American financier Bernard Cornfeld once asked, “Do you sincerely want to be rich?” No doubt most of us would quickly answer in the affirmative. But taking the thought further, his reasoning was that if your answer was yes, then one would be compelled to ask, what are you doing about it?
In a commercial world where every statistic points to massive failure of business start-ups, and warped ethics that seem to suggest that Christians cannot hold their own in the business world without compromise, it is encouraging to find those who are making it and in doing so, show that it can actually be done. That is how we met Netware Associates.
You may not be familiar with that name, but perhaps the mention of Stocks Kenya might catch your attention. This portal led the way in 2006 as one of the first sites giving information to potential investors on the mysteries of the stock market, complete with a platform for savvy Kenyans to share advice with up and comers in stock-trading. But that is the more recent story…the three young Christian men that brought this idea to life go back a long way.
In 2000, Josiah Mugambi, Ted Muganda and Edwin Kaduki did their first experiment. They had two major things in common – all believers, and they all wanted to make money. Like most young people today, they figured business made more sense than employment, and jumped straight in. Three years later, simple business mistakes mainly brought about by lack of experience, and with revenue flow almost down to a trickle, they wound up the company and decided to pursue other options.
That would have been the end of that story – but Ted was convinced that he could learn from his mistakes and do better. He says:
“If it's not working, it's not because business is not for me. I must ask myself, what am I not doing right?”
He registered Netware Associates soon after, and his pals joined him later. This time though, they had their eyes on that all important bottom line, applying the lessons they'd learnt to make the business a success. Their vision was to use innovation in solving everyday problems, and being engineering graduates, they knew a thing or two about this. Information technology is something they're particularly passionate about. They explain:
"The current trend is about innovation in the information age. How people get, use and utilize information. (Besides), industrialization might not be the way to go, since its cost is too high for most African countries. But what does it take to go online? We must invest in this information age!"
Not everyone might agree with them, but the incredible success they've seen in those two years are a case in point. They literally make their living off information, and boast a sizeable client base, developing websites, providing software and system support services and running stockskenya.com.
The latter was an idea born out of necessity. When the investing bug first hit the Kenyan market in 2005, these young men were among the first retail traders. They immediately noticed that the market acutely lacked information to help investors sift through the stock market jargon. The idea to start a site that would provide this was born, and in January 2006, it became a reality. The group teamed up with an investment adviser in a brokerage firm to provide feedback on the ground, while keeping data current through the Nairobi Stock Exchange database.
 Stockskenya.com was an instant success, even being hailed by main stream media as a noteworthy intervention for the stock market (The Standard, September 12, 2006). Its services range from giving streaming updates on performance of shares on the stock market, a portfolio manager for watching and analyzing groups of stocks, providing key financial and economic indicators for investment decision-making and a discussion forum that has become extremely useful in analyzing real-time response to the share market going-ons.
Ted believes that the associates being believers has played a major role in getting them where they are. He explains that this is important because in business, it is integral that you share a common belief and value system. This helps when it comes to decisions involving ethics, excellence and integrity, which are also key things any client looks at in dealing with a business entity. They don't believe in ‘separating' God from business.
“Work itself is God-ordained. As you work, you must think about whom you're serving. With God, you know that even when you feel discouraged, your promotion and success is ordered by God.”
He is quick to point out however, that Netware Associates does not require its employees to be born-again. As they espouse Biblical values in their work, they believe that it gives them an opportunity to show any unbeliever who joins the company how Christianity can be applied in every facet of life.
With the lessons learnt in starting up their business, Ted has loads of advice for anyone seeking to start a business: Rule number one – striking out early is the best way to go, BUT, a little experience will help. This should be in the form of learning how to work in a team, horning your skills and forming networks.
At the same time, if the idea is to work as a group, keep the number to a minimum, both to ease decision making and to avoid petty disagreements. Also, ensure that you work within a reasonable inflow-outflow balance e.g. it might not be prudent to choose a high-rent office when you're just starting up. And most importantly, don't give up. Continue to work at your dream until you get what you want.
These young men have even greater plans for the future – already, plans are underway to provide live NSE data on stockskenya.com, making it possible to follow the trading on the floor live from the comfort of your PC! Watching them talk about all the different things they want to do, one gets the feeling that there's very little that will stop Netware Associates, or its enterprising proprietors, Ted, Josiah and Edwin.
» Post Comment
» No Comments
There are no comments up to now.
|
