Own Your Sh!t

In his opinion piece The trouble with Africa – economic attitudes and a poverty of the mind (Daily Maverick 27 February 2022), Anotida Chikumbu explores how we Africans have “… disengaged from civic responsibility, particularly abstaining from activities like voting and becoming educated on political systems and government functionality …”, he calls it political disengagement.

To explain our lack of participation in political activities Chikumbu introduces the concept of “… diffusion of responsibility, the thinking and feeling that someone else is responsible for the problem and that someone else will fix it …”.

Diffusion of responsibility is also the enemy of the African family.

My message is consistent. African families must stop looking to government to solve their economic problems as they fight for survival at the bottom of the pyramid.

We are responsible for our own problems and we must fix them.

Take a look in the mirror

Self help is the only option for the African family in our current environment of business. But first we need to look in the mirror.

As painful as the tweets of Tracy Zille may be there is certainly an element of truth in what was written.

Start here

So how does the African family help itself?

• Call a family meeting and clear the air – Maintaining petty jealousies and continuing to squabble is a choice. Dump the baggage and move forward. Your survival depends upon it.
• Identify the family leader – All organisations require a leader. Select the most appropriate family member and entrust them with the leadership of the project.
• Unite the family around a common goal – Transform the imperative of survival to the imperative of creating a family business. No family business and you’ll remain in the welfare line.
• Identify and commit to pooling family resources – It’s not just about money. Time, knowledge, experience, networks and contacts are equally valuable.
• Match resources to a business idea – Brainstorm business ideas that can be started with the resources you have available, or resources that can be acquired realistically in the short term. Rank the ideas – realistic and feasible, to fantasy. Choose one.
• Develop a plan and allocate responsibility – Write down the steps you must take, completion date, the resources required and the person responsible to do what is required.
• Execute the plan – Monitor and course correct.
• Repeat if it doesn’t work the first time – Build resilience into the process.

Diffusion of responsibility, while comforting, won’t solve our problems.