Fredrick's Journey

Fredrick was not our favourite entrepreneur. Far from it. He runs a 'mali mali shop', which sell electrical items. This type of shop is common locally and didn't seem particularly innovative to us. Nevertheless, when we suggested creative ways of distinguishing himself from the competition Fredrick didn't seem interested. Indeed, it was very hard to engage him at all. The first problem was that he doesn't speak English and so the Swahili speakers in the team have to work twice as hard by fulfilling the role of translators. Actually, translating was something they would have liked to have done more of, since Fredrick didn't say much at all, even when asked direct questions. For instance, when asked broadly about his skills, he swiftly shut the conversation down by claiming not to have any. With such a lack of cooperation, we knew it would be hard to get his business off the ground and felt like visiting him was becoming an increasingly poor use of our time. It was after one such frustrating session, in which we felt that little progress had been made, we were getting ready to leave, gathering papers and swinging bags onto our backs when Fredrick stopped us. "Before you go, can I tell you my story?" We were hardly going to refuse such as request, so we settled down, made ourselves comfortable and vainly hoped that there would still be enough time for lunch before our next meeting. Fredrick explained that his childhood hadn't been an altogether happy one. After marrying and establishing a family of 8 children, Fredrick's father had taken a second wife and forced the first wife (Fredrick's mother) to leave along with his eldest sister. Fredrick was now the oldest child in the household. The new wife, a witch doctor, was not popular with any of the children and before long there were disagreements in the household. Fredrick's father blamed Fredrick for this and demanded that Fredrick too should leave the home. Furthermore, the condemned child was to give back everything that his father had ever given him. Fredrick therefore set out into the world owning not even any items of clothing. It was necessary to drop out of school at this stage in order to earn money and so Fredrick started working as an Agrovet. At the tender age of 16 his formal education had come to an untimely conclusion and suddenly his uncommonly low level of English fluency didn't seem so unreasonable to us. Despite the animosity shown to him, Fredrick kept in touch with his family. If at all possible, he wanted to repair the damaged family relationship. As a young adult his father remained an important role model to him and like most children he respected his dad's parental guidance, advice and opinion. Fredrick was ambitious. He worked hard to impress his employer, rent a house and save up some money on the side. His real dream was to learn to drive. Although he didn't know much about how to go about achieving this, his father did and had offered to help. When enough money was saved up, Fredrick left his job, took the money to his father and was promised help in arranging the lessons. However, this help never came. Fredrick waited patiently at first, but after 2 months he realised that he had been duped. His dad and stepmother had taken the fund and spent it on themselves. Fredrick was now back where he had started: no savings, no job and, given that he could no longer pay rent, no house. Nevertheless he had been such a good employee and reliable tenant in the past that both employer and landlord were willing to welcome him back. He returned to the Agrovet and after some time undertook a new job at a mali mali shop. This is when he got the idea to open his own. As before, Fredrick diligently started saving his wages. When he had a respectable fund, he went to a Savings and Credit Co-Operative (SACCO) to ask for a loan. At first they wouldn't take him seriously and told him they couldn't consider him without a shop. A few days later Fredrick returned, he had bought a shop, but needed a loan to help fully stock it. Again the SACCO sent him away, he was a shop owner but how could they trust him with an investment, he had no knowledge of handling money. A few days later Fredrick was back and presented an impeccable set of detailed financial records. The SACCO were impressed, they couldn't fault the resources, the capability, or the dedication of this man and on that basis, felt confident to invest in him. Fredrick was granted a loan at an extremely low rate of interest. Furthermore, during his visits to the SACCO Fredrick had come to the attention of a man named John, a Program Coordinator at a certain company named Balloon Ventures... We shifted our weight uncomfortably. Hearing this story made us feel like we had been too quick to write Fredrick off as an uncooperative and unimaginative entrepreneur. Sure he may not have the Balloon mindset, but that's because we haven't taught it to him yet. It may also be true that he doesn't have any formal skills, just as he initially told us, but it's clear that he has the determination and motivation required to make his business a success - and that's something no one can teach. Leaving the shop, we turned back to look at it. Although it's just one of many mali mali stores, we noticed for the first time that it's the neatest and best maintained shop on the street. It's amazing what you can miss when you're in the wrong frame of mind. If this experience has taught us anything it's not to judge a book by its cover. Going forwards I'll try to read a few chapters first, or in plain English, I'll consciously take more time to form an opinion. After all, people may surprise you and it's important to persevere until they get the opportunity to do so.