Facebook is building a team of young executives to win digital advertising dollars from small and medium sized businesses across Africa’s major markets. Since opening its first African office in Johannesburg in 2015, the social media site has been mute about opening offices in other key markets such as Nigeria or Kenya that would deepen…
via Facebook is targeting ad dollars from small businesses in Africa — Quartz
Twenty-five years ago, a dear friend in America heard about the travails I was going through in Zimbabwe in my efforts to get an operating license for my mobile business. He was a senior director of one of the largest companies in America. He wanted to see how he could help me.
“I have been speaking to some very influential friends of mine about you,” he began to tell me when we met a few months later.
“I think you have the potential to become a remarkable businessman. So, here is my suggestion: Give up the pursuit of a mobile business and come into something like McDonald’s. I have spoken to people there, and they will give you a franchise for any African country of your choice. You are just what they need. They will train you and give you capital.”
He then explained to me how this remarkable organization worked. He gave me a pile of books on them, which I read that weekend. I was in absolute awe of them, and I knew this opportunity could change my life forever. With passion and their organizational acumen and support, it would make me a very, very rich man.
A few days later, I called my friend and declined the opportunity. With barely enough money to feed my children, and not knowing what would happen next, I headed back to my beloved country to continue my fight.
Fast forward:
Twenty-five years later, I ran into my old friend, now retired from his job. He looked me in the eye, with glistening tears: “I have followed your career with such pride. You achieved everything I thought you could. And you did it on your terms. Don’t stop.”
That was a hard, hard decision for me to take. Let me tell you this, “As long as you live in time and space,” you will not be spared the need to make decisions like this one. You will not be spared some tough, tough situations. You will not be spared setbacks, and even bitter disappointments, at times.
I had a vision of what I wanted to do, and I was not going to be distracted from that vision, even by what seemed to be better opportunities.
Pause:
“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
I did not have a vision to make a lot of money; I had a vision to transform telecommunicati
ons in Africa. On my desk, I had a mission statement which said, “Our mission is to take telecommunications to all the peoples of Africa.”
If my mission had been to make money, I would have accepted a franchise from one of the best companies in the world.
A vision is not a vision if you aren’t prepared to pay a price to make it happen. Making money is not a vision, and neither can it be a mission.
Today I have another vision, and you are in it!
Stay with me, we have work to do together. It has only just begun…
Mathematical Alternatives to the Electoral College – http://wp.me/p3gt4l-1mZ
A Kinder, Gentler Nation – http://wp.me/p7Tznq-Y3
The morning after – http://wp.me/pjXA4-mu
Today I learned that my fellow Americans hate me, my body, and my friends – http://wp.me/p2G6tR-3uyu
Most of my life, I have been led to believe average was good. But that all changed with Dr. Atela. He did not just tell me that there was more, he showed me the world through his very own eyes. When I first entered his class, I was 21 years old, raw, and unaware of the great beyond. He made Gulliver’s travel so real, that even I wasn’t scared of the great giants of Brobdingnag and their stature. The giants now represented the great obstacles that with a little belief in myself, I was assured I could conquer.
“But why is this land only known by so few?” I asked. As Marcel Proust put it, “The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes”. So many times we complain about opportunities not being readily available for us, when in the real sense, we are the ones not looking well enough for something right in front of us.
The Lilliput’s represented the small things around me that I needed to fight for and defend. They showed me that my community needed me to be a hero.
Dr. Atela restored my eyesight, my hunger for more in this world. He made me crave more for myself than I already had, and for that I will forever be grateful.
I became bold and walked out of my fears. And I realized persistence on pursuing what you adore is what will make it a reality. Being real is important. To let my value, belief and interest be my guideline and not people opinion. To embrace my uniqueness and different.
I realized I am destined for greatness. And with hard work, determination and perseverance, I will finally be a HERO that I wanted to be: the Woman. Some may call it a fairy-tale, as Wonder Woman is the epitome of my ideology: my life’s purpose.
I want to have physical resistance and be able to overlook all the negativity people give you when you have a dream. Being part of the few who will rescue Africa, from decay. Something that most believe impossible. Having the lasso of truth and being ever so just in everything I do, will allow me to influence those around me to follow suit.
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