eBusiness Weekly
Kudzai M. Mubaiwa
We need to change our approach to failure in business in Zimbabwe. There are likely thousands of people who have attempted to run a business and have failed, dismally too.
There are probably many more who would have wanted to venture into enterprise and upon observing those who have failed, and the responses to them by others who have either not attempted or also failed; have reinforced their decision to discard the thought.
Our environment does not endorse those who fail and therefore many feel safer never attempting anything than being ridiculed for failing to achieve. It ought not to be so.
If anything those who have succeeded are products of several episodes of failure. World celebrated entrepreneurs have failures and rejection on record before hitting the big time.
Examples in the public domain include Walt Disney who prospered in entertainment and built Disney World presently valued at US$35 billion. He was once fired by a newspaper editor for not having good ideas and no imagination, such irony.
Inventor of the light bulb, Thomas Edison is said to have made ten thousand attempts at it before breaking through. We have used FedEx for many years in Zimbabwe, when he came up with the Federal Express concept, his college professor dismissed it and deemed it not feasible.
Many of us know that Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple was practically fired from Apple — but most will not know that he credits his subsequent success to that opportunity of being a beginner again and he confirms that he entered “one of the most creative periods of his life” then.
Oprah Winfrey, the black female billionaire, was let go as a news reporter. Colonel Saunders chicken recipe for what became KFC was rejected a thousand times. Yet all these persevered and went on to prosper.
While I am aware of several local examples of successful entrepreneurs, I would be hard pressed to find a notable local entrepreneur who is on record as speaking in public about failure outside the occasional MBA class guest lecturer. Perhaps this is because we do not consider the positive side of failure.
Failing means you have dared try. Sound businesses are built by those who put their time, efforts and resources towards a specific enterprise. Often people will fear starting out, crippled by that one thought, “What if I fail?” If anything the question one must ask is: “What if I succeed?!” As we were taught in primary school, it is important to try, try, try again, if at first we don’t succeed. No better example can be given than that of a child that is learning to walk, when giving up is not an option.
There will be inevitable falls, and perhaps some bruising. Yet again and again the child will rise and restart until they master the art of walking confidently. Failure is an opportunity to try again, this time wiser.
From our recent writings on the business model canvas, we appreciate that even the best people require it as a tool to keep testing the market and iterating. Consider each failure as a turning point and keep moving forward, and specifically forward. The lessons you have will not be stolen from you and can fuel you.
The other important perspective to consider is that failure needs to be funded. When you fail, everything you put in is a sunk cost. For this reason, there is need for entrepreneurs to put skin in the game and self-fund/ use own resources on the minimum viable product/proof of concept and hopefully find a winning formula. Thereafter, it is somewhat easier to find funds to scale.
However, those that provide capital must also learn to correctly interpret failure. Often they prefer a track record of success, and yet perhaps one who has failed is unlikely to fail again, whereas one who has never failed is most likely to fail on your dime.
Strange as it seem, it is much riskier to fund a person who has never failed than the one who has. What is important is to ensure they learnt the lessons they should have and will not repeat them with other people’s money. Failure needs support.
Mentors are needed to encourage and inspire those who fail again. Structures to support those who have failed and build their capacity — business skills, digital literacy, technical skills and soft skills matter because often the reasons for failure are in there.
As such, to determine where the issue is, failure needs to be spoken about. We have heard of conferences where we speak on and exhibit success but not enough where failure is celebrated and navigated in a healthy way.
Entrepreneurs will fail at difference stages and there is no single way of coming out of failure. Every voice and experience will matter and there is great value in curating each of these unique stories.
It is encouraging to see that some of the internationally known events on failure are coming to the nation and that more people are opening up at business events or on social media discussions on failure. We have a role to play in not taunting those who fail, but should instead get the stories out and learn the lessons that will help us progress. We must develop the ability to speak about failure even while we are still going through it, not just in the context of success. No amount of learning and training will sharpen you more than the real life experiences allowed by failure.
As we complete the third quarter of the year and get into the final quarter, it is an opportune time for those who may have given up on business to reconsider and restart. Most start-ups fail. Very few will get to the place where they can say they are creating more value as entrepreneurs than they would as employees. Those that do will have revisited their dreams many times over and by reason of experience know what works and what doesn’t. Entrepreneurship is not limited by age either, as long as you have an idea, try it out!
As all other business readjusts to the economy, there is no better time than now to shoot your shot! Who knows, you may evade failure and succeed! And should you fail, fail forward — let each failure propel you to the next level.
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