A few weeks ago we experienced a very unpleasant cold front – out came the boots, beanies and coats. Heaters were dusted, stews and dumplings warmed our bellies and talk of an impending colder winter this year, trended. I love the warm things of winter. We’ve figured it all out: central heating, warm, fluffy sweaters, winter sheets, cup-a-soups and trips to warmer locations are easy to arrange. Animals do the same, they migrate, hibernate or adapt – we could learn a thing or two from them and apply this knowledge to business.

Like in ballet, let’s assume 3 positions to sum up what compels and sustains the entrepreneur. First position, the power of a well-developed idea and executed plan gives you the opportunity to audition. Second position gives you access to contracts which provides further opportunity to prove your ability and credibility to deliver. As your offering is selected and you deliver to high standards, a time may come to expand which gives you the third position.

What I’m about to say may seem bizarre, but next time you order your grilled or fried salmon, think for a moment about its biology. Thing is, salmon swim upstream, purposefully, willfully; they are the natural essence of being disruptors. They don’t go with the flow, the norm, the usual, the easy – they are focused and passionate in pushing boundaries. They swim upstream to reach fresh water that they were born into; some make it, some remain in the ocean unable to fulfill their innate biology to go upstream.

To be young in Africa today is to carry within you hopeful and delusional optimism about your future as you survey the unemployment lines from a high-rise office that you will occupy. It is despairing to talk about the youth unemployment rates as I watch my sanguine nephews, one in final year of university and the other in matric, discuss their post-learning options. Especially when the OECD UNDP 2016 Africa Economic Outlook Report states that 9 out of 10 working youth between 15-24 years of age are poor or likely to be poor.

An analogy of war conjures up images of destruction, conflict, pain, looters, prisoners, death and losers. There are no real winners in war – victory and winning mean different things in wartime, yet it is used as a backdrop to many a competitive strategy. 

Networks are those connections and pathways that define the world around us; in our communities, relationships and business engagements. The first modern talk of networks was technically in reference to a collection of computer components that were interconnected by communication channels, allowing a sharing of resources and information. Nothing new here – nations have always used their networks to get ahead.