Illusion of entrepreneurship: We cannot all be queen bees

Once again, it is that time of year when we swear — on our ancestors’ graves — that we will join the gym, eat healthier and, of course, become wealthier. This will be the year Anno Agendi (this Dholuo sounding Latin phrase means the year of action). This annum, we will make like an Irish leprechaun and find that pot of entrepreneurial gold at the end of the rainbow.

The problem is that according to science, there is no end to a rainbow.

At least not on earth. Rainbows are formed high up in the sky through the chimera of light dispersing through water droplets.

START-UPS FAIL

So myth number one of entrepreneurship is that success is within our control, as you take that proverbial leap. Note to self, if you are still employed — it’s more like the half-hearted dive.

I hear you … your arguments on pursuing the novel solution (at least in your mind) to start a side hustle whilst you continue to collect your pensionable benefits. Likely, you will need to master the cat-and-mouse game where you artfully angle your computer screen at all times away from your boss’ curious eyes and frequently interrupt conversations with co-workers to take “urgent” calls, conducted at a safe distance.

If you are a student, you wonder whether it is really worth it to continue the grind, stressful exam after exam. After all this whole education thing is in pursuit of economic resources and there must be easier ways to make the dough. These Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates dudes were all university dropouts and they seem to be doing just fine.

The second debate over entrepreneurship is grounded in the classic nurture versus nature argument. Does your child perform well in school because they inherited your A+ exam taking skills or because of the exorbitant fees you paid to take them to the elite school guaranteed to hone their skills to Samurai-sword-like sharpness? Aha, perhaps we should enrol in that online MBA or enlist on that youth development platform ABC, DEF, etc …

Wake-up call to both the deceitful employee and the rash student — according to Forbes, nine out of 10 start-ups fail.

EMPIRE-BUILDING

And to be honest, these grandiose fantasies of empire-building don’t make sense.

If we are all busy promoting our own individual ideas, then who will work for these businesses that we are creating? Basically if you start a restaurant, then you are bound to fulfil the roles of owner, chef, waiter and dishwasher.

The reality is that in order to create wealth and jobs, then a few enterprises will need to succeed phenomenally and therefore “worker bees” need to be far more numerous than the actual “queen bee” entrepreneur. The reality is that as Kevin Ready, author of Start-up, says: “though everybody can — not everybody should be an entrepreneur.”

The business idea is the easy part. Eureka! The new fad of quail eggs appears to be an attractive option to sell to millions of Kenyans and you will become a gazillionaire. This seems easy enough. Up until those county government personnel turn up at your doorstep demanding to see where your licences are displayed, your first customer delays payment interfering with your precise cash flow projections for VAT cheque due on the 20th — and where on earth do you get an ETR machine? Not to mention that your potential buyers appear to be slightly dim-witted requiring endless meetings to explain the same thing in slightly different ways.

So with the odds stacked against us, what should we do if not pursue the entrepreneurial dream?

DYSTOPIA, NOT UTOPIA

The answer is keep your day job (or find one?). To all the employers and business leaders out there — there is no need to start preparing for a mass exodus of talent. Trust me despite the 6,000 books on leadership, leaders need followers. Most of us are more suited to the 9 to 5 type of job, which ironically seems to exert the best value: namely maximum pay for minimum effort.

Entrepreneurship, as the buzzword of the moment, is an easy sell for the political class to the estimated 26.2pc of unemployed youth based on the ILO’s projections. The lure of hope, a chance to win a lottery — is far easier to deliver on than modern super-highways, tertiary education for all and hospitals equipped to save lives. And don’t get me wrong, I am rooting for the numbered few amongst us who will be elevated to the hallowed halls of fame of great industrial barons or tech moguls.

For the masses, this is entrepreneurial dystopia rather than entrepreneurial utopia. Entrepreneurship is dead. At least to most of us. And that is an indubitable truth. Happy New Year.

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