My dear Molly, how are you? I hope you are
good. I am well as well can be, with the flooding, the inflation, and all.
Anyway, grapevine (or maybe, I am a stalker) has it that you are nowadays into
the beauty business. Very soon, I too will be emulating you. We may be
compatible at all, conquer the world together as business icons.
My dear Molly, it may interest you to know
that I am doing business training – my bank, UBA, and its founder, Tony
Elumelu, is that special. Always seeking to empower African entrepreneurs. The
excellent thing about the training is that it is very practical to today’s and
the coming future business needs. As a matter of course, we also are directed
to additional reading to widen our entrepreneurial minds.
The Job To Be Done. Clayton M. Christensen.
In the words of Johnny Nash, ‘I can see clearly now that the rain is gone. I
can see all obstacles on my way…’ What a beauty this is! It is something you
should look up, understand what is it you are selling to your customers…
rather, what it is they are buying from you.
My dear Molly, I have slept in Karen –
proper aristocracy, the place. New money, the individual. Grew in the village,
came to the city, started a business, became a tycoon… and what did I apply on
my skin? Arimis. You remember when a designer drew a near design for the
product and Kenyans condemned the design in droves? The Job To Be Done. Arimis
has nailed that.
So, yesterday was Labour Day. How did I
spend my day? Locked up in the house. I could have mopped over you, but
instead, I read a book. ‘Shoe Dog’. Phil Knight. NIKE. It’s a beautiful,
beautiful, beautiful book. The ending had me in tears. Oh, so beautiful the
challenges, the persistence, the building blocks being arranged to create a
unicorn... So vulnerable the author – warts and all.
So, what is it I am selling? Stories?
Community? Emotions? In the process is the becoming. ‘Becoming’. Michelle
Obama. Another beautiful book, now competing with ‘Daughter of the East’, Benazir
Bhutto, as my favourite autobiography. To which I have like seven versions of
‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’. I firmly believe that (business) leaders should be
readers. The thing about a memoir or autobiography is that it is the distilled
wisdom, experience and knowledge of the author.
Plus, reading for pleasure is pleasurable,
improves your language, thinking, and you are able to cross multiple borders at
once. As Bob Marley sung, ‘Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but
ourselves can free our minds…’ In reading is there freedom.
Dear Molly, I still remember fondly that
you were a reader too. At the time, though, love coloured our lives, so, you
did a lot of romance. Something (again, I am not stalking anyone) tells me that
you still read, and widely. Hopefully, you can share your reading list. More
so, on business and entrepreneurship. At least, for the sake of the special
thing we once had.
Anyway, Molly, I have said enough and you
are busy running a business. I am also busy trying to build one. I am sure too,
that soon, I’ll figure out ‘The Job To Be Done’. My USP. Unique Selling
Proposition. Then, the sky will no longer be the limit – cliché as it is – as
to what my business will be able to achieve. And while at it, change countless
lives. As always, the old adage holds true. ‘The journey of a thousand miles
begins with one step.’
Yours in Entrepreneurship,
Sant Mark
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