How to surmount obstacles on your path and succeed

Two unexpected things happened recently that for years to come will serve as precedence in the political arena.

In the United States, Donald Trump was elected president of the most powerful country in the world on November 8. And last week Adama Barrow was elected president of Gambia, the smallest and arguably one of the poorest countries in Africa.

The two men have something strikingly common that makes their win newsworthy. They are both businessmen with no prior civil service or political experience and had not served in any elective position.

Despite having all known limitations of a newcomer and literary being novices or toddlers in politics they triumphed over political heavy weights and a strong incumbent respectively.

These unlikely events brought new hope and inspiration to many people who thought that to succeed in politics you must be an insider with lots of experience and connections.

It’s refreshingly challenging to people living with self-imposed limitations that you must always play within the familiar area of your specialization, especially in professional growth and entrepreneurial endeavours.

In fact, one of the most frequently asked question by people aspiring to start business is whether one should scout for opportunities within or without one’s area of study or experience.

Basically, you don’t need to be a baker to start a bakery or a scholar to start a bookshop. All you need are business management and selling skills. Fortunately, all these are learnable skills.

Generally, your current occupation, area of study, locality, experience and other variables should not be an obstacle to your growth and development.

A quick scan of most accomplished people in several areas such as business, politics, arts and sports does not support the notion that one must seek opportunities in certain areas and not others.

It is said that entrepreneurship is an art you cannot be taught; you can only learn. In business and enterprise development, attitude and passion are more important than knowledge and skills in school.

With the right attitude and desire to learn the sky is the limit. Whatever you studied in school serves as a stepping stone to help you exploit your potential in any field.

Continuous and focused learning will help you develop yourself into anything you desire, be it a politician, entrepreneur or an expert in this or that.

Many people underrate their ability and doubt their capability to succeed in business by focusing on what they don’t have rather than their potential to learn anything they desire.

Education gives you the basic knowledge and skills on how to study and acquire further knowledge and skills in diverse areas and under different situations.

It gives you the ability to make decisions and informed choices including looking for people and resources to complement what you don’t have.

When a smart person spots an opportunity, say in farming, they move in with speed to buy or lease a piece of land and hire people of integrity, diligence and appreciable knowledge and skills in farming and manage them to get optimal produce.

A fool sees the same opportunity and wishes they had studied agriculture in school. And this makes the whole difference.

Last week, my friend entered an exhibition stall along Moi Avenue and asked the woman in charge for a specific laptop charger. She told him it was in the store and would fetch it in less than a minute.

Impressed by her customer service he consented and true to her word she came back with it in a short while. As he left, he learnt that she had bought it from a neighbouring stall and sold it to him at a higher price.

My friend complained, but I told him that the woman was a real entrepreneur!

Mr Kiunga is a business trainer and the author of The Entrepreneurial Journey: From Employment to Business. [email protected]