Why Africans Are Afraid to Move Money (And Why It’s Costing Us)

Añadido: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]I have lost over $100,000 in the last 5 years in this continent. Do you see me stopping? No. Don't wait for Africa to become a perfect market or to become safe in order to bet.

[00:00:15]All right, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Knowing Me and Co podcast. Let me get settled in. Turn on my recording.

[00:00:23]Your girl, this podcast is budget. This podcast is budget, guys. like crazy.

[00:00:31]We don't have a fancy studio. But yeah, welcome to the Noy podcast. How you doing today? So you guys, as you saw in the title, let me open my laptop, get settled in. I hope you're doing well as you're joining me on my morning reflection and rant. But anyways, today's title is why are Africans afraid to lose money and why it's costing us?

[00:00:57]As always, if you haven't already, please subscribe cuz your girl needs to know that this channel is useful and share my content with anyone that you know wants to build or invest in the African continent cuz I truly believe in us as people in taking place in our beautiful African continent. Greetings from Nairobi. I just finished packing.

[00:01:19]I'm heading to Kinshasa tomorrow. So, something that I've been thinking a lot about lately is like when is the last time you invested your money in African business? And when I say investing money, no, ladies and gentlemen, you sending money to help your mom with her brother's funeral does not count. You sending money for your distant niece school fees does not count. It's great benevolence, but it will not compound into an investment return.

[00:01:51]But what we've been taught as fellow Africans is to play it safe. What we've been taught is the few money that you have that you're earning right now should be in a savings account. And I'm so sorry. I think everyone is now real is waking up to this reality that inflation is a thing. And simply put, for those of you who don't know what inflation is, in very simple terms, think of it. Back in the 80s, you could buy a house with a $100,000 fourbedroom home in an urban city. Today, you'll be lucky if $100,000 gets you a nice apartment downtown Kinshasa. Even in Nairobi, where I am right now, you can buy a one-bedroom apartment like this one for less than 100K from a pre-developer. But let's be honest, this is nice because I'm single by myself.

[00:02:37]But to raise a family, this will not cut it. So, that is inflation. The value of the dollar is depreciating. So, us being the ones that follow our parents advice to save money instead of investing it in something that's going to compound yield returns over time is just not smart. So, I'm going to start off on this and I've talked about this so many times. As fellow members of the diaspora, we send billions of dollars every year. If you don't believe me, do a quick Google search. We send over hundred billions of dollar in remittance. it goes to consumption where I'm getting stuck and I'm really obsessed about this topic is why not use that same money towards the same thing. Funerals are going to happen, people are going to die, people are going to get sick, education needs to be paid, but instead of sending that money in impulsive consumption, why not turn that into a business investment opportunity? And so what I'm learning is that the fear of investing in businesses, the fear of betting on ideas is costing us a lot more as people than we ever could imagine. And no, oh no, if I invest in this business, I'm going to get scammed. I invested that one time and I got scammed. Ladies and gentlemen, if I had to stop doing what I do in this continent because that one time I got scammed. I've lost over $100,000 in the last 5 years in this continent. Do you see me stopping? No. Lesson number one, ladies and gentlemen, the scarcity mindset. Why we hold on to our cash. I am from DRC, proud raised in Kinasa. I'm not born in Kinasa, raised in Canada in Lingama. Whatever our main language is, we have an expression maki. Mabokco is the hand. Masi is hard.

[00:04:32]The hand is always like this with money.

[00:04:35]It's never like this. The only time it's like this is for consumption, not investment. And I think that this is a hard truth. Most of us come from families that are rooted in historical poverty. What does that do is that money becomes scarce. Scarce is an economic term for when resources are few. And I think what it does, it programs us for survival. And many of us, whether we want to admit it or not, our parents have hardwired us for fear and for scarcity. Because to be fair, in their defense, they had to survive. Either those that stayed in the continent or those that immigrated the West and had to work multiple jobs to put food on the table. It was their reality. And so they installed that fear in our minds. And I think what it taught us is to be too careful is to not waste to keep our money safe except for emotional consumption. And that advice is cute and there's some validity to it, but it's built on survival. And I think something that people don't want to admit or I don't think they're aware, the strategies that you use to stay on survival mode, unfortunately, are the same strategies that limit your ability for financial growth. It's just a reality. The two cannot coexist. And when you're afraid of losing money, you don't invest. And I think what you do is you keep saving. While saving was at one point useful, I'm so sorry. Right now, you putting your money into the bank, gaining some 0.5 interest appreciation or worse, some people even keep their money in mattresses, literally is a thing. I don't know if that's working for you. I I really don't actually. And inflation, like I said, is eating away at our purchase power. again, $100,000 20, 30 years ago could buy a house.

[00:06:33]Today, in many places in the world, it's not even enough for a down payment. In the case of Africa, most economies don't even do down payment. They do pure cash upfront. In the West, urban cities, 100K down payment is not a lot is not enough for a full house for you to raise your family. So, I'm a bit confused here.

[00:06:52]Money has to work for you. And I think that the data backs this up. like many families, especially black families, including African black families that immigrate the West, have a higher saving amount than they do investment. And I really think that the saving is cute, but it's terrible when it comes to building a muscle for investing. And I think for the diaspora again, we send money back home, but we don't invest in businesses because family traumas, family demand is very predictable, but businesses are too unpredictable for us to manage. And it's so funny when I see family trauma and I'm laughing, but it's the truth.

[00:07:35]Actually, I really thought about it. I was like, why do we keep sending money in remittance knowing that a lot of that money is either going to scam that cousin is not really sick, he's probably going to use that money for something else. But in your mind, you're like, at least that kind of trauma, that kind of dependency is psychologically predictable and I've just made peace with it. Whereas investing in a logistics business, in a cold storage business, I don't know enough about the market. I don't know how much I'm going to be making every month back from what I gave. And so I would rather give money towards remittance of a funeral than investing that money in a funeral business that will serve the same population that I give money away for free. I guess that's what it is. And again, fear is understandable. I'm not like minimizing it, but it's very expensive and it's costing you. And I think the solution is we need to move away from hoardering money to investing.

[00:08:36]And I wrote this down. The first lesson it is is this. If you for you, you are hardwired that you need a safety net.

[00:08:45]I'm someone who starts businesses without having a backup plan because my whole thing is plan A has to work.

[00:08:51]There's no plan B with me. Plan A is the plan. That being said, I understand that for many of you that is not a reality.

[00:08:58]For many of you, you need that paycheck, that financial survival, that financial safety net before you can take a leap of faith towards investing in a business.

[00:09:08]So, I think this is the best strategy.

[00:09:10]Create yourself a six month cushion. I need I don't know a,000 $2,000 a month in terms of my rent, my food, my transport, looking cute. I need six months of that. put aside before I can bet on a business. So six multiply by $2,000, that's $12,000. And then once I have that saved up, I'm gonna now allocate x amount of percentage of my earnings towards investing in businesses in Africa. Maybe for you that's what would work. And I think another one that I wrote down, start small. Like I think with investing I find with a lot of people especially the diaspora the root cause of why many members of diaspora don't invest I think going back to the survival thinking is analysis paralysis right I'm sure you've heard of that people who overanalyze before they can act and I'll talk about this a bit later on waiting for the environment to be perfect before bedding sadly people like that I find they lose because by the time the environment is perfect there's not enough room for them to invest anyway. So, I think for you though, start small. So, take, let's say, $500 and bet on an idea. That $500, I just want to be very clear. Don't think that that $500 is going to turn you into a millionaire. That $500 is for you to gain the muscle of investing, the muscle of betting. You are very likely going to lose that $500, but at least you lost it. And now you know, okay, that was the wrong opportunity, the wrong market, the wrong partner, but I've learned. So see that $500 as an education fee. Lesson number two, the trust deficit. I think this is a big one why we don't trust ourselves. And I really think that the second reason here is that we don't move money because we don't trust ourselves.

[00:11:07]And what do I mean by that? Just think about it. How many times have you heard someone say, "I don't know enough about finance. I'm not a finance person. I don't know anything about investing.

[00:11:18]I'll leave it to an expert." And I grew up in Canada. It was a thing back in the days and it's still a thing for many older generation immigrants. Banks like RBC, TD Bank, you name it. They had this thing called mutual fund, which I'm sure they still do. The whole idea was that you put your money there slowly but surely and the bank will invest that money for you in the stock exchange and it will have a small appreciation over time. What you start to learn with those is that banks are making so much money in that money as a collective and your return over time is so insignificant that you're like what in the world and enters what you call in the stock world ETFs right or robotics very simply put this applies more for western economies and China has something similar where instead of you investing in a single stock, Tesla, Microsoft, Netflix, where Tesla like makes their Tesla stocks makes like no money other than Elon Musk always borrowing against his own stocks.

[00:12:24]But a company, let's say Amazon, Google, even another American company that I love that has great dividends is Costco.

[00:12:32]Rather than you betting on one company, you then put money aside every month into these robots, Wealthfront, Robin Hood, Wealth Simple. These robots, these firms have data, so algorithms in the background that are able to see all of the companies in the Canadian stock exchange, the American stock exchange, the Chinese stock exchange that are performing the best in a particular sector like technology. They take 10 of those companies, they turn it into a single stock that you call an ETF. Every month you put money into that, their fee, these robots are like 0.5 or 0.05 5 versus banks. So this actually being in the west should be part of your saving portfolio. And make sure I don't know about my fellow Canadians, it's under your RRS RSP.

[00:13:22]That way if you don't sell it, you don't pay taxes on it. You only pay taxes when you sell the stock. But I think that even as I'm talking right now, you're like, "Girl, what are you talking about?

[00:13:33]I don't have an MBA. I have a global health degree. Very useless. But how do I know this stuff? I just started reading about it. I just became interested in it. You guys, like there's something about human nature when you remove the bias of I'm not competent enough, and you switch to I'm just curious. Let me learn about ETFs. Let me learn how to take my six months emergency fund, put it into an ETF. That way, I can sleep easily. Never do day trading. It's so stupid. But I think this is what I've noticed about people.

[00:14:07]We would rather say, "I don't know enough about it." And ask a banker for advice. I'm sorry. A banker gains by you not understanding what he does. It's literally how the financial system is wired. You not getting that is on you.

[00:14:23]And in a world like today where artificial intelligence with your voice, you can literally go to GPT and say, "Explain to me how ETF work like I'm a 5-year-old." It will break it down to you in a beautiful way. So I think the same goes I think even for Africa. This is I think why remittance are so lucrative versus investing in Africa. A it speaks to emotional consumption like I keep saying and two many people in the diaspora don't know where to put their money in Africa and they don't take the time to learn and to understand and where to seek the information. And I really think that we've been conditioned to believe that investing is complicated, that you need some kind of complex degree, that you need some exacerbated amount of wealth in order to begin, that you need to hire someone. Ladies and gentlemen, every time you hire someone for information, you're paying a price that you could have paid in investing directly. And I think all of that is a lie. I'm so sorry. It's a lie. I have a lot of my friends that have MBAs from top IG schools. I've learned to break down what they say. I'm like, "Okay, clearly you got a master's degree in how to make finance complicated and you then get to go work as a consultant and get paid a lot of money." When I challenge them, I'm like, "Oh, so what you mean is I just get to buy this, resell at a higher price, and the difference is my profit."

[00:15:49]Yes. No. Okay. Markup means Okay.

[00:15:54]Margins is this plus this divided by that. Okay. Like I've learned to ask questions to people a that are doing it, not just chatting about it, but challenge those people by dumbing it down. And now with AI, it's 100 times even easier. I don't even need to ask them questions half of the time. So I think the basic of investing is really simple, you guys. Buy things that go up in value over time. That's all an investment is. Something that gains value, liability, something that loses value. And in Africa, the opportunities I really think are everywhere. Let's be honest here. And if you know where to look, you will find it. I think some of the key opportunities that I I invest in these as like my safety net. One, real estate in urban neighborhoods. You can never go wrong. The best players are people that come in before the urban city is about to boom. A city that I regret not buying a property is Dhakar, Sagal, the Almadiv. I like love that area and I think it's it's gonna boom.

[00:17:00]Number two, small businesses, right?

[00:17:02]Like small businesses that need working capital. And the beautiful thing about many African markets because they're emerging in the place like DRC. I started a depot and my friend in the diaspora network invested in it for little as 5k $5,000 from two people, right? 2,000 3,000. We've been able to build an agriculture depot. And the next sort of depot that I'm obsessed with is cold storage. Obsessed. A container. You refurbish it, add solar panels, and you're able to store cold food from local farmers. Number three, agriculture. Right? There's a clear demand. But again, with agriculture, and I've done a video about this before, nowhere in the value chain there's cash flow. Don't lie to yourself. At the production level is very hard to make money. But at the commercial level, there's some value there. I think logistics is one of the best businesses because you're solving a real problem in the distribution from point A to the pair. Best business. And you can apply to so many industries and scenarios. So, you don't need a Wall Street analyst degree to understand these opportunities. You just need to be willing to learn. And I think the diaspora problem. Again, a lot of you are going to get in the comments and be like, "Why are you always hating on this?" I'm not hating cuz I'm one of you. We outsource our financial literacy and knowledge to everyone else. To banks, to advisors, to family members who know better. No, they don't. And then we wonder why we're not building wealth. And I think you guys, every other ethnicity understands this. And I know no, you always mention the Lebanese, the Indians, the Chinese. We have to because these economies less than 100 years ago, they were where we are today. And they love coming here as a collective and they become billionaires. So whether you like it or not, they're doing something that we need to learn from. And I really think with them they don't outsource. They learn. They ask the key questions. They get degrees in defensible knowledge sectors. They make mistakes. Mark my word. They make so many mistakes. But they trust themselves enough to learn from the mistake and eventually figure it out. They don't wait for Africa to become a perfect market or to become safe in order to bet because they understand it's actually in the chaos.

[00:19:23]and the early movers that you're able to make the most money. And I think the solution is not more knowledge. You guys, this is a harsh truth. The solution for the African diaspora is the lack of courage. Let like I'm going to get a lot of hate, but let's be honest, that's really the root cause of our problem. How to build financial selfrust, self-belief.

[00:19:45]Stop waiting for you to know enough and start doing. I think this is just a sad truth. Especially in this AIdriven world, knowledge is becoming cheaper by the second. The early movers, the early doers, the people that make it happen before the market is ready or perfect are going to be the winners. Pick one thing to understand. If it's real estate in urban areas in Africa, if it's a specific business sector like mining, like agriculture, like water, just learn. If it's a specific type of investment, there's different investment models, right? There's loans and all that jazz. Get curious and not overwhelm. It's just a conditioning of the brain. It's something that you can actually learn. Like when you see something, take a deep breath. Don't get overwhelmed and don't focus on these weird graph that Wall Street like to distract people with and like derivatives like no like don't get overwhelmed by that. Focus on the core of supply and demand. And I think the number two thing is find people who are already doing this. Ladies and gentlemen, I cannot stress this enough.

[00:20:54]It is a game changer when you find people that are actually building wealth, that are actually building businesses, that are actually investing in businesses, and you seek their advice versus people who talk about businesses.

[00:21:09]And I'm going to give you guys another little tip because a lot of you will DM me, ask questions, and all that jazz.

[00:21:15]When you're asking a question to someone that's a doer, know your audience. No, Amy, we need to talk. No Amy, I would like to grab coffee with you. I'm going to say no. Like, I'm going to say no.

[00:21:26]And I think most of you, me not replying is the answer. But if you were to send me an email and say, "Hey, no, I'm based out of um New York. I'm originally Zimbabwean. I'm moving back to Zimbabwe.

[00:21:38]Here's where I want to invest in when it comes to agriculture because this part of Zimbabwe is very similar to DRC. What are your thoughts in X Y and Z? Ladies and gentlemen, if your question is that detailed, I will give you a golden answer. Find people who are doing it and answer advice. It's the same thing with getting advice from a happily married couple that's been married for 30 plus years versus seeking advice from someone who's back from a divorce, someone who has yet to be married. The advice looks very different. Very different. And I think another one is make small bets.

[00:22:14]Again, start with say $500 before you say, "Girl, I don't even have $500." Let me make you let me give you sorry an example that I did not too long ago. I realized I was really bad with financial management of my personal finances. I have a few passports. I live in different jurisdictions. And in everywhere I live, I have this habit of feeling the need to open a bank account.

[00:22:38]Little did I know, banks charge you monthly fees. So then I decided in Canada, in the States, I only really need one Canadian account and one American account. The American as my business account under the LLC, the Canadian is just for personal and family stuff. But the other three bank accounts that I had in Canada, the other two bank accounts I had in the States, yes guys, five bank accounts, I closed them. And I did the math. I was throwing away like $300 a month in bank fees. Like, so do the math. $300 a month wasted that you could gather and invest in a small business in Africa. So what you need to do is identify the leakages in your finances. What you need to do is identify where that remittance money is going to concession. How do you lock that in and make a bet on a business?

[00:23:27]And I repeat, with $500, you're not going to end up as the next Bill Gates.

[00:23:31]But what you're going to do is build the muscle to bet on Africa and learn and then your later investment. That's when it's going to yield dividends. Lesson number three, the information gap and why we miss opportunities. You guys, I cannot stress this enough and I've talked about this in my leverage video.

[00:23:54]Asymmetry. Asymmetry is like the missing of information is an entire money maker anywhere you go. I don't care if you live in the west. I don't care if you're in Africa. But in Africa, it's even higher the ticket price. Why? Because most of subsaharan here in Africa is still emerging, which means it's mostly informal. And a lot of people at the very top have learned in most economies if I gatekeep certain information, I get to have a monopoly on the market and make a lot of money. That being said, we need to take ownership as people that as diaspora, we often don't seek out the information. And I'm going to explain.

[00:24:34]We don't move money because we don't know where to put it. And knowing where to put your money requires you seeking the information. Let's be honest, the average diaspora professional doesn't know that DRC is launching energy licenses. I talked about that in my previous videos.

[00:24:51]The average diaspora doesn't know that Kenya for example especially the urban areas has a serious sewage problem where a lot of people have figured out gathering garbage for houses and then they go they charge you per kilo and dump it in some random sewage place causing further problems. So the government is now working on how to privatize waste management. That's an easy opportunity for you to get in by renting a truck in Nairobi which there's so many car truck rental companies in Nairobi. disposing that garbage to a company that will refurbish it. Or even one of my best and favorite ideas that I want one of you to take.

[00:25:30]Kenya produces a lot of avocados. Most of it is now being exported for avocado oil, which is a huge commodity. Finding avocado oil in Nairobi, I've been looking for one month. I can't find any.

[00:25:42]Why not take avocado waste, which I go to markets all the time to buy my produce. They're literally wasted because avocado ripes very fast. It turns out there's four companies in Nairobi that are looking for avocado skin and the avocado nut. They use it to process for cosmetic use. You literally could just be the truck owner that takes avocado garbage from all these markets that are wasting it because they have no choice. Transport that to these factories that are treating the avocado for cosmetic use.

[00:26:17]And so, let's be honest, if I didn't, if you don't live here, if I didn't tell you that, how would you know? And I really think that what we don't know about these gaps, yes, it's hard because knowing me, I don't live in, how would I know? But let's be honest also, it's because the information is not on CNN. The information is not on Tik Tok news. The information is not in LinkedIn. Because for those of you who have been to LinkedIn as of late, I'm I'm getting famous on LinkedIn, but I can't stand most LinkedIn content. It's a bunch of people ranting about why Africa is not getting funded while most of them are not even building businesses. But let's be honest, those rants is what captures your attention, not the business opportunities. And let's be honest here.

[00:27:07]The kind of information I just shared about avocado in in Kenya DRC releasing energy licenses, they're not going to be discussed on social media. They're discussed in WhatsApp groups with five people in it. They're discussed in offices of people that are actually building businesses on the continent.

[00:27:27]They don't feel the need to rant online.

[00:27:29]They don't have that kind of time.

[00:27:30]They're discussed in elites family gatherings which is not open to the wider public. And I'm going to be really honest. The WhatsApp groups and the offices where these conversations are happening.

[00:27:43]Here's the thing. While decentralizing information is something that I hardly and strongly believe in because and this is why I have a YouTube channel. But I'm going to be honest as well. I can understand why some people like to keep that information in small circles because there's nothing more draining than sharing information with someone who's not going to act on the idea. And this is where you need to be aware of for you to get access to certain rooms.

[00:28:11]You you Oh. Oh, someone just called me.

[00:28:15]Let me just uh call you back.

[00:28:18]O this is what happens when you're doing two master at the same time. is actually an investor. But anyways, like I was saying, information is symmetry. So, keeping information is real. The people who already have the wealth, who have access to information than you don't, let's be honest, they win by doing so. But to their defense, they don't have time to be just kiki and and joking. They rather allocate their time to people who they can leverage from that are making things happen. But you watching this, you can create access to that information. And I think that the information a lot of time that you want and that you need is not as secretive as you think. It's just hidden in plain sight. Like it's almost like the moment you start paying attention, you'll be surprised on how key information comes to you. For example, government websites. Ladies and gentlemen, I know I know government websites are long- winded, hella boring.

[00:29:17]Some governments in Africa, the website is so ghetto that it's painful even getting on there. But I've learned those website can actually be very useful because a lot of these governments, they love the PR or bragging about their country doing X, Y, and Z before they even execute it. However, for you that's extremely important because if this country like Congo announces that they're going to be releasing energy licenses, that should be a light bulb for you and say, hm, what is a business that I can invest in or that I can start in the energy circle because now the licenses are being given away that means the energy sector is going to be very lucrative. How do I get in? Another one is industry conferences. This is a huge advantage I think the diaspora does not tap into. I used to go to a lot of conferences. Now I don't go to as many unless I'm a guest speaker. But conferences are actually a very easy ticket and shoe for two reasons. You tend to meet people in the industry that are working in the industry. So they have great real world knowledge even if they're coming to Washington DC. Number two, let's be honest. You being a member of the diaspora living in the west, the west is actually where a lot of the decisions are made. A lot of the monies are the decision is made from the west and from China. Africa were often just the recipient of that agenda. So you being in close proximity to those room is a huge advantage that let's be honest the farmer in the middle of some random village in Africa doesn't have access to. He doesn't even have access to the kind of lenders that you would have access to. So conferences I think are a great plug and the best conferences I find are the one that are small to medium size and slightly more expensive in terms of tickets. That's just my experience. The free ones.

[00:31:07]Number three, successful operators. I'm not going to repeat this one because I already said it. Find people that are actually doing it in Africa and ask them key questions. Please don't ask them, "Oh, can we talk?" No. get like what is a pain point? What is something that I need to understand about opportunities in Africa? How much money do I have right now and how much do I want to invest? Let me ask them a specific question and you'll be surprised by the knowledge these people will share with you. And I really think that let me go back to my notes. The diaspora advantage again you have connections in both world and this is something that took me a very long time to know and understand.

[00:31:48]I grew up in the west, but I have origins and nationality in Africa. It's a huge advantage. You are able to have cultural fluency in a way that most people don't. The Westerners are too afraid of Africa because they don't get it. They don't get our culture. They don't get our psychology. The African doesn't have the passport or the leverage to get on a flight to be in those rooms. It's just a sad truth, right? So, you being able to be a bridge, leverage that and get knowledge from that. And I really think that the key lesson here is close the information gap. Information is powerful. And what you need to do is treat information like currency. Information today is the biggest currency because that's what data is. One, subscribe to government websites in markets that you're interested in. Two, go to conferences.

[00:32:40]Three, create your own information network. Create a WhatsApp group.

[00:32:44]Maximum five people. Please don't do WhatsApp groups with like a hundred members and becomes like a gossip central. No, five people that are a combination of operating in different markets around the world linked to Africa and you guys literally are sharing knowledge in that WhatsApp group either conference opportunity, funding opportunities, knowledge of which market is becoming exciting and you'll be surprised those groups are going to become your biggest leverage later on.

[00:33:11]Be very selective. So I think the people who are moving money are not smarter than you. They really are not actually.

[00:33:18]They just have better information and they act on it. Right. Lesson number four, you guys. Hey girl, I just love to talk and I love my podcast.

[00:33:33]Sorry. All right. Here's the fourth beautiful lesson. And this one again is very uncomfortable. No. Amy, stop preaching. No, Amy, stop attacking us.

[00:33:45]I'm not attacking you. I'm just observing things for what they are. You guys, as black Africans, we love to wait for permission.

[00:33:55]This is something that I don't understand. I don't understand who is responsible to give you permission to act. Like, is this like a self-esteem thing? Is this like a trauma response? I think actually what it really is it's a colonial hangover. I know I know the theme of colonization westerners they love especially in the US they love especially the social scientists they love love love to dwell on the colonial aspects in the end not do anything about it but then on the Africa side we don't acknowledge the psychological impact of colonization enough and how it impacted us to the point where we just sweep it under the rug but no we were brutally abused by colonization and the psychological effect that it had on us it made us people that very docile and that always seeking permission and that literally don't understand that there's a system that was created for us to follow and it's rigged. We are following it but those who created the system are not following it. They win by keeping us in that system. You understanding that you move different. And here's what I have to say. We wait for bank to approve our loans. We wait for government to give us permission for a license. We wait for a reputable investor to lead the investment round table. We wait for someone else to say, "Okay, honey, you can start that business." You guys, I'm very confused here. Generations have been told what to do, how to behave, where to stand. We have trained ourselves and our parents have trained us to follow the rules not to make them.

[00:35:37]And I think that training is still deeply rooted in us. And again, other cultures that historically were colonized, maybe not as harsh as we were, but were Indians are a great example with the British colony and the British system. What I actually admire about the Indian culture is because British screw them over so hard, they've learned to not trust formal institutions. That's why collective family economy has to work. money has to come from the community because formal institutions are not to be trusted and we need to get to that point and I think when I look at the Indian culture in Africa they don't wait for permission they don't wait for the market to be perfect if anything sometimes I feel like they love and chaotic what they do they see an opportunity they figure out the rules and especially the unspoken rules and they move I'm going to give you guys such a good example I remember 10 years ago in Kinchasa, a friend of mine uh comes from like this very athan Indian family and he takes me down to Kinchasa near Bongo. That's actually where I was born. At the time there was so much sewage in that area.

[00:36:51]Sewage that is disgusting. And I just when I arrived there I was like this man is trying to kill me. This is how I'm going to die. You guys, when I say sewage, there's like a water system that's passing through. There's garbage on top. I'm dying. I'm like, I'm about to get a disease.

[00:37:07]Tell me how 10 years later today, you go to that area in Bond, you know it's there. It's a shopping center. City market is there. Nice cream is there.

[00:37:16]Um, across the street to Gar. Literally, there's something that he saw in that dirt that clearly I did not see. and today he's a shareholder and his three families that came together to build a shopping mall and they're making banks.

[00:37:33]So I'm looking at that like wow wow what I'm trying to say is they don't ask who will give me permission they ask how do I make this work within this existing chaotic system and you guys the diaspora is very simple we have the capital I'm so sorry you're not going to tell me all these remittance money and all these people building remittance banks are not banking on it we have the money it's just poorly allocated we have the connections we have the education My goodness, that's one thing we're very proud of. But we're still waiting for someone else to tell us that it's okay to invest. We're still waiting for someone else to tell us to take a bet on that farm. We're still waiting for someone to tell us that a warehouse is a lucrative business in Africa. That logistics company is actually a money maker in Kenya. Like, okay, no one is coming to give you permission. You guys, I know I sound so frustrated. I need to control my emotions or else this podcast is gonna throw rant every time. But you guys, I'm very confused. Like, who responsibility is it to give you permission? People are trying to pay the bills. People are trying to build companies.

[00:38:48]Like, no, it's on you, my love. Like, literally. And the solution of how to give yourself permission is very simple. One, stop waiting, start moving. Trust your own research. I think this is actually powerful. Since you love analysis paralysis, you want to read things have comments in section before you can act. Fine, read, but use the research as intellectual leverage to help you execute. Ask the right questions to the right people. There's such thing as asking the right questions. I'm sorry, people who say there's no such thing as a dumb question. There is. Ask the right questions. Number two, start before you're ready. You guys, this one is the biggest one. I actually think this is the number one reason why I've always been confident and knowing that I'm going to succeed in business because I have this ability to test and to start and to adjust and to pivot faster than most people. And again, in a world where AI is giving us information at the cheapest rate I've ever seen and so fast, the floor of failure is getting almost like to zero because you can ask for an idea and it will tell you based on the market of Zambia, this will not fly. This is where the demand is. But the key I think is going to happen in the next four years with AI. The winners are going to be the people that are the early movers that are able to execute on that knowledge and I'm sorry to be rude.

[00:40:20]The losers are going to be the one waiting for everything to be perfect before they enter. I'm sorry but it's the truth. Number three, accept that you might lose. This is a big one. I think the biggest thing with fear with most people when it comes to investing and building in Africa and moving your monies in the continent, you don't want to accept that investment is a risk or you know that it's a risk and you let that like prohibit you from acting. And I think it's rather to how do I say this is this idea that the idea of staying within what is currently familiar to you which is that paycheck is so comfortable. But the idea of taking a risk and betting on an idea no matter how small the size of that chat is more scary to you than your current state of comfort. But again your current state of comfort is not letting you beat inflation. So I'm a bit confused here and I really think the question is not will I lose the question is the potential of the gain does it out like does it outpace the risk gain potential over risk right and I think the colonial mindset says let's wait for approval the builder mindset says let me act and then I will pivot and adjust accordingly which one will you live by be my guest Anyways, you guys, I just love talking on this podcast. I do. I love this podcast. But anyways, I know I said a lot of talking. So, in closing point, again, looking at my screen, Africans in the diaspora, we have more capital now than the previous generation. I know it feels tight, but believe it or not, if you look at the data, we're actually earning more than our parents were. We have the education which I think some of that education in my honest opinion has now served us as much as we think because we left Africa went to the west but learned the western economy learned the western system in which now we're trapped we did not learn Africa and that's also part of colonization right but we have the network we have the access believe it or not you actually have the access your ability to just walk into a bank and talk for someone is a luxury that many people in this world also don't have leverage it right but we're not using that access we're not using that leverage and I'm afraid that this fear of moving money this fear of investing this fear of taking a first step now more than ever is going to cost us so much that we can't afford it anymore it's becoming too costly that fear and I really think that what I want you to understand is that staying still, staying in the sameness that you're staying in right now is becoming more expensive than you taking a bet on the unknown. It just is. And if you don't believe me, again, do your research. And I really think that inflation again is eating at your savings. Mark my word, look at the West right now. The moment the money hits your bank account, you are exacerbated with bills, these interest rate, these loans, these sharks, like you're seeing it. So clearly inflation is eating away your savings. Opportunities in Africa are passing you by. I mean I know some of you watching my content. It's painful.

[00:43:46]It's passing you by. And I really think that others that I've noticed that are winning in Africa. This is what I find very powerful in Africa. I would argue people like me, yeah, we're going to win in the long term. But the biggest winners are the people that are less educated, less afraid, less connected.

[00:44:06]They have this ability to just come in the you know what back in India I was in prison in China I was cleaning toilets this is the land of opportunities and they just go for it and somehow this continent seems to reward those kind of people quicker but you not so much and that's on you and I really think moving into spaces where you could have been the owner rather than the observer in this continent is key, right? And I really think that every other culture again they're not afraid whereas us we are. So if here's the thing, you have the capital, you have the connections, you have the intelligence, you have the knowledge, you just need to act on it.

[00:44:54]All right. So, as always, if you want to learn more about frameworks, strategies, ground truth on doing business in the African continent, in the bio, I have a subst where I'm so transparent. I think it'll help you out. Make sure to subscribe and thank you for listening and I'll see you next week.