As an entrepreneur in a foreign country it’s even more important than ever to pick a winner. There is no backstop. Mother is a long way away and the bank manager doesn’t yet know me. Again it comes down to picking the right people. Who you know and not what you know.
Warren Buffett speaks the same advice – select your business partners well – so I’m in good company with this advice.
In this last week I have been building relationships with two sorts of people – those who we will do business with (the GOOD GUYS) and those we won’t (the other sort). They are poles apart.
One sad case involved a guy that works for us. He wanted to setup a Village Stay for himself. His big dream in life is to have his own house and provide for his young family. He has nothing. But in Samoa everyone has a village or family land. This is their national saving grace – anybody by law can have a plantation or a house of their own somewhere – a national right.
But the catch is that the head Matai has the final say on who does what, where and he can veto a project, evict a business, and generally play God. Unfortuantely two of this guy’s “upline” did exactly that . . .
In the first situation in Fasitoo-tai it was made clear beforehand that the Matai was almost certainly going to make it hard for the young man. We were told in no uncertain terms that this Matai would wait until the business grew and then he would make it impossible for our man somehow.
I didn’t argue. I knew exactly what that meant – instructing others to burn the house down, playing politics to make life difficult for our man, or more than likely asking, no demanding, money, and then more money and forcing him to close the business down. It happens all the time here. It’s just GREED.
So this village is not a “winner” for us. Sadly, we passed it by.
But we thought, all is not lost. Upon his mother’s advice we tried another village and another high chief who was delighted at the thought that his family would possibly come back to live on his land. Two acres we were told, no problem. Our young man was thrilled to meet his grandfather for the first time in years and to be able to settle on true family land and make himself a home and a living.
Then the bombshell. “He wants $500.00 per month for the lease”, I am told through a translator. Our young man visibly sinks into his chair and cries “No! I don’t even have $5.00 for cigarettes, let alone $500.00 every month to give to my own grandfather”.
In Samoan culture leasing land to your grandchildren is not good. GREED, again, because a Palagi is involved no doubt. I tell the old man that I think that he has to make a choice between having his family back or having some money. He doesn’t give to the young man and plays for time. He now has neither and the people of his family say that they now see that he is the same as many here – just a greedy Matai. I doubt that his grandson will visit him again.
So yet another village is not a “winner” for us.
Towards the end of the day, and I’m feeling for my young friend. It would have seemed to him that his whole family are greedy and out to strip him of anything he has (although he has nothing) and then to strip him of anything he might get in the future too!
Strike three and we’re lucky. On a whim, I turn left not right, and call into a family we popped in to see weeks previously. The high chief is totally delighted to help. Honoured to be asked in fact. Of course he would love to do business with him. No there are no strings attached. Yes you can lease the land and yes I am the high chief and yes you can have anything you want for your business here. Would you like us to start work on it for tomorrow? What would you like us to do to help your business? Is $XXX OK for a lease figure (only 1/3 of market value)?
There are some times in life that you meet the most helpful, most lovely people in the whole world. When you are down, these people shine like a light from heaven. They are the winners in life. They make things happen around them and they become friends of the needy indeed.
This high chief and his family will secure us our business. Our young man doesn’t have a home and his own business on family land, but he now has a friend out there to help him. He has secured himself his first business deal. He has secured himself his first real job. And our newfound business partner will be able to develop his own businesses off our one that will help feed his family and will hopefully in time make him a rich man.
Our business must succeed because it has to. There are no backstops. There is no plan B. But we have three people now very motivated to make it happen. We are all givers – winners – and good things will surely happen as a result, but the pressure is really on us to make it work!
For the others – I’m sorry guys – we didn’t pick you today to be our business partners. We need to pick winners to survive. Putting it politely, we just didn’t like your style.
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