Amos Wekesa: If you want to die rich, you must have these six traits

Amos Wekesa

Last week, in one of my pieces, I said money accounts for less than 15% of what's needed to grow a business and a few guys asked me to elaborate thinking I was wrong.

Why would people inherit lots of money or properties and still die poor if money is the most aspect in doing business?

Why would some people steal billions and billions from either government or others and still die poor when they are no longer able to steal?

There are many other factors that will make one who has inherited to grow resources available to them or a poor guy get out of abject poverty into relative wealth or even serious riches!!

And below are some factors I have observed and researched about as well over the last many years of my life

1. Desperation

However much money one has as capital, without being very desperate about growth of a business then the money means nothing. You will either lose it or will just stay stagnant!! Desperation drives one from being a sweeper to an office messenger to a Tour guide to being a fairly respectable business man. Have you ever asked yourselves why Europeans for example went so ahead of us economically? Has nothing to do with colour! Their forefathers were born under very desperate environment harsh winters, soils only productive six months of the year and these desperate conditions forced them to innovate better ways of survival. Here in Uganda, you can wear one shirt throughout the year, you can sit there complain as much as u want and still eat because our soils produce food throughout the year

2. Time

Time invested properly is worth a fortune and time wasted can be devastation and yes time invested very well can perform miracles!! Because we aren't desperate enough we waste time and time truly means nothing here!! If you want to grow a business, you must respect time and must always reflect on what you have done in a week, a month and in a year!!

3. Determination

A mother who has a baby to feed will not waste time and if she is the only provider for that baby she will be determined to work hard and not waste time due to desperation... And because of that she will carry a basket of bananas to vend on the street due to determination!!

4. Courage

A person with Shs 100,000 plus a lot of courage has a good future a head of him and this is because human beings can do incredible stuff no matter happens if they have courage!! And sometimes desperation gives a person incredible courage!!

5. Ambition

A mother with a baby to feed due to desperation vends bananas and after selling a few baskets successfully she develops an ambition which drives her to make a stall along the road side and later transforms the stall into a shop and eventually a supermarket!

One must be ambitious enough to actually grow a business. Ambition helps one save, invest for both short term and long term.

6. Faith

Faith is an investment that can not be matched. Money can't touch it!! Imagine you having Shs 1 billion without faith? You would be poor. You wouldn't be rich at all. So being knowledgable alone is useless without having the ability to rightly apply it. Favour is critical as well especially from human beings who you can't do without while pursuing growth in life

The author is an entrepreneur and patriot