Eric Buah  Conference Paper  

Why African Society are stuck in the fear cycle and how  can they ignite their latent entrepreneurial capability to break the fear cycle and move from good to great

By Eric Buah,Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics (Entrepreneurship department)

Thought lead to action and the kind of action one takes determines the result. Steve Pavlina in his article underlined that, balancing thought and action is a challenge for many people but one needs a balance of the two especially when running a business to achieve good result. This simply means that the way we think and act has influence on us and it is what categorized us if we think and act as entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurial thought and actions, in my opinion are not different from our everyday thought but the result always determines if our actions are that of an entrepreneur. That is what determines if you are stuck in the fear cycle described by Maxwell, J.(2000) .This is because no matter what happens to someone, the most important thing is what happened in you as Maxwell explicitly established in his failing forward book. Positive attitude as Maxwell further explained, goes with positive thinking.

A blog by Innovation Associates established the fact that, anyone is capable of entrepreneurial thought and action but the unfortunate thing is that, some people do not try. And those who do not try are the people who see thought and action as different entities. My personal background teaches me that, this perception is one of the cankers that have eaten deeply into the fabric of the development of Africa. Why is it that most of the western countries are able to do many things to effects their own lives positively but most African countries are not ready to get up from their slumbers and always depend on the “ Oyibo” for their own living standard and personal wellbeing? Should I conclude that they are special supernatural beings? NEVER! or is it  because of their entrepreneurial thought and actions?. On the other side of the coin should I conclude that, it is because of the uncertainty avoidance culture that Hofstede found out in Africa that is draining our though and actions to act?

If I take a second look at how some African society think at this time of civilization, democratization and globalization and continue to make civil war their entrepreneurial venture, the question that raced through my mind is that “What is keeping Africa in the fear cycle, which is hindering their development”. And how can the society in general ignite their latent entrepreneurial capability to break the fear cycle and move from good to great. Does the continent lack level 5 leaders which Jim Collins,2001 described as “ fanatically driven and leaders who are infected with an incurable need to produced results without thinking of how big or hard the decision?” NO! THERE ARE DOZENS OF GOOD LEADERS IN AFRICA BUT WHY? If you think of a country’s development, irrespective of natural resources, it’s simply having the right people in the bus as Jim Collins stressed. It’s simply having people devoid of corruption like Darwin E.Smith in the bus (Collins,J 2001.p.17) and leaving behind people who embezzled millions from  government and private  institutions and still trumpet their   deeds(Collins,J 2001 P.28). Can I be a bit curious to ask if African countries are having wrong people in the bus? This blog will answer those questions . Watch out and hook on to my website always ………..

Coming soon here on my blog :) 

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