YORK ZUCCHI: 24 THE RULES OF BUSINESS

Editor @ Global Man June 21, 2017 1 Comment

How I learned the rules of the business

York Zucchi

York Zucchi is a Swiss born investor, and entrepreneur in Africa since 2007. He was previously at Goldman Sachs where he contributed towards the global financial meltdown. He has started numerous businesses (healthcare, IT tourism, academia, etc.); some failed and some succeeded. He is passionate about entrepreneurship, Africa and coffee and believes that the right mixture of these three will make Africa the continent to be for the next 20 years. He gets featured a lot in the press (Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur Magazine) but doubts anyone actually understands what he really does for a living. Amongst his recent accomplishments: the world’s first TEDx talk on the business of primary healthcare (http://bit.ly/1JRY0CL), started the Tinder for Businesses – an initiative to match opportunities to businesses all over the world (now already in 57 countries – www.JoinTheEquation.com ) and in July 2017 he is going on a two year Africa trip to write the ‘Entrepreneurs’ guide to doing business in Africa’.

Can you tell us a little about your entrepreneurial journey and women entrpreneurs in Africa?

I am a 42 year old male who has worked in 11 countries, got fired 5 times, quit twice, just before they could fire me, and made money in 2 businesses. My last post was at Goldman Sachs, then I started 7 businesses, 6 of which failed (the 7th – together with my business partner Anke – is now active in over 57 countries) and yet I enjoy each and every single day. I mention all this just to make the point that I have been – relatively speaking – around the block, flirted with Mr Bankruptcy and danced with Miss Success – so have seen a few things (rough guess, ca. 3,000 businesses over the last 22 years). I certainly don’t know everything, but have seen a few things on the road, and one of these things is that in terms of women entrepreneurs – especially in Africa where I have resided since 2007 – the landscape was historically barren. It was a partcularly male dominated world. I said ”was”. It is changing and changing fast.

Are more women taking space in the business field today? And why is that do you think?

I asked my business partner Anke: She says there are more men than women, but she thinks it is a generational topic, as she is observing a shift in the millennials. New role models and changing generations, access to higher education, and a new understanding of the important role of women in society. Within one or two generations there will be an equal share of men and women in the entreprenuerial ecosystem in Africa. And I agree with her. The world is waking up to the incredible potential that is embodied in women. Anke suggests that changing role models make it more acceptabble for women to be in business. Additionally, the increasing costs of living means that the traditional role of women in the home is being replaced by the pressure to create new income, hence new breadwinners. It depends quite a lot on the enabling environment in which women work. Germany is very different from Italy which is very different from Nigeria and to Korea. But the trend is towards more women coming online in terms of becoming entreprenuers.

Could you give female entrepreneurs some advice on how they can grow themselves and their business?

I agree with my business partner Anke when she suggests that there is no difference between a female and a male entrepreneur. Nevertheless, as she says, women should learn to be bold, brave and proud of what they can do and don’t be shy and don’t hold back. Take a leap of faith. Often the best lessons are learned out of screw ups and setbacks. This is inevitably painful and a very scary prospect, especially if you are about to quit a relatively secure job for the uknown wilderness of entreprenuership. There is no hard and fast advice I can give in business aside from that income must be greater than the expenses. But there are some principles that just seem to be recurring amongst successful ventures that I picked up over a few years of doing business around the world. Agree or disagree, I hope they will get your thinking juices going.

24 The rules of business

Income must be greater than expenses in the mid to long term. No exceptions, unless you have a wealthy uncle who is part of the FFF investment trio (friends, fools or family).
Your best source of investors are your clients.
Start with a basic easy to deliver service offering and then grow as you get more clients.
Don’t just shoot for the stars: develop a nice modest business that pays the bills to start with.
Watch out for that little voice called “hope” – it can lead you to fall off the financial cliff.
Surround yourself with people who – plainly speaking – are making waves. It is more comfortable to hang around with like-minded friends and business people, but if you want to grow, swallow your pride and hang out in the lion’s den and leave the penguins on ice 🙂. Hang out with men and women who support you as a woman and as an entreprneuer.
Learn to differentiate between what you need and what you want. A fancy phone, nice laptop and an office is a want.
Whatever you do, always, always, always, tap into the selfishness of whom you are sending your proposal to. What’s in it for them first and foremost. You don’t sell for you, you sell for what they need/want.
Never forget that we all respond better when it is relevant to us. When something speaks to our core. To our selfishness.
To really understand what makes a person tick. However you really need to learn the power of listening. Learn the art and power of really listening to your users and clients. Don’t listen to friends who think they know what a client wants (usually they don’t).
The “once we have a million users we will monetise it” business works in probably only five thousand out of one million businesses. If you read this and got excited about your prospects, go and attend a refresher course in stats.
If the muck hits the fan, ignore everything that is a distraction and focus on the core issue of the problem.
You will have limited resources no matter how successful you become. Watch those margins!
As you grow, putting out fires will consume 95% of your time. Just try each day to put 5% of you into making progress to your goals.
Don’t give away equity to every person that promises to add value. Give it to those who work for it, pay or it or sweat for it.
Make sure you have a financial person (your sister, accountant, CFO etc) who protects you from yourself. Put a safety net between you and the money you are making so that you can’t risk it all on the next best idea that creeps into your head.
Stay positive. Even when things don’t work out well.
Focus on the solution and not the business model. The solution is what you are trying to find – the business model you can (and should) change regularly.
If you can’t figure out how to make money out of your business idea, start small but do start. If after a while you still can’t figure it out, it is not a business but a hobby. Hope you can afford your new hobby 🙂
You will face financial duress (multiple times probably). Write on a BIG board in your office “KEEP OVERHEADS AND FIXED COSTS TO AN ABSOLUTE MINIMUM AND LOVE VARIABLE COSTS”. You’ll thank me later.
If only you had an investor is NOT a business model.
NPOs (Not for Profit) organisations still need to make a profit. The only difference between them and a ’For Profit’ is how they share or invest that profit.
You have the responsibility to try and leave the world in a little better state than you found it in. Don’t forget it. As citizens of this wonderful egg-shaped thing called earth it is our duty to improve life for all – humans, fauna and flora.
Try and enjoy each day. In entrepreneurship it is the journey that counts. The destination doesn’t exist – it is constantly changing. Enjoy this beautiful, scary, exciting, uncertain, powerful, fulfilling, roller coaster called entrepreneurship.

Why is it important for you to empower women in business?

For me, women are just better business persons in my experience. Business is a juggling act that requires a careful balancing of many elements which taps better in the multi-tasking talent of a woman than the singular attention span of men (as a generalisation of course). Women have a different way to run a business which is more sustainably oriented than the typical male transaction orientation.

As a man, a businessman in particular, what are your thoughts around more women getting empowered and successful in business, and how will this change the future in business?

My business partner Anke is a woman. My girlfriend Tamar is an entrepreneur. My best friends – from the multiple restaurant entrepreneur Ansel to healthcare impresario Dr Mashadi, are women entrepreneurs. I am surrounded by phenomenal women entrepreneurs in different stages of their entrepreneurial journey. Women have always been entreprenurially minded – despite the suppression by men over the years, especially so in relatively male dominated cultures as found in Africa.

In the last eight years particularly, I have witnessed a renaissance of women entrepreneurs: it is almost as if the world suddenly woke up – as a generalisation – and decided that 50% of the world’s population is full of talent and potential. I don’t know if it is thanks to the internet, thanks to great women and men taking a stand for equality or if it is because men finally realised the idiocy of suppressing this incredible pool of entreprenurial talent. What I am confident in saying is that – in my experience – women will probably be better entrepreneurs than men. I generalise grossly of course, but in my dealings with women they are better planners, negotiatiors and can take the pain that the entreprenurial journey inevitably brings much better than men can. The sh*t that women had to deal with for so many years – from glass ceilings to income gaps for the same work, to the inaccesibility of ”boy’s networks” only made women stronger, more resilient, and fitter to deal with this amazing roller coaster called entrepreneurship.

My colleague at Goldman Sachs did a study a few years ago (2003 – http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/investing-in-women/research-articles/womens-work.pdf ) which showed the impact of women in business on the global economy. The results were staggering. If there was ever more proof of men idiocy to raise the tide for all boats, it is to be found in men’s barriers and hurdles that we put in place to make it more difficult for women to participate in the economy. Here’s to the incredible power of women everywhere! Here’s to an amazing future.

York Zucchi can be found on Linkedin and Instagram and as YPZ on Twitter. Blog: https://yzpafrica.org

About Anke

Anke Schaffranek is a German born economist and since 2014 economic pirate and entrepreneur, working around the world. Before, she worked for almost 9 years as in-house consultant for a big pharma company, managing large scale, complex and bottom-line impacting projects with a strong focus on emerging markets, building the foundation for her entrepreneurial journey. Her heart and her passion are with entrepreneurship in frontier and emerging markets and her vision is to create a sustainable SME landscape, which is interconnected and trades freely, contributing to sustainable economic and social welfare.

She can be found on the digital highway on

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankeschaffranek/, Twitter https://twitter.com/AnkeSchaffranek and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ankeschaffranek/

How to Turn Your Dreams Into Reality

Editor @ Global Man April 6, 2017 No Comments

How to Turn Your Dreams Into Reality

Mateusz Grzesiak

Interview: Mirela Sula

When we asked Mateusz to describe himself he replied “I am the Father of Adriana and husband of Iliana”. It is obvious that he is a man that respects women. Mateusz is a famous psychologist in Poland but well known all around the world. He is also a PhD economist, scientist, internationally working educator, author, entrepreneur, 7 languages polyglot, wrestler, and as he says, he is also a “heavy coffee user”. In this fascinating interview to learn more, not only about him but about yourself as well.

How did you start your career as a psychologist?

I became a psychologist quite late in my career, because my first steps were connected with theatre – my father is an actor and I would spend years practicing acting as a child. As Poland was a communist country back then, we all believed in education being our salvation from problems, so I learnt a lot and was good in my class. My friends wanted me to help them in private curricula and this is how I started teaching. Mostly I focused on foreign languages. These three pillars – acting, education and foreign languages connected synergistically and I became a trainer, teaching soft skills – emotional intelligence, motivation, etc. After that, when I was already pursuing an international career and had an established business, I studied psychology and became a psychologist.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT MATEUSZ'S COURSE

What motivated you to follow your dream?

Suffering in different forms. Seeing my parents divorce and being unable to communicate effectively with each other. Experiencing poverty and realising how destructive it is. Being bored and unjustly treated at school by teachers. Disappointment which came from social rejection when I made money and became more famous. Health problems in which medical solutions were not enough. My ego driven shadows, when the archetype I created controlled me and I was unable to free myself from cultural and family mental boundaries.

Hatred and ignorance I see and feel on a collective level in different cultures, destroying, loving, and the evolving potential of all these unconscious human beings who do not know anything else. My story is not positive thinking based, that everything “will be ok”. It is not an American dream come true where from zero I become a hero, even though outside it looks this way. It a lifetime process of being hit, falling, standing up, recovering and learning and going forward till the next hit, but this time harder. The more I realise my dream, the harder my life becomes. But it is not my dream anymore. It`s everybody`s dream, to self-realise, be free, confront demons, and become more of who they want to be. If I treated it as “my dream”, I would have no motivation to keep going forward.

Who has been your role model?

Myriads of trainers, scientists, artists, teachers, business people. All of them have something special and out of the ordinary. So I respect people who are more clever than I am and learn from them.

You have just launched a course about emotional intelligence. How important is for people to develop their EI?

Statistically, EQ is three times more sought after than IQ on the professional market in the US. Some jobs or activities are based purely on your ability to manage emotions and behaviours – sales, management, parenthood. Without adequate emotional control you will not get or maintain a job, solve life problems, confront issues adequately.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT MATEUSZ'S COURSE

What are some tips that you can share with us in order for people to improve their EI?

There are four pillars of EQ. One is self awareness – you need to know what you feel and how it influences your behaviour. The second is regulation – how you get to choose what you feel and how intensively. Third is about motivation, which is how to start, continue and finish given tasks. The fourth is empathy – the ability to feel what others feel, separate it from yourself, and react to it accordingly.

In your view what makes people stop achieving their dreams?

Fear and pain are connected with it. The bigger the dream you want to achieve, the bigger the nightmare you have to go through. People wanting dreams without the suffering is like using a very sharp knife with the premise that it will never cut your fingers. But it will. So people want an attractive fiancé but do not want competition from the desiring eyes of others. They want money but do not want greed that comes with it automatically. They desire big business, yet do not want to have problems with employees. They would like fame but without the hatred and gossip. But it does not work this way. You need heavy dumbbells to build big muscles.

From your experience as a psychologist, what is the difference between men and women in following their career?

Depends on the culture and macro-region. Crisis of masculinity is already visible in Western cultures where with the death of patriarchy, manhood only starts being shaped in a more complete version of humanness (embracing masculine and feminine traits). The discovery that emancipation is not about swapping traditional roles but about freeing oneself from limiting cultural belief systems is an important factor. Work life balance and the need of it is prevalent, and success starts being less important than happiness. Traditionally, men have always based their self-esteem on external results, mainly stemming from work. Women value themselves additionally by different factors, like family. These questions demands a deeper answer and it can only be delivered by a laser approach towards certain cultures to avoid generalisation. There will be a time in the future of there being no difference from a financial, emotional and intellectual standpoint between men and women following their careers. Yet it is a long way to go before we all get there.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT MATEUSZ'S COURSE

What is your opinion about women leaders and entrepreneurs?

Let`s get science into it, knowledge is more important than opinions. And it clearly shows that employees look for the traits in leaders which traditionally belonged to women: building relationships, being empathic, using intuition and feelings in the decision making process. So it is a fact that women leaders are sought after and necessary. Of course leadership will always be also based on assertiveness, goal setting, and logical reasoning, which traditionally has been connected with masculinity. But is it not finally time to stop judging people by gender and focus on competences and wisdom in the first place? Personally it does not matter if my employee is male or female, Caucasian or Asian, Catholic or Buddhist, etc. What I care about as an entrepreneur is that they do their job. So my opinion is that we need to be humans with both masculine and feminine aspects embraced in our personas. Yin yang is a circle and only then it`s a whole.

You are also the author of many self-help books – what is the formula of the process of writing and publishing a best selling book?

Get your content first, so that you know what to write about. Decide on the length.
Find a good publisher who will sell it for you. Sign a contract. Start writing, combining these four pillars:

Education – because it gives value.

Practice – because then people can use this book to achieve something.

Entertainment – include interesting stories and examples so that people will actually enjoy it.

Science – so that you base it on some research to give it more authority.

What are three main tips that you would share with women who read this interview – what would be your tips for those who are still searching for meaning and creating a successful life?

Create yourself – imagine yourself three years from now and see in your mind`s eye what you look like, where you are, what you do, who the people around you are. This is planning.
Operationalise it – ask yourself which actions need to be taken to achieve that plan. Make a list of specific behaviours.
Put it into action and get feedback. Adjust what is necessary. Measure your progress.

Simply put, create your life in which you are the best version of yourself, have what you want, help others and make the world a better place.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT MATEUSZ'S COURSE

Photo Credits: Arkadiusz Wiedeński

Women’s Business Network

YORK ZUCCHI: 24 THE RULES OF BUSINESS

How I learned the rules of the business

York Zucchi

Income must be greater than expenses in the mid to long term. No exceptions, unless you have a wealthy uncle who is part of the FFF investment trio (friends, fools or family).

Your best source of investors are your clients.

Start with a basic easy to deliver service offering and then grow as you get more clients.

Don’t just shoot for the stars: develop a nice modest business that pays the bills to start with.

Watch out for that little voice called “hope” – it can lead you to fall off the financial cliff.

Learn to differentiate between what you need and what you want. A fancy phone, nice laptop and an office is a want.

Whatever you do, always, always, always, tap into the selfishness of whom you are sending your proposal to. What’s in it for them first and foremost. You don’t sell for you, you sell for what they need/want.

Never forget that we all respond better when it is relevant to us. When something speaks to our core. To our selfishness.

To really understand what makes a person tick. However you really need to learn the power of listening. Learn the art and power of really listening to your users and clients. Don’t listen to friends who think they know what a client wants (usually they don’t).

The “once we have a million users we will monetise it” business works in probably only five thousand out of one million businesses. If you read this and got excited about your prospects, go and attend a refresher course in stats.

If the muck hits the fan, ignore everything that is a distraction and focus on the core issue of the problem.

You will have limited resources no matter how successful you become. Watch those margins!

As you grow, putting out fires will consume 95% of your time. Just try each day to put 5% of you into making progress to your goals.

Don’t give away equity to every person that promises to add value. Give it to those who work for it, pay or it or sweat for it.

Make sure you have a financial person (your sister, accountant, CFO etc) who protects you from yourself. Put a safety net between you and the money you are making so that you can’t risk it all on the next best idea that creeps into your head.

Stay positive. Even when things don’t work out well.

Focus on the solution and not the business model. The solution is what you are trying to find – the business model you can (and should) change regularly.

If you can’t figure out how to make money out of your business idea, start small but do start. If after a while you still can’t figure it out, it is not a business but a hobby. Hope you can afford your new hobby 🙂

You will face financial duress (multiple times probably). Write on a BIG board in your office “KEEP OVERHEADS AND FIXED COSTS TO AN ABSOLUTE MINIMUM AND LOVE VARIABLE COSTS”. You’ll thank me later.

If only you had an investor is NOT a business model.

NPOs (Not for Profit) organisations still need to make a profit. The only difference between them and a ’For Profit’ is how they share or invest that profit.

You have the responsibility to try and leave the world in a little better state than you found it in. Don’t forget it. As citizens of this wonderful egg-shaped thing called earth it is our duty to improve life for all – humans, fauna and flora.

Try and enjoy each day. In entrepreneurship it is the journey that counts. The destination doesn’t exist – it is constantly changing. Enjoy this beautiful, scary, exciting, uncertain, powerful, fulfilling, roller coaster called entrepreneurship.

How to Turn Your Dreams Into Reality

How to Turn Your Dreams Into Reality

Mateusz Grzesiak

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