There was a certain man in our village long long before i was born! His name was Mugo or the Chief. Mugo was a traditional healer, he was thought to be a god because his skills in healing surpassed most of those who are practicing medicine today! Many sick people would travel from far and wide for a taste of his magical drink that was said to heal even the scariest of diseases! It is said that even the white colonialists who did not believe in traditional healing methods would oftenly visit him to experience his magic. Mugo was not only a respected healer, he was an elder, and a leader whose people valued his wisdom and guidance. He was the senior chief, the top most rank in a village!
He was a spiritual leader, the go in between his people and God "mwene nyaga" he would petition the peoples problems to God in mount Kenya - he would go there for days, which made the people believe that he spoke to God directly. While there he would be given various types of leaves and roots that he would later use to mix medicinal concoctions for healing diseases. Rumour has it, that he once flew and stayed in the skies for a year!
Well, he lived on for 200 years and disappeared, nobody, not a single soul is believed to have known where to!
His skills were passed on to his sons and their sons and even today when you go to our village, there's is a senior Chief called Mugo who is said to be his great great grandson. He is now in his 100s but his skills have been replaced by modern medicine, and a lineage that is no longer interested in learning from fathers!
An entrepreneur is a creator, he makes people to believe in his creation and his creation lives on forever!
That is what mugo was, an entrepreneur! Its a huge mistake to even compare the two and i believe they should not even be put on the same sentence! The mindset between the two people is like water and oil, it can't mix other than an entrepreneur will be forced to sometimes become a business man to promote his innovation - an entrepreneur will die old thinking, thinking of an idea, a unique concept, a solution that will help solve a major problem. He believes in forging his own path and will not accept something that is NOT Original, His niche is far wide and his innovation is well thought out with the masses in his mind. He is people oriented and he will strive to incorporate someone else's input. He will bring in other people who are professionals in different fields to try bring his innovation to fruition. Profits do not matter soo much to him other than seeing his product or service been used by masses - it is only when business men come in to buy shares that his original idea is diluted!!
He will take great risk to see his innovation succeed.
A business man is someone who sets up a business with an existing idea offering or selling goods and services to customers
A story is told of a certain man, he was widely known and respected because he was wealthy. His name was "kadume" kadume grew up in a poor background, his parents, according to his biography were peasants who worked as casual labourers on colonial lands. They could not afford to take him to school, infact, many are the days they went to bed hungry!
Here goes his story from being very poor, uneducated, unkempt boy to becoming one of the wealthiest billionaires in Kenya!
He was a charcoal burner, then opened a small shop, then a wholesale, then bla bla (story is vague here) to becoming a multi billionaire! true story
Mr kadume was soo famous and even though he could not read or write, he was nominated as a cabinet minister!
And then there's most of us who fall in this category, i hate that im in here too! When we hear incomplete stories of success like these, we go crazy with work! Borrowing and setting up many small business to try and make end meets becomes our purpose in life.
We become soo driven by the desire to succeed, that we do not see the destruction we leave behind! The rivalries brought about by our culculative and some times unorthodox techniques of getting ahead brings bloodshed and hate within ourselves.
A business man is purely driven by profits, most of them are jack of all trades which makes them very busy trying to make money. This person is very competitive in nature and you'll hear them coining phrases to convince themselves that what they are doing is acceptable.
Phrases like what is commonly heard in wall street "greed is good for business" and "by any means necessary "
Its a jungle out there and you meet all types of animals, some highly predatory hence the justification.
ASIA
The Asian nations realized the way to go was entrepreneurial, they emphasised on innovation and wealth creation. The government encouraged its people to set up manufacturing sectors and it supported them. Through this they have surpassed other nations in terms of GDP and employment opportunities for its citizens. China for example has become an economic superpower surpassing the United States.
The rest of us especially Africans are just consumers, business men making the Asians "the entrepreneurs" rich.
I understand that we all can't be entrepreneurs, but we can try hard to change the course of Africa. We have enough raw materials to create, to innovate and to sustain ourselves.