If you die today will your business survive?
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By Calister Bonareri
Business Journalist| Business consultant |marketing strategist |mentor| Gender equity
advocate
Many people dream of one day owning a business. As a millennial, most of our generation is
spending sleepless nights thinking of a new business venture that will hopefully be the next M-
PESA or Uber. All the talks about becoming innovative have bore fruit in most instances. This
can be seen by just checking on Instagram the number of businesses being advertised.
Those that have done their market research extensively have developed impeccable
products and services that have become profitable start-ups.
Let’s say Amani has been working in a restaurant for 3 years. She is working 6 am to 11 mid
night six days a week making pastries. She’s passionate about her job despite the long hours
and a meager salary. The praises her moist vanilla muffins get from hotel customers give her a
sense of fulfillment.
Soon enough, the small voice on the back of her head gets too loud for her to ignore. She quits
her job and takes a bold move to start her own bakery business from her kitchen. In due time
after doing the extensive ground work of setting up the business online, her hard work pays off.
In one year, Amani bakery is a household name. She has hired twenty employees to help her
serve individuals and corporate clients.
Given her superb customer relationship and networking skills, her clients keep coming back.
She opens four branches across Nairobi. Her six and nine year old boys are in decent private
schools. She’s living the dream.
Five years down the line, Amani falls sick and unfortunately within weeks dies. Soon after her
bakery business shuts down since she is not there to maintain customer relationship and
manage employees.
Have you ever asked yourself what would happen to your business if you were to die today?
Are your children going to benefit from your business in future or in case of an unforeseen
tragedy?
Have you built a business that can be run even by two generations after you and still fulfill your
vision?
Have you put measures in place to ensure your business can run without you being present?
Do you have a succession plan for your business?
“From day one, build your business to sell even if you don’t have plans to sell, ” advices Dan
Lok, millionaire business magnet.
“Making a business sellable makes it scalable, more efficient and it gives you more freedom to
do other things.”
Most people move from being owned by their day jobs to being owned by their business
working 25/7. To be a successful entrepreneur, you must get to a level where you work ON
your business and not IN your business.
The business needs to be scalable. It must have a life of its own where it can grow without you.
If your goal is to move from being self-employed to being an entrepreneur, your business must
be scalable.
According to South African Venture Capitalist Vusi Thembekwayo, he defines an entrepreneur
as:
Somebody who has developed a code for how the business runs;
Who has put processes in to ensure that the code is followed;
Who has automated those processes with systems in place so that it doesn’t need
people to do it but the system does it for him/her;
Who has surrounded himself with a band of C-Suite executives who know how to do the
job probably better than s/he does.
Most people get stuck at being business owners as compared to moving up the ladder to
become entrepreneurs and Founders.
He points out that at the you are at the business owner level, if you have hired professionals to
run all the tasks in the business but the business requires you to do the quality testing and
quality proofing. Customers only want to talk to you. They don’t want to call the office as they
associate you to the business as in the case of Amani.
It requires you to maintain relationships with suppliers and if you are not there, things are not
running. Therefore, if anything happens to you at this level, your business ceases to exist.
At the levels of Entrepreneur and/or Founder, generational wealth is created.
How do you build a business that you can leave to the next generation?
The simple answer is “systems”.
A business system is a documented procedure that outlines how to do something in your
organization to achieve your business goals. It’s basically a sophisticated process.
Systems can be as simple as a written document describing how to get to the end of a product
or service.
Types of systems
Hard systems – Focus on building a strong visual brand. It comprises of company logo, theme,
uniforms etc.
Soft systems – It’s what something sounds like. These are scripts that are used in customer
service, sales and marketing. They drive predictable sales outcomes.
Information Systems – These are standardized processes reports e.g. KPIs.They include a
standard training program, e.g. on boarding employees. In case a valuable employee leaves the
company, the training program once implemented any new employee will gain the same exact
skills as the former ensures continuity.
Other types of systems include:
Email systems.
Security Procedures.
Cleaning systems.
Scheduling systems.
Accounting systems.
Travel systems.
“The system runs the business, the people run the system”.
Systems build brand consistency. Think of KFC.
How to build systems
- Brainstorm with your team on daily processes in the business.
- Write down each process in detail. If need be, outsource the services of a consultant in
that particular area e.g. Accounts or security.
- Implement. It might take some time to seamlessly run the systems but having the end
goal in mind will make it worthwhile.
- Ensure employees know the relevant systems and understand the importance of
following them through.
“One thing that makes companies attractive to investors is having a set way of doing
things—exactly what a business process provides. Add to that a committed customer base and
a guaranteed annual income and your business can be irresistible to investors.” Allan DIB
Founder of Successwise, business coach and bestselling author of “The 1-Page Marketing Plan.”
Australian Billionaire and Co-founder of energy drink Red Bull Dietrich Mateschitz was the 71 st –
richest person in the world at the time of his death. His son Chalerm, 71, runs the family
business—with a 51% stake in Red Bull—and is worth an estimated $24.7 billion. This is
according to Forbes.
Kenyan business mogul the late Chris Kirubi’s businesses are still operating even after his
demise. People did not stop purchasing products from Haco industries, one of his companies.
If you must be in your business for it to run, it’s time to reanalyze your systems and create a
succession plan because life happens. Also because our economy is stabilized by business that
are built to last decades.
Calister Bonareri
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calister-bonareri-333a9b129
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fbonareri?mibextid=ZbWKwL
Email kallyb89@gmail.com
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