There is a Ugandan businessman I have long admired for his glut of successful enterprises. Two years ago, I attended a business forum at which he talked about the importance of creativity, versatility and integrity in business.
I left that forum not only determined to start my own business, I also sent him an email begging him to write a book detailing everything he had learned in his long business career that could serve as a light to aspiring entrepreneurs.
He heads the boards of several high-profile government and private bodies and is a coveted speaker at inspirational events. So he is reported about a lot in the press, only colourful stuff that make him even more inspirational.
But last week I learned that this highly respected business man is choking on loans amounting to billions of shillings and has joined other businessmen suffering the same plight, to push government to bail them out using taxpayers’ money.
I’m grateful that he inspired me to start my own business but I am not sure I still want him to be my business mentor. One of my friends would rather have me believe that no business enterprise operates completely debt-free, but I believe an entrepreneur that accumulates debts to the tune of billions of shillings and without compunction expects government from a Third-World country to come to his rescue at the expense of the taxpayer is worse than the merchant of Venice.
This government has already lost trillions and trillions of money through corruption and other scandals, and we cannot afford to worsen an already precarious situation by diverting public money to massage a clique of moguls that refuse to take responsibility for their business irresponsibility.
The country is still in dire need of public services for which that bailout money could be used for the greater good. The taxpayer is already burdened enough and the country is bigger than a few individuals whose so-called business acumen and ingenuity has turned out to be a sham with accompanying ramifications they are not willing to pay for.
0 comments:
Post a Comment