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!