A young woman came up to me the other day and said, “Mr Masiyiwa, I follow you on Facebook and I’m still trying to decide whether or not I’m an entrepreneur?”
“Are you curious by nature?” I asked.
“How do you mean?” she asked, puzzled.
“An entrepreneur is someone who is hyper-curious, and manages to channel that curiosity towards a singular purpose. If you’re a person who likes things the way they are, and you don’t like change, you’re never likely to be a successful entrepreneur.”
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine told me about an incredible new technique for something (I won’t tell you what it was today).
“Can you send me a link to something that’s been written?”
Even before he had even sent me the link, I rushed to search on the Internet. Within a matter of days, I’d read dozens of articles, watched video clips, and was tracking the idea. Soon I was corresponding with some of the key players involved in this new idea. Not long after, I had a sample in my hands… Soon I would be looking for a business opportunity!
What are you tracking right now? “How do Apps work?” Things like ‘WhatsApp’? “Can I build my own App?”
We just launched “Kwese App” and it’s amazing. Every week we’re adding new channels to it. The other day, I watched an African football game using the App. I used the Wi-Fi in the hotel because mobile data is too expensive for watching a football game! You can download the Kwese App in a matter of minutes. Go to the Kwese.Com website, if you don’t know how.
# What are you tracking right now?
A few years ago, I went to a toy shop in the UK and bought one of the first “drones” and spent days flying it in my back yard. This was years before Amazon and Google announced their plans to use drones to deliver goods and medicines to remote areas.
“What are seeing?” My wife asked, as she watched a “middle age” man trying to fly a toy helicopter in the backyard.
“One day this will not just be used in warfare,” I told her. “These unmanned vehicles, will deliver everything, including medicines to remote villages. Robots are here, and it’s going to be absolutely massive!”
If you’re not reading about things like robots, and the technologies emerging around them, then you are probably not an entrepreneur. They will affect everything, and every industry.
# What are you tracking right now?
“Have you ever seen a Tesla?” my friend said to me. He was a tech entrepreneur, and investor in Silicon Valley.
“I have one of the first Teslas,” he smiled. “Next time you’re in Silicon Valley, let’s go for a drive.”
I was burning with curiosity!
“A Tesla! You have one of the first?!”
“I invested in it when it was still just an idea. We have made so much money, I’m embarrassed.”
“Stop. What other ideas like Tesla are you looking at right now?” I asked, “Do you think, I could take some of this into Africa, right now?”
“Things move so quickly now, any of these new ideas will hit the rest of the world and Africa too within months after launch.”
Yes, I went to Silicon Valley, just to get a chance to be driven in a Tesla.
Now, you might not yet afford to go all the way to Silicon Valley, but on your smartphone, you have all the access you need. Use it, before you are left behind by the ideas that are changing the world.
# Be curious!
End.
Author: Strive Masiyiwa
