Make right investments to achieve business and personal objectives

Most of the time when politicians and economists want to show how badly we are faring as a nation or to blame past regimes and poor leadership they compare our economy with Asian countries like South Korea and Singapore a couple of decades ago with present.

They amplify and often blow out of proportion the narrative that at independence where were at par, for instance with South Korea yet at present they seem to be light years ahead of us.

What went wrong with us or what went right with them prompting the huge disparity is a subject of debate in academic, economic and political circles.

However, what is indisputable is there is something they did that catapulted them to rapid economic growth and there is something we did or failed to do and that is why we are where we are.

Some pundits are quick to tell us South Korea focused on heavy investments in education and creating strong businesses and social structures, which form a fertile ground for development. As a result, between 1962 and 1994, South Korea’s economy soared at an average of 10 per cent annually, fuelled by annual exports of 20 per cent and so on.

On the other hand, we were embroiled with issues to do with leadership, corruption, unfavorable business environment, negligence of key export sectors such as agriculture and bad policies that are anathema to development.

However, one thing that we often fail to do is to also make such comparison at personal or business levels. For instance, have you paused to compare your personal or business growth with your colleagues who you were at the same level five, ten or 15 years ago?

If your compare yourselves with your school mates, or the people you got job or started business at the same time, you may be surprised to find more or less the same situation as when you compare Kenya with South Korea.

Rather than groan, growl and look for things or people to blame for your sorry state look at yourself inside and find out what you did or failed to do that has condemned you in your current dungeon and take responsibility.

One of the infallible universal laws of nature is the law of cause and effect; you always reap what you sow.

This law states that for every effect there is specific cause. Whether you know it or not, nothing happens by chance. Every success or failure is dependent on the specific decisions and focuses that define your actions.

In a nutshell, what causes a disparity in success among individuals, enterprises and nations is what they invest in.

Whether you are a business owner or employee the best investment you can ever take is the acquisition of relevant knowledge, skills and competences that enable you to make better decisions and increase your income.

If you are stingy to the extent that you cannot afford a coin to invest in personal development, staff training, capacity building, modernising your equipment and acquiring new technologies for your enterprise you will always be wondering who bewitched you as you lag behind.

Mr Kiunga is a business trainer and the author of ‘The Art of Entrepreneurship: Strategies to Succeed in a Competitive Market’. [email protected]