Why do African businesses in the diaspora fail at being generational’?

A few years ago, a friend wrote about another friend in arms calling her about another restaurant shutting down in her town and it happened to be an African one. She was worried about it and posed the important question ‘Why do African businesses in the diaspora fail at being generational’?

This got me thinking for some days through a handful of my own business experiences and I will stick with a few stories around running a photography business before sharing my thoughts.

First story! Years ago, a friend sent across a potential client for an event photography coverage. My number was sent over to her and she called me. As phone calls cannot be referenced, I tend to direct a request form to the customer via email, get them to fill it in and we take things up from there.

I did with this lady. She filled in the form but had a habit of constantly phoning me instead of replying to the email thread. I would always direct her back to the email and to put things into writing. This was a tedious conversation leading up to the event coverage.

One thing that stood out was how she constantly reminded me that she had two Masters degrees and this reminder always came at random moments with no bearing whatsoever on what was being said. I would ignore that fact and continue with whatever was being discussed.

Fast-forward to event day, I arrived very early as was my custom, set up and was ready to go. It was a child’s party so there was not much to do. Shortly, a lady arrived, noticed I was the photographer and introduced herself to me as the clients sister.

When the party started, she kept bugging me every couple of minutes to eat something. To be honest, going to a Nigerian kids party is generally two sided — the party for the kids and then the party for the adults later. The food wasn’t appealing so I wasn’t keen on eating. This was also a party that started much later than my contracted hours.

The client eventually arrived, she came up to me but was largely cold and appeared to be emotionally occupied. All went as planned.

When the kids part was dying down and the adults started arriving (and adult food started surfacing), this clients sister came to me again to harass me about working hard for the past four hours and not eating anything. I eventually gave in, put my camera down as there was not much to capture again and went to get a plate dished.

Just as I sat down to eat, this client comes rushing out of nowhere and charging towards me with raised voice. She shouted in my language (Yoruba) “Is it food you’ve been contracted to come here to eat?” and she stood right in front of me waiting for me to drop the plate and continue doing what I was paid to do.

It was her sister who came rushing to the scene she was creating to explain to her that she was the one who forced me to eat. The sister started apologising to me but by then I had lost my appetite, dropped the plate and tried to take more photos for the last 30 mins or so that I had left on the contracted hours.

When it was time for me to leave (and I was packing down my lights), she came to me to ask why I was leaving (mind you, no apologies yet for her prior outburst). I explained to her that I was to shoot between certain hours. That was what I was contracted to do. She tried to explain to me that they started late and I explained back to her that I was kind enough to shift the hours forward even though it was an inconvenience.

She went on about how her own guests just started arriving and I was quick to let her know it wasn’t any of my concern. I was done and was leaving. She tried to throw in the paying you extra bait but I didn’t budge and left.

That was the last time I ate any meal at any clients event. I would eat a meal before leaving home and have a drink and bottles of water in my car to go back to.

Mind you, she was full of headaches post event and with getting her to pay up her balance but let’s not go into that.

Second story! My phone rings someday. Some potential client starts the conversation about an event they were planning to have. Again I was trying to get them to email me so I could send them a request form but this particular customer was not keen to email. She wanted to find out costs right there and then.

I tried to explain to her that costing was difficult without the knowledge of some variables which the request form would have addressed. She pushed further and further verbally and eventually, by deduction, she wanted the most basic coverage.

I could sense she was going to be a proper time waster but I persevered. After a long conversation, I gave her a ballpark that was the most basic pricing I could knock out without affecting the cost of business. She exclaimed and again said in Yoruba language “Lo ri ka ya photo yi na! Ki lo de” which translates loosely to “Just to take photos? WHATTT?”.

At this point, I had lost my professional cool for her wasting my time now and possibly in the future. I asked her what phone she was calling me from? She said an iPhone something. I replied “Okay, That phone’s camera is 12 mega pixels and most professional cameras out there are not even 12 megapixels strong. You can use your phone to cover your event. Please don’t call me about this anymore”

I hung up on her and ended the conversation. She kept calling back and I didn’t answer to which I eventually replied via text, please send an email like I’ve said before.

She sent an email to apologise but I told her I wasn’t the photographer for her and that I could recommend people I knew who were up and coming and would fit into her budget, to which she obliged and that was how I got rid of her.

Last story! I had a conversation with another prospective client who was a word of mouth referral from a prior client. To cut the long story short, I provided them with a quote and they were upset. What was the reason? The person who referred them to me got a discount from me. I think it was a £50 knock-off from the quoted price on the invoice. She was a friend and she begged for a discount — something I wouldn’t normally do. I obliged and made it clear I was doing her a favour.

However, when she was speaking to this other mother who wanted to replicate a similar event for her child, she told her what she paid post discount and not what she was actually originally billed. This other client was then upset that I was charging her more. I explained to her that It was a favour and she went on and on about how I could do her the same favour given that she had budgeted around what her friend told her.

It was tedious but I put my foot down that she wasn’t getting any discounts. She eventually agreed but made it a point to remind me each time we spoke about the event that I didn’t give her a discount. I wasn’t pleased with my friend for putting me in a non-business position. Worse still, she didn’t see anything wrong with my upset — after-all, she brought a new client my way!

These, with many others, were the kinds of people I had to deal with from the Nigerian/African community. Were there great clients? Sure! but mostly, I had people who gave me headaches, who didn’t understand or care to understand the cost of business, who didn’t have any respect for contracts and importantly, were bargain hunters even when it didn’t make any sense.

A few thoughts:

1. Most Africans living in Western countries aren’t as sophisticated or as educated or as informed as you would expect them to be.

Just because they live in Manchester or New York or Ontario doesn’t mean they are progressively minded. Most of them are even far backward than the folks they left in Lagos or Ilorin ten years ago. It’s as if they were transplanted into a time bubble and they don’t appear to innovate or improve as soon as they leave African shores and start to enjoy the comforts of western societies.

2. Because of the first point, a lot of Africans have an identity issue when approaching business.

You want your business to succeed? Yes! Just find anyone that looks or sounds white even if they are the dumbest folks alive to be the face of your company. The moment the average African sees or hears a white sounding fellow, their attitude changes. They stop haggling, they stop fighting, they stop acting unreasonably and importantly, they behave themselves.

It’s as though if the person speaks your language, is of your religion or is from your tribe, you have a licence to abuse the working professional relationship.

Anything that is foreign is good and is to be revered but if it’s of us, we can do whatever we like because it can’t be all that good!

3. Following from the previous point, Most Africans tend to think anyone running a business (especially artisans) are people who are underachievers in life or have immigration issues or are struggling and this trade or business is their redemption.

Hence, by hiring their services they are doing them a favour and helping them to survive. However, whilst doing them that favour, they can treat them anyhow.

The idea that a photographer in Nigeria is some random guy down the road with no future or the plumber is some uneducated dude who has been an apprentice with another low pedigree plumber for ages or that the tailor is just someone who had nothing to hope for but making clothes was their salvation or that the cook/chef was just someone that had to wait for Saturday to make any sense of their lives and so on is the idea that most of these Africans still have in their minds.

You are mean’t to be desperate, unfortunate and desolate — so contracting you, they are bigger than you and helping you.

It doesn’t matter if I am earning more than them as a cook or as an electrician. As far as they are concerned, they work in JP Morgan as a security guard (sorry no offence meant) and they are better than the artisan. They have no regard for the education of this artisan but only focus on their vocation as a thing of filth!

They speak through their noses and are condescending when approaching artisans or businesses because they are over achievers and have a great job, house and all the other good stuff to rely on AND YOU DON’T!

4. Because they think lowly of your trade or skill, you will be unfortunate if your clientele base is largely only African.

This doesn’t work in the favour of those who sometimes are in businesses where only Africans can patronise. Yes, you can break even every year but it’s unlikely you will become a millionaire.

I once called out a plumber. He was probably Polish. The dude was so cocky and in my opinion, acted like he didn’t need the job. He put so much pressure on me on hiring him right away as the next month was fully booked and he was going away on holiday for 2 weeks in 2 days. I had to let him go but that imagery questioned my idea of a plumber.

He wasn’t desperate. He had his calendar fully booked and the power balance was in his favour. It was “hire me or not. I don’t care. I don’t need your money”.

This isn’t usually the case with African artisans catering only for Africans. We stress these guys and don’t value what they do!

5. This also plays largely as to why these businesses don’t become generational.

As soon as a new fad comes into town, we dump these artisans that we’ve abused for years for the new kid on the block to be abused. We forget that they have bills and a family to feed to.

When they tell you the cost of their operations, we don’t empathise with that. We are only keen on what we are paying and how much we can knock off that. We don’t approach Zara or House of Fraser with the same attitude but when it’s Lara's Kitchen catering for your party, we start making these unnecessary demands.

There you have Lara of Lara's Kitchen already stressed — Lara’s kids are observing and making up their minds to not be like mum when they grow up and as such don’t want to struggle. Lara's kids grow up, go to college and want to work at Accenture or elsewhere. Even Lara will be the champion of their cause so they can live a BETTER LIFE!

6. Half of the problems African businesses have are caused by their African customers.

We are our own problems. We have a mindset that is bad i.e. if it is African, it probably isn’t good enough as a business. We will get a good service from a fellow African yet when asked to give a review, we bad mouth the service. Thus, the listener is not encouraged to patronise that same service you will return to tomorrow.

We’ve undercut that business by one and then multiply that by you and me — it becomes disastrous. If only you know how many hotels I’ve stayed in or avoided thanks to the review of another on Expedia or TripAdvisor or the likes, then you will realise why it’s important to speak truthfully and well of another African’s business.

If you liked what they did, rave about it to another.

7. There are no business shortcuts. Businesses are not overnight money making schemes.

If you must run a business, then do it excellently! Stop trying to provide rubbish services to people who are willing to pay a premium. Also be well researched, conduct your feasibility studies and be well prepared before launching out.

Don’t be the business that leaves a bad business taste about Africans in the mouth of another. If you are not yet there, you are not yet there. You can learn from a similar business.

Also, be professional! Poaching customers from your mentor or trainer is not wise! Those customers will eventually leave you. Be patient and build your own client base.

Be properly accounted, pay your taxes, register with governing bodies or associations or unions, pass the requirements governing your trade and ensure you do the right thing. Don’t go to a customers house or business and steal! Don’t bad mouth your customer to another customer.

Don’t divulge confidential information to your friends over drinks more so if your business thrives on confidentiality. Don’t over-promise and then under deliver. Be honest about what you can do and cannot do. If you cannot do it, move on! If you are desperate, find someone who can do it to partner with and be honest about your intentions to the customer.

Don’t make it a habit to abuse customer data. Don’t start sending your customers Whatsapp memes or unnecessary messages around festivities or from your church or mosque event. Don’t pass their details to others without asking them first.

Be on time, be properly dressed for your job and if you disappoint, apologise and make it up to your customer financially or via another promised service. Don’t think they will understand just because you said sorry to them. The customer is always right even when they aren’t so be mindful of that.

8. Finally, we don’t tend to think big as African businesses.

Big here isn’t about size but collaboration and the efficiency of moving parts in the distribution chain.

An African gets into a new town and notices that there is no African food store in that town. He decides to open up a store to sell African food. Somehow, after much trial and error and pains, he starts to thrive. He does almost everything alone with his family from the arduous travel to another town to buy the food wholesale to stocking up to invoicing to inventory to tax to all.

He is physically, mentally and financially stretched. He has no life and doesn’t take any holidays with his family because he can’t take his eyes off the business. He tries to hire a few helpers but they are callous and not trustworthy.

A new guy moves into the same town and thinks — oh wow! there’s an African store here. I can do this too! Decides to repeat the same mistakes of Mr Ade over again.

Mr Ade is frustrated about competition undercutting his prices and since we Africans aren’t loyal anyways, is afraid to lose customers to the new guy Nonzo down the road.

Mr Ade starts to undervalue his stock, the customer is happy, Mr Ade is not! Nonzo still struggles because his own business gimmicks don’t last for long.

How about if Mr Nonzo had approached Mr Ade to take care of a part of the business operations?

Instead of travelling all the way bidirectionally for 4 hours to get this stock once a week, Nonzo handles the travel logistics and gets paid for that? How about if Mr Azeez who has been frustrated as an accountant at his firm starts a side practice to run accounting and tax for Mr Ade and now, Mr Nonzo? How about Mr Ade partnering with Mr Musa who just moved to the other end of town and has a barbing store with a large floor space that is under utilized to stock some of his excess stock and give him a cut of profits monthly?

Then Mr Musa goes back to Mr Azeez to help with accounting too? Now Mr Azeez has 3 clients and when a new lady moves into town that needs to buy hair products for her saloon, Mr Azeez can introduce her to Mr Nonzo to be part of the travel chain?

You probably get my point with this basic illustration but we need to stop trying to be one man bands! We can’t do it all alone. We need also to be more trust worthy, to be people of integrity and to not be so consumed by profiteering at the expense of the entire community.

African business can be generational but we have a long way to go especially in the diaspora in correcting and fixing these issues. It is can be achieved and the entire village of us all is required to make it work.

Whatever you do today or tomorrow, you are contributing to the narrative, to the pain or to the joys of us all!