I spoke on Monday at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, which was a great event designed in part to help African business owners gain insight on how to succeed at their various endeavors. With all the success the U.S. economy has historically had, African business leaders want to learn from us. I think we should be glad to share what we know, so it was an honor to be invited.
Since I couldn’t speak to every barrier business people face in other countries – and I know some of those barriers are very challenging – I chose to focus on common success factors that all businesses share. Whether you’re in survival mode or you’re in a position to thrive, these success factors always apply:
Don’t reinvent success. It’s rare that someone comes up with an idea so unique that it’s a game changer for society or the world. The majority of business success in this country and throughout the world hinge on learning from businesses that have already been successful. A new idea? I love new ideas. But once you’ve got it, now you’ve got to get it to market. If you want to run a business well, but you don’t want to reinvent success or change the world, you might want to take a look at franchising or licensing. Franchising went through a tremendous growth period in the 70s, 80s and early 90s but it has since slowed down. You can only put so many quick-service restaurants on four corners of a street. But franchising is still a decent option for some people. If you’re looking to franchise, you’re looking to do it by the book as established by the organization that will serve as your franchisor. Licensing, by contrast, still allows you to utilize someone else’s product or idea, but it usually comes with more leeway as to how you operate your business, so you can buy the rights but then adapt it to your country, your workforce, your infrastructure.
Partner or fail. I’m talking here about the crucial importance of involving people in your organization who know the market where you’ll be operating. Many larger multinational corporations have learned the hard, expensive way that it’s better to hire people in the countries where they operate – people who know the culture – and teach them your business. That works much better than taking a bunch of Americans who know your business but will be completely lost in a foreign culture. A lot of companies like the ones I worked for – including Coca Cola, Pillsbury and Burger King – learned the hard way, but finally realized they were doing better when they started partnering with local people.
Business basics don’t change, regardless of the country you’re in. Good product. Great service. Good value. Because we live in a global economy, it is no longer acceptable to provide a good product with poor service, or a good product with just good service. You simply have to distinguish yourself with good products, great service and exceptional value.
You might think some of this is obvious, but one of the things too many people in business do is to get a little too clever for their own good. They become convinced that they’ve figured out something brilliant that no one else has, and they think their brilliance is such a guarantee of success that they get sloppy about the fundamentals.
The common success factors for business are pretty much the same everywhere, even if some countries present greater barriers than others to achieving them. I wish the many fine African business owners I met on Monday night tremendous success, and I hope these words were helpful.
