Alex is a smooth
talker, no wonder he actually always had a way of convincing even the toughest
of the fairer sex and of course his stint as a pastor gave him a chance to horn
this attribute. Typical of him to first mention religious matters and keen to
know how I was doing in that regard. After laying the base with the religious
niceties he dropped the bombshell. Of course I knew of how he sold his
inherited property, bought a cheaper plot, build the mabati house and
squandered the rest. So when he narrated how he had this nice business idea
that I buy a taxi, he runs it, grow the business into a fleet of taxis bla bla;
it was never lost on me what he had gone through.
And so I asked him,
“How comes you never thought of buying that Taxi with the cash you had after
sale of the ½ acre plot?” He was quick to answer, “of course I had thought of
that but opted to start the business of importing mitumbas which unfortunately
never really kicked off and somehow the cash I had kept diminishing to a point
where it dried up mysteriously” I knew I was in a scenario where I had to
wriggle my way out because in all fairness I never felt that buying a taxi would
amount to a worthwhile venture, not with him as the main guy. Actually, the
idea of entrusting my good friend with a business having known his history was
the last thing I’d entertain.
However, this was a
friend in dire need of help and leaving him in that status would not be good.
And so, I floated an idea to him that in my opinion seemed workable and
practical. I told him of a housing development we were undertaking and that I’d
recommend him to the Project Manager just to assist him source materials. Just
to go round looking for the best deal for sand, ballast, quarry stones, cement
and any other material the guy could get just for some small commissions.
Interestingly, he accepted that idea and as we speak he is a broker sort of and
doing just fine. At least he can feed and clothe his family and even educate
the kids.
Whenever I speak to
him he wishes he’d turn back the hands of time especially due to the lost time
but at least he is now much more positive about his life and earns an honest
living. He claims he’d can never sell anything he inherits as he is convinced
that there is a curse on ‘that land’. Of course he hopes that there is more
land to inherit form his mum but it may not be the case.
Someday I asked my old
man the reason why anyone who sold inherited land around our village always
squandered the cash. He told me that it had an interesting history around it.
The land was acquired after the infamous Mau Mau war with the colonial masters. It
claimed many lives and some people were maimed and all that. When our great
grandfathers got the land, having been active fighters, they pronounced a curse
on it; that it must never be sold outside the family and it must be passed on
from generation to generation. Any sale had to be within the family. It is
therefore the case that anyone who sells to anyone outside the family will
therefore never help themselves. An interesting perspective but I opted not to
engage my old man further on the matter.
Some very strange
stories around my village regarding fellows who have sold inherited land. The
funniest was this guy who sold the small piece he inherited. He called the
villagers from all walks of life, bought them 5 goats, dug a big trench and
jumped over it, leaving the villagers on the other side of the trench. The
trench and the subsequent jumping was a symbol of him having the crossed the
divide from poverty to riches. He waved the villagers bye and zoomed off into
riches leaving them to enjoy the 5 goats to mark the big occasion. Sad part is
that he left his family as well only to return back after 1 year having
squandered all the cash. Of course he found the wife had already left and got
married to someone else and moved on with her life. His only brother accepted
him back and gave him some shelter….interestingly it was a story reminiscent of
that prodigal son in the bible; I guess these things started way back. Pretty
sad that they never learn from other's past experiences. Someone told me that
this is tantamount to get bitten by a dog which is chained somewhere.
A friend of mine once
told me that the reason these villager have failed to do anything worthwhile
with the cash is the fact that they are not used to big money. Obviously if you
are playing in the league of maximum ten thousands and all of a sudden you have
a windfall of a million, the natural reaction is to assume that you are filthy
rich. Most become very generous and get to shopping sprees, get away with some
nice girls and assume life will always be like that. Certainly no big money
remains big if all you are doing is spending; the net result is a shot back to
reality and destitution which is much worse having come from the crest of a
sinusoidal wave.
Let our people learn,
that whatever you have worked hard for and is acquired through your own sweat,
you can freely sell but what you acquired by way of inheritance, you need to
pass on to the ones behind you.
Next we
shall look at some business practices which are not so good that are
attributable to business men who are seemingly doing well; think
micromanagement (know when to let go), blowing your own horn as opposed to that
of the team, leading as opposed to managing, amongst others.
