When I was in high school, I had a rule I would break often, but it was a beautiful rule: never go to sleep when you know you do not know something.
This rule made me strive, often without good luck, to follow and ask teachers questions about everything I knew I did not know. Of course there are many things I did not know, and I did not know I did not know them, and hence, I suffered, blissfully, in ignorance.
Today, I have decided to start recapping the day, focusing on what I have learnt. Period.
I am an author of 51 books, spanning law, politics, religion, Luo and Kiswahili language, talent, financial literacy, personal branding, and school performance, to name but a few. Ohh, and I am also a poet, guitarist, and pianist. But of all the above, what amuses me most is the way I realize I know so little when other people speak to me, with me, or over me (mostly over me).
I have hence decided to spend everyday, recapping the new things I have learnt that day, or the things I knew, but I was taking for granted, and to put in place action plans, for the same. This is part private, part public exercise, so, you can now stop reading, or continue.
I learnt today the difference between significance, and confidence, in relation to relationships, and life in general. The mentor, one Mr. Kalungi, a singer song writer, CPA tutor, guitarist, and part time lecturer at a company where we, as GoBigHub.com, have a minority interest, CCPInstitute.com, explained, interestingly, that whenever I am scared, it means the level of significance of the task (be it speaking, presenting, or talking to a girl), is very high, and hence, my confidence goes low, given the harm I might face were I to make an error (and there are two types of errors, one is type 1 error, where I reject something which turns out to be right, and type 2 error, where I accept something with turns out to be wrong). Deep stuff. I hope I have not mixed it up. Either way, I learnt that people who are confident do not treat individual activities with a lot of significance, after all, they can get another chance, or they have other options. (Hence players being confident, and getting the good girls, and the good boys, being shaky, and losing out on the good girls. And hence, good girls falling for bad boys, since the good boys lack confidence since they find it significant, and hence, scary, that the girl is good and cute).
That was a great lesson, on confidence, significance, and errors, leading to great mistakes in life. I think I want to be confident.
Then I met with Andrew Muhimbise, a great mind, investor, champion of investment clubs, footballer (armateur), and poetry enthusiast (he is buying me a ticket for the next poetry event at Design Agenda, on 25th Feb, 2017). He read my poem today, one of my poems, and asked if I still write, to which I responded with a strong no. I went ahead to say that I am now focusing solely on building my dream business, GoBigHub.com-a platform on web, and mobile app, connecting local micro investors to local micro entreprenuers. We had lunch, at Mazima Mall, our offices, and later, had tea, at Passerias (I hope spelling is right), bill paid by Andrew. In between, he took me to get injection at Nsambya Hospital for a disease I will not disclose here.
During our lunch, and tea, he was very kind to share a few thoughts on investing, and life’s purpose, and he said three things I want to live by.
His first point was that his main concern now is health, and investment. I thought to last week when I was admitted at Mulago, yet I had only gone for a checkup. The doctors told me I had high cholesterol, scarred heart, and other conditions I do not want to talk about on social media. Either way, it made a lot of sense the need to really take care of health. He said, and I quote, “you either do it now, or you will be fundraising for India in ten years.” I do not want to fundraise for India.
Secondly, on investment, he said focus should be on working smart, seeking predictability, enhancing productivity, leveraging on efficiency, and doing passive investments, in projects with few moving parts. Of course, for a company like GoBigHub.com, we thrive on active engagement with micro entreprenuers, but the point is clear. There should be some kind of efficiency, a system, with clear results, which can be achieved, predictably. He went ahead to advise that since GoBigHub.com already has interests in a few companies, like Nyadiedo.com, which is a micro finance focused on market women, lending money to be collected daily; Infosis Limited, whose brand, Poketi, is revolutionizing payments over mobile phone; naniwapi.com, which is a an online place for convenience; and CCPInstitute.com, which is focused on cooperative management training and finance courses, our focus should be to build systems, and corporate governance, and less and less on thin and wide diversification on risky investments, with poor grade borrowers, who are actually, “rejects” of formal financial system. Deep knowledge here.
Third, he spoke of purpose of life, and said that to him, and I think, I subscribe to his thinking, the purpose of being alive is to be at peace. To have independence of thought. To have control over ones destiny, time, and labour. He said those who think their purpose is their organization, like I do with GoBigHub.com, must be aware that things change, nothing lasts forever, and so, pegging purpose on institutions will lead to certain hollowness. He told me how his “old” friends, gentlemen aged over 70 years, and sitting in boards, directors and CEOs, are more interested in him because he goes to talk to them, not to ask for money, or a job, but to ask for knowledge, wisdom, and experience. This, he says, makes them to open their hearts, and minds, for him to learn. Always seek knowledge, and create time to think. To be blank. To imagine. To meditate. To imagine things. He said contentment is the main thing. To have peace, to be contented, is the best cure against greed, corruption, commingling of funds, criminal misuse of finances, and fraudulent behavior. I was amazed.
Fourth, he spoke of the need to be careful about disruption of business services. We shared on platform model of running businesses, like the one being used by facebook, as a platform of media; or Airbnb, as a platform for house accommodation; or uber, as a platform for transport and ride share. We then spoke about GoBigHub.com, being a platform, connecting local micro investors to local micro entrepreneurs, and about the GoBig Fund, which is a pool of investors money, which is invested in short term debt, and private equity deals, focusing on micro enterprises.
Lastly, we spoke about MoKash, as disrupting money lending, and the fact that all companies which are based on “poor grade clients, will soon collapse, hence, why there is no money lending company that is 10 years old, and yet, there are banks, whose clients are “rich grade”, which are 100 years old, plus. The take home. Focus on building rich grade clientele for GoBigHub. People who understand equity, and debt, and obligations. People who borrow, and pay. People who engage in money lending to not build serious empires, he said, because the clientele are unsustainable, they are poor grade, and do not have ability to be converted into loyal clients. We shared about how naniwapi.com, one of gobighub.com subsidiaries, is seeking to provide a platform for peer to peer lending of money, and about how gobighub.com, is seeking to insure all micro investments in micro enterprises.
Then we said bye.
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Ojijo, the author, is a lawyer, author of 51 books, poet, pianist, guitarist, and founder and chairman of gobighub.com. you can reach him at +256776100059. ojijo@gobighub.com
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