And he wants to lead by example. His next dream is to move into manufacturing.
"My country now needs to also export products. You're not gonna be buying these clothes again in China, you're gonna be buying them right here, Liberian-made."

"You can learn accounting in a school and get your PhD in accounting but the practical idea, if you don't have it, it will be difficult to go through."

He believes that if you want to make your money grow, you have to learn to save it too. He told BBC Africa that he does not spend his money unnecessarily and lives a very frugal life. According to him, he has even worn the same pair of jeans for about eight years.
Mr Trawally stresses that young entrepreneurs do not always need a lot of capital to start with.
"It doesn't cost you $1m to start a business," he said.

"My advice to my other friends around the world, including Liberia, is that you should be encouraged and believe that you can do everything with $100 or $500. My mother started with five or 10 US cents which is nothing today."
African Dream is broadcast on the BBC Network Africa programme every Monday morning.
Every week, a successful business man or woman will tell their story about how they started and what others could learn from them.


Fomba Trawally’s story is really inspirational. Poor beginning don’t mean you will be poor for life. You can actually change your life by changing your mode of thinking and working really hard. People only want to read about the success stories of those that started from nothing and not those that were born with a silver spoon in their mouths.

Source:: http://www.madeafricans.com/2018/01/meet-fomba-trawally.html

Here is an interesting fact for You according to the bureau of Labor statistics:

About 80% (four-fifths) of businesses with employees will survive their first year in business. (The most recent data shows that of the small businesses that opened in March of 2015, 79.9% made it to March of 2016.)

About 50% (one-half) of businesses with employees will survive their fifth year in business. (Data shows that of the small businesses that opened in March of 2011, 51% made it to March of 2016.)

About 30% (one-third) of businesses will survive their 10th year in business. (The most recent data shows that of the small businesses that opened in March of 2006, 32.8% made it to March of 2016.)

These facts are not to scare You but it’s good to just do Your Homework and learn the facts before starting a business, though one of my philosophies in this life is “99.9% of all statistical facts in this world are not true” but I know it’s a lie I learnt from motivational Speaker Daniel ally and it helps me get some work done.


Now, if You own a business and Your business is not as successful as You thought it would be when You compare Yourself with other businesses that started around the time You did. Then the truth is the owners of these businesses know something You don’t and the fact that You are still reading this post means You are already taking the first step to being successful.

This Post will make You see business differently and change the way You think about running a business, and once You have the right mindset about running a business You have taken Your third step towards being successful in business, the first one was reading this post, the second is sharing it.

1. It’s not all about You.

Most of us don't like to accept this fact, but it is true for all of us, we all see ourselves as the center of the Universe and everything in this world revolves around us. Life is either happening in front of us or behind us or on our Tv set. Other people have to communicate their feelings and emotions to us to make it known to us.

This Philosophy may work for life but it's not the same with entrepreneurship. When You are starting a business, You have to forget about You and start thinking about everyone else if You want to end successful, because the world won't end if Your company goes under, neither will Your business end if You were to be fired by Your Board of directors.

2. Great success is often preceded by failure.

Many People never turn their ideas into businesses because they are scared of failure, while others never think of starting a second business after their first venture has failed. The truth is when it comes to entrepreneurship You have to be thick skinned to make it in this world, and a lot thicker to make it in Africa. Jason Njoku(Iroko TV’s CEO) failed in his first 10 ventures before he finally got it right.

That’s why we should read more about successful entrepreneurs. Their stories are there to inspire us. Almost all entrepreneurs have failed at one point or another in their lives when it comes to starting a business, but they just learnt from their failures and moved on to start another business.

3. Being busy does not equal being productive.

Hard Work is a very important quality for success in entrepreneurship, but it doesn't mean all hardworking people are successful. If the most hardworking people in the world were millionaires then it means all the cleaners and bricklayers would be some of the richest people in the world.

Make sure anything You are doing in relation with Your business is productive before You do it. Always find the best and fastest ways to solve a problem effectively. Don't waste time doing work You can outsource to someone else who can also get the work done efficiently. Delegate Your work and focus on the most important things.

4. INVESTORS ONLY CARE ABOUT WHETHER YOU CAN MAKE THEM MONEY.

This is true. Investors don't really care about You or Your business except it is going to put money in their pockets. Investors give You money and except a lot more in return.

If You ever get an opportunity to pitch Your idea in front of a group of investors, don't waste time telling emotional stories about how passionate You are about Your project and Your life and how many lives You hope to touch. Go straight to the point and tell them what You hope to achieve from the project and give them solid numbers on how they will get their ROI (Return on Investments).

5. Change is inevitable -- embrace it.

Albert Einstein's definition of insanity was " doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". So if something is not working for You in business, change it and take a different approach in solving that problem.

In entrepreneurship, You must be ready to embrace change. When change happens don't complain about the country and the government and other petty things people like to complain about. But try and see new opportunities, new markets and new methods of getting solutions.

6.THE MORE SUCCESSFUL YOU GET, THE HARDER IT IS TO MAKE FRIENDS.

Freddy Heineken once said : "There are two ways a man can be rich in this world, he can have a lot of money, or he can have a lot of friends. But he cannot have both." .

If You know You don't want to end up lonely, don't wish for Success. Most of us want to be rich and successful in this world but we are not ready to make the required sacrifices or go the mile to get what we want in this life. If You want to start a business get ready to feel lonely a lot. However, once You start coming up, You’ll find that more and more people want to hang out and be friends with You. But still, good luck finding someone that really wants to get to know You for who You truly are once You have reached that high point in life.


7. You Can't Do it All

I believe in the popular Quote " If You want to see something done, then do it Yourself". But You don't have to do it all by Yourself. You need to learn to outsource and delegate some of Your work. Most times the person You outsource Your work to may be better than You at handling that work, so why don't You just allow him/her to do just that.

Also don't bother about letting other people know about Your ideas and business, You may think Your ideas may get stolen and then it’s better to work on it alone. The truth is no one has the time to steal Your ideas. The number of business ideas that get stolen are none in 1 million. If You try to do it all, You'll burn out and set Your company up for failure.

Source: http://www.madeafricans.com/2018/01/7-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you.html

Get the full post at
http://www.madeafricans.com/2018/01/forget-money.html

Forget Money and think of Adding Value- Bethlehem Alemu- Sole Rebel’s Story

For those of us who know Bethlehem Alemu, if this lady doesn’t inspire you, then something must be wrong with you. How can a lady see international brands like Adidas, Nike and millions of shoe manufacturers who sell millions of shoes every hour and still think of starting a shoe company? Well, she did and she got really successful. Her story is going to be a short one because her story is straightforward, she knew what she wanted and she just went for it. And when I write “what she wanted” I mean create value and not make a shitload of money.

Born in the Zenebework area of Addis Ababa in Ethopia in the year 1980. She was the eldest of four siblings and she was raised by her two parents who worked in a local hospital in Ethopia.
She finished her primary and secondary education and then went on to study accounting at Unity university where she graduated in 2004.




In the year 2014 she founded SOLEREBELS with capital from her husband and other close family members.
SoleRebels is the planets fastest growing African footwear brand, the world’s first and only World Fair Trade Federation [WFTO] FAIR TRADE certified footwear company AND the very 1st global footwear brand to ever emerge from a developing nation.

She started working from a plot of land owned by her grandmother from Zenebework. All SoleRebels shoes are redesigns and reimaginations of the famous Selate and Barabasso shoe, a traditional recycled tire sole shoe which has been worn by Ethiopians for a very long time.

The Selate and Barabassoshoe was famously worn by Ethiopian rebel fighters who vehemently opposed western forces from colonizing the country. As matter of fact, that’s where the name ‘soleRebels’ emerged from.

SoleRebels shoes are also hand crafted by Alemu and her over 1000 employees.
Solerebels got so successful that by 2016 the company had sold 125,000 shoes and created 1200 jobs.

Still in 2014. Alemu started working on another venture, The Republic of Leather. Alemu identified the luxury leather goods industry as being "ripe for a total re-imagining,". The Republic of Leather is centered on principles of customer choice—customer choice of design, producer and receiving charity of 5% of the price they pay, stilll[5] espousing the same ideals of ecological and economic sustainability as soleRebels.

In 2017, " another venture,Garden of Coffee" was also added to her companies. It begins with outlets in Addis Ababa.




Alemu’s story is unique when compared to the average entrepreneurIal story, her story is actually the dream of every 20 year old who wants to start a business and get very successful within a very short time.

The only difference is a 20 year old wants his/her first Lamborghini just one year after starting his/her business. But driving an expensive car or making a lot of money wasn’t Alemu’s motivation. She saw the high level of unemployment in her country mostly for artisans, and she did what she could about it.

So to go straight to the point “FORGET MONEY AND THINK OF ADDING VALUE, AND THE MONEY WILL COME”.

I really enjoyed writing this post, because i love reading about facts and i also love reading about myths that have been debunked after years of experience and study.

Funny thing is I used to believe most of the myths that will be mentioned in this post, and I am pretty sure you believed some of them at one point in your life. Most especially if you are yet to start your business or have never started one.

By now you should have read a great motivational book, and you are super-hyped about starting your billion dollar business. But before you do, here are some facts that you probably believe about starting your business that have been totally debunked by years of experience and research.


1. You need a lot of money to start a business.

This is a fact. But it can be also be false. It generally depends on the type of business you want to start. If you want to start a business like Uber, then you would need a lot of money, but there are lots of businesses you can start with very little money or no money at all.

The easiest type of business to start with no money is a service business(like a Computer-repair or consulting business) where the customer pays you for the value and time you give the customer.

There are also thousands of businesses you can start with little money, most especially over the internet, like building a blog or web development, all you really need is a little money for your domain name and hosting space.

2. Your Business needs to be Perfect before you launch.

This is one of the major reasons most ideas never become businesses. It is good to strive to aim for Perfection when starting a business, but most times it can be a pain in the butt and you only end up seeing the errors in the business. Your business starts to fail from the moment you start noticing only the problems in the business.

Perfection is also a major problem for start-up who are entering a Niche where some big companies already have a reputation. You may end up comparing Your business with these big competitors and forget that these businesses started small too, and most of them were not perfect when they started, they had to grow to the level of reputation they hold now.

So to deal with the problem of Perfection, just make sure your business concentrates on the value it wants to give to the customer, once it can provide that value efficiently, You are ready to start.

Related:20 POWERFUL QUOTES ON SUCCESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP TO MOTIVATE YOU FOR 2018

3. You need a bad-ass website, business card, poster.e.t.c

Trust me when i say you don't need any of this, you end up chasing Perfection and never start Your business if you are looking a bad-ass website or business card.

All you need now are the right communication skills. Send the right message. Just look for a problem you can solve for a customer or a way You can add value to the customer and put the right words together to sell Yourself to the customer. You don't have to say much.

If you are someone that does web design, Just send a mail to the customer "Your website is designed poorly, and I can fix that".

4. Take Big risks to get Big results.

This is another miss conception about starting a business, because every successful entrepreneur who becomes a motivational speaker says it. But the truth is they don't really practice it.

The reality is most successful entrepreneurs plan well and work smart to reduce and manage risks in order to prevent quick business failures.

Taking big risks should be the last resort not the primary plan.

Related:If You want to be a Millionaire then stop these Five small habits

5. You must have a full business plan.

Its no more a myth that 90% of entrepreneurs who finally become successful don't know how to write good business plans. You don't need to learn how to too.

If you can, good for you. But if you can't just write a small plan two or three paged plan about the mission and vision of the business, your target customers, how you want to make money from the business, and generally how your business operates.

You don't have to start going deep into business plan analysis. Businesses like these finally end up injecting a lot of money into the business, even when they don't know how viable the business will be yet.

6. You have to hire staff.

A lot of major brands in Africa and all over the world today have debunked this myth. You can always start almost any business on your own, and when you begin to scale you can now look for help.

Hiring Staffs comes with its own perks, like how expensive it is to maintain staff, and it takes a large part of your time to manage. So it is much better to a hire a freelancer or agency that you pay off after they are done with the work.

7. You have to work 24 Hours, 7 days a week.

A lot of successful entrepreneurs work really hard, most especially during startup. You have to put a lot of hours most especially if you are just starting for your business to be successful.

But don't forget that these successful entrepreneurs are also Human beings. After some hours of work, they need to get into their bed and also get some hours of sleep to replenish their strengths. They also need to balance good sleep with good food, exercises and fun sometimes.

8. You can do it all by yourself.

This is not the opposite of hiring staffs. Don't take the fact that i said you can run your business without hiring staff as the same thing with You running your business all by yourself.

You need to delegate and Outsource some of your work to others for you to have time to concentrate on other important aspects of the business

For the best freelance portals where you can delegate and outsource work, check out this post from ConnectNigeria
6-best-freelance-portals-to-kick-start-your-freelance-career

9. You will surely get investors for a very good idea.

This fact is not true. A lot of entrepreneurs go into businesses that require a lot of capital and believe that if they can get one opportunity to pitch their idea in front of the first investor they meet, they would go home with a large sum of money to work on their ideas.

It is very difficult to find investors for your business, most especially if you are in a developing country in Africa. You can be among one of those that receives funding, but what happens when you are not, you can't just sit back and watch your ideas die with you.

That is why, You should start Your business with what You have. If you have a business idea that needs a lot of money to start, then start another business or lots of businesses with little capital and once you can manage them efficiently, You can now transfer Your Profits to Your Big business ideas.

10. You should Quit your Job before starting your business.

Its Pretty cool and heroic when you hear stories of successful entrepreneurs who quit their Jobs to start businesses. But I will advice You to stay in your Job until you are sure the business will be viable.

If You want to run a business that requires You to put in a lot of Hours, You are better off remaining in Your Job and hiring cheap freelancers per hour to help run the business. You can now take care of the important parts of the business after work.


Blog post at
http://www.madeafricans.com/2018/01/business-myths.html

Nice write up bro
for hustles you can run from home
http://www.madeafricans.com/2017/12/10-businesses-you-can-run-from-home.html

If you know you have experience when it comes to business, you can write what you have learned after this comment.
See the full post at
http://www.madeafricans.com/2018/01/business-myths.html

6. You have to hire staff.

A lot of major brands in Africa and all over the world today have debunked this myth. You can always start almost any business on your own, and when you begin to scale you can now look for help.

Hiring Staffs comes with its own perks, like how expensive it is to maintain staff, and it takes a large part of your time to manage. So it is much better to a hire a freelancer or agency that you pay off after they are done with the work.

7. You have to work 24 Hours, 7 days a week.

A lot of successful entrepreneurs work really hard, most especially during startup. You have to put a lot of hours most especially if you are just starting for your business to be successful.

But don't forget that these successful entrepreneurs are also Human beings. After some hours of work, they need to get into their bed and also get some hours of sleep to replenish their strengths. They also need to balance good sleep with good food, exercises and fun sometimes.

8. You can do it all by yourself.

This is not the opposite of hiring staffs. Don't take the fact that i said you can run your business without hiring staff as the same thing with You running your business all by yourself.

You need to delegate and Outsource some of your work to others for you to have time to concentrate on other important aspects of the business

For the best freelance portals where you can delegate and outsource work, check out this post from ConnectNigeria
6-best-freelance-portals-to-kick-start-your-freelance-career

9. You will surely get investors for a very good idea.

This fact is not true. A lot of entrepreneurs go into businesses that require a lot of capital and believe that if they can get one opportunity to pitch their idea in front of the first investor they meet, they would go home with a large sum of money to work on their ideas.

It is very difficult to find investors for your business, most especially if you are in a developing country in Africa. You can be among one of those that receives funding, but what happens when you are not, you can't just sit back and watch your ideas die with you.

That is why, You should start Your business with what You have. If you have a business idea that needs a lot of money to start, then start another business or lots of businesses with little capital and once you can manage them efficiently, You can now transfer Your Profits to Your Big business ideas.

10. You should Quit your Job before starting your business.

Its Pretty cool and heroic when you hear stories of successful entrepreneurs who quit their Jobs to start businesses. But I will advice You to stay in your Job until you are sure the business will be viable.

If You want to run a business that requires You to put in a lot of Hours, You are better off remaining in Your Job and hiring cheap freelancers per hour to help run the business. You can now take care of the important parts of the business after work.

I really enjoyed writing this post, because i love reading about facts and i also love reading about myths that have been debunked after years of experience and study.

Funny thing is I used to believe most of the myths that will be mentioned in this post, and I am pretty sure you believed some of them at one point in your life. Most especially if you are yet to start your business or have never started one.

By now you should have read a great motivational book, and you are super-hyped about starting your billion dollar business. But before you do, here are some facts that you probably believe about starting your business that have been totally debunked by years of experience and research.


1. You need a lot of money to start a business.

This is a fact. But it can be also be false. It generally depends on the type of business you want to start. If you want to start a business like Uber, then you would need a lot of money, but there are lots of businesses you can start with very little money or no money at all.

The easiest type of business to start with no money is a service business(like a Computer-repair or consulting business) where the customer pays you for the value and time you give the customer.

There are also thousands of businesses you can start with little money, most especially over the internet, like building a blog or web development, all you really need is a little money for your domain name and hosting space.

2. Your Business needs to be Perfect before you launch.

This is one of the major reasons most ideas never become businesses. It is good to strive to aim for Perfection when starting a business, but most times it can be a pain in the butt and you only end up seeing the errors in the business. Your business starts to fail from the moment you start noticing only the problems in the business.

Perfection is also a major problem for start-up who are entering a Niche where some big companies already have a reputation. You may end up comparing Your business with these big competitors and forget that these businesses started small too, and most of them were not perfect when they started, they had to grow to the level of reputation they hold now.

So to deal with the problem of Perfection, just make sure your business concentrates on the value it wants to give to the customer, once it can provide that value efficiently, You are ready to start.

Related:20 POWERFUL QUOTES ON SUCCESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP TO MOTIVATE YOU FOR 2018

3. You need a bad-ass website, business card, poster.e.t.c

Trust me when i say you don't need any of this, you end up chasing Perfection and never start Your business if you are looking a bad-ass website or business card.

All you need now are the right communication skills. Send the right message. Just look for a problem you can solve for a customer or a way You can add value to the customer and put the right words together to sell Yourself to the customer. You don't have to say much.

If you are someone that does web design, Just send a mail to the customer "Your website is designed poorly, and I can fix that".

4. Take Big risks to get Big results.

This is another miss conception about starting a business, because every successful entrepreneur who becomes a motivational speaker says it. But the truth is they don't really practice it.

The reality is most successful entrepreneurs plan well and work smart to reduce and manage risks in order to prevent quick business failures.

Taking big risks should be the last resort not the primary plan.

Related:If You want to be a Millionaire then stop these Five small habits

5. You must have a full business plan.

Its no more a myth that 90% of entrepreneurs who finally become successful don't know how to write good business plans. You don't need to learn how to too.

If you can, good for you. But if you can't just write a small plan two or three paged plan about the mission and vision of the business, your target customers, how you want to make money from the business, and generally how your business operates.

You don't have to start going deep into business plan analysis. Businesses like these finally end up injecting a lot of money into the business, even when they don't know how viable the business will be yet.

If you know you have experience when it comes to business, you can write what you have learned after this comment.
See the full post at
http://www.madeafricans.com/2018/01/business-myths.html

6. You have to hire staff.

A lot of major brands in Africa and all over the world today have debunked this myth. You can always start almost any business on your own, and when you begin to scale you can now look for help.

Hiring Staffs comes with its own perks, like how expensive it is to maintain staff, and it takes a large part of your time to manage. So it is much better to a hire a freelancer or agency that you pay off after they are done with the work.

7. You have to work 24 Hours, 7 days a week.

A lot of successful entrepreneurs work really hard, most especially during startup. You have to put a lot of hours most especially if you are just starting for your business to be successful.

But don't forget that these successful entrepreneurs are also Human beings. After some hours of work, they need to get into their bed and also get some hours of sleep to replenish their strengths. They also need to balance good sleep with good food, exercises and fun sometimes.

8. You can do it all by yourself.

This is not the opposite of hiring staffs. Don't take the fact that i said you can run your business without hiring staff as the same thing with You running your business all by yourself.

You need to delegate and Outsource some of your work to others for you to have time to concentrate on other important aspects of the business

For the best freelance portals where you can delegate and outsource work, check out this post from ConnectNigeria
6-best-freelance-portals-to-kick-start-your-freelance-career

9. You will surely get investors for a very good idea.

This fact is not true. A lot of entrepreneurs go into businesses that require a lot of capital and believe that if they can get one opportunity to pitch their idea in front of the first investor they meet, they would go home with a large sum of money to work on their ideas.

It is very difficult to find investors for your business, most especially if you are in a developing country in Africa. You can be among one of those that receives funding, but what happens when you are not, you can't just sit back and watch your ideas die with you.

That is why, You should start Your business with what You have. If you have a business idea that needs a lot of money to start, then start another business or lots of businesses with little capital and once you can manage them efficiently, You can now transfer Your Profits to Your Big business ideas.

10. You should Quit your Job before starting your business.

Its Pretty cool and heroic when you hear stories of successful entrepreneurs who quit their Jobs to start businesses. But I will advice You to stay in your Job until you are sure the business will be viable.

If You want to run a business that requires You to put in a lot of Hours, You are better off remaining in Your Job and hiring cheap freelancers per hour to help run the business. You can now take care of the important parts of the business after work.

I really enjoyed writing this post, because i love reading about facts and i also love reading about myths that have been debunked after years of experience and study.

Funny thing is I used to believe most of the myths that will be mentioned in this post, and I am pretty sure you believed some of them at one point in your life. Most especially if you are yet to start your business or have never started one.

By now you should have read a great motivational book, and you are super-hyped about starting your billion dollar business. But before you do, here are some facts that you probably believe about starting your business that have been totally debunked by years of experience and research.


1. You need a lot of money to start a business.

This is a fact. But it can be also be false. It generally depends on the type of business you want to start. If you want to start a business like Uber, then you would need a lot of money, but there are lots of businesses you can start with very little money or no money at all.

The easiest type of business to start with no money is a service business(like a Computer-repair or consulting business) where the customer pays you for the value and time you give the customer.

There are also thousands of businesses you can start with little money, most especially over the internet, like building a blog or web development, all you really need is a little money for your domain name and hosting space.

2. Your Business needs to be Perfect before you launch.

This is one of the major reasons most ideas never become businesses. It is good to strive to aim for Perfection when starting a business, but most times it can be a pain in the butt and you only end up seeing the errors in the business. Your business starts to fail from the moment you start noticing only the problems in the business.

Perfection is also a major problem for start-up who are entering a Niche where some big companies already have a reputation. You may end up comparing Your business with these big competitors and forget that these businesses started small too, and most of them were not perfect when they started, they had to grow to the level of reputation they hold now.

So to deal with the problem of Perfection, just make sure your business concentrates on the value it wants to give to the customer, once it can provide that value efficiently, You are ready to start.

Related:20 POWERFUL QUOTES ON SUCCESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP TO MOTIVATE YOU FOR 2018

3. You need a bad-ass website, business card, poster.e.t.c

Trust me when i say you don't need any of this, you end up chasing Perfection and never start Your business if you are looking a bad-ass website or business card.

All you need now are the right communication skills. Send the right message. Just look for a problem you can solve for a customer or a way You can add value to the customer and put the right words together to sell Yourself to the customer. You don't have to say much.

If you are someone that does web design, Just send a mail to the customer "Your website is designed poorly, and I can fix that".

4. Take Big risks to get Big results.

This is another miss conception about starting a business, because every successful entrepreneur who becomes a motivational speaker says it. But the truth is they don't really practice it.

The reality is most successful entrepreneurs plan well and work smart to reduce and manage risks in order to prevent quick business failures.

Taking big risks should be the last resort not the primary plan.

Related:If You want to be a Millionaire then stop these Five small habits

5. You must have a full business plan.

Its no more a myth that 90% of entrepreneurs who finally become successful don't know how to write good business plans. You don't need to learn how to too.

If you can, good for you. But if you can't just write a small plan two or three paged plan about the mission and vision of the business, your target customers, how you want to make money from the business, and generally how your business operates.

You don't have to start going deep into business plan analysis. Businesses like these finally end up injecting a lot of money into the business, even when they don't know how viable the business will be yet.

Also, you can add other habits i didn't write about after this comment??

For the full post Check out the link below and follow our blog too
http://www.madeafricans.com/2018/01/bad-habits_63.html

4. Short-Term Mindset.

The way you think finally manifests and becomes your reality. And when You think short-term, You end up telling the world that You are not serious about what you think you want.

The most successful businesses think about what they can do to add value to people's life in a long time, they think about creating businesses that they can pass on to their Children's Children and these businesses end up becoming really successful.

Think about starting a business to make a lot of money and retiring after like two or three years, you'll surely retire in less than that time broke, and that business will surely retire with You


5. Quitting.

The way its so easy for us to Quit right before everything is about to enter into place for us makes me conclude that maybe "We're born Quitters".

Half of the people in this world have never ever completed a task on our own except we were forced to or it is mandatory like going to school or other things.

You have to be thick-skinned to become successful in this world. You have to tell yourself you will do what it takes for how long it takes to get to where you want to be.

1. Comparing Yourself to Other People.

I am gonna end up getting attacked for this first one because i write about successful people in my blog. But the truth is I obviously don't write those post to make you feel Jealous or stupid or make you see how you have wasted your life, I write those posts to inspire you.

Those Successful people have live their own lives, now its time for you to live yours an get what you want easier and faster cause you end up learning from your mistakes. And we as Human beings should stop comparing ourselves with our Rich friends or friends that are smarter or better looking than You.

This never ends well. This is a distraction to stop you from Chasing your dreams. Concentrate on You and You alone, but care for others


2. Surrounding yourself with Negative People.

You are the average of the Top 5 people you call your friends. And this is a fact. Its not about avoiding broke friends, if your friends have big dreams they can change their situations.

But rather, avoid Negative friends, they can be very Toxic and influence the way you see your life and success in a negative way. You can't possibly just avoid these sort of people but you can limit the amount of time you spend with them. The less time you spend with them, the better for you.


3. Procrastinating.

This is like the fastest way to kill your dreams. procrastination later leads to stress because guess what, You have a week to do the project you should have started 3 months ago. And you end up taking energy drinks and Caffeine and all other sorts of Junk, and end up doing a half baked junk work. No!!! this is bad for you.

So from now on, divide that task into smaller ones you can achieve in one or two hours everyday and you will find out you will feel good about yourself and end up having a productive day.

Everyone wants to be successful, but only a few finally end up being successful. It's not because this few have two heads or special powers or anything that makes them special and sure to end up being successful.

But maybe they found success faster because they know something you don't. And You can Join this 20% of people who make 80% of the money is this world.

Hard work is good but what is the point of working hard if you are not doing it right. So in this post i am briefly going to be writing about 5 Small habits that stop people from being Successful

Read the full post at http://www.madeafricans.com/2018/01/2-facts-you-dont-know-about-aliko.html

Facts about Jason Njoku, visit our site at http://www.madeafricans.com/

i LIKE YOU AND I WANT YOU TO JOIN ME IN BEING SUCCESSFUL
http://www.madeafricans.com

http://www.madeafricans.com/2018/01/forget-money.html

Forget Money and think of Adding Value- Bethlehem Alemu- Sole Rebel’s Story
JANUARY 08, 2018


For those of us who know Bethlehem Alemu, if this lady doesn’t inspire you, then something must be wrong with you. How can a lady see international brands like Adidas, Nike and millions of shoe manufacturers who sell millions of shoes every hour and still think of starting a shoe company? Well, she did and she got really successful. Her story is going to be a short one because her story is straightforward, she knew what she wanted and she just went for it. And when I write “what she wanted” I mean create value and not make a shitload of money.

Born in the Zenebework area of Addis Ababa in Ethopia in the year 1980. She was the eldest of four siblings and she was raised by her two parents who worked in a local hospital in Ethopia.
She finished her primary and secondary education and then went on to study accounting at Unity university where she graduated in 2004.


In the year 2014 she founded SOLEREBELS with capital from her husband and other close family members.
SoleRebels is the planets fastest growing African footwear brand, the world’s first and only World Fair Trade Federation [WFTO] FAIR TRADE certified footwear company AND the very 1st global footwear brand to ever emerge from a developing nation.
She started working from a plot of land owned by her grandmother from Zenebework. All SoleRebels shoes are redesigns and reimaginations of the famous Selate and Barabasso shoe, a traditional recycled tire sole shoe which has been worn by Ethiopians for a very long time. The Selate and Barabassoshoe was famously worn by Ethiopian rebel fighters who vehemently opposed western forces from colonizing the country. As matter of fact, that’s where the name ‘soleRebels’ emerged from.
SoleRebels shoes are also hand crafted by Alemu and her over 1000 employees.
Solerebels got so successful that by 2016 the company had sold 125,000 shoes and created 1200 jobs.
Still in 2014. Alemu started working on another venture, The Republic of Leather. Alemu identified the luxury leather goods industry as being "ripe for a total re-imagining,". The Republic of Leather is centered on principles of customer choice—customer choice of design, producer and receiving charity of 5% of the price they pay, stilll[5] espousing the same ideals of ecological and economic sustainability as soleRebels,
In 2017, " another venture,Garden of Coffee" was also added to her companies. It begins with outlets in Addis Ababa.



Alemu’s story is unique when compared to the average entrepreneurial story, her story is actually the dream of every 20 year old who wants to start a business and get very successful within a very short time. The only difference is a 20 year old wants his/her first Lamborghini just one year after starting his/her business. But driving an expensive car or making a lot of money wasn’t Alemu’s motivation. She saw the high level of unemployment in her country mostly for artisans, and she did what she could about it. So to go straight to the point “FORGET MONEY AND THINK OF ADDING VALUE, AND THE MONEY WILL COME”.


http://www.madeafricans.com/2018/01/forget-money.html

http://www.madeafricans.com/2017/12/10-businesses-you-can-run-from-home.html

Welcome to the 21st century where you don’t have to bother about having millions for investment just to start a business and other things like location of your business or people to employ. Thanks to the internet, anyone can start a small scale business and reach millions of people at the same time and grow your business. All you need are a laptop and probably a working internet connection.
So if you’re a young person who wants to start a business. Maybe you’re a University graduate who wants to create a job (rather than finding one) or want to try starting a business before you start working. Or maybe you’re a worker who is tired of having a controlling boss and you don’t have enough capital to start your dream million buck business.
In this post, we’re about to look at 10 businesses that you can start today and efficiently run with just a laptop, an internet connection and very little capital.

1. BLOGGING.
Most people don’t know that few bloggers make a living strictly from blogging. To attract advertisers, you typically need a couple thousand unique visitors per day. Think of a blog as a platform to attract other business opportunities.

2. AFFILIATE MARKETING.
Affiliate marketing is another way you can use to make a more than a living from your laptop. It involves promoting other people’s products and collecting a generous commission in exchange for their services. And it actually a lot simpler than you might imagine. And also easier to integrate if you have a blog or a website.

3. EDITING.
Part of the reason books usually don’t earn back their investment is because they have to pay for an editor. You’ll likely earn more as an editor than an author. And there are millions of editing jobs you can get online.

4. Web Designer.
This is the 21st century and almost every business has a website. Those that don’t have are looking for someone to Design one for them. And some website just look old and outdated and the business owners know the importance of them improving their sites.

5. Web Developer.
This is similar to a designer, but a web developer concentrates on the coding part of the website while the web designer just designs the website.

6. Graphics Design.
If you are skilled at graphics Design, you can charge a good price for it and work as a freelancer from anywhere.

7. Author.
A lot of people make their living and become millionaires from writing books. If you are an expert in a particular topic, you can write about it, or you can read a lot of books about a topic and still write about it. If you think you have a great story to tell the world, also write about it.

8. Copywriter.
There are millions of websites in the world. If you are an expert in a particular area or niche. You can reach out to these websites and tell them to pay you to write for them.

9. Mobile App Developer.
There were 140 billion mobile apps downloaded to smartphones in 2014. By 2016, the International Telecommunication Union reports that there will be more than 2 billion smartphones in the world and we have every reason to believe the number of mobile apps downloaded annually will increase.

10. Social Media Manager.

If you are active across various social media platforms and you probably know enough about them. Most especially Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linked In. You can charge people a good amount to help them set up their social media account including companies, and also run ads for their products.

http://www.madeafricans.com/2017/12/10-businesses-you-can-run-from-home.html

http://www.madeafricans.com/2017/12/how-to-turn-problem-into-opportunity.html

It’s funny how social entrepreneurs think, when others are complaining about a problem, he/she is looking for ways to solve them and make the best out of it.

Lorna Rutto is a big inspiration to everyone most especially Women. Her story is one of a great social entrepreneur who saw an opportunity in her environment while other people saw a big problem and probably blamed the government.
Born in the year 1986 in Kaptembwa slums of Kenya. Lorna Rutto started recycling at a very young age. As a very young girl she would pick any plastic litter she could find and recycle it into creative pieces of jewelry and small ornaments by melting, smelting, reshaping and decorating the plastics. She also had an eye for business as she started selling her works at school to pupils and friends for small amounts of money. A few years later she finished high school, attended college where she graduated with a Bachelor of commerce degree in accounting.
She later got a job in banking, but all day she longed to work in the field of science together with people in that field and work towards creating a difference in the world than working in financial systems and structures. She later left the banking sector and started her business in 2009 which we all know as ECOPOST, together with her Co-Founder, Charles Kalama, a biochemical engineering graduate from the University college in London.
In her own words “OUR VISION IS TO TRANSFORM AFRICA’S WASTE INTO WEALTH. WE USE WASTE PLASTICS AS A RESOURCE TO MANUFACTURE AESTHETIC, DURABLE, EASY TO USE AND ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY PLASTIC LUMBER. OUR AIM IS TO CREATE A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION TO THE GROWING PLASTIC WASTE MENACE, PROVIDE A SUITABLE ALTERNATIVE MATERIAL SO THAT WE CAN REDUCE THE CUTTING DOWN OF TRESS AND CREATE JOB OPPORTUNITIES TO REDUCE POVERTY”.


For readers that don’t know what Ecopost do “Ecopost is a green business manufacturing aesthetically pleasing durable and environmental friendly fencing posts utilizing plastic waste”. Today, Ecopost is an entrepreneurial and an environmental corporate success story. Ecopost has created over 500 jobs and is also looking to create 100,100 jobs in the next 13 years.

Ecopost’s story is an inspiration to all aspiring entrepreneurs and shows YOU how to think like a social entrepreneur and look for the opportunity in every problem rather than waste time and energy complaining about it.

http://www.madeafricans.com/2017/12/how-to-turn-problem-into-opportunity.html

It’s funny how social entrepreneurs think, when others are complaining about a problem, he/she is looking for ways to solve them and make the best out of it.

Lorna Rutto is a big inspiration to everyone most especially Women. Her story is one of a great social entrepreneur who saw an opportunity in her environment while other people saw a big problem and probably blamed the government.
Born in the year 1986 in Kaptembwa slums of Kenya. Lorna Rutto started recycling at a very young age. As a very young girl she would pick any plastic litter she could find and recycle it into creative pieces of jewelry and small ornaments by melting, smelting, reshaping and decorating the plastics. She also had an eye for business as she started selling her works at school to pupils and friends for small amounts of money. A few years later she finished high school, attended college where she graduated with a Bachelor of commerce degree in accounting.
She later got a job in banking, but all day she longed to work in the field of science together with people in that field and work towards creating a difference in the world than working in financial systems and structures. She later left the banking sector and started her business in 2009 which we all know as ECOPOST, together with her Co-Founder, Charles Kalama, a biochemical engineering graduate from the University college in London.
In her own words “OUR VISION IS TO TRANSFORM AFRICA’S WASTE INTO WEALTH. WE USE WASTE PLASTICS AS A RESOURCE TO MANUFACTURE AESTHETIC, DURABLE, EASY TO USE AND ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY PLASTIC LUMBER. OUR AIM IS TO CREATE A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION TO THE GROWING PLASTIC WASTE MENACE, PROVIDE A SUITABLE ALTERNATIVE MATERIAL SO THAT WE CAN REDUCE THE CUTTING DOWN OF TRESS AND CREATE JOB OPPORTUNITIES TO REDUCE POVERTY”.

For readers that don’t know what Ecopost do “Ecopost is a green business manufacturing aesthetically pleasing durable and environmental friendly fencing posts utilizing plastic waste”. Today, Ecopost is an entrepreneurial and an environmental corporate success story. Ecopost has created over 500 jobs and is also looking to create 100,100 jobs in the next 13 years.

Ecopost’s story is an inspiration to all aspiring entrepreneurs and shows YOU how to think like a social entrepreneur and look for the opportunity in every problem rather than waste time and energy complaining about it.

http://www.madeafricans.com/2017/12/how-to-turn-problem-into-opportunity.html

It’s funny how social entrepreneurs think, when others are complaining about a problem, he/she is looking for ways to solve them and make the best out of it.

Lorna Rutto is a big inspiration to everyone most especially Women. Her story is one of a great social entrepreneur who saw an opportunity in her environment while other people saw a big problem and probably blamed the government.
Born in the year 1986 in Kaptembwa slums of Kenya. Lorna Rutto started recycling at a very young age. As a very young girl she would pick any plastic litter she could find and recycle it into creative pieces of jewelry and small ornaments by melting, smelting, reshaping and decorating the plastics. She also had an eye for business as she started selling her works at school to pupils and friends for small amounts of money. A few years later she finished high school, attended college where she graduated with a Bachelor of commerce degree in accounting.
She later got a job in banking, but all day she longed to work in the field of science together with people in that field and work towards creating a difference in the world than working in financial systems and structures. She later left the banking sector and started her business in 2009 which we all know as ECOPOST, together with her Co-Founder, Charles Kalama, a biochemical engineering graduate from the University college in London.
In her own words “OUR VISION IS TO TRANSFORM AFRICA’S WASTE INTO WEALTH. WE USE WASTE PLASTICS AS A RESOURCE TO MANUFACTURE AESTHETIC, DURABLE, EASY TO USE AND ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY PLASTIC LUMBER. OUR AIM IS TO CREATE A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION TO THE GROWING PLASTIC WASTE MENACE, PROVIDE A SUITABLE ALTERNATIVE MATERIAL SO THAT WE CAN REDUCE THE CUTTING DOWN OF TRESS AND CREATE JOB OPPORTUNITIES TO REDUCE POVERTY”.

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For readers that don’t know what Ecopost do “Ecopost is a green business manufacturing aesthetically pleasing durable and environmental friendly fencing posts utilizing plastic waste”. Today, Ecopost is an entrepreneurial and an environmental corporate success story. Ecopost has created over 500 jobs and is also looking to create 100,100 jobs in the next 13 years.

Ecopost’s story is an inspiration to all aspiring entrepreneurs and shows YOU how to think like a social entrepreneur and look for the opportunity in every problem rather than waste time and energy complaining about it.

http://www.madeafricans.com/2017/12/how-to-turn-problem-into-opportunity.html