Often times, we confuse some aspects of making money. My opinion may not necessarily be the correct version but possibly I’ve learnt a thing or two about business especially thorough failures. I got a question from my friend around a subject I like. The difference between Tenderprenurship and doing business.
In my opinion, tenderprenurship has unfortunately come to be synonymous with doing business. While I don’t condemn Tenderprenurship, I’m neither a fan.
Reason being, I envy people who build business for higher calling other than purely to supply their daily bread. People who start enterprises to build empires. Those who aim at high turnovers. Those who seek to employ as many. And especially those who seek to create value from within.
Unfortunately, many of us young Kenyans want to get rich now. I mean we want to drive a VX now and alternate with a Mercedes when weather is good. We all seem to have a short cut – Tender. But for start, is it really a short cut? There’s no short cut in making a Million shillings in one Month then take over a decade to make it 10 Million.
You actually take lesser time in creating a business and growing it in value. There is no value in Tenderprenurship. It is not a venture that appreciates merit. It’s a business (for lack of an apt word), of soothing egos. Trying to please the “giver” of the tender more than you need to please the user/client/consumer.
That kind of foundation is worse than quick sands. It’s a mirage that you’ll ever get rich by chasing after tenders – Maybe have some cash flow that will dissipate before you do anything sensible with it. It’s my wish that we can focus on production of real goods and services, not just transferring them from point A to B – that is more or less respectable graft. Real sectors like IT, Agribusiness, Manufacturing etc will make more Millionaires than all tenders combined.
That sound outrageously “big boys” reserve but the reality is that you only need very little capital to start off. And little capital borders on no monetary capital at all. While at it, be intensive, not extensive. Don’t do deals left, right and centre. Concentrate.. And by the way, serious magazines like Forbes or Fortune don’t list Tenderprenuers – They can’t tell the line where business stops and corruption starts.
And no one wants to be a Billionaire who isn’t recognized.. What would have become of James Mwangi if he was a Tender Chaser, What of Jeff Bezos, Strive Masiyiwa, Tony Elumelu etc – they’d be broke oligarchs?? Sorry for the harsh reality but that’s just it.