A Kingdom In The Mountains: (Part 1) by Dr. Strive Masiyiwa

Lesotho is a remarkable country:
It is a small African country nestled in the majestic Drakensburg Mountains of Southern Africa. Uniquely, it is one of only three countries in the world, completely surrounded by another country; South Africa. And yet it is a fiercely independent and proud country, with its own constitutional king, who is greatly loved by his people. The moment, I arrived there for the first time, I fell in love with the people, and I said to my companion: "I could live here for ever."

In 2000, the then government of Lesotho, hired Price Waterhouse, the global financial advisory firm, and asked them to sell their public telephone company, known as Telecom Lesotho,

What Do You See? Part 2 by Dr. Strive Masiyiwa.

The two weeks prior to the submission of the tender bid for Botswana, are probably the hardest I have ever worked in my life, even to this day!
We produced a 900 page bid document, using a team of 35 people. Sometimes we went for two or three days without much sleep.
There were 21 bidders who had collected documents. They were mostly big multinational companies from all over the world, including operators like Vodacom, MTN, Bharti, France Telecom.

The Botswana government had hired international consultants from Sweden to run the process for them.

Although we were facing such fierce competition, and we were unknown, I had deep faith, that we would win. I did not care who we were up against, we had to beat them!

Making Sound Financial Decisions (Part 3) by Dr. Strive Masiyiwa.

There is a story told, about a young entrepreneur, who had been working on an amazing new idea. After sealing a major contract, he and his friends decided to go and celebrate at a local restaurant. They ate and drank until very late. Finally when it was time to close, they called for the bill; it was a shocking amount, and much more than they could afford!

Ever the entrepreneur, the young man asked to see the owner, and told him about his business venture, and how he believed that it would one day, make him billions. So he offered the old man, some shares, for the large bill he had ran up that evening. The old man, who owned the business, refused completely, and demanded payment. Humiliated, the young man pledged his car, and went off to find the money.

Many years later, the young man, returned to the restaurant driving, a gleaming Ferrari. He asked to see the owner of the business, who immediately remembered him. He told

Making Sound Financial Decisions (Part 2).

Whether you are in business or not; whether you have a job or are unemployed; even if you are still a student. You might even be a social entrepreneur, a doctor or a teacher:
You still live in a world, in which everyday, you have to make sound financial decisions. You also live in a world, in which others around you, including local and national leaders, as well as business leaders, must have the capacity to make sound financial decisions, for the well being of all. Ultimately, how sound your financial decision making is, will be seen in the results.

"Time will tell, as they say", whether our two young heirs, (whom I spoke about, in my earlier post), would make sound financial decisions. One is not born, with a capacity to make sound financial decisions, it comes through education, reading the right material, and also training.

Holding Regular Meetings With Your Partners Is Very Important. (Part 4). by Dr. Strive Masiyiwa

Entrepreneurs are generally very busy people, and they spend their time running around trying to sell their products and to make "ends meet" (as they say). Unfortunately many entrepreneurs, consider having formal meetings, as a waste of time, and simply want to get out there and do things.

This is not very wise.

It does not matter what business you are in, or how small it is: its important to sit down and have proper meetings. And by this I do not mean, "chatting things over, whilst relaxing, over coffee". I mean you must have scheduled meetings, during working hours, when you sit down with your partners, and and also with your staff to discuss what is going on in your business.