There is a wind of entrepreneurship sweeping through Africa and the entire world. The youths want to become business owners and job creators other than be employed. While this is the desire for most people, the common excuse you get is lack of capital. Have you ever thought what the most successful African entrepreneurs started with and where they got their money? Here are some of the most inspiring stories on entrepreneurship.
Fomba Trawally fled Liberia to become a refugee in Gambia when the civil war broke in 1989. When he returned in 1991 he started trading in rubber slippers with a capital of only 200 dollars. In about fifteen years, his business had three stores in Monrovia and had diversified to cosmetics imported from allover the world. He transitioned into manufacturing and now owns a paper and toiletry company raking a million dollar and more in a year.
Bethlehem Alemu grew up in the poor Ethiopian neighborhood of Zenabwork. These poor environs inspired her dream of establishing SoleRebels, a footwear company selling shoes allover Africa and the world. With a capital of 10,000 dollars that she borrowed from friends and relatives, she started recycling materials into shoes and is now raking in excess of one million dollars per year.
Streaming movies over the internet is a growing trend with IrokoTV leading in Africa. Jason Njoku is a co-founder whose only contribution in the business now valued at millions of dollars was the idea. He is now the CEO of IrokoTV, a streaming business concentrating on Nollywood movies and which has attracted investments to the tune of 90,000 dollars. All he had was an idea. He took it to the right people.
Bootstrapping is a path that many budding entrepreneurs are not ready to take. It is a situation where you start with zero capital, no office, workers, etc. This was the path taken by Adii Pienaar, the South African tech entrepreneur behind WooThemes. He was 23 and in the university when he started working on WooThemes. He worked part time and as a consultant to raise money which he pumped into WooThemes. His company was bought by an American internet based tech giant for 30 million dollars.
What were you doing at 19 years old? For Patrick, he was using the sunset of his teen years to sell Chinese mobile phones. Armed with a loan of 1,800 dollars gathered some from his mother and others from a friend he made the trip to China which would change his destiny forever. He has since transitioned to solar energy with a valuation of tens of million dollars and operating allover eastern Africa.
What do you see when a plastic container or a water bottle crosses your path? Lorna Rutto saw fencing posts that would save thousands of trees from the depleting Kenyan forests. Her business now employs thousands of Kenyans and has attracted funding from NGOs, beyond recognition for environmental conservation.
It is impossible to exhaust the spectacular entrepreneurship stories in Africa. Anna Phosa the pig farmer from South Africa, Aliko Dangote and his 500,000 naira loan from his grandfather, the bootstrapping Ghanaian entrepreneur by the name Fred Deegbe and others. They only demonstrate that the excuse of capital is lame. It only requires hard work and passion.
Fomba Trawally fled Liberia to become a refugee in Gambia when the civil war broke in 1989. When he returned in 1991 he started trading in rubber slippers with a capital of only 200 dollars. In about fifteen years, his business had three stores in Monrovia and had diversified to cosmetics imported from allover the world. He transitioned into manufacturing and now owns a paper and toiletry company raking a million dollar and more in a year.
Bethlehem Alemu grew up in the poor Ethiopian neighborhood of Zenabwork. These poor environs inspired her dream of establishing SoleRebels, a footwear company selling shoes allover Africa and the world. With a capital of 10,000 dollars that she borrowed from friends and relatives, she started recycling materials into shoes and is now raking in excess of one million dollars per year.
Streaming movies over the internet is a growing trend with IrokoTV leading in Africa. Jason Njoku is a co-founder whose only contribution in the business now valued at millions of dollars was the idea. He is now the CEO of IrokoTV, a streaming business concentrating on Nollywood movies and which has attracted investments to the tune of 90,000 dollars. All he had was an idea. He took it to the right people.
Bootstrapping is a path that many budding entrepreneurs are not ready to take. It is a situation where you start with zero capital, no office, workers, etc. This was the path taken by Adii Pienaar, the South African tech entrepreneur behind WooThemes. He was 23 and in the university when he started working on WooThemes. He worked part time and as a consultant to raise money which he pumped into WooThemes. His company was bought by an American internet based tech giant for 30 million dollars.
What were you doing at 19 years old? For Patrick, he was using the sunset of his teen years to sell Chinese mobile phones. Armed with a loan of 1,800 dollars gathered some from his mother and others from a friend he made the trip to China which would change his destiny forever. He has since transitioned to solar energy with a valuation of tens of million dollars and operating allover eastern Africa.
What do you see when a plastic container or a water bottle crosses your path? Lorna Rutto saw fencing posts that would save thousands of trees from the depleting Kenyan forests. Her business now employs thousands of Kenyans and has attracted funding from NGOs, beyond recognition for environmental conservation.
It is impossible to exhaust the spectacular entrepreneurship stories in Africa. Anna Phosa the pig farmer from South Africa, Aliko Dangote and his 500,000 naira loan from his grandfather, the bootstrapping Ghanaian entrepreneur by the name Fred Deegbe and others. They only demonstrate that the excuse of capital is lame. It only requires hard work and passion.
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