The Babylon System: It’s A Vampire
Do you guys listen to Bob Marley? If not, you should. In terms of poetic depth, I think he was more talented than even Shakespeare – that overrated English man who walked around London in pleated skirts, writing sonnets that have never really made sense to me:
To be or not to be…tis the question. What the fu*K?
But Bob. Oh Bob. He keeps his shit real:
Babylon system is the vampire, yea! (vampire)
Suckin’ the children day by day, yeah!
Me say: de Babylon system is the vampire, falling empire,
Suckin’ the blood of the sufferers, yea-ea-ea-ea-e-ah!
Every entrepreneur should familiarize themselves with this weed-inspired form of poetry. This song (the babylon system) is essentially talking about capitalism. It’s a vampire that will suck the blood out of you and leave you wounded.
It’s getting harder and harder to extract money out of people because everyone is cutting back as this global recession takes root and I was having a conversation with a business owner about this very issue. i.e. how hard it will be for some people to cut costs, especially those who own businesses because at some level, that cost cutting is going to involve getting rid of someone’s job.
So, he was saying that he was actually in a good position because when he started his business, he made a conscious decision not to hire any employee’s and not to rent out an office. He decided to do everything himself and he was able to do that because he embraced technology. Also, since he had no employee’s, he could work out of his house. If he had to meet clients, he either rented out an office for the specified time (usually an hour or less ) or he met them at a coffee shop. So, he was essentially saying that other business owners who were in the same field as him were going to have to adopt this same model of efficiency & get rid of the idea that you have to have a big office and a secretary and all those other uneccessary expenses.
Then, I was talking to another friend of mine on the phone and he remarked to me that a friend of his was going construct a 70-room office tower in Nairobi off Ngong Road and I thought to myself….why would people want to rent out all these office spaces if their revenue streams are going to be tightening up? Is this concept of having an “office Space” becoming somewhat over-rated for some businesses? Especially given the advancements in technology and the increased use of mobile phones and laptops and all these things.
So, if your a younger person who is more technologically astute, is this model of not wasting money on office rent something that you’d be moving towards as a way of cutting down on your costs?
This is the premise of this piece. How to ensure that the Babylon System doesn’t eat you up like a blood sucking vampire.
***
In keeping with this theme, here is a story of an entrepreneur who built a successful business over the course of 20 years, but ended up losing it all because of accounting errors, which accumulated over time and essentially left him broke.
i am not totally against capitalism. To some extent i support it. I think that every entrepreneur should embrace both capitalism and socialism. Capitalism in that one should be profit maximization minded and socialism in that one should keep the needs of his employees in mind at all times and provide benefits and all that because to some entrepreneurship is too risky. Taking either to am extreme is a recipe for disaster. i mean look at Russia.[bit personally i would rather lean towards capitalism that socialism-profits]
http://kenyantykoon.wordpress.com/
I could not agree with this more. In this day and age, you have to cut overhead costs to the bone. We followed the exact same philosophy…..we operated from a dingy shed for an office for many years, in fact the only reason we got a respectable office is when we had to renew our business license and the Regulatory authority informed us that they were going to send an auditor to inspect our premises etc……only then did we bum space in a friend’s office building. We also have added staff sparingly and it is important for them to see you out there with them, as filthy and soiled….. hustling…….you gain mutual respect and that way they know this is YOUR bread and butter, and everyone IS very expendable. The days of hiring messengers, and tea ladies are gone especially if you’re staring off small.
KE.
For large businesses office space will always be a factor. Technology cannot replace people no matter the advancement. What technology does is to make our work easier and allow us to concentrate on other more innovative work. Infact most of the most revolutionary technology is people centred look at social networking and communication technology e.g. cellphones, computers and software. Medical technology is also doing a roaring trade.
Indeed technology that is not meant for the benefit of people doesn’t last long. Now regarding capitalism. I have always believed that no system is perfect. Capitalism has a very uncaring and ruthless side to it. In Kenya it also leads to people engaging in corruption to make it. Nonetheless it is at the moment the only system that has worked efficiently.
Jellyfish:
This article was not about large businesses. It was about the lone entrepreneur who is just starting out and/or the small business owner and how they are increasingly being forced (in these tough) economic times, to cut costs and office rent is the first thing that should go.
Sijui:
You’re absolutely right when you say that the days of the tea lady are over. Technology is making it possible to conduct business virtually anywhere (even under a tree or on the beach wherever you are).
I would say that it has implications even for large businesses. Alot of large business, have realized that they don’t really need everyone in the “office”. There are positions in several large businesses, where they had the concept of “hotelling”. You would work from home, most of the time, but go in say 1-2 days a week. You did not have an assigned space, but checked out a space when you came in.
I at times would meet with some of my colleagues in coffee shops, at client’s, etc. I liked it because socializing was restricted to certain period. When I am busy, and focused, I really don’t want to come in after lunch and have to listen to someone talk about their vacation, which at times in large companies you have to endure to get what you want from another group.
Sijui, the presence of a tea lady, reserved parking spots,etc are usually a sign of potential trouble for a SME. In the technology field, it indicates a certain inflexibility, and lack of hunger. I have been working with an entrepreneur friend, who after making his first sale goes ahead and joins a country club. I ask if he knows of any potential clients at the country club, and he responds no. When he inevitably asked for me to invest in his company I passed. The company is going to shut down, as he says the potential customers don’t understand his product. That is not the problem, he is a casualty of our silly system.
I really think it is a result of the old people wanting to outdo the colonists, and prove they are even better than them, not realizing that is part of the reason Britain had to pass the world power status to the United States, and why the United States will have to pass the status to the East Asians.
Perhaps even the tea lady could set up her own internet business……..
Talk about oxymorons and midnight noon…..an ‘entrepreneur calling capitalism a vampire system! what bull croc. This is extreme ignorance, pure and simple. There is Left and there is Right. There are Democrats and there are Republicans. Capitalism is the OPPOSITE of Marxism/communism/socialism. Entrepreneurs are Capitalists who support maximum profits based on Babylonian System and read Adam Smith. Socialists, Marxists, communists, Democrats and so on are mostly employees or workers or people on welfare or Labor unions who Listen to Bob Marley etc. …”with all thy getting, get understanding.”
man, u r one hell of a pessimist.
I rarely see good stories in this blog about entrepreneurship, which is what one would expect from the title.
Global economy is bad, but this is the time great winners are produced,
just my view
Working stiff you’re right, especially about the mentality back home as well. People put ALOT of currency in to seeing a bricks & mortar operation, tea lady, messenger and reserved parking……..we too were intimidated at first about our rag tag operations….people were like “where is your office?”. Technology truly has made the difference where depending on your product and/or service, you can run a successful enterprise from your bathroom.
And I think that is the reason why ‘office parks’ are becoming more popular e.g. in Nairobi, whereby you can lease office space for micro-durations i.e. hours as opposed to months. Attitudes have changed which is great!
I think you missed the point.
Capitalism, at it’s core demands that you “take from someone”. i.e. if you want to get rich, you’ll have to find a way to extract money from other people & this process is not necessarily pretty or smooth or even fair. Hence, it’s comparison to a vampire system that sucks the blood out of someone else. So, the analogy here to being a vampire is the idea of sucking the blood (read: money) from someone else (as opposed to taking it from yourself).
This is not a criticism of capitalism per se, it is simply an acknowledgment of it’s basic tenets. You must take from “someone”.
KE
Reading your article I didn’t see where it was defined that an entreprenuer had to start out small. It is quite possible to start out with 40 employees depending on the type of business and capital you have.
The idea of virtual offices is an ideal and utopian idea but you also ignore the negatives that come with it. Take for example a person starting out a software development company that has major security issues you dont want such people operating from home. In any case even the lone entreprenuer will get big at some stage. In addition not all entreprenuers are in the same type of business.
Take for example entreprenuers in the tourism industry or farming how will you do without employees or an office or will you grow your fruits & vegetables in cyberspace? How about your visitors to a hotel will they come and be served purely by computers? Doctors and lawyers need office space to serve their clients. True some businesses could do without employees if they are sole proprieterships on a micro-level and with no need to produce actual goods.
Jellyfish:
Of course there will always been some businesses that require offices. Again, that was not the point. This was about those businesses that can be done without having the need to pay a continuous monthly rent. It’s pretty obvious and I didn’t think it needed rehashing, that a doctor will require an office.
In terms of software and security issues, I am sure you are aware that most security updates are now done electronically. Therefore, if you are going to steal software, you can do it from any physical location. In fact, a software company is the best example of a business that may not need permanent offices.
on another note, this is why I maintain that conventional wisdowm is bull shit
http://www.economist.com/marke.....d=12818136
Even I was amazed that the majority of the fastest growing economies in 2009 will be in Africa….this is why I gave Obama’s Accra speech a B- at best. As an African entrepreneur there was nothing mildly inspirational, like tell me something that the broad swathe of Africans do not already know.
Moving on, just shows that the Chinese are turning and burning in Congo Brazzaville and Angola…I am intrigued though by Malawi, was there recently and was impressed at how ‘orderly’ a society they were and how they have managed as a land-locked country to cough out of thin air 8% growth with primary commodity being tobacco?
Sijui:
I’m personally getting tired of Obama’s speeches. The campaign is over and he’s actually beginning to sound like he is talking down to people. Is he a reverend or a president?
Anyway, my confusion with the growth of African economies, including places like Angola is that there does not seem to be a drop in the poverty numbers, especially in a country like Angola with all it’s oil. How does one explain that.
What is Malawi doing? surely it can’t just be tobacco? or is it? What about their AIDS problem?
Joe:
I’m not here to feed your fantasies about a dream world full of goodness. The world is messy, unstable and often difficult. I like realism over fantasy , but I am sure they are other blogs on entrepreneurship, which can give you the positivity that you are searching for.