Make way for ‘makers’

Employment, or call it a situation where you are a salaried man or woman, is just a split second away from poverty. And this does not matter whether you are a high ranking employee or a junior officer in a public or private set-up. The point is that your grip on success in terms of real wealth is simply loose.In fact, the right phrase to put it is, ’A salary is just a paycheque away from insufficiency or a thin wallet’. The intriguing thing is that we all know this. But many of us still hesitate to engage in self-employment. I think about this everyday but I am doing nothing about it except talking, and more talking each day. I strongly believe I am not the only one facing this predicament. You and I are! A female buddy, who runs one creative firm in Kigali known as Illume, has always had a Gmail status reading as ‘start something’. This statement sounds big, beyond its number or characters and words. Why? Because starting something always presents an uphill battle. However, it’s a direct outcome of our fear to embrace risk, short-sighted love for the comfort zone, and lack of ambition to reach dizzying heights.Oftentimes, we learn that most successful young entrepreneurs are those who have been retrenched, fired multiple times, unemployed for long spells, disgruntled at work, etcetera. This shows that victims of circumstances end up on self-driven entrepreneurship and genuine wealth creation trajectories. However, I believe that there are successful entrepreneurs who have gone into the game straight away without even contemplating on being employed. But then again, they are a very small fraction of the global citizenry. A week ago, I travelled to the south of Rwanda. I had a stopover in Nyanzaat, a milk products outlet and restaurant branded, ‘Hajji Enterprise Ltd’. .. I noticed that there were many customers competing to grab a bite and milk, and some were even ordering for takeaway. Regardless of the large number of people queuing up, the customer service and handling was spellbinding. I was then curious to find out who is behind this business and,fortunately got an inspiring story from the owner, Hajji Saidi Havugimana. He describes himself as a small scale dairy processor and entrepreneur who wants to show a difference in society that determination, hard work and resilience can eventually converge in the crucible of entrepreneurship movement or spirit. Havugimana’s story cuts a perfect testimony of dismissing fear and starting something with, of course, a clear vision. Fifteen years ago, at the age of 31, he started a milk kiosk, which was housed in a makeshift plastic tent donated to him by a UNCHR worker. He started with a capital of Rwf5,000 and sold fruits, snacks, milk tea, fresh and fermented milk. He installed his plastic tent on a 4-meter by 60 centimeter piece of land on the roadside, which he had thought belonged to the Government of Rwanda. But later on, the owners claimed the space but he negotiated a purchase agreement and managed to buy the space using his meager savings at the time. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to reveal to you that the 46-year-old Havugimana, born and bred in Nyanza, is now worth Rwf1 billion! From a matchbox-like size of land and plastic tent placed on it, he now owns a sizeable commercial complex on a 15,000 square meters of land. Although he serves African buffet and a variety of snacks, milk, particularly ikivuguto or fermented milk, remains his business cash cow. He collects, processes, packages and sells 1,000 liters of milk per day. He trades 50 per cent of his stock to the Democratic Republic of Congo via Bukavu, 30 per cent to Burundian market and 20 per cent twinkles on the Kigali market floor that has several competitors. He is, clearly, an important and resourceful person to the community where he operates. He buys milk from 75 milk transporters who collect raw milk from about 500 farmers on a daily basis, which means there are large families in his community that hugely benefit from his 15-year-old decision to embrace job creation instead of job-seeking. He also employs 85 permanent and casual workers.Who could imagine that this guy would be a maker in his society! At any rate, the lesson is, ‘don’t wait until everything is just right’. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what? Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident, and more and more successful.