Keep money afloat lest you tilt the flow

Money is not only a problem for those who are employed. It is even a bigger problem to those who make it. Like business people.


Employed folks struggle to make enough money to achieve a fraction of their dreams and have to live with the fact that they have to wait for thirty days to receive the exact amount of money they received thirty days before. And with that kind of amount of money these souls do not meet all their financial obligations. Those who manage to meet their budget and save are blessed; sometimes have to forgo some of their worldly cravings in order to satisfy their financial aspirations.


Employed people have a cosy cushion, a guarantee that every thirty days they have someone to give them money to live another month.


Business people have to make sure that they make enough money for themselves and their businesses to survive. Business people have to sell, buy, sell, save and buy and sell, and save again. Without money they cannot buy raw materials. Without raw materials they cannot supply to their customers. Without customers, and raw material, they cannot be in business.


There are people who are in business to survive. And there are people who are in business because they are solving a problem for their customers.


People who are in business to survive are sometimes a desperate lot. And most of the times these people are in an informal business. When no one uses their business they become frustrated and shrug their shoulders, asking the question ‘why is everyone not using my business?’ And when, miraculously, the business is not doing well and they have no money to spend on themselves they find that as an opportune excuse to raid the till and fiddle with the cash-flow. And once the business owner starts disturbing their cash-flow then we know that the whole flow of the business will be negatively affected.


So be wise and start a business for the right and correct reasons. Look for a problem to solve for the people, for the customers. Look at the times when you wanted something so badly and it was not readily available at the time. It was not available because the concern was closed, or the stock is not always available. And that something is something that is a matter of life and death, and sometimes, it is even more than just that. So your quest is to make sure that situation does not happen again-to you and possibly to a myriad of others.


You start to make inquiries and the reason you want to help yourself and others it is not to compete with the other business. No, you want to provide a service to people who need it when the other concern is not available. Or you know where to get the stock much cheaper, or your clients need the service or product differently.

That way you will run a better business which will make money for you and your business.  And so you will not stress much and so you will not raid the till.


But I am far away from the mark. I wanted to chat about financial management, and more especially paying your self as the business owner. It is simple. Draw a salary, a wage, like everybody else in the business. Pay your wife and pay your children as well as the cousin and the uncle. And bank the business money according to the specifications of your business plan. And to make this measure work even better employ a stern, shrewd bookkeeper. Not so much shrewd to con you, but stern enough to keep you in the black. Make as if you are employed by someone else.     


That way when you look at your business bank balance you will smile even if personally your salary or wages is depleted. And you should harvest a habit of personal banking, because remember you are working for somebody else. You should pay personal taxes and buy endowments, retirement and funeral policies.

When you are in business you have actually not solved your money problems. You have actually created a problem for your self-how to deal with money.

Humble acts of greatness

Kabeli Lichaba

Life I suppose, does not only fail because wrong or inept systems are put in place, but because money acquired was used wrongly. There are many examples that have been advanced of people who get very little money but have gone on to achieve greatly.

There are many people who have landed jobs they would never do dead but because of desperation they have put aside their principles aside and continued to get their hands dirty, and to endure abuse physically and emotionally. Then there are those who do businesses that any self-respecting humans, while claiming that the businesses were beneath them. would ignore and spurn,

Many luminaries that drive shiny German sedans and many great business decision makers from expensively furnished board rooms are children of domestic workers, farm hands, municipal dirt collectors, gardeners, sewage workers, and so on. These parents put right financial systems in place and used their meagre earnings to great effect. They put their children through school to tertiary education.  Sometimes it was not only one child, but several children at the same time.

Many street vendors and hawkers have children who now play meaningful roles in the advancement of the economy. These parents ensured that through the falling rain, howling winters and nail-biting colds they make money and preserve it for the benefit of their children.

If such parents were to be given a chance to run stokvels not intent on saving money for funerals but on improving the quality of life then their contribution would thrive to produce enterprising entrepreneurs and improve the quality of life and the country's GDP.

FINANCE. Money's no kid's stuff

Kabeli Lichaba

The rich world, the Smart World, is always keen stop poverty, squalor, hunger and the seemingly reckless behaviours in handling scarce resources and commodities like money. There are efforts taken everyday, by the Smart World, to tackle irresponsible misuse of money by her people, officials, her state organs and allieds. On the other hand, there are populations that are forever poor and which show no remorse for their dilapidated situation. They simply refuse to employ profitable strategies to change their poverty-stricken status. They make no efforts to halt the absence of money, prosperity and happiness in their communities. They kill the world!

Somebody, some institution, must step up and save the dead-walking mankind from hara-kiri by providing financial education to the youth of today and parents of tomorrow and stop the rot.It is not clear whose responsibility it is to make sure that coins roll down generously down future generations without trickling down to nought: is it parents who must make sure they safe enough and educate their children about their finances; is it the responsibility of the government to introduce proper measures on handling finance profitably; or must it be left to financial institutions like banks to educate populations about the prosperous use of money? It is an intricate matter, this money business.

Governments want continuously prosperous communities for wealthy, profitable investments. Banks want their clients to make use of the institution's money and parents and children want happiness and prosperity. That it is an intricate matter is borne by the fact that since money was introduced into bartering it has always been an elusive commodity to some members of communities. Some make a lot of success out of it while for some it is a source of misery. For the so-called Third World, money and its administration is a complex, debilitating matter. It is a wonder why they do not just ignore it and do business without it, while for West it is a show of power and happiness.

In Africa there is always an endless, barren land waiting for developments either in agriculture or infrastucture,but her leaders are always involved in endless discussions on how to develop her without much success. This happens until new leaders are either elected in democratic countries or, elsewhere, new leaders simply take over a country by force. Therefore there is always not enough time and resources to tackle issues of teaching populations on how to use money meaningfully and putting some away for future generations. Simply put, there is always no money to use for financial education.

But, not so in South Africa. There is enough sufficient facilities in Mzansi to educate learners, students and others on the useful employment of money. Financial institutions can do clients a world of good if they were to ignore, presently, the lure of profits and bank on teaching future employees the joy in banking wisely. Then, everybody, including those who put their money under mattresses, would make use of the banks.