IMPETUS TO ACHIEVE: DON’T BE WEAK
THE late fashion icon Coco Chanel once famously said: ‘A woman who cuts her hair is planning changes in her life.’ It is surely telling when there is a symbolic change, physical or otherwise that we are planning to take a different direction in our lives. What’s your symbolic trait?
It’s interesting how certain people are known to be unreliable. Whenever there is something of importance to be done, they are the first to go missing. This is what we call being weak. Not in the dictionary definition of weak, but a Zambian colloquial usage of the term. It is important to note that people are weak in different spheres. Some in family circles, others in social circles, others in economic circles and indeed others on a national level.
It is not good to be known as the unreliable one. It should embarrass and easily put one to shame to be classified in such a category. The message is simple – just don’t be weak! If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, the country needs you and I to bail it out and make it prosperous. The little income that we see (I’m speaking to the majority in the middle and poor classes) must be prioritized for savings and investments. This in turn will lead to creation of wealth that will change our lives and country.
Many of us are being weak in this area and we just need to stop. You don’t have to build yourself a mega business such as ZAMBEEF PLC or Mopani Copper Mines PLC. We can’t all be mega business people like that. If you can simply invest in a few properties and some farming venture which need not be commercial, I guarantee you will end up empowering at least 7 people; perhaps 4 people may work on your farm and earn an income, while the other 3 may do various jobs at your properties. All this is empowerment and they will earn an income.
Now you may say that the jobs mentioned above are odd and do not pay much, and for the most part you are right to say that. However, it is important to understand that in the first place one must have a job before the talk of how good or bad the conditions of service can come in. In other words, it is important for one to firstly be empowered albeit with a little before the topic of the extent of empowerment comes in. For progress in life is often made by taking interlinked steps; the same low paying odd job that you do today will pave the way for a bigger and better job to come your way. It is very important to not be shortsighted about some of these matters.
It has been known to be rewarding for many people that have not fallen victim to shortsightedness. Earlier, I spoke about one first needing to be empowered before the extent of empowerment can be looked at. The developments in terms of improvement in your standing economic or otherwise – is what often turns out to be really interesting in this life. There are those people that move up very fast in life despite not possessing the content that most people would regard as prerequisite to attaining success. Some of these prerequisites in the Zambian setting are a formal education, long connections in society etc.
So back to the example I gave of the empowerment of 7 people that could easily come from a middle class individual in Zambian society, there is a real possibility that those empowered with employment on the farm could use that opportunity to learn something valuable. If they are really paying attention, they can learn how to farm in an expert manner including the workings of when and where to market the produce. These employees can later go into one of the fertile areas and make a request for some customary land. As we know, these requests are almost never turned down. The individuals can then begin farming and grow to doing so in huge proportions. It is important to note here that the empowerment that these employees received initially was not really the small pay that they were earning, but the skill that they acquired. That's what is called playing for the long term.
It is important for you dear reader to understand, that these examples I give are real life examples. So when I say don’t be weak, I mean it. You will be surprised with how far reaching the impact of you hiring someone and teaching them a useful skill to make money is. The impact at times is more than you can possibly imagine. Now picture a situation where we do it by the millions. The fundamental point to understand here is that it starts with you and me. We can’t keep waiting for the next person to do it – that is being weak. Ask yourself this question: in the last 6 months, how many people offering a skill/ service or investment supplies have you paid? Also, how many of these have followed you up for more business?
I have no doubt that a good number of Zambians in formal employment take the income they earn over their 30 day cycle mainly to the chain stores in the shopping malls, the pubs and various other avenues of consumption. Whereas we each have the liberty to do as we please with our resources, it’s important that we are cognizant of the fact that each of our actions in its little way builds or destroys our economy. So why not choose to build, and in the future secure yourself and your family with a decent asset base.
So just like Coco Chanel said, it’s time to proverbially be like the woman who cuts her hair. It’s time to make certain changes in life. It’s not enough to just want to own a house, particularly if you want to live in it. That era is gone. The era of your pension taking care of you is equally gone. If you are still leaving in the world where you believe in the social security system in Zambia, you need to wake up and smell the coffee. Do something for yourself, do something for your family, do something for your fellow Zambian and lastly do something for your country. Don’t be weak.
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