WHY YOU NEED BUSINESS PARTNERS TO BECOME WEALTHY

I have been following the weekly Facebook posts from the Zimbabwean billionaire, Strive Masiyiwa, and in some of his posts he insists that it is hardly possible to become very successful in business or investment without business partners. I agree because of various reasons.

1. Many people have great business ideas but lack capital and so they die (in spirit) trying to push those ideas against a concrete wall. NB: There are some ideas with which you can start a business, even without money, but there are those that are capital intensive which ultimately die if you have no money to push them. So if you have an idea that requires money that you don’t have, it is logical to look for a business partner who has the money.

2. Not everyone with money has great innovative business ideas. Money can come from anywhere – you can inherit it, you can get it from a friend or a relative, you can receive it as a retirement package, you can earn it through a one-time deal… But to sustain it and grow it, you must have innovative ideas that appeal to the modern age. So if you are not good at quickly generating ideas, you may need a business partner to do it for you.

3. You cannot be good at everything. You may have both money and ideas, but you may not have the necessary skills to grow the business. We are talking about skills such as marketing, networking, management, customer relationship, e.t.c. In that case you may need to bring on board people with the needed skills to complement you and fill the gaps.

The issue now is on who is a business partner and what challenges are involved in having business partners? Some people immediately think of losing ownership of their ‘thing’ (I mean a business, an investment or an idea) when they bring on board someone else as a partner. Yes, there’s the option of co-owning the business/investment/idea, but there is also where you pay the partners for their services. You can also choose to swap e.g. you bring on board someone who is excellent at management and they keep helping you streamline structures and systems in your organization and in return you also help his/her organization streamline their marketing and sales strategy. That way you are still business partners. That’s how I’ve become a director on various boards of companies in which I don’t own shares.

At WORLD OF INSPIRATION I partner with several individuals and organizations to promote and market our products and in return I give them a commission (a percentage of the monetary value they’ve brought in). That too is partnership. It doesn’t mean I’ve lost ownership to those people. The only business partner who has ownership over the business is my wife because we run it as a family business. In the process of recruiting staff, I also look out for entrepreneurs in the making (but who are not yet able to start their own businesses) and employ them. I first explain to them that they are my business partners because their ideas, innovations, skills, talents and efforts will be helping me grow my business while at the same time they will be learning entrepreneurial skills that will help them run their future businesses and investments successfully.

There’s a lot I could say about the advantages, challenges and forms of business partnerships, but let me save the gist of the matter for the great Authors’ Forum – the gathering of 500 minds – that WORLD OF INSPIRATION has organized for you on 3^rd June, 6pm – 9pm at THE HUB (Oasis Mall, Nakumat, 1^st Floor). For those who may not know, the Authors’ Forum is a magogomus inspirational event that brings together entrepreneurs, artists, other generators of ideas and every creative mind that wants to realize success for themselves and at the same time maximally impact society. At this episode I will be joined by 2 top entrepreneurs (whom I will be disclosing in my next message) to thoroughly discuss the theme: PARTNERSHIPS IN BUSINESS. It is going to be a public holiday, so those who have been missing because of work, this is your moment to dine with us on the inspirational food for the mind that we’ve been eating on you for a long, long time.

Space is limited so you are advised to book your seat today by securing your entry ticket. A ticket goes for UGX 40,000, but today we are running a promotion whereby you can buy your ticket at UGX 30,000 and also get a free copy of our inspirational magazine – WI-Magazine or 2 tickets at UGX 50,000 and still get a copy of WI-Magazine. Remember for registered members you don’t pay for tickets. To subscribe for annual membership you pay only UGX 250,000 and that takes you for 12 months from the day you register. To subscribe or to get your ticket, contact me (Robert Bake) on 0704666851 / inspiredbake@gmail.com or Winnie Zose on 0774107287.

Stay blessed and inspired!

AMAZING BUSINESS LESSONS THAT CHANGES MY LIFE!

“When you have passion to start something meaningful, you can do anything to make it happen. In my case, I was a teacher, but my life changed when I met a friend that was doing welding. Through our interaction I and came to discover there was good money in that business. I made up my mind to join the business. I didn’t have money to start, but my husband had bought me a car. I sold it at 8m and used that money as capital. Now I tell you, we are making big money” (Jane Werikhe).

“Retirement is a must for all of us and thus can choose to retire into misery or into fulfillment depending upon how we prepare. Retirement does not mean that you go underground. Some people retire into oblivion and that way we lose them the way we lose children to preventable diseases; others retire into enjoyment and continue to be a blessing to society. Retirement does not mean that you become useless. It does not mean that you should become a beggar. When you retire you should not become a burden to anyone, including your own children. Even after retirement you should sustain your presence and relevance in society.” (Fagil Mandy).

“It does not matter how many people you know but rather how many people know you. Thus, one of the things we must do in preparation for retirement is to network with as many helpful people as possible… It is also important that we retire into doing what we love. So the projects you are thinking of for retirement should be those in your areas of passion and interest. If you leave a job you hate and retire to do a business you hate you can’t enjoy your retirement. Personally, I had reached the top of my career, with a PhD in ICT. I had taught for many years and so I felt I had done my best in that area. Thus, I decided to retire in my early 40s and started businesses and projects that enable me work with communities – something I had always wanted to do. Retirement has something to do with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Today, hundreds of thousands of farmers have benefitted from what I am doing" (Dr Gudula Basaza).

“Problems with my boss at my job pushed me to seriously think of starting my own project that I would retire into. That’s how I went into schools. I opened a school while still employed but it wasn’t really bringing in money; instead it was eating the little money I had. But eventually I stepped out of my comfort and went fully into running of the school and have been able to grow the business to the level where it is today. Sometimes the challenges we go through are pushing us to a certain direction where we shall be able to find our purpose in life” (Jayne Nakato).

The above statements were made at the last Authors’ Forum – commonly known as the gathering of 500 business minds. Below are some of the comments that were posted on our facebook page by those who attended the event and were transformed (they were very many; we chose just a few):

SHANTEL JOLLY: “Eeeeh! This Authors’ Forum was powerful. I learnt that, as a lady I can use my luxury items to generate capital to invest for the future. Sometimes we have a lot of money in our clothes, hair, cars, e.t.c, which we could utilize better. I kept thinking about this all night and I have now made up my mind on how to change my life. May God bless World of Inspiration!”

SPECY KAKIIZA: “One thing for sure is that after that breath-taking discussion at the Authors’ Forum, I am going to do everything possible not to die a miserable death. I will start by planting trees deep in my village tomorrow morning.” NB: Specy is a subscribed Authors’ Forum member and thus we are following her up to see how far she has acted on this strategy in preparation for her retirement.

MONICA NAHABWE: “This is what learnt from the Authors' Forum: As I do my daily work, I should try to get as many skills as I can while building and managing useful relationships. That will mean that by the time I retire I will be so multi-skilled and each of those skills will be a resource for me. Secondly, I learnt that I should save as much as I can from my earning while preparing to leave formal employment; I loved the example that Jayne Nakato gave about saving 50k per month.”

Well, if you missed the event you can order for yourself a copy of the DVD containing the video recording of what transpired and World of inspiration, the organizer of the event, will deliver it right where you are at only 15k. But most importantly, you should ensure not to miss the next episode of this event. The event is monthly – it happens every first Wednesday of the month, from 6-9pm, at THE HUB (Oasis Mall / Nakumat, 1^st Floor).

The next Authors’ Forum is going to happen on a public holiday, 3^rd June, 6pm – 9pm, so those who have been missing because of work, this is your moment! The theme of discussion is: PARTNERSHIPS IN BUSINESS. Trust me, there are many people who have tried various businesses for decades but have not made any headway because they have gaps that they cannot fill themselves and thus need partners to complement them. A business partner could come in with cash or with skills such as marketing or management, or with networks of customers, e.t.c. There are also many people whose businesses have been ruined because they chose wrong business partners.

Whatever questions you have, this is the day to have this issue of partnerships thoroughly discussed by some of the best enterprising minds in Uganda (I will soon be revealing the titans that World of Inspiration has chosen as panelists for this day). But in the meantime, do you have your ticket already? The promotion of selling tickets at half price ended last week. Today we are running another promotion whereby you can buy your ticket at UGX 30,000 and also get a free copy of our inspirational magazine – WI-Magazine or 2 tickets at UGX 50,000 and still get a copy of WI-Magazine. Remember for registered members you don’t pay for tickets. To subscribe for annual membership you pay only UGX 250,000 and that takes you for 12 months from the day you register. To subscribe or to get your ticket or order for a DVD, contact (Robert Bake, the MD, WORLD OF INSPIRATION) on 0704666851 / inspiredbake@gmail.com or Winnie Zose on 0774107287.

And hey, for those who program their schedule ahead of time, mark 1^st July because that’s the day we shall be having the July episode of the Authors’ Forum and it will focus on HOW TO MARKET YOURSELF.

Stay blessed and inspired!