HUSTLE!

LIKE A
WEST
AFRICAN
The art of doing
whatever it takes to succeed

EDWIN NGWANE
Rights Reserved.

© Copyright: 2020 Edwin Ngwane

www.edwinbooks.com

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by

any means, electrical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval system without permission in writing from
the author.

Disclaimer

This book is written for informational purposes only. The author has tried
to make sure the information is complete and accurate. We have made all
attempts to verify information at the time of this publication and the
authors do not assume any responsibility for errors, omissions, or other
interpretations of the subject. The publisher and author shall have neither
liability nor responsibility to any person or entity regarding any loss or
damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.
 DEDICATION

I wrote this book in loving memory of our baby, Israel Luzhawo

Ngwane. I was keen to see you live and dominate everything you
would have done. The question I ask myself to this very day is;
“What happened my son”?

I had become powerless until I remembered that your birth had

inspired me to write this book. I have faith it can inspire anyone
broken to stand up again, hustle, and dominate.

The little time you spent with us has been an inspiration to your
mother and me. You will forever stay special to us.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks go to these special people.

I will forever stay indebted to you.

Mr. Jeffrey Fundulu

Mr. Francis Kapasa Mhone

Mr. Mweemba Mweemba

Mr. Michael Kapindula

Mr. Samuel Ngwane

Mr. Masauso Jere

 FOREWORD

Edwin Ngwane is an author who has impressed me with his work.

There are three books to his name that are changing lives in
terms of business and personal development. He has shared
practical lessons that can work wonders in anyone who wants to
commit to personal development.

He invited me to review his new project, this book called Hustle!

Like A West African. I cannot lie to you, it was an honour for me
to write the foreword for this book. I am happy to be part of this
project.

THINK ABOUT THIS

If you were to search the internet for the richest pastors,

footballers, musicians and Africans before reading this entire
book, it will surprise you that West Africans will dominate the top
places.

The top 5 richest pastors in Africa are;

▪ Bishop David Oyedepo - Nigeria

▪ Pastor E. A. Adeboye - Nigeria
▪ Pastor Chris Oyakhilome - Nigeria
▪ Bishop Ayodele Oritsejafor - Nigeria
▪ Prophet TB Joshua - Nigeria
The top 5 richest footballers in Africa are;

▪ Samuel Eto’o - Cameroon

▪ Yaya Toure - Ivory Coast.
▪ Didier Drogba - Ivory Coast
▪ Jay-Jay Okocha - Nigeria
▪ Nwankwo Kanu - Nigeria

The top 5 richest musicians in Africa are;

▪ Akon - Senegal
▪ Dj Black Coffee - South Africa
▪ Dony-Jazzy - Nigeria
▪ Wizkid - Nigeria
▪ Davido - Nigeria

The top 10 African writers are;

▪ Chinua Achebe - Nigeria

▪ Wole Soyinka - Nigeria
▪ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Nigeria
▪ Camara Laye - Guinea
▪ Dinaw Mengestu - Ethiopia
▪ Mariama Ba - Senegal
▪ Buchi Emecheta - Nigeria
▪ Bessie Head - South Africa
▪ Ousmane Sembene - Senegal
▪ Ngugi Wa Thiong’o–Kenya

The top 10 most influential Africans are;

▪ Alick Dangote - Nigeria

▪ Elon Musk - South Africa
 ▪ Koos Bekker - South Africa
▪ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Nigeria
▪ Trevor Noah - South Africa
▪ Fatma Samoura - Senegal
▪ Davido - Nigeria
▪ Enoch Adeboye - Nigeria
▪ Kumi Naidoo - South Africa
▪ Abiy Ahmed–Ethiopia

African countries with more people migrating to Europe and

USA are;

▪ Nigeria
▪ South Africa
▪ Somalia
▪ Senegal
▪ Ghana
▪ Angola
▪ Kenya
▪ DRC Congo
▪ Cameroon
▪ Ivory Coast

Countries with most football players playing in competitive

leagues are;

▪ Nigeria
▪ Ivory Coast
▪ Cameroon
▪ Senegal
▪ Guinea
ARE THEY DOMINATING BY CHANCE?

No. With the statistics above, you notice that the people
dominating the lists originate from West Africa. In many areas of
life, they dominate, and they are unapologetic. If you ask me, I
admire them.

It might seem odd to you, I wrote the foreword of this book. If

you want to be a success like me, it pays to model people who
are successful.

Certain people might question the prejudice found in this book

towards West Africans and the assumptions they are dominating
everything. But numbers don’t lie.

The lists above show you that in every important part of our lives,
a West African is dominating things. We can start with religion,
going to sports and ending with business. They are doing better
than most countries in Africa.

In my interaction with many people around the world through

my business interactions, I can confirm that I haven’t met
Africans who are as aggressive, passionate and driven, as the
West Africans.

The West Africans have committed to doing whatever it takes to

become a success. Whether you meet them in China, the United
Kingdom, Turkey, Brazil or even in their own countries, you will
appreciate their drive and ambition.

And that is worth emulating.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

We cannot sit and blame them for dominating everything and

accusing them of getting everything through crookedness. It
would be prudent to analyse what they do and model the
attributes that can be of help in our own lives.

If you can’t beat them, you must join them. I am impressed with
Edwin’s work. He has done an amazing job in researching winners
within our African circles and shared with us to learn.

I hope you will learn something from these practical insights

shared in this book. I read this book three times and recommend
it to anyone who wants to do whatever it takes to succeed and
dominate in life.

Please highlight the content you love and share with your friends.
If you disagree with some content, do the same. This feedback
will help Edwin improve his writing skills.

Enjoy and learn.

Benjamin Chimbalanga Katubiya

Chairman & CEO - BUK Holdings Limited (Truck parts, Haulage

& Quarry Mining)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter One :
BE IMMENSELY PROUD OF YOUR IDENTITY ............................... 1

Chapter Two:
INVEST IN YOUR PERSONAL EDUCATION.................................. 16

Chapter Three:
LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES EVERYWHERE ................................ 27

Chapter Four:
BE LARGER THAN LIFE OR BE NOTHING .................................... 45

Chapter Five:
TAP INTO THE SUPPORT OF YOUR COMMUNITY ..................... 62

Chapter Six:
BECOME OBSSESSED WITH MONEY .......................................... 79

Chapter Seven :
DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO SUCCEED.................................... 118

Chapter Eight:
NEVER BACK DOWN ON YOUR MISSION ................................ 151

Chapter Nine :
ABOUT EDWIN NGWANE ......................................................... 181
 Chapter One

BE IMMENSELY PROUD
OF YOUR IDENTITY

A year ago, I travelled to South Africa for a business trip. And

while waiting for my flight back to Zambia at Oliver Tambo
International Airport, I took a walk around the airport just to kill
time.

Oliver Tambo is a busy airport. People from all corners of the

world come and leave. As I was taking my walk along the airport
shops, I saw a group of people coming my direction speaking
joyfully in a strong accent.

As they came closer, I could guess by their clothing that they were
Nigerian or Ghanaian. But when they got close to me, I realized
that these were my brothers from Nigeria. We watched these
guys with admiration.

The dress code for most people at the airport were casual jeans
or suits, but not these guys. The men were in Agbada and the
women looked gorgeous in the traditional Ankara dresses.

1
As they came near, I would not hide my admiration of these true
Africans. In that moment, you could sense how they dominated
the whole place without saying a word. The only thing they did
was being the Nigerians they are. Wow!

The clothing, accent, slippers, headgear, and the walk would tell
you that these guys are proud to be Africans. They were not
playing second to anyone, yet they were also not trying to
compete with anyone.

You could tell from afar they were dominating. And they did it
naturally. Cameroonians, Congolese, Nigerians, Senegalese, and
Ghanaian will always find a way of dominating without even
faking it.

Love them or hate them, they are West Africans!

The challenge that comes with being unapologetic about your life
is that you will attract a lot of critics and haters. Some people will
brand West Africans as crooked and untrustworthy, but it is the
aggressiveness people loathe.

The beauty about people in West African is that they don’t try
being like any other group of people in their dressing, culture,
traditions, language or way of life. They are so proud to live their
lives in the way they love it, even when other people dislike them.

2
Love yourself deeply and believe in yourself.

Life is hard. If you are weak, it will crush you. And when I say
crushed, I mean everything. Life will crush you physically,
emotionally, psychologically, and economically if you are not
strong.

And the only strength you need is within you. There is no part of
your body that can be strong if you are mentally weak. If no one
has told you this, I say you need to believe in yourself.

The Bible asks you to love your neighbour as you love yourself.
It did not ask you to love anyone more than you love yourself.
It only asks you to love another person as yourself.

This means that you cannot love others if you do not love yourself.
It also means your contribution to planet earth will be little. The
reason for not contributing more will be because you cannot
share what you do not own.

Loving yourself starts with looking in the mirror and appreciating

what God created. You were fearfully and wonderfully made.
There is no need for you to get worried with pimples or scratches
on your skin.

Count your blessings. You are pretty, just as you are.

You will face racism. People will tell you about how you don’t
seem a certain way, but if you love yourself, it doesn’t matter.
People will find fault in you, but if you believe in yourself, you will
not be fickle.

3
The other strength you can build within yourself is self-belief.
Self-doubt will do more harm to your dreams more than what
haters or critics can do. There is nothing you will achieve in life if
you don’t trust yourself.

If you believe in yourself, no one will stop you. You will become
one of ‘The Few Who Find Gold’. If you met a West African, you
will see a brother or sister who trusts himself/herself.

You should believe that you can do whatever you want.

Discover things you love to do and those which

comes easy to you

In 2018, I got promoted to Client Service Manager by

Management and I still remember how excited I was that day.

Prior to my appointment as CSM, I had worked as Branch

Operations Officer, Acting Branch Operations Manager, and
Branch Sales & Service Executive.

The people who had seen how I performed in my operations roles

were so happy and advised me to pursue an operations career.
They showed me how I will end up as a successful senior
operations officer.

The Branch Manager even told me she will promote me to

become Branch Operations Manager in the next performance
assessment circle. It was tempting to follow the desires of my
peers and managers without listening to Edwin Ngwane.

4
I was doing well in those operations roles, but that was not Edwin
Ngwane. Edwin is a guy who likes to talk to clients. He is a guy
who likes to interact with people and solve people’s challenges
as they come. He is a guy who loves the front line.

I realized that going for the operations role would be good for the
pocket, but bad for my well-being. I therefore got mentorship by
one Mr. Nonde Mwamba, who was an experienced Client Service
Manager.

This man downloaded all the data about customer service to me.
He loved me like a son, and I loved him like my dad. I still
remember his wise words.

He said, “Edwin, you are a very hard-working and talented guy

capable of doing many things.” “However, if you want to succeed
and enjoy your success, you need to focus on doing the things
you love to do.”

What Mr. Mwamba didn’t mention was that it even becomes

easier to succeed. When you are doing things you love, and those
things which come easily to you, you will build a certain level of
confidence to do other new things.

Mr. Mwamba mentored me in 2016 on how to become a

successful Client Service Manager, and I got the job in 2018.
There is a probability of being appointed Branch Operations
Manager in 2017, but I am not sure of finding the same happiness
as in my current role.

5
Make yourself a life purpose statement.

As soon as we grow, parents and teachers ask what we would like

to become when we grow up. And since the time I was a kid, the
answers are always the same - Doctor, Lawyer, Pilot, Teacher,
Policeman, Soldier, or Nurse.

And that is not a bad thing. However, it does not define what
someone wants to accomplish. It does not speak of what the
child would like to become. Whenever you ask someone who is
a doctor why they became one, they will tell you they grew up
caring about helping patients.

This means that helping patients is usually most doctors’ life

purpose. But what about people who build hospitals but not
doctors? Do these people care about patients as well? If they do,
then understanding your life purpose is more important than
choosing your career job.

I tell my children that having a good life is a better life purpose

statement than telling me they will become a certain job role. I
understand that if your goal is to become rich, there are million
ways to do it.

I also understand that if your goal is to help people, you need not
work for an NGO. But if there is a life purpose statement, it will
guide you exactly to the place you will serve your purpose with
happiness.

6
A job role or the amount of money will not define you. You will
define your life based on your personal desires and how you see
the world.

Listen to your heart, and gut feeling

In life, there are so many things you will never be 100% sure that
they will work out exactly as you want them.

I remember the time I left Chipata for Lusaka in 2005. I did not
understand what would happen in my life when I got to Lusaka.

However, I had the leap of faith. I had a discernment that

everything would work out in my favour.

Imagine those people who leave West Africa heading to Europe

through a war-torn Libya. What guarantee is there that they will
travel safely or that they will leave a good life in Europe?

Nothing. The only thing they do is listen to their hearts even

when their government, community, media houses, and people
in Europe are against their migration. And the people who object
this migration make a good point.

There are so many people who died while trying to cross to

Europe in those boats. The stories are horrific. Some people who
died on those capsized boats are women and children.

7
Despite all the horrors of migration to Europe or America, you
will also hear great stories about people whose lives changed
because they listened to their hearts and made a move.

This is not just about migration. It could also be about changing

one company for another or leaving one business venture for
another. It’s never easy. We are never sure of whether we will
succeed in the new chapter.

And that is scary. Changing is difficult. Many people would rather

settle for less and live a mediocre life than challenging
themselves for a life they are not sure about.

It takes faith to leave your comfortable zone for something you

are not sure about.

Never doubt yourself and your abilities

Having worked in the corporate world for over 10 years, my

experience has taught me you need not to understand
everything to get the next job.

You hear so many stories from people who complain that

management passed them over for a rookie who needed to get
trained by the same experienced guy.

It’s possible you experienced this or heard about it, because it

happens most of the time.

8
If I was in the army and fighting a war, I would rather get a
Lieutenant who believes in himself and his abilities to give advice
on how we will crush the enemy than a timid and cynic General.

Life is about perceptions. There are people who seem educated

with a diploma, and there are people who seem dull with MBAs.

People who look motivated and self-confident are more likely to

get promoted or get business deals than those who got no spine
for life.

I see many people who always perceive themselves as not good

enough. When they get a diploma, they assume it’s a degree that
will put them on the map. After getting a degree, the same
people felt that a UK MBA would solve all their problems.

After getting an MBA, they find out that the guy heading their
department is just a graduate from a local university. And they
also notice that this person is great at what they do, yet less
qualified.

This is very common, and it happens because people who are

qualified will act humble and seem like people who cannot do
anything great. Companies, countries and the world at large need
people who trust themselves.

If you lack confidence, read further. There is a chapter in this

book where I will talk about how you can become an Alpha
personality.

9
Stand out by being different

I once shared a story with a friend that if I was a bean on a tray

full of red beans, I would love to be a white bean just for the sake
of being different.

He asked me about the possibility of being picked and thrown to

the ground. And I told he him it was better than being left out
because you may still get a chance of germinating through the
ground.

The entire world wants people with similar interests. It is

designed that way. And that is okay with me. However, if you
truly want to hustle and get ahead in life, be different.

Because people like stability, yet also yearn for new people and
exciting experiences. No wonder men get girlfriends while still
saying they want to stay with their wives. All they want is a new
experience.

And if you are a woman, standing out will help you come out
differently for your husband every single time. If you are working
in a business, management will look for someone who stands out
if they want new results.

Nobody wants things which stays the same. We all want new
experiences, and it is imperative for you as a person to do things
diversely.

Life will reward you for standing out than remaining the same red
bean in a bucket full of red beans.

10
The West African CEO who changed my life

In 2013, Mr. Andrew Okai got appointed as CEO of the bank. I

met Mr. Okai immediately after he came to our Ndola branch to
introduce himself as the new CEO.

Everyone was looking forward to meeting and talking to this new

CEO. I was one of them. I was still holding the lowest grade in the
bank and getting a smaller salary.

We felt this new CEO would somehow change things in

our favour.

At one of the town halls, the CEO came with a motivational

speaker (Professor Ayaz) from India who came to speak to us. The
Indian motivational speaker showed us a video of Les Brown
talking about “Leaving your Dream”.

The CEO asked the heads of departments to share their stories

about how they got to the top. Most of the stories shared were
inspiring and life changing. But there is one story which changed
my life.

It came from the CEO himself.

He did not talk about how he became successful. He talked about

how every one of us at that hall would become successful if we
listened to what he had to say.

11
And he said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I understand you all feel I
am here to change your life. You feel that I got the keys to your
future. But I don’t. I am just a man like you.”

He continued. “There is only one person who can change your life
for you. And that person is you. You can decide today to dream,
set a goal, and work hard to achieve that goal.”

“Believe in yourself along the way while believing that God will
help you. And you will finally stand just like I stand in front of you
to share your story with other people about how you became
successful. Though I can’t do it for you. Find a way of doing it for
yourself.”

That was my speech. I don’t care what it meant to another person,

but he spoke those words for me.

I went home and told my wife about this brilliant CEO we had at
the bank. I was happy and excited about my work.

He probably didn’t perceive how his words inspired a teller in

Ndola. But after two years, there was another town hall where
the CEO talked nice things about me.

In the two years after his speech, I listened to a lot of

motivational speeches and read a lot of books. I read business
books, leadership books, inspirational books and Christian books.
I had put myself on a journey to personal growth.

When this town hall came, the regional manager had asked
anyone who was interested to do an energizer at the town hall

12
to come through. My manager asked that I do it. And I was
excited to do it, expecting nothing.

Later that day, the CEO stood up and gave an impromptu speech
while asking me to come to the front. He said my energy and
passion in my way of doing things has always impressed him.

He further mentioned that he had given me a short-term

assignment of working at the CEO’s office at the 4th Floor. Wow!
I was ecstatic. It was unbelievable.

One of my close friends and a colleague asked me what I did to

deserve an STA, and I told her I didn’t understand too.

When I went to his office, I was most interested in admiring his

office and how he was working. It amazed me to work for this
Lion.

He was a lion who deeply had confidence in himself. He carried

himself with the respect he deserved and walked like a king.

He inspired me and many others. He greeted most staff members

by name. He would come to me and tell me why it was important
to put action words in a speech and I could only watch, admire
and learn from this King.

Mr. Okai perceived that he was number one in everything, and

that belief trickled down to each and everyone in the
organization.

13
He was a man I came close to worshiping because of who and
what he was - leader, lion and king!

When my short-term assignment was over, I went back to my

teller role. I was the smaller version of Mr. Andrew Okai.

It excited me as if I was the CEO. My friends asked me about my

experience at the CEO’s office and what I learnt on the short-
term assignment.

I lied to every one of them about what I had learnt and my total
experience while at the CEO’s office. The only person I told the
truth was my wife. I told everyone at the office about the bank
stuff, which it also excited them to learn.

However, I told my wife nothing but the truth. When my wife

asked me about my experience at the CEO’s office, I sighed and
took a long pause, and told her I wanted to be a CEO. Just like
Andy.

And my wife asked me how it will become, considering that I was

still at the lowest grade in the bank and still holding a diploma as
the highest qualification. I told her I would find a way.

Since that day, I have had a certain level of self-belief and

admiration way before I become a CEO of Kawiwi International
Limited (A small company I founded. Don’t get it twisted). I saw
that I will end up a successful CEO.

14
And the inspiration for this journey can only go to the man I
admire and model consistently, Mr. Andrew Okai. He inspired me
without knowing the impact he had on my life.

After he left Zambia for a top group role in Singapore, I got

promoted twice in a space of 3 years to become Client Service
Manager.

I thank you, Mr. Okai.

Your inspiration changed my life.

15
 Chapter Two

INVEST IN YOUR
PERSONAL EDUCATION

Nelson Mandela, our African icon, once said that “Education is

the most powerful tool you can use to change the world”. As
powerful and insightful as this might sound, many people go it all
wrong.

A lot of African parents started getting their children to expensive

schools, expecting they will get more value if they take their
children to expensive schools.

Some parents even regarded taking their children to private

schools would do more magic for their children.

We also had people who focused their efforts on gaining more

certificates than knowledge. You will see many people bragging
about the number of degrees or doctorate degrees they gained,
despite not having done much.

There are people who disagreed with me frequently on my

stance about education. So, do I contradict myself or am I just

16
confused on this topic of education? I deepen the answer in my
stance regarding education within this book.

Go to school and learn like a child

Children are ardent learners. They stare at the world they live in
and learn anything they find interesting. Children are curious.
They seek to understand without a motive of how that
knowledge will benefit them.

Adults are resistant to learning. Most adults prefer to learn things

they are already familiar with. Adults prefer being a shark in a
pond. They enjoy looking big in a small pool.

If you heard Steve Jobs speak, you learn that the typography
which he implemented at Apple; he learnt in a class outside his
curriculum. He dropped out of the main class and went to learn
typography without knowing how it will impact the future of his
business.

If you are reading this book, you are probably one of the few
people who love to learn. I also understand that you are about to
give up. It may tempt you to conclude that it’s not worth it to
learn new things.

However, you will fail in this fast-changing world if you are not
willing to learn new things. The world is changing so fast in all
sectors, and it is only people willing to learn new things and adapt
who will end up successful.

17
Ask the right questions

You will learn a lot about life by asking the right questions. There
is a difference between, “what degree do I need to understand
how I can manage people?” and “what do I need to learn to
manage people better?”.

How you phrase your questions will determine the answers you
get in life. I always tell people that dumb questions always get
dumb answers, even when you ask an intelligent guy.

So, what questions will get you the right answers?

Opened ended questions.

If you ask whether it will rain, you will get a different answer from
asking about the weather focus for the week. Don’t ask questions
which will give you a one-word answer.

Ask people to share their opinions about something, instead of

asking them to either agree or disagree with your assertions. It is
important to ask people to share their thoughts and explain their
reasons.

It will amaze you at the enlightenment you will get for asking
opened ended questions.

Ask follow-up questions based on provided information

Most people pretend to listen. They pretend to understand, even

when they missed the point. And do you understand what causes

18
that? Pride. There is a saying that it’s better to look a fool for a
minute than to remain a fool for life.

When you don’t understand something either during a lecture,

seminar, town hall meeting or any information sharing session,
please ask for more clarification. Clarity will help you understand
things better.

Don’t assume that you understood even before someone

explained what they meant. Ask follow-up questions until you
understand. You should never live your life based on
misinformation.

Invest in your mind and not in the certificates

In many countries, people miss the mark with education. The

purpose of education is getting to be knowledgeable about
things. People should get enlightenment.

However, there are so many people who consider education is

about certificates, diplomas and degrees. You will meet people
who will talk more about the number of degrees they have and
the schools they went to.

And I wonder. Why did this guy go to school, anyway? I assumed

a learned person should show their level of education by using
the knowledge they gained.

No wonder rich people focus on buying these doctorate degrees.

They want papers without gaining knowledge. Rich people and

19
politicians end up getting doctorates from bogus schools just to
own a certificate.

Ladies and gentlemen, the world is better than yesterday. We live

in the world where you can teach yourself anything. The Internet
is full of tutorials about almost anything, including how to help a
mother give birth.

Most of the skills you will need to get ahead in life will never be
taught in school. If graduates were getting the skills to live a
successful life, we wouldn’t have graduates crying for jobs.

Colleges and universities prepare graduates on how to become

better employees. They don’t even teach graduates skills about
starting and running a small business while waiting to get used
by the so-called big companies.

If you want to get ahead in life, learn some skills. There is no

lecturer who taught me how to write books, and yet I got 4 books
to my name. And I will tell you I learnt how to write through an
online course with no certification.

The last book I wrote sold over 1,000 copies, and yet the book
was never in the bookstore or sold by any of the publishing
companies. And that is because I wrote books without focusing
on certificates.

If you want to get a degree in English before you can start writing,
all the best to you. But life does not move that way. You might
just end up writing good English without substance. Focus on
getting learned.

20
Read books and articles in line with your mission.

Despite recommending reading books and articles for personal

development, I also tell people to read books or articles
according to their mission in life. There is too much information
in the world right now. You will get confused.

If your mission is about living an average life as you wait for your
pension, there is no point in reading “Think & Grow Rich by
Napoleon Hill”. If you are not aspiring to be a leader, you will not
get excited with Dr. John C. Maxwell’s books.

It is the same with my books. I don’t market my books to

everyone. I recognize my target market and just focus on selling
to those people. The moment I sell my books to everyone, I will
confuse people.

Read books or articles that will help you reach your goals. Don’t
read anyhow. There is no point in wasting time reading about
things not in line with your mission. It makes little sense.

The world is marketing too much information and if you read all
of it, you will not even decide or take a course of action. Just focus
on learning more about whatever you really want to achieve.

Learn new ways of doing things

I call the first book I wrote, “The Few Who Find Gold”. I read that
book occasionally and I can tell that I was not acquainted back

21
then with writing of books. The content was good, but I wasn’t
very good as a writer.

And being a writer for over 5 years now, I put myself on a

personal development journey in writing. When people give me
feedback about my book, I go back to examine it and learn.

A friend who bought “How to Market and Sell Like a Prostitute”

told me I was growing as a writer.

But challenging yourself to do better than what you did

previously is not an easy task. Especially when you are doing fine.
But that’s when you need to challenge yourself to do well.

It starts with asking for feedback from people and making a

commitment to listen and work on the feedback. It also involves
setting bigger goals than you had set before.

This is also a journey of committing to giving the best every single

time. If you are a musician, you will find a way of singing the same
song in a better and more entertaining way than before.

It is difficult. Many people settle easily. But if you want to Hustle

Like a West African, that is what you should do. The world is
changing so fast that you cannot afford to rely on yesterday’s
victories.

22
Get exposed to a mentor you can model and shadow

Every great man that lived had a mentor. Whether in business,

sports, religion, music or life the people who dominate in these
spaces got exposed to someone who had seen the other side of
the coin before them.

There is a common saying that if you want to become a billionaire,

spend time with billionaires and if you want to become wise,
spend time with wise people. It is very true, and that’s how the
world operates.

As humans, we like to create rules for everything we believe in. I

cannot count the number of times I changed my perspective
because of travelling to another country or exposure to new
information.

I always encourage young people to ask their parents to fund

their trip outside their country before they can choose a career
or vocation. And the reason I give this advice is that most people
get limited exposure to life.

The beliefs, culture, mindset, perception, drive, and work ethic

got passed to you from your parents, neighbors, or teachers. If
you ask me, this circle is so small to find a different perspective
on life.

Both successful people and failures control their way of life.

Successful people and failures have different beliefs and
cultures.

23
If you are lucky enough, it is easy to inherit the culture and beliefs
of your successful family. It helped you to see the world like a
successful person.

However, if you are like me who did not have time to even read
a book like “How to make friends and influence people” until I
was an adult, you need to find a mentor outside your community.
Travel.

If money is your stumbling block to travel, follow someone (on

social media) who is living the life you want and start learning
from them. The person you follow need not be a celebrity. But it
should be someone you admire and respect.

And just like I talked about reading materials in line with your
mission, your mentors should be people who live the life you
want. Don’t follow people on social media just for the sake of
following them.

You should understand that every human connection in your life

will bring forth certain beliefs and mindset. You cannot afford to
allow people in your life who are going to throw you off your path.

You need to follow the right people and seek to learn from them.
I promise you that following just one person on social media can
open your mind and give you insights on the things you could not
comprehend.

Follow someone today.

24
Learn one new thing every single day.

The world is vast and complex. There is no school that will teach
you everything about life. However, you can learn till you die.
There is no such thing as I am now educated, and I understand
everything.

There are some people with a lot of degrees who do not

understand how to use a smart phone. The only thing they
appreciate is how to send a message and make calls. Isn’t that a
problem in the world of networking that heavily depends on
smart phones?

This should teach you that there are so many things that you can
learn every single day. It could be as silly as learning “how to use
Instagram” or as important as “how to comfort an employee who
has lost a spouse”.

And the best way to learn one new thing daily is by discovering
the things you don’t understand. As soon as you discover that
you do not know something, you can put aside 30 minutes every
single day to learn.

By the end of the year, you will learn 365 new things! And if you
commit to learning for 10 years, you would learn 3,650 new
things. I foresee you becoming a guru in 10 years.

25
Start teaching others

The best way to learn is by teaching others. If you follow through

with the advice I gave above on learning one new thing daily, in
10 years you would learn about 3,650 new things.

But what if you taught those things you learnt?

You will become a walking encyclopedia. Science states that we

only keep about 10% of the information we learnt. However, if
you teach others, you will refresh the same information and keep
it for a longer time.

The more you teach others, the newer information you will gain.
As you teach others, there will be a need to research more on
your subject, and this will challenge you to learn more.

26
 Chapter Three

LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES EVERYWHERE

During the Libya and Syria crises, people who got affected by the
wars in these countries walked to Europe. Islamic State had
poured evil and fear in the Middle East that it became difficult for
many people to live in their countries.

Mothers and children were the most affected. Some people had
lost their fathers, mothers, siblings, friends, and communities.

This created migration issues for countries in Europe. Italy,

Turkey, Spain and Germany got more immigrants.

As this crisis grew, many countries closed their borders to people

moving from these affected countries. Germany could not take
more after taking more immigrants than any other country in
Europe.

Italy came up with a no-nonsense approach to immigrants.

Turkey asked people to return to their countries. This prompted
human smugglers to step in and take people to Europe via Libya
using boats.

27
With the fight against immigrants intensifying in Europe, another
crisis fell on the waters between Libya and Italy as the boats
started capsizing. This prompted Italy to put rescue boats on the
waters.

In 2017, rescue officers found a boat that had capsized in the

Mediterranean Sea. After rescuing those immigrants, journalists
started interviewing them about this crisis, which had affected
their lives.

And it surprised me to learn that on the rescued boat, there were

more people from Guinea, Mali, Senegal and Nigeria than people
from Libya and Syria. I am sure you see what I saw.

The Islamic State’s brutal terrorism affected people in the Middle

East, but not in West Africa. However, people in West Africa saw
an opportunity to cross to Europe using that crisis.

Quash the old beliefs and nuances

I want you to follow the story I shared with you about how some
people in West Africa used the crisis in Libya and Syria. Some of
you are probably saying it was wrong for those guys to take
advantage of other people’s misery for their own benefit.

And I understand the people with such a sense of guilt. But what
you need to ask yourself is this. Did the guys who were coming
from West Africa disadvantage the people coming from Libya and
Syria? The answer is a big NO.

28
However, there are so many people who think taking their
chances means disadvantaging others. Those are the beliefs you
need to quash right now. The world does not operate that way.

If you find a problem in selling rice to refugees, then you need to

change your perspective. If pastors can sell the word of God, then
why would you not take your chances?

Use calamities to your advantage

The world is full of problems, but what you need to see should
be opportunities. If there is Ebola in West Africa, the solution is
not crying. What you need to figure out is how you can help
people affected by Ebola while making a profit.

I presume you believe it is better to just help them out. I hear you.
But you cannot live on earth like Mother Teresa. What you need
to understand is that even Mother Teresa was asking for help
from well-wishers.

However, the best way to help people in dire need is to create a

business concept which will help people while making money for
you. If people are suffering from drought, find a way of bringing
water to their doorstep for profit.

When I researched businesses around Syria and Libya, I

discovered that many people made millions of dollars during that
crisis. Someone must provide military gear, cars, weapons, and
water to the American soldiers in the desert.

29
If the only thing you see here is war and dead bodies, then you
are far from being a hustler. If you ask me, what I saw is my
company supplying all these necessities for soldiers to continue
fighting Islamic State.

Am I a bad person? No! I am supplying goods and services to the

soldiers who are fighting terrorists. I can consider myself as
fighting terrorism. I am a good guy. That is how you should
envisage.

You need to train your mind to see opportunities whenever you

see problems, calamities, war, famine, earthquakes, floods,
hurricanes, power blackouts, etc.

If you can come up with solutions to the world’s problems, I can

guarantee that you will end up successful.

Step out of your comfortable zone

Notwithstanding, you might also cheat yourself that you are okay
just as you are. Many people lie to themselves every single day
that it is okay to live a life of want. Some people become
comfortable with the status quo.

I am not trying to disrespect anyone happy with less. Each one of

us has their choices in the way they want to live their lives.

Some people are comfortable being homeless and others are

comfortable living paycheck to paycheck. We live the lives we
choose for ourselves!

30
I may not just be happy with you if you complain, while claiming
to be content with less. The other thing I wouldn’t want you to
do is insinuating that people who possess more are selfish.

You can also achieve whatever the other fellow has achieved. He
or she is not smarter than you. The only difference between you
and them is that they pursued what they deem they deserve as
you became comfortable with less.

If you are okay with less, thank you. Please be grateful and don’t
complain. However, if you are like me who wants more to life,
then you need to move away from your comfortable zone and
work towards your dreams.

You cannot afford to settle for less. There is more out there
waiting for you. It is up to you to decide today to go after your
dream.

Look beyond the boarders your country

You and I understand that our country has very few opportunities
for certain people. Let me take you back to the immigrant’s story.
The journalist had asked the immigrants if they understood that
they would serve a prison sentence in Italy if caught.

One of them told the journalist that he would rather spend two
years in an Italian prison and get released to work as handyman
than wait for an opportunity which will never come in his country.

31
Christians will probably challenge me and say that people need
to trust in the Lord and wait for his time. I agree. But you also
need to remember that God had once asked Abraham to leave
the land of his father and go to a foreign land.

I was in Chipata for two years without a single employment

opportunity until I moved to Lusaka. I also see that there are
some opportunities which will never come my way until I move
and go to the United States of America.

There is nothing wrong with moving to a foreign land to look for

opportunities. If you tried everything in your country, and it is not
working, please start looking for opportunities globally.

You could struggle to get a job as a fully qualified ACCA holder in

Malawi, but there could be several opportunities for your
qualification in Colombia. Don’t let your country boarder limit
you.

President Donald Trump is building a wall separating America

from Mexico, but it will not stop people from entering his country
with most opportunities in the world. He won’t just stop people
who are pursuing the American Dream.

I am not asking you to go to America and jump the wall, but I am

telling you to consider other countries as you look for
opportunities. The world is a global village and there is more
flexibility for immigration right now that before.

Take your chance on another country of your choice.

32
Pay attention to what is trending

Gone are the days of our parents when education was a

guarantee that you will end up successful. In the days of our
parents, companies used to go to their schools on the day of
graduation to pick future employees.

In our days, companies want strategies of reducing their head

count and wage bill. Times have changed, and we need to adjust
accordingly. The careers that used to be cool in the 1990s are no
longer available in our modern times.

Some careers are becoming extinct daily. And the wise person is
the one who pays attention to what is working. There are so
many people who like to debate what the world should be
instead of focusing on how it is.

The world will never change at your behest. You can whine all
you want, but it will never become like it used to be in your
grandfather’s time. What you need to do is to focus on how the
world is operating right now and play your game in that space.

If the technology has come to your business, you must embrace

it. When clients move to the mobile phone, follow them where
they are instead of complaining about social media. The world is
what it is, and you need to adjust.

The world is changing so fast and you must adapt constantly.

Whether it is in business or just your career, find out what’s
happening in your space and become relevant.

33
Think global and use online platforms

The first time I started getting interested in online platforms was

in 2012, when we had a jewellery store.

We used to order our jewellery from Zambian wholesalers, who

also used to get the jewellery from China in bulk.

Because of abnormal increases in prices for our products, I

searched for ways of getting the jewellery directly from China by
myself.

I went online and started searching for “cheap quality jewellery”

on google. The first websites suggested were Alibaba, AliExpress,
and DHgate.

When I visited these sites, I noticed that their prices were very
reasonable, and we could make a profit if we ordered them.

However, my wife and I doubted the legitimacy of the sellers on

all these sites. Therefore, I ordered children tablets for my
nephew and daughter.

And to my surprise, the Post Office advised me I had a parcel from

China. This was after one month of ordering the tablets. I was
happy and optimistic.

Then I started ordering personal stuff like watches, jeans, shirts,

belts, wallets, boxers, etc just to satisfy myself that these sites
were legit.

34
And all my goods, except for one, arrived in Zambia with no
problems or challenges. I raised a dispute with AliExpress for the
item I did not receive and they refunded what I had paid the seller
who didn’t deliver the goods.

I was now a certified online trader. Since that time, I cannot count
the number of sites I did business with, and I am a Gold or
Platinum VIP client on most websites.

I consider online business as a viable solution. It has made life

easy for people who seek goods and services and for those who
want clients.

Then I reflected.

I realized that I was spending a lot of my hard-earned cash on

foreign websites and benefiting people from other countries.

Most of these countries were China, India, USA and France for
perfumes. So I asked Google a question. “How can I sell products
to Europe, China or America?

The answers from google were a lot. It was like my eyes were just
opened for the first time. I was spending more time asking
Google more questions and seeking more answers.

I discovered that people made money on eBay, amazon, Etsy,

Facebook marketplace, AliExpress, Alibaba, Fiverr, Udemy,
freelancer, Upwork, etc. There are opportunities for people who
sell goods and those who are sell services.

35
There is always a website that caters for each one of them.

You can sell courses on Udemy, write articles as a freelancer on

Fiverr, freelancer and Upwork, and offer graphic design services
via the same platforms.

It was interesting to learn that most sellers or service providers

on these platforms are from India, the USA, the UK, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, and the Philippines.

There are very few sellers from Africa. And those few sellers on
these platforms are Nigerians. I have accessed graphic design
services and other services from my Nigerian friends.

These hustlers from the West side of Africa impressed me.

But I was not happy that many Africans have not taken advantage
of these platforms to sell their products or services to countries
in Europe and America.

We must take advantage of this opportunity. Social media,

search engines, online marketplaces, and all these available
digital channels are opportunities.

If you view these opportunities as problems for yourself and the

world, then you will be in trouble and get stuck.

If you expect me to let this opportunity pass me by, you are

joking. If you click www.kawiwi.com, you will find a website that
is giving opportunities to thousands of consultants across the
globe.

36
I am creating a platform that gives consultants an opportunity to
get paid clients and a marketplace for clients to get credible
consultants.

This is an opportunity for clients, consultants, and the other

stakeholders who invest in Kawiwi.com.

If you are still doubting the opportunities brought by this

technology, then I don’t understand what you are waiting for.

Grab this opportunity before it blows away.

Do what everyone is not willing to do

Let me also share a secret with you - people are naturally lazy.
Yes! When I say people, I mean you and me. We are lazy. We like
to have it easy. No wonder we got so many apps which promise
to do this and that for us without our input.

Sometimes it works, but at most times, it requires human effort.

Opportunity lies in places that seem like work. If you want
something which can take you places, consider using a work ethic
in your life.

While everyone is praying for a miracle, you should be busy

working. I can promise you will give a testimony because of doing
what everyone is not willing to do.

37
Always look forward to meeting new people

I love one thing about social media. It gives me an opportunity to

connect with people I wouldn’t connect with if these platforms
were not available. I am connected to over 17,000 people on
LinkedIn and 12,000 Facebook friends.

It might not be much for some people with huge followings, but
I can never take my connections for granted. Some people are
friends and others became family. Some of them bought a book
from me.

Isn’t it that wonderful?

I am proud and humble at the same time to connect with people

all over the world because of social media. I understand the
opportunities that come with connecting with people.

However, let me also make a point here. There are people with
huge social media followers, but still don’t have friends or family.
If that is the case for you, it means you do not understand how
to use social media.

Social media is just a platform, but the principles found in “How

to make friends and influence people” still applies to social media
interactions.

If you are going to these platforms for your own selfish reasons,
you will barely make meaningful connections.

38
It is better for you to possess 500 connections whom you can
interact with than having a million connections whom you don’t
engage with. I advise you to meet people and then create
meaningful relationships.

If you create meaningful relationships with people, opportunities

will always come your way. Whether you are looking for a job or
clients to buy your products, you need people.

Learn how to sell like a prostitute

In my book, “How to Market and Sell Like a Prostitute”, I shared

with you 14 principles which makes prostitutes better
marketeers than most people.

Here are the 6 principles you can use today to market and sell
yourself to the world, while creating a strong brand.

Shamelessness

There are a lot of businesses with great products or services, and

yet they are ashamed to go out there and tell someone about
their products or services. This is a challenge for you. If
prostitutes can sell a demeaning service, what makes you fail
to sell your great product or service?

39
Targeted Marketing

The other marketing and selling tactic you can learn from
prostitutes is that they never try to sell to everyone. They only
market and sell to people most likely to buy.

In your business or employment, you need to understand the

people who want your offers. You should never try to sell to
everyone.

Great Product Design

Great products sell themselves. I am sure you heard about this.

It is true. Don’t push a lousy product or service to the
marketplace if you want to be in business for a long time.

Most business opportunities come as referrals from people who

bought from you earlier. When your product is great, your
marketing and selling will become much easier.

Service Culture

There is a guy who asked me after reading my book about how I

learnt that prostitutes offer great service. He jokingly said I
probably gained their services too many times to appreciate their
service.

However, my answer to this guy was very simple. I told him that
if people would risk their lives for sex with a prostitute, and pay
a premium for it, then it must be one hell of a service. Otherwise
that business would be dead by now.

40
Unapologetic Closing

You cannot just send resumes. You cannot just hope that
somehow your customer should buy. No! You must learn how to
close a sale. Closing is asking your clients to buy your product or
service.

However, your client has so many fears or objections about your

product or service, and it is important that you handle your
clients’ objections way before you even ask them to buy.

Building of Relationships

I already told you the importance of building meaningful

relationships. Relationships are good for your business and
career. Repeat business, job promotions, business contracts and
political appointments are products of having meaning
relationships with people.

People are key to your ladder of success. You need to learn how
to connect with people genuinely. You should never manipulate
or use them. The rewards will surprise you after building
relationships with clients.

Turn your problems into an opportunity

“A poor person’s child has no choice”. I quoted this saying for the
past 15 years of my adult life. I used to advise my young brothers

41
to work hard at school, so they somehow got a scholarship.
Luckily, one of them got it.

In 2002, the school constantly sent me back for non-payment of

school fees. My parents were poor, and they could not afford to
pay for school fees. If my mother was to pay even a quarter of
my school fees back then, her business would collapse. We were
very poor.

Despite being so poor as a family, the school decided that it

should send me back home because I was not an orphan. The
school policy allowed orphans to access education without
paying a dime.

There were organizations which used to come to our school at

Chipata Day Secondary School to help orphans with other
necessities such as uniforms, shoes, books, pens and even food.

Some of these orphans were better off than me! It was very
painful than I wished I was an orphan. I was in a worse situation
than most of the orphans. At one point, one of them even gave
me the books she got from her sponsors!

You are probably wondering why I am sharing this story with you.
There are so many people who think it’s over after the death of
their parents. We also see people who feel that life has ended
after they lose their job.

There are people who failed to recover from the emotional

trauma of being divorced, and there are people whose disability

42
has made them lose hope. These are real problems and I am not
trying to belittle them.

However, there is an opportunity for all these problems. As bad

as it might seem, an opportunity lies in every tragedy. I know a
man who is different able but lives happily than most people. He
carries himself with a huge smile on his face.

I also witnessed women whose lives became better after they got
divorced by their husbands. There is also a man who is making
serious money in carpentry despite learning the art in prison.
Others found their footing in life after facing challenges in their
past.

My point is simple - you can use your life troubles to your

advantage. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison and used
that tragedy to reflect and write books. I am also writing this
book after the death of my son.

Painful. Broken. Cried. I lost my faith. But I got back up and sat on
my laptop to help you understand that you too can do it. My wife
and I got devastated, but still, we appreciated our son’s life by
standing up again.

And I am telling you to stand up! There is an opportunity ahead

of you.

43
Practise good health habits

I once had a conversation with a friend who is a Lieutenant

General in the Zambian Army. He was still young when he got
promoted to Lieutenant General, and I jokingly used to call him
as the Army Commander.

He also jokingly used to respond to me saying “as you wish Your

Excellency,”, referring to me as the President. And he once told
me to take this seriously because there is a possibility that it can
happen.

And I told him that if we are alive. It is possible.

What most people don’t realize is that being alive is an

opportunity. If my friend has three other guys eyeing for the top
army job, and after 10 years he is the only one alive (not that he
killed the other guys), he would probably become the next Army
Commander.

There are so many brilliant youths who lost an opportunity to

bring change to their families, communities, country, and the
globe because of bad health habits. Instead of getting the
opportunity they always wanted, they end up sick in bed or dead.

Life is one hell of an opportunity. If you are alive, there is an

opportunity waiting for you. You cannot afford to miss your
chances in life due to your irresponsible behaviour.

Take good care of yourself as you wait for your opportunity.

44
 Chapter Four

BE LARGER THAN
LIFE OR BE NOTHING

I love watching soccer, especially the Zambian and English

Premier League. Football is a competition that can teach you
great lessons about life. Every year, there is only one team to win
the league. Four teams qualify for the Champions league, and
three teams are relegated.

As the premier league get to the final stages, competition builds

for the top teams and the bottom teams. The top teams fight to
win the league or to qualify for the champions league.

The bottom teams fight to avoid relegation and stay in the

premier league. If you are a football fan, you will agree with me
that watching the top teams fighting for the top four places is as
interesting as watching the teams which fight relegation.

Most top team avoids playing teams which are fighting relegation
as they can easily spoil a top team’s chances of either winning the
league or finishing within the top four.

45
During this time, there are very few soccer fans who watch the
teams in the middle. Who cares whether a team finishes eighth
or fourteenth? It makes little sense to a soccer fan because there
is really nothing for the teams in the middle to fight for.

It is the same with life. An average life is not worth living. You are
better off giving up and living like a pauper than being neither
here nor there. You can give yourself a chance to live a great life
or just wait for your passing.

Develop an alpha personality

Have you ever met that person who commands presence every
time you meet them? These are the people who time waits for
and things revolves around.

If you meet them at the party, they get everyone’s attention.

Everyone wants to talk to them, and they seem to command
respect from everyone. Alpha is a great personality to possess,
but not everyone has it.

Alpha personalities are very attractive to the opposite sex. They

look more charming than an average person. When an Alpha
person stands for public office, they don’t convince people about
their leadership qualities. They are leaders by default.

When an alpha attends an interview or meets people for a

business opportunity, they stand a better chance of being
successful than an ordinary person. This is because of their
likable personality and their aura of sophistication.

46
And if having an alpha personality puts you at an advantage in
life, then you need to develop an alpha personality. It is therefore
important that I teach you seven things you can start practicing
today to develop an alpha personality.

Smile and Laugh Often

A smile is one thing you can add in your life right now to become
a likable personality. Whenever you smile, you seem as a happier
and nice person to associate with. Greet people with a smile and
smile as you talk.

It will surprise you at how it will change your life. People will
desire to go into relationships with you for both business or
personal. People will easily approach you and get charmed by
your smile. And make it genuine as a fake smile has the opposite
effect on humans.

You should also find things to laugh about. Laughter heals but
also makes you a warm personality. People will usually share
interesting stories with you, and the best way to show interest in
other people’s stories is to laugh.

Will Smith is good at it. Try to watch how Will Smith laughs and
you will understand why people love him. He is an interesting
personality. He makes you laugh by just watching how he laughs.

People are depressed these days, and you could be the person
who brings those beautiful light moments in their lives. And if you
can get people to like you based on how you make them feel, you
will win my friend.

47
Open Body Language

You should never cross your hands over your chest and don’t
cross your legs when sitting. A closed body language makes it
difficult for people to approach you. Tilt your head straight and
make sure that your chest is out.

Whenever you are speaking, give gestures with open palms, and
spread your hands often. If you are sitting, don’t be afraid to take
your other arm to the next chair. These changes might seem
minimal, but they can change how people will perceive you.

Make Eye Contact

Lack of eye contact with people will make you look like a shy or
dishonest person. You need to learn to look people in their eyes.
Eye contact makes you confident and trustworthy.

The best way to make eye contact is to practise the 80/20 rule.
You need to spend 80% of the time looking into the other
person’s eyes and 20% wondering.

The reason for doing is to avoid looking creepy. Too much eye
contact is creepy for some people and may create discomfort for
most people.

Walk Steady and Composed

I am that person whom you could always need to remind to walk

slower. My wife didn’t like it, and so were some of my friends. I

48
soon realized that walking slower and composed makes you
seem like an alpha.

I am not talking about being too slow for a lack of energy and
passion. I am talking about deliberately deciding when to walk
fast and when to walk slow. I mean, being aware of how your
body moves so you can remain steady and composed.

Greet with a Firm Handshake

This move can change everything for women who don’t want
nonsense. There are some men who like to take every interaction
with a woman as flirting time.

The best way to show everyone you are interacting with that you
mean business is to give a FIRM handshake.

I typed FIRM in block letters for a reason. Capital letters portray

a sense of seriousness, and that’s the handshake you need to be
giving people for most interactions.

Wear Comfortable Clothing

There was one time I went to a wonderful party where my day

got ruined. The zipper on my trousers stopped working while on
the dance floor. No one knew except me.

Every time I sat at the table, I would feel fresh air entering my
trousers through the unzipped opening. It was a nightmare. I
became very uncomfortable.

49
The party was beautiful, and people enjoyed themselves except
me. The zip ruined the party the moment I discovered that it was
not working. Despite people not knowing what was going on, I
was very uncomfortable.

My point here is that you need to dress for yourself and not for
anybody. If you are comfortable with what you are wearing, the
surrounding people will feel comfortable.

There are clothes you probably feel comfortable wearing at

certain events and those which make you feel awkward.

I cannot define to you what to wear, but I will insist that you wear
clothes which make you feel confident and comfortable.

Think Positively

If you ask someone to think positively, especially if they are facing

challenges in their lives, it might sound ridiculous. There are
people who even rubbish “positive thinking”.

The bible says that ‘As a man thinketh, so is he’. This should tell
you about the power of your thoughts. I will ask you something
right now. Do you know that it is possible that your spouse could
cheat on you right now?

Just think about it. It’s very possible that one of her ex-boyfriend
or his ex-girlfriend has been doing rounds with your spouse. I bet
the ex could even be better in bed than you and your spouse
might enjoy it.

50
Oh! Let’s come back to the book. I just wanted to plant a wicked
thought in your head. If you follow through with it, that thought
can ruin your relationship or marriage.

Guess what?

This is the thinking people focus on for seventy-five percent of

the time. They think about how their spouses cheat on them,
how their governments made it difficult for their business and
how their family and friends caused the problems of their life.

And I will confess that whenever I thought negatively, as Edwin

Ngwane, my joy faded, and my life became miserable. It became
difficult for me to enjoy my life and I vowed to myself that I could
never punish myself with negative thoughts again.

On the flip side, whenever I engage my mind into thinking about

beautiful moments which I envision to happen in my life, I
become happy. The surrounding people felt it and asked me to
share the joy of my life.

My relationship with my wife becomes more romantic because I

think about how our 22:00 - 00:00 hours will go down. I even
imagine how she will look into my eyes and how I will hold her.
Life is beautiful in my life whenever I think with a positive mind.

You can doubt this principle, but it works. If you really want to
live a meaningful life starting today, try positive thinking.

51
I am not saying that you should pretend like you got no problems,
but I am asking you to have faith that even in your time of
adversity, there is God.

If you believe in God and trust that he will deliver you from all
evil, there is nothing you should worry about. Your marriage,
business, job, money, friends, children and family will bring joy in
your life.

Never put your lamp under the bed

Since the time I was a kid, I was always told to keep a low profile.
There was a guy who even told me to keep all my dreams to
myself and never let people know what I think. I didn’t agree,
even though I was just a kid.

There are people with influence, and if they know you or your
idea (after you share it), your life can change instantly. They can
help to get a job, business contract or married. However, this can
only happen if they know what you want.

The rule of keeping a low profile is one rule which West Africans
ignored. I remember watching the news of the 2018 FIFA World
Cup, where a group of Nigerian fans dominated a train station as
they were moving from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

There were so many football fans in Russia during that time, but
only the Nigerian Football fans created news. They were singing
at the train station and ended up attracting the media.

52
Your goal might not be to be in the news, but if no one knows
you, you will wait and wait and wait for the opportunity which
will never come your way.

Opportunities find the people who are busy and prepared as they
wait for the bride. I am sure you know the story of the 10 brides
in the bible.

Drive a Mercedes-Benz or just walk

I laughed out loud before I even started writing this passage. I

don’t have a car. It is for the same reasons. I told myself that I will
continue to walk until I buy a German car - BMW, AUDI or
Mercedes-Benz.

Funny. Isn’t it?

With all due respect, I am not trying to disrespect the people who
drive Toyota and Nissan. I got a lot of respect for them. I beg
them for a ride most of the times. However, if I buy a car, it must
be German.

The intention behind wanting a German car is the same used by

politicians when they want to get elected. They portray
themselves as religious, honest, qualified, hardworking, well to
do, etc, even though we know that the opposite is usually true.

It is also the same intention used by men when they are

proposing love to a woman. They wear a nice suit for a date
(sometimes borrowed), memorize two bible verses (just in case

53
the girl is religious), and talks about coming from a respected
neighbourhood even when they come from the ghetto like me.

You might say that I am promoting dishonesty. No, I am not. Most

politicians whom you voted for and loved used these image
building tactics “to position” themselves better and win your
votes.

Some men would still be unmarried if they didn’t wear a

borrowed suit or drove a colleague’s car on the first date. The
intention is to position yourself better, and that is what you must
do.

Wear strong nice perfume

Let me tell you this - people hate strong perfume. Though I am

sure of this; people love strong, nice perfume. Whoever tells you
they don’t love strong perfume, then your perfume isn’t just nice.
You need to find better fragrance, my friend.

Nice perfume is good for status. The worst thing that can happen
to a man or woman is to an odour. You might be beautiful or
handsome, but an odour doesn’t go well with most people.

Bad odour doesn’t just ruin dates. You may lose a lot of
opportunities for not smelling nice. People may decline going
into another meeting with you.

Nice strong perfume is good for interviews, business meetings

and even dating. You might just get yourself a business contract

54
for smelling nice! It even becomes better when you can stand out
with a beautiful strong perfume.

Whether you go for parties, interviews or conferences, wearing

nice perfume gives you an opportunity to stand tall as an alpha
personality. It gives you the confidence to interact with people
and gives you a chance to find love.

Dress to dominate

“Lady in red……., she’s dancing with me,”.

“I am on my suit and tie. Can I show you a few things?”

The words from the first sentence above are from a song by Chris
DeBurgh and I got the words of the second sentence from Suit &
Tie song by Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z.

Have you ever wondered why most pastors wear suits? I need
to rephrase this question. Did you ever wonder why most pastors
wear nice custom-made suits? Have you ever asked yourself why?

Oh! It’s not just pastors. You will notice lawyers, investment
bankers, politicians, and street con-men wearing suits for the
same reasons - building trust. Certain type of clothes can make
you look more credible than others.

However, it is not just about suits. In West Africa, especially in

Ghana and Nigeria, there is a traditional suit they wear to look

55
more trustworthy. Other traditional suits are worn for casual
settings.

If you are a hustler, picking the right clothes to wear should be a

top priority. There are opportunities which might never come
close to you based on the clothes you wear. You need to pick the
right ones.

Make big parties

I am yet to pull this one off, but I know that it works wonders. If
you attended a party before, you realize that everyone who
comes to the party will try to meet the person who put it together.

If the party is corporate, you will see everyone trying to meet the
CEO of that company and if it is just your birthday party, you see
that everyone who comes to your party will try to come to your
table to wish you a happy birthday.

I am sure you are asking why it is important. I will explain.

Hosting a big and lit party gives you free publicity and recognition.
The people who will attend your party will show admiration and
respect for you especially if there is exclusivity for invited guests.

The first thing you must do is send invites to people whom you
would like to do business with. The second thing is to invite
media personalities and celebrities who would most likely share
your party on their social media accounts.

56
If you do it very well, it can be the game changer for your life and
your business. Plan something today and don’t forget to invite
me.

Build or buy a mansion

Why would I encourage someone to build a big house if she or he

will mostly live alone with his or her spouse after the kids grow
up?

The answer is very simple. Wow factor! What you need to

understand is that you need to court attention at all costs. You
will need to buy a nice car for the same reason.

The beauty of having a mansion is that you can pull off those big
parties I talked about earlier without having to book a hotel or
some public place.

A big house will also give you enough space to park your luxury
toys, build a swimming pool or sports ground, library or wine bar.

If you invite guests to your house, even the guy who has been
having second thoughts about giving you that $1,000,000
contract, will change his or her mind and gladly give you that
contract.

If someone is considering you for a job, let them spend sleepless

nights thinking about how much to pay you even though you can
accept less. They will try to match your pay to your lifestyle.

57
A mansion also gives you and your family a sense of pride which
can make people treat you differently than an ordinary person. I
am sure you know such types of people in your area.

If you can build or buy that big house which you deserve, do it.
Nigerians have been building mansions for a long time, and it has
helped them to stand out and influence others.

Start playing golf

If your goal is to meet people of influence and sell your products

and/services to them, playing golf has proved to be a deal
breaker for some time.

Some observe that most golf players are well-to-do executives

and business owners. It has also been a game that people play
while doing business.

Therefore, if you are selling high ticket products and services, golf
can help you meet your ideal clients.

A person who wants an opportunity to spend time with rich

people should try golf. In my sales roles, I used it several times to
get quality leads.

Our goals in life are different, but we all want successful people
around us. Golf can help you make a few successful friends.

58
Buy a jet or fly first class

There has been a debate, especially in Africa, about whether it is

okay to buy a jet for a president of the country.

Many people say it is a waste of money, especially leaders in

opposition. Without undermining their views, I would tell you
that any president of any country, who is serious about what he
is doing, should get a jet.

If things go as planned, I will probably get myself a jet with my

money. I said “my money” deliberately because I know that
people will still criticize me for buying a jet for millions of dollars
while other people are suffering.

The Bible says that the poor will always be there, and it does not
matter whether I give. They will always be there.

Let me go back to the jet story. If you fly often, you probably
encountered flight delays and frustrations at the airports. It
happens most times.

The other issues are to do with missing of flights because you had
gone to do some other business. It is not nice if you ask me.

It should be everyone’s dream to fly a jet. It might be more

expensive than an ordinary flight, but if you got the money to do
it, please do it.

59
It might be possible that a jet is way too much for you. Why
wouldn’t you fly first class? First class also gives you an
opportunity to meet the people you meet when playing golf.

Isn’t that a good thing? If you are a hustler, this is a brilliant idea.
Whether it’s business, employment or marriage, you are most
likely to clinch a better deal than with people on alternative
transportation.

What I want you to take from this chapter is that perception

matters in business, employment and dating. You may get or lose
opportunities based on how people perceive you.

People get lousy contracts based on the way they look, dress, or
smell. It might seem unfair, but the world has never been fair.

Sometimes, you might even get a bad deal since you go to drink
in the wrong places (a place for leftover deals).

If you are a hustler, you need to think big in everything. You

always need to remind yourself that you deserve better, and you
will not settle for less.

The world has never stopped a man or a woman able to dream

big, think big and do bigger things.

The other point I want to put across in this chapter, before I am

misunderstood, is that you can create a good image about
yourself without spending a lot of money.

60
If you are starting out, you can still find a way of getting nice
clothes, perfume, car, and many other things cheap and still
brand yourself well.

I use nice, cheaper perfumes loved by people around me without

spending a fortune. You can also do that. The Internet has made
it possible for you to access things cheaply.

I will conclude by saying that “The bigger you seem, the better”.

61
 Chapter Five

TAP INTO THE SUPPORT

OF YOUR COMMUNITY

If there is something Africans have embraced for so many years,

is living as brothers and sisters of an extended family.

This is also common in West Africa. Even when they travel abroad,
they create a West African community abroad where they can
live together as sisters and brothers.

How does living together as brothers help you achieve your

dreams?

If you read my book, How to Market and Sell like a Prostitute,

there is a chapter where I was teaching about selling and
marketing your products to people most likely to buy.

The core teachings of the book Influence - The Psychology of

Persuasion, Robert B. Cialdini, PHD, teaches about the seven key
influencers of persuasion.

62
The one I would like to share with you right now is the Liking Key
Influencer. Regardless of whether you agree to this, you are
probably reading my book because you like me.

And there are many people who will give you opportunities since
they like you. We like to do business with people we like.

Therefore, your community will most likely accept you and give
you a chance than people who don’t know you or like you.

Therefore, you need to tap into your community. You cannot

afford to ignore the power and influence of your community on
your life, career or business.

No wonder many people in Africa say that it takes a village to

raise a child. We can further say that it takes a community to
become successful.

Isaac Newton said this very well. He said, “If I have seen further
than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants”. There
is humility and gratitude in this statement.

Let me show you how you can use your community to create a
better life for yourself and your family.

Connect with people who possess what you want

I am working on my website, www.kawiwi.com. This website will

help people find well vetted consultants and give an opportunity
for consultants to get paid clients.

63
I hope you see that I am living the principle of Zig Ziglar which
promoted helping other people to get what they want so they
can help you get what you want.

It’s worth repeating. Mr. Ziglar said, “Help people to get what
they want, if you want them to help you get what you want,”. It’s
a powerful statement.

On my website, we need consultants and clients who will access

paid consultancy from them. Therefore, I connected with many
consultants and built relationships with them for a future benefit.

On LinkedIn and Twitter, most of the people I relate to are

industry experts in their fields. These are people who can help
other people to get what they want.

I connected with them for business reasons, but with a good

intention of helping them get paid clients. However, it is difficult
for every consultant to trust that what I am offering at
kawiwi.com is legit and beneficial.

It is for this reason that I had to build relationships with every one
of them. I don’t want to connect with them today and ask for
them to sign up on kawiwi.com the same day.

I cannot do that because it’s rude and unethical. I want you to do

whatever it takes to get whatever you want, but with respect for
others.

64
In my case, consultants are the people who are where I want to
be. I need them to sign up so clients who want to use our website
can find a consultant offering services.

I know that you also know people you need in your business. Your
job right now is to become part of their community and wait for
the right time to ask for an opportunity.

Build relationships with successful people

It is not a secret that there are more West African football players
playing in Europe than any part of Africa.

Whenever you are watching a game between Zambia (my

country) and a West African team, you will see most notable
players playing in England, Spain, France, Italy and German.

As for most players in Zambia, the best they would do is play for
clubs in Austria, Hungary, Poland, or Russia. Still, many of them
play in South Africa or in our local league.

Some people might even try to justify that playing for a local
league is good because it blends the players and strengthens the
local league. I disagree.

The people who say such things have lost the way or lying to
themselves. If a player wants the best for himself, his family and
country, he must trade his skills to clubs that will pay well.

65
This will also help him become a better player as he will learn
new skills from other professionals from great footballing nations
like Brazil, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, England and Argentina.

The benefit for the country will be economical as the incoming

dollars, euros or pounds can boost the economy of the country.

The player will also come back and teach new skills learnt from
his/her other professionals in Europe to his/her brothers and
sisters in Zambia.

If you see where I am coming from, you realize that a real hustler
knows how to leverage successful people, associations, towns,
countries, and continent for his or her benefit.

One of the Zambian players, Enock Mwepu, is under a sport

consulting firm owned by Frederic Oumar Kanoute, a Malian
former player.

If you watch at how things work out in Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali,

Senegal, Ghana, etc, you notice that there is a connection
between rising stars and former players.

There is a reason over 50 percent of African players playing in

Europe are West Africans. And the reason is very simple - use the
success of the former players.

If I was a football player, the first move would be to connect with

a former player. He would probably know a few football agents
who can connect me to a top club.

66
It works the same way in music. How many musicians do you see
hugging in music videos, with no form of friendship? A couple, I
guess.

The purpose of those collaborations, especially with successful

artists, helps young and unknown artists to leverage the
influence of the bigger artists.

You need to learn how to corroborate with successful people in

your area to your own benefit if you want to Hustle! Like A West
African.

Pay your way up

I see many people making this mistake. In Africa, we think a

friend of a relative should always help you for free with no
benefit (because he or she is a family).

This fallacy has disadvantaged people in so many ways. Whether

someone is your relative or friend, there is probably something
which keeps them busy to take care of their family.

Let’s use the previous example of a former soccer player whom

you would have used to get yourself a chance to play in Europe.

This guy might need to stay in contact with teams, agents, or

former teammates in Europe daily. It might even require him to
travel occasionally.

67
If you are a realist like me, you understand that someone can only
do that for a reward. The nonsense of he is a friend, or he is family,
can complicate this situation and disadvantage people terribly.

The best way you can do it is by helping this person who is helping
you with a few things. He might need help with flight fares,
internet access, and some cash to keep him going as he helps you.

The problem is that he might also start telling you need not pay
him because you are family. It is a lie and you must put things
straight.

This is where I advise people to become real consultants and

offer that service formally. There is no guesswork around pay,
especially if you are using www.kawiwi.com.

If you are someone who needs the services of a friend or family

member who is providing you with consulting services, ask them
to sign on kawiwi.com and pay them through that platform.

The good thing about using such a platform is that you will
separate personal and business interactions. You will also be able
to help a friend or family member who has dedicated his time to
helping you.

You should never assume that friends and relatives should help
you for free. It’s possible to help you without paying if you are
not financially sound.

Therefore, if you get some money, pay the people you used to
get to where you want. They deserve it. It is the right thing to do.

68
Zig Ziglar once said that you can get anything you want in life if
you learn how to help people get what they want.

Work for a chief, but not his village.

I learnt this from a friend from Nigeria who told me that in my

country; It is important to work with a chief more than working
for a certain company.

What he meant was that working for Mr. X, the CEO of company
ABC, is more important than working for company ABC.

He gave me an example of how Jose Mourinho signed Michael

Essien for Real Madrid, when Essien was not at his best.

Michael Essien, Didier Drogba, and Samuel Eto’o are examples of

players who got lucrative contracts at the end of their careers for
working for the Chief and not his Village.

The Chief, my friend, will always remember his loyal subjects. The
village, however, will remain a village with new Chiefs who might
or not like you.

My friend, you must always stick with The Chief. He can even
influence The New Chief to continue keeping you in the palace.

Those were words from my Nigerian friend. He is a real hustler,

and I hope you understood what he meant.

69
Learn from people’s mistakes

I love watching action movies when I want to unwind. Recently, I

got addicted to watching Suits, an American legal drama series.
It is one of those series you want to watch.

Suits have a lawyer in the name of Harvey Specter, who

considered that he can beat anybody, whether in court or outside
the court. Oh yes, he used to beat them.

However, when I watched closely at the whole scenario, their

firm had this other guy called Louis. Louis is a very intelligent and
hardworking Harvard University graduate but used lose
important cases.

He lost cases for so many dumb reasons despite putting in all the
hard work. Harvey took advantage of the situation.

He would go out there doing the great MR. BIG GUY HARVEY
SPECTRE WILL KICK YOUR BUTT while Louis is working and
making all the mistakes.

Harvey will then go to Louis and ask for what he has done on the
case, so he can go to court and kick someone’s butt.

So, one day Louis was sure that he would win a case. However,
he was facing a Harvey Specter protege in the name of Mike.

When Mike went to meet Harvey for advice on how to beat Louis,
he told him he should learn from all the mistakes he has made in

70
the past, together with all the mistakes people at the firm had
made and learn from them.

Mike reminded Harvey that he claimed having made no mistakes.

However, Harvey told him he has won some cases after learning
from Louis’s mistakes.

What does this teach you?

Whether in business or in employment, people will tell you about

how they messed up the first deal or their promotion. And if you
listen carefully, you will learn valuable lessons and avoid making
the same mistakes.

I do not drink. I do not smoke. I do not beat my wife. I do not

shout at my children. I do not tell my children that life is hard. I
do not subscribe to the “kula umone” (grow up to see the real
life) notion. I don’t.

The reason I don’t do all that is because I learnt from other

people’s mistakes. In my job, I ask my supervisor what it takes to
get an exceptional evaluation and ensure I follow through.

I learned all this from other people’s mistakes. The challenge that
comes with learning from your own mistakes is that the damage
can sometimes be too severe for you to recover.

You might make a mistake where you end up losing everything if

you don’t learn. The Ngoni people who closed the Zambezi River
are those who learnt from all the first guys who died trying to
cross to the other side.

71
If you are clever, you can avoid all the mistakes if you can learn. I
am not saying that you will not make a mistake. What I am saying
is that you will make fewer mistakes.

Therefore, observe your family and community, and learn from

all the mistakes they made in the past. It will put you at an
advantage.

Leverage on other people’s connections

As I write this, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club appointed Jose

Mourinho as Head Coach. The interesting thing about his
appointment is that, Tottenham as a club, they never tried to
engage a coach as expensive as Jose Mourinho.

And the question many pundits were asking was the intention
behind his appointment. But one football analyst gave a better
explanation to what prompted the Chairman of the club to go for
this expensive coach.

On the unveiling of Jose Mourinho as a coach, they reported it

that the club refused to give access to over 50 reporters who
wanted to cover his first press conference as Tottenham Head
Coach.

On his first game as coach of Tottenham, they reported again that

over 380 reporters packed the press room for the club and the
person who manages the giving of access to reporters said it was
unprecedented.

72
Before I get you lost in this issue of reporters, you need to
understand that Tottenham recently built a new beautiful
stadium for which they seek a name sponsor.

This gives the right to the name sponsor to name the stadium
after its own name. If it was my company, the Tottenham
stadium would be called Kawiwi Stadium (after my company
name).

Now, we need to understand that only top clubs get the luxury of
getting name sponsors. For lower clubs, companies are not
willing to go into such deals for so many reasons.

One reason could be that you don’t win many trophies. Another
one would be failure to compete in as many competitions as
possible for the name sponsor to receive enough media coverage.

Let’s get back to the story of Jose Mourinho and the number of
reporters who came to cover his first game. An amazing 380
reporters! Wow!

He got that attention on the same day when Manchester City

Football Club were playing Chelsea Football, who is the
Champion of England.

I got so much respect for the Board of Management of

Tottenham Hotspur for taking such a bold step in hiring
Mourinho.

73
There are things which will change about Tottenham Hotspur.
The way people perceived them will change because of
Mourinho.

The influence and connections Mourinho have can change a lot

of things at Tottenham. Players who previously refused to play
for Tottenham would reconsider their decision because of
Mourinho.

This is what I mean when I say, leveraging on other people’s

connections. Tottenham is leveraging the football status of Jose
Mourinho, and the dividends will be huge.

The name sponsor might come their way sooner than they think
because of hiring Mourinho. The high-profile players who
previously refused to sign for the club might think otherwise right
now.

It’s the same with business, employment and life. There are
people who will change everything about you just by association.

There are people in your life who can help you fly if you leveraged
on their connections. Remember, in my previous chapter, I talked
about creating meaningful relationships.

If you can create meaningful relationships, you will easily find

people whom you can leverage on their connections and
influence.

74
Sell your new products to your community

I am a writer who aims to sell globally. I sell my books on Amazon

and other online stores to access the global market. Truthfully, it
has not been easy.

However, I have sold over 1,000 copies to people in my country.

And I am very grateful. Before you stand out there, as a musician,
comedian, footballer, banker, teacher etc, you will first do it in
your own house.

The good thing about selling your products, services or ideas to

your community first is that you get the feedback quickly and
honestly. This feedback will help you build the foundation for the
global stage.

The other benefit of selling to your community first is that you

will get paid (even if it is not much), and that money will help you
do more great things.

I know there is a saying that, “A prophet is never recognized in

his own land,”, but you still need to start from there. Even if they
criticize and hate you because of your business, start with them.

Tap into your community for talent

I hope you pay attention to what politicians do. Whenever a

politician wins an election, you will see him give opportunities to
his friends, relatives, friends of his friends and friends of his
relatives.

75
I am sure you say that it is not fair. I agree with you, but that’s
how the world operates. “The Ideal World” and “The Real World”
are two different things.

The world is very biased, nepotistic, corrupt, racist and evil. The
only way to change it is by recognizing all the evil and
understanding how to work with it.

Therefore, if you started a start-up business, the first people to

work with you will be from your own community. Start-up
businesses start like that.

You will work with siblings, spouses, children, cousins, parents,

friends, children to friends, or neighbors. I know some people will
say that you need to give equal opportunities to everyone.

I ran start-up businesses before and I know how difficult it can

become to pay an employee who only came to join you for the
money. It is difficult.

However, if you tapped from your own community, you can even
find some people willing to work with you for free until the
business succeeds. Some will even invest in the business with you
because they love you and have faith in you.

Only the “equal opportunity employee” will take you to the

labour for non-payment of two months’ salaries. It is therefore
wise to work with people who will die a little for the business in
the initial stages of the business.

76
Build strong foundations with your own people

Every leader worth his salt has the inner circle. These are people
who will be with you through thick and thin.

I am talking about people who died a little for you as your

business was still in infancy. Remember, I was just talking about
people who can die a little for the business; these are the ones.

Author, Dr. John C. Maxwell says that as you go to the top, you
need to move with your inner circle. The inner circle will keep you
at the top.

However, I have seen many people who drop the people who
gave them support through and through after they succeed.

I have friends were there for me through thick and thin, but I
have removed from my friendship bracket.

However, I have dropped them in my family bracket. Hope you

understand what I mean here. There are people whom you will
not keep around but will become and remain family.

I did that to Mwika Manda, Francis Mhone, Mweemba

Mweemba and Michael Kapindula. These guys are my brothers
now. They were just friends, but afterwards; they became part of
my family.

The more friends I am adding to the family list, the stronger

foundations I create for myself. You need to understand that

77
these are not just one of those friends who come and go in our
lives.

These are people whose friendship with me has gone through fire
and ice and remained strong. They are people I will always count
on. They are my pillars on which I can stand.

You also need people like that. I will tell you that if you don’t have
friends you can count on for advice, comfort, help, and laughter,
you will not live a happy life.

I must point out that business has difficulties. In the down

moments, you need friends who can comfort, advise and help
you.

And when things are fine, you need the same friends to go out
and laugh. You must live life in full. When the bad moments come,
experience them and when the good times come, enjoy.

But the only way to experience life like is by having a support

system which you should create by having good friends.

This will be your foundation and pillars for your success. I have
done many great things because of my friends.

Build your foundations.

78
 Chapter Six

BECOME OBSSESSED WITH MONEY

I see hypocrisy and evil under the sun.

I live in communities where people despise money yet constantly

asking for handouts from rich people. You will meet money-
haters asking for money.

I have also been to churches where they preach against

accumulating wealth while asking for tithes and offerings. Hmm.
It doesn’t add up. Was Lot, Abraham and Mathew poor?

There is even a conspiracy against rich people. Whenever

someone becomes rich, we accuse them of witchcraft, satanism,
or devil worshiping.

People even pray for evil things to happen for those who are rich.
They pray that their children should not amount to anything in
life but become poor and beg from their children.

The world has become so confusing that people are becoming

poor by choice and design. They don’t read the bible and they
don’t understand what God said about wealth.

79
God said that “Silver and Gold belongs to him and He will give it
to anyone who asks of Him”. He has also told them that anything
which is good comes from him.

But what happened to these people? They are promoting

poverty,, and yet their God hates poverty. They think being poor
guarantees a spot in heaven.

People are difficult to understand. They have gone astray. They

are refusing to get their Almighty Father’s inheritance because
they think it is evil.

Money is not the root of evil.

There is nothing which annoys me more than a Christian who

does not understand scriptures and quote bibles verses which do
not exist.

The Bible has never said that money is the root of all evil. The
Bible has said, “The LOVE of money is the root of all evil”.

And I need to explain this for some people to understand. The

bible says that you must love God with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your mind.

It also asks you to love your neighbour as you love yourself.

Therefore, the only “Beings” you should love is Almighty Father
and your fellow human being.

80
Whenever you love anything else apart from God and fellow
human beings, then you are committing a sin.

This means that whatever you love so dearly, that you forget The
Almighty Father and the people he created becomes your idol.

And God hates idol worshiping. Idol worshiping includes money,

cars, spouses, children, houses, games, clothes, perfume, alcohol,
food, drinks and anything that takes the place of GOD.

It’s not just money. Agreed?

There are three reasons you should not love money or anything
else more than you love God and your fellow human;

You will forget about God

You will forget what he asks of you (Law).You will fail to love a
fellow human because of your love for things.

Therefore, “the love of money” is just one of the “things” that

can make you fall from the face of God. It is not the only thing.

I need to make another point clear here. Poverty will not help
you get to paradise. There are so many evil people who are poor
and many faithful Christians people who are rich.

Stop getting it twisted folks.

81
Learn more about making money

Edwin Shulo Ngwane. I am not talking about the author of this

book. This man used to live at a farm known as Kawiwi farm.

A lot of people accused him of loving money because he used to

point out the importance of learning how to make money.

He didn’t respect people who didn’t want to make money to earn

a living. He used to call such people as makhalane (parasites).

My grandfather took it that every human being can make some

money as long as he can think. He pushed the agenda of making
money.

However, people misunderstood him. People thought he was

teaching about money, so he could enjoy some of his children
and grandchildren who would make money.

Some people thought he had a hatred for poor people and hence
his teachings about building wealth. It was difficult to see him
explaining to people who didn’t want to listen.

Still, I was a good student. I learnt from my grandfather about

making money. I paid attention to every time he spoke about
money.

It is my grandfather who taught me you can make money in

farming without holding a hoe. He used to tell me to think.

82
After thinking, I found the secret to making money. I want you to
underline this one because it can change your life.

The secret to making money is giving. It has been demonstrated

by God Almighty to you. He gives you countless of blessings and
He only asks for 10% of everything you earned.

What you need to understand, though, is that that 10% is a lot of

millions when collected from each member who appreciates
“what God has done for him or her”.

You will also notice that God gives 100% and asks for a 10%. No
wonder people find it easier to give God, because He is the first
one to give.

He also gives more, and He gives to everyone. He does not

choose people based on race, nationality, gender, able-bodied or
differently able, He just gives abundantly.

Then, He asks for a 10%.

If you are a real hustler, you need to get this straight.

You need to find something valuable you can give people.

You should give before you can ask for something in return.

You need to give to as many people as you can.

You need to give more than you ask for.

83
People should give you because they appreciate what you did for
them.

If you understand this, and practice, I can guarantee that you will
never lack, and you will live a life of abundance.

Money will follow you. Dollars will chase you. Pounds will fall for
you. And the rest of the currencies will hunt you down.

And this is the reason money loves people who give.

Understand the power of hard cash

I have worked in the bank for so many years, and I understand

that hard cash is risky. Most financial institutions avoid cash
transactions.

Hard cash is very liquid and can exchange hands as quickly as

possible. This means that criminals can easily use hard cash for
their ill motives without being traced.

We also need to flip the coin. We cannot just look at one side of
the coin and conclude that what we are seeing is all there is. No!
We must flip the coin and see what is on the other side.

There was a time I met a guy who needed urgent help. He was
selling a cow for very little money. The amount he wanted was
K800 only, but I only had a K200 in my wallet.

84
Since I had enough money on my account, I asked the guy for his
bank account, so I could transfer. He told me he didn’t have an
account.

Again, I asked if he had a mobile money wallet account and he

said he had, but he had to wait until the next day to access the
funds.

This was a rural setup, and he needed the money for his child to
travel to the city the next day for school. The money was for
registration and other things.

As I was trying to find another way of paying for the cow, he

spoke to a catholic father who agreed to pick his son as he was
also going to Lusaka.

Immediately after the father came on board, he told me he had

raised the price to K3,000, a price which I didn’t think was
beneficial to me.

I lost that opportunity like that because of not having a K800 hard
cash with me. Situations like this happens all the time and you
can miss great deals when you don’t have hard cash.

The time I used to be a street boy, people would come with

laptops or phones when they are broke and come to you for quick
cash.

You would get something for a fraction of the original price

because of having hard cash. People have pressing needs hard
cash can only resolve.

85
You need to move with cash, folks. There are many things that
can work to your advantage if you have “hard cash” in your
pocket.

Leverage the banking system for global access

I know that this is a contradiction. I was just talking about having

hard cash with you, and now I am talking about leveraging the
banking system.

Am I losing track? Absolutely not. I said that you should flip the
coin. This means that you need to look at both sides of everything,
which includes handling your money.

There are so many opportunities which comes to those who have

hard cash, but they should not involve large sums of money. You
should never do hard cash deals for large sums of money.

Never. It usually smells fishy and illegal. As your business grows,

you will need to trade with people outside your country and bank
systems are there to help you achieve your goals.

The good thing about paying through the banking system is that
your payments are traceable in case of tax issues or fraud from
the person you are doing business with.

It’s very easy to prove in the courts of law that you paid company
ABC or Mrs. XYZ, as records will be there for the funds you sent.

86
The banks also give you convenience of shopping, paying for
services, and investing your money at ease with their online
platforms.

If you travel a lot, some banks give travel insurance and access to
lounges for their affluent clients. These services get us back to
my earlier points of being larger than life.

The banking system therefore gives you access to easy financial

management. They also provide services that help you build your
elite profile as a hustler.

Go for high-risk investments in the beginning

I always tell people that starting a business is the best option for
those who want to become wealthy.

Business is the most likely gateway for anyone who was not born
in a palace or rich family to become rich. Business has the ability
of changing the fortunes of anybody.

But it is difficult.

A business is a perilous investment. It is way better for you to get

an MBA or PHD hoping to get a high-paying job than running a
business.

There is no guarantee that your business idea will work. There is

a possibility that your business can be closed by new technology
or competition before you even start making money.

87
Business is another kind of hell. It is a BIG gamble. You can
literally lose your mind when you start a business.

Despite all the difficulties I just shared with you, it’s the only shot
you got to become a millionaire. Business is the only way you can
use to become a rich person, even though you were born poor.

I will still tell you it is the best high-risk investment you should
make, especially if you have the energy to run it.

Is it very risky to invest in a business? Yes. Can you lose everything?

Yes. Are you guaranteed success? No. Can business make you
lose family and friends? Yes. Is business highly rewarding?
Absolutely.

You should try business. I lost so much money in trying one

business after another, but I also know that the day it will work,
and I will be a millionaire.

Surround yourself with rich people

I shared an article on LinkedIn on what I observed about street

kids who are found around the streets of Lusaka.

One day I visited Intercity Bus Terminals and saw a group of street
kids with an age range of 6 to 15 years.

As I passed, I heard one of them telling his friend to smoke a bit

of substance was in the bottle, so he can feel better. I suspected
he was unwell.

88
It convinced the guy who was offering the substance that he was
trying to help a friend. They created a community and support
system.

Therefore, whenever one of them has a problem, they provide a

solution. However, the solutions they offer one another make
their situations worse and can even lead to death.

It is the same situation with our friends. Whether we like it, our
friends will offer unsolicited advice and help because we possess
support systems as human beings.

The problem comes if the people offering advice don’t know any
better. We end up getting wrong advice from our relatives,
friends, colleagues, and community.

It is therefore important for you and I to choose the people who

come in our lives. Just like street kids offer one another substance
to numb the pain of a sickness, our friends could offer solutions
which are not helpful.

My advice for you is to pick successful friends. There is nothing

wrong with picking successful people as your friends. My
grandfather used to say that anyone who plays with dogs should
not get surprised when he catches fleas.

The same way unsuccessful people will convince you about the
unimportance of money and success, successful people will give
you a different support system which will push you to your goals.

89
It is therefore imperative for you to choose friends who are
where you wish to be. You will notice how motivated you will be
and the support you will get.

They will challenge you too. They will connect you to other
successful people. And when things go wrong, they will not tell
you to forget it. They will encourage you to try again.

It is a different experience when you surround yourself with

successful people. It’s like moving from Facebook to LinkedIn.

Those who know what I mean will attest. Don’t feel guilty for
leaving behind your friends hooked on the substance of poverty.

After you become successful, you will easily help them to move
from their current misery to real life. You cannot help anyone if
you are still struggling.

Think wisely when choosing a partner

This is a very sensitive topic in many parts of the world. Most

people (especially poor people) presume that love is an issue of
heart more than mind.

It is also is interesting that most poor people celebrate when one

of their relatives gets married to a rich person. And the reason is
simple - they will benefit as a family.

Money will move from the successful family to this family, which
will now enjoy the fruits of the plant they did not plant.

90
Most people who benefit through marriages will criticize me for
these words. But if they were the ones who were successful, they
would also not like to marry off their relative to poverty.

Human beings are selfish. If they are the ones who are rich, they
will never entertain marrying to a poor family.

And if they are poor, they pray for a relative to marry from a well-
to-do family for their own benefit. Selfish. Selfish. Selfish.

My take on this matter is very simple. You must choose your

partner with both heart and mind. If you make a mistake on the
decision about marriage, it could be the end of all your dreams
and ambitions.

It is not just a matter of money. It is also an issue of character and

family traditions. In Africa, marriage is between two families and
their influence on people’s marriages is very visible in most
marriages.

Now, imagine a situation where you married a family that

believes in the opposite of what you believe in. Are you going to
convert each person in that family?

Does your spouse believe in what you believe in? There is a man
of God who told me a secret to his 42 happy years in marriage.

He said that you should never get yoked unequally with your
partner if you want to go far. He said that partners in a marriage
should maintain the same beliefs.

91
He also said that if my wife does not believe in what I believe in,
at some point it will show. I will end up being made to choose
between my wife and the mission.

And you know that if I will choose only one between what I
believe in (the mission) or my wife, it will break me. The mission
is as important to me as my wife.

My advice is this.

Don’t marry broke families. You will end up becoming a charity

who needs to fix a clan.

Don’t marry persons without a vision. They will choke you with
their “chimbwii (hyena) no plan” mentality.

You must believe in the same God, principles, values, vision and
mission before you get married. Marriage is not a place to fix
broken issues. It’s not.

Beauty without brains will fade. Marry a person who has brains.
The looks will not impress you for a long time if the person does
not think like you.

Marry someone who will help you become a better person. He or

she should bring something tangible to the table. He or she
should add value to your life apart from sex.

92
Invest your money in four pots

There is no point in making money and failing to invest to earn a

return. Otherwise, you will end up with dead cash.

You therefore need to invest your money into what a call a four-
pot portfolio. The four pots are business, financial instruments,
property and insurance policies.

If you are serious about making money, you need to invest in a

business. I am not saying that you should invest millions. You
should start anything if it is a profitable business.

There are people who claim that lack of money is their challenge
to starting a business. My advice to those people is to master a
skill that they can trade. Master a skill you can sell.

You can become an after-work tailor, writer, musician, pool

player, music producer, model, photographer, speaker,
comedian, consultant, marriage counsellor, estate agent, etc.

There are so many things you can do to make money without

investing a fortune. All you need is the passion and drive to do it.
But I know that most excuses are because of laziness. People are
lazy.

The reason I started with business on my four pots is that it has

the highest potential of multiplying your money. It has the
highest risk, but also the highest returns.

93
Financial Instruments

You probably know something about Fixed Deposits, Fixed Bonds,

Treasury Bills, Mutual Funds, shares, and cryptocurrency.

Fixed Deposits - Fixed deposits are an easy way of making an

extra money if you are risk averse and your investment period is
not over one year.

The bank will offer you an interest in your money for the period
you put that money aside. For example, if the bank offers you a
10% for one year for K100,000, then you will get K110,000 at the
end of the year.

What you also need to understand is that breaking the fixed

deposit will make you lose interest and not the principal. This
means that if you break, the bank will pay your K100,000 without
the interest of K10,000.

It is also important to understand that fixed deposit returns are

very minimal, since the risk is very minimal. You can only lose
money if the bank goes under.

Treasury Bills - Treasury bills are short-term instruments that the

government uses to borrow funds from the public with the
maturity of one year or less.

The Bank of Zambia issues Treasury bills at a discount from their

actual value. The government can offer a Treasury bill with an
actual value of K320,000 for K275,000.

94
The different between the actual value and the discounted offer
is the yield and calculated as a percentage. In our case, it would
be (45,000/320,000) times 100 = 14%.

The beauty about treasury bills is that they are low-risk

investments because the government backs them.

However, I will still mention that there is no investment without

a risk. You therefore need to seek an investment adviser to find
investment opportunities that fit your financial needs.

Mutual Funds - Mutual funds give you an opportunity to invest

smaller amounts of money and put together in a pool of other
investors.

The fund manager manages the pool fund comprising other

investors. They invest the funds in investments like bonds or
shares, which you couldn’t invest alone.

The beauty of investing in a mutual fund is that it allows you to

invest smaller amounts in better and high return investments
which you cannot invest in on your own.

The other benefit is that they balance most mutual funds’

investments, meaning that you minimize the risk by investing
across many diversified types of investments.

However, like I mentioned, every investment has a risk. There is

no guarantee of return on your investment - you could lose
money on your investment.

95
Fixed Bonds - Fixed Bonds are a way of lending your funds to
companies and governments. Company ABC might look for
K90,000 and may offer anyone who can lend to them a coupon
rate of 10% and par value of K100,000.

This means you can buy a bond (financial instrument or paper)

which is worth K100,000 for K90,000 and get coupon payments
of 10% annually.

The return on investment for 5 years will therefore be (100,000 -

90,000) 10,000 + (0.1 times 100,000 times 5) 50,000 = K60,000.

These are just examples to make you understand in the simplest

way possible of how bonds work.

If you are interested in investing in bonds, I will advise you to see

an Investment Adviser to make an informed decision.

Bonds are riskier than fixed deposits because there is a possibility

that you can lose both the interest and the principal if the
company or country became junk.

Shares - In simple terms, a share is an indivisible unit of capital

which gives you the shareholder relationship with the company
where you bought the shares.

Let me give you an example. I have a company called Kawiwi

International Limited. I can start selling the shares of this
company (if it’s public) at a price of K5.5 per share.

96
If you want to buy 10,000 shares, you will invest K55,000 to
become a shareholder. This means that if the company has
100,000 shares, you will have a 10% shareholding in the company.

Now, you cannot just go to a company as ask them to buy shares.

There are people whose job is to sell the shares on behalf of the
company.

We know these middlemen as stock brokers. The stockbrokers

cannot buy or sell the shares without a regulated market.
Therefore, the shares get sold via the stock exchange market.

I am sure you know about the Lusaka Stock Exchange, London

Stock Exchange, and the New York Stock Exchange. They are very
popular financial markets.

The advantages of investing in shares are that you can easily

multiply your investment. It happens like that if the company
where you bought the shares performs greatly.

Like I mentioned before, there are people who made billions of

dollars for investing in Facebook in its initial stage when the share
price was low.

However, I am sure you also heard of Lehman Brothers, a top

gigantic US bank which filed for bankruptcy in 2008.

The problem with investing in shares is that when the company

collapses, a shareholder is the last one to get paid. They must
settle all debts before you can get paid as a shareholder.

97
Therefore, shares are a perilous investment. The rewards could
be very high, but you can also end up with nothing.

It is advisable to seek qualified investment advisers before you

take the step of investing in these risk products.

Property - In Zambia, almost everyone understands how to

invest in property. Whenever I interact with my friends and
family, building a house is a common topic.

Property is a great investment as you can easily get income

through rentals or when you decide to dispose the property.

The other benefit you get with property is that you can access a
loan from the banks against your property.

If there is another beauty, I can point out about property, is that

it is a solid investment with proof it appreciates in value with time.

However, property is also a very high-risk investment. Many

people think property doesn’t have any risks attached to it, but
the risks of investing in property are very high.

You need a lot of money to invest in property, but it takes long to

recoup your investment.

In case of earthquakes, tremors, wars, fire or tsunami, you can

lose the whole investment. However, even in such situations,
your money will remain intact if you invested in bonds, treasury
bills or mutual funds.

98
There is a risk of not finding a tenant to rent your house. This
means you will lose out on income for all the months the house
will remain unoccupied.

If you disposed of the property when you want money or move

to another country, it is not as easy as breaking a bond or fixed
deposit.

Investing in property should depend on your needs, and you

need to make sure that your investments are in line with your
financial needs.

Assurance policies - We understand that our plans are not God’s

plans, and death can catch up with us before we achieve our
plans.

Imagine having plans to take your child to the best school but die
before the child completes high school. This can affect the plans
you made regarding the education of your child.

Therefore, Life Assurance companies have come up with

assurance products to help you achieve your dreams even after
death.

The products can range from life, education, funeral, hospital and
permanent disability cover. These products seem useless when
you are okay but can turn your life or your dear loved one’s lives.

My ask is for you to consider these products only if they match

with your investment needs.

99
Cryptocurrency - This is not a buzzword. Bitcoin, Ethereum,
Ripple, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash are some of the most popular
crypto currencies on the market.

Anyway, what is a cryptocurrency?

Investopedia defines cryptocurrency as a digital or virtual

currency, secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly
impossible to counterfeit or double-spend.

It further says that many crypto currencies are decentralized

networks based on blockchain technology-a distributed ledger
enforced by a disparate network of computers.

One thing to note is that there is no central or reserve bank

issuing them, rendering them theoretically immune to
government interference and manipulation.

There has been a lot of debate regarding this new digital currency,
and the world still debates on the future of digital currency.

Some people made millions with digital currencies, and others

got robbed of their hard-earned cash because of a high number
of scams around crypto currencies.

I included cryptocurrency in this book because I suppose you are

a risk taker. Reading this book proves it. And as someone who
wants high returns, it is possible that cryptocurrency could be the
next thing.

100
Everyone knows that the people who discover something first
wins. If you are the first guy to mine diamonds, there are chances
that the mine might bury you underground, or you might come
up with something which will make you a millionaire.

I implore you to read more about cryptocurrency before you

invest in it. It is a very high-risk investment.

The last point I want to make is that some investments require

huge sums or money and others require just a little money to
start.

If one investment requires more money and you have little to

start with, it is prudent to choose an investment which suits your
cash even though the returns are lower.

You should also understand that we mean some products are for
long term investing, while others are good for the short term.

Therefore, if you are thinking in terms of 24 months and more

fixed deposits are not very good for you. You can try bonds,
mutual funds, shares, or property.

If you are thinking short term, fixed deposits work better. They
also allow you to get an interest in intervals such as a monthly,
quarterly and half-yearly.

Fixed Bonds also gives you a coupon rate every six months and if
you want to get something out of your investment in every six
months, bonds could be the best option for you.

101
If you are thinking to grow your investment, mutual funds and
shares works best. Fixed bonds can also give you a capital
appreciation, but the other two investments work better.

In conclusion, my opinion on investments is not expert advice.

You are therefore asked to see your investment adviser before
you can choose the investment that suits your needs.

Use debt to your advantage

As I write this book, I owe my bank close to thirty thousand

dollars. Some friends and colleagues have laughed at me for
getting into debt like this.

The question remains. Is debt a good or bad thing? The bible says
that the rich rules over the poor and the borrower is the slave of
the lender.

Debt has ruined many people’s lives. Businesses have collapsed,

and families destroyed because of debt. If you don’t know how
to use money, stay away from debt.

Many people borrow for cars, furniture, vacations, weddings,

latest gadgets, clothes, groceries, junk food, night club balling,
gambling, lucky charms and spiritual father donations.

If you are one people who borrow money for such things, debt is
a bad thing for you. It will make you poorer and hopeless. You
should stay away from debt.

102
However, if you are somebody who has great plans and you are
tight on cash, you need debt. There are so many people who did
very well with bank loans and venture capitalist funding.

Since capital is a limiting factor to run a side hustle, many

employees who aspire to become entrepreneurs can use debt to
their advantage. I have done it so many times.

The failure rate of start-up businesses due to cash flow problems

are very high. And most start-ups are usually tight on cash. Debt
therefore gives you an extra hand, which you may desperately
need.

Likewise, sometimes a business will struggle with launching a

new product or launching into a new market because of finances.
Why not get a loan if you qualify for one?

I therefore advocate acquisition of debt if we will use it for

business and investment. Debt can help you jump and take long
strides, which would take years if you depended on saving.

However, don’t use debt for dopey expenses. You will regret.

Use money to get what you want

The problem with people is that they do not know how to use
money. When people see money, they associate it with what
they see in movies or music videos.

103
Money can help to make your world better. Money can make you
happy because you will do many things that you cannot do if you
did not have money.

Most people know that money answers all things, but they
assume that “all things” means evil things.

When the bible said “all things” it meant “all things”. It’s not just
about bad things or good things. Money answers all things.

If you are a good person, you will use money to channel good
deeds. On the flip side, terrorists will also use the same money to
champion evil and hate.

We therefore agree that the problem is not money. The problem

here is human kind. Good people will use money in a good way,
and bad people will do the opposite.

It is for this reason that I think good people should get more
money. The world will be a better place if all the good people get
rich.

Another problem is that good people give up and leave bad

people to accumulate all the wealth. If you consider yourself a
good person and poor, then you know the injustice you are doing
to the world.

I am of the view that you can use money better than the drug
dealers, terrorists, human traffickers, sex offenders, racists,
propagandists, misogynists, and other evil people.

104
Let me show you ten things that good people can do with money.
I do not exhaust this list. I can write another book talking about
the good things you can do with money.

Here are the 10 good things you can do with money.

1. Change the world

There is no good cause in this world that succeeded without

money. Mother Teresa used money to help the poor, and we
have achieved AIDS and Ebola fight with money.

There are so many things in the world that you think needs
change. There are so many tragedies and problems.

There are people in Somalia without water and people in Yemen

in need of medication and food. Haiti has had cholera for issues
of hygiene.

Ebola has affected the Democratic Republic of Congo. Conflict

and wars have displaced women and children around the world.

Global warming is affecting every one of us, and a little money to

plant more trees can make a difference.

People in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan get affected by

unpredictable weather patterns. Afghanistan has got ravaged by
wars and Amazon forest fires need money.

And one thing you will notice is that poor countries have more
problems to solve than countries with money.

105
This means that if you had some money, you would probably pick
one problem. You might not change the entire world, but your
contribution would be very significant.

2. Promote your religion

I know so many people who very affectionate with their beliefs

and religion yet contribute nothing to the growth of the beloved
religion.

If you believe in Islam, you will need to give alms and build more
mosques. Christianity also requires tithes and offering to put
money in God coffers.

Hinduism needs more to build more temples and promote Hindu

values. If you do not promote your religions, atheists will pump
in more money in politicians’ pockets to destroy your religions.

3. Fight against evil laws

There are so many laws in this world that are evil. They
dehumanize people and an insult to humanity.

We also know countries and communities that have laws favoring

certain grouping over others. Some communities even have laws
which promotes hate against other people.

These injustices can stop if one good man stood up and started
to champion for change in those barbaric laws.

106
However, every campaign without money will die a natural death.
You need banners, social media advertising, TV, Radio, and
paying for transport to move activists from one place to another.

Without money, you will not achieve much, especially if you are
fighting rich, corrupt, and evil government officials. You need
money.

4. Help vulnerable and poor people

In 2003, I could not apply to the University of Zambia because my

parents could not even afford to purchase an application form.

Instead of going to the University in 2005, I was at Lusaka City

Market selling second-hand clothes.

The problem is that my predicament is not unique. There are

several children who cannot go to college because of money.
These issues are real.

It is disheartening. I wish I could do something about it, but my

resources are very limited. No wonder I want to become rich and
address some of these challenges.

We see orphans and women being divorced and sent away by

irresponsible husbands. They try to do some businesses here and
there, but nothing works.

We have people who are different-able. Did you know that they
abandon many people for being different-able? Have you
thought about it?

107
And the reason people abandon those considered different-able
is because they think offering care to them is like a financial
burden.

But this is where you and I come in. The real hustlers who will
find a way where there is no way. We must open ways for other
people.

Therefore, the first thing we need do is to make money. After you

make that money, you can easily share with the people who need
our help.

I cannot explain further my brother and sister. What I can just

urge you, is to get the money and come back to help our
vulnerable communities.

You need not be a politician to help people in need. There is a

difference you can make in your community even without a
position of influence.

5. Champion good health

The day I lost my son at the University Teaching Children’s

Hospital made me realize how easy it is to lose a life due to a lack
of facilities at hospitals.

When I went to the hospital, there was only one medical doctor
with support of students despite having many emergency cases.

108
They even left my baby unattended for three hours before they
realized that he needed to be in an incubator and life support
services.

I spend six hours at the hospital and in those hours, I witnessed

babies dying like it is normal. The doctor was spending more time
consoling parents instead of serving lives.

I may sound bitter because I lost my child, but anyone who has
been at the University Teaching Hospital would attest that some
patients die lacking care.

This moved me so much that I want to make more money to build

my hospital where doctors will be available to attend to patients.
Medical practitioners who don’t care about patients won’t get a
job.

We will fire medical personnel who think patients go to hospitals

to die. Nurses with bad attitudes will not even get a job. And
cleanliness will be part of the environment.

I got issues with many hospitals and it may be an issue of being

hurt. However, other people who have experienced these issues
at many hospitals in the country.

If I won’t make money and follow through with contributing in

this area, which has touched me, things might not change. It
takes one person to change something.

109
Therefore, I need to make money. I need to sell more books, and
Kawiwi International needs to become a success. Then my dream
of building a life-saving hospital will come to pass.

6. Improve the education sector

Education is a human right, yet very few people access it. And the
problem with our education system is that it is so backward.

And every time I criticize the education sector, Professors,

teachers, economists, lawyers, bankers, economists and
engineers come in full force to attack me.

You cannot create an education system that only favors

“academically intelligent kids”. Almost every parent wants their
kid to come out top of their class.

For what?

What if the child is not good at the whole schooling setup? What
if your child prefers to spend his time doing music or playing
soccer?

What about a kid who fantasizes about becoming the next movie
star or make-up artist? What does your education offer such kids?

Nothing! Zero.

And I get offended when I see private schools being as academic

as government schools, when parents pay them to do more.

110
A great school should be a place where even a “dumb person”
academically should be able to find his or her God-given gift and
contribute positively to society.

If your assessment of a great school is by how it produces Doctors,

Professors, Bankers, Engineers, Lawyers, etc, then what happens
to a child who doesn’t like any of those careers?

I postulate that schools should invest more in identifying talents

and gifts for children so that those who are not smart with maths
can be smart at something else.

And I know that investing in swimming pools, basketball courts,

drama halls, netball courts, football stadiums, music instruments,
computers, wood workshops, pool tables, and such things is
expensive.

But if that is what we need to create more employment

opportunities for our kids, even those who didn’t pass English
and Maths.

We cannot continue accepting a society where people who don’t

have papers will fail. We cannot have schools that prides
themselves in producing academically successful students.

What about the other kids?

There are so many areas in a life of a human being that schools

can develop and nurture. But like I said, all that needs money.

111
7. Promote entrepreneurship

In my way, I have been promoting entrepreneurship and

encouraging people with small businesses to walk tall.

I wish I could do more. There are other entrepreneurs whose

struggle is a lack of access to entrepreneurship lessons and
capital.

Some people also lack skills which can help them start out as
skilled contractors. I also think about coming up with a trade
school where people would gain skills which can help them
provide a service and earn a living.

In Zambia, we have an entrepreneur by the name of Dumisani L.

Ncube who is doing a great job of coming up with an institute
that is teaching entrepreneurship.

It is very encouraging to see folks realizing that we can look

beyond employment for earning a living. There are millions of
ways to make money.

And if you observe what Mr. Ncube is doing, there was a great
deal of money invested to come up with that institute. If
entrepreneurship is your thing, it requires your support.

You can sponsor entrepreneurship initiatives and activities. You

can even partner with upcoming entrepreneurs and help them
where they lack.

All these activities need money. Good causes require money too.

112
8. Sit at the high table

I am sure you know those people who sit on so many boards, yet
they don’t even attend the meetings. And you know they cannot
leave office because they contribute more financially.

It happens in political parties, churches, NGOs, societies,

university boards, traditional councils, marriage and funeral
committees and many other gatherings.

The secret is very simple. Money has a way of giving you the front
seat. When you rich, people will offer you a softer chair without
even asking for it.

No matter what people say, it happens everywhere. Even in our

homes, we have visitors who get dusted chairs before they sit,
and those people we dust and put cushions for.

It is not something we like to hear, but that is how the real world
works. Rich people get the same treatment given to kings and
queens.

And if getting to the top is one of your goals, you can use the
wealthy route to the top. There are so many politicians who used
this route to lead organizations and nations.

9. Make more money

The other good thing about money is that it helps you to make
more money. It becomes easier to make more money when you
have money.

113
A lot of opportunities will come your way because of having
money. Do you still remember my story of a cow at a cheap
price?

Those kinds of opportunities will always come your way if you are
rich. There are people who make billions of dollars by investing
their money in new businesses.

Property, bonds, treasury bill, fixed deposits, mutual funds, and

shares are vehicles you can use to make more money through
investments.

You will be impressed with a pool of investments where you get

monthly returns for doing nothing. That is what money does. It
helps you make more money. Money will help you hustle without
sweating.

However, money-making opportunities are not available to

people with wallet bank balances. Even low investments like
fixed deposits require a minimum amount to start with.

There are businesses who will come to you offering 50% share-
holding for a certain amount of investment.

This made Peter Thiel make billions of dollars for investing

$500,000 in Facebook, before it became the networking giant we
know today.

He didn’t need to know everything about programming and how

social media works, but he ended up raking billions from his
$500,000 initial investment.

114
That’s how money makes you more money. If you think about it
carefully, it’s the move you need to learn when you are old and
unable to do the daily management of a business.

10. Make yourself happy

Who said that money won’t make you happy? He or she must be
crazy.

The person who told you that money won’t make you happy is
poor or too rich to understand how money works. I know. You
know it, too.

And I will give you an example of how money makes me happy.

You will probably relate. I would not write this book and include
a topic on money without understanding how it works.

Married people with kids like me will agree that seeing your
spouse and kids happy is one thing that makes you happy.

True? I think you said yes.

Okay. Great.

I will also promise not to give you materialistic examples. I want

to share something that will change how you view money.

So, if you care about your children’s happiness, you also agree
with me that if they have no food to eat, you will not be happy.

115
Another one. If you dear child was very sick and for a lack of funds
you cannot take them to Israel or India for special treatment, can
you be happy? I don’t think so.

Another one. Imagine being a father of a child who has gotten

very good results and you cannot take that child to a university
because of a lack of money. Are you going to be happy?

Another one. Have you seen old people who beg in the streets?
Imagine that was your father or mother. Oh, I know. You say that
you cannot let your mother suffer like that.

But what if you died earlier and left nothing for your parents,
would you be happy to see your parents begging on the streets?

I don’t think so.

You will be sad. The essence of living would vanish if your dear
loved ones are suffering and cannot get help because of lack of
money.

You probably been in situations where there is a costly operation

on a patient and the only person you can ask from is your rich
relative.

As you celebrate the recovery of your dear one, do you

understand the amount of joy that comes in the guy’s heart who
gave you money? He or she will rejoice to see that his money
brought happiness in other people’s lives.

116
I also remember one boy who came to me to ask for school fees
in 2011. I can’t explain the happiness in my heart after he
completed his grade twelve.

I can go on and on to share stories about the joyful moments

which comes because of money.

Last, let me tell you what happens when there is no money.

People go to bed without food. Children die in hospital because

of lack of medication. Women die with breast cancer for a lack of
treatment. Marriages break for financial reasons. Smart kids
cannot go to university.

Do these situations seem like where people can live happily? No.
You must be crazy to think that living in poverty has some form
of happiness.

I lived my childhood and youth of my life in poverty. There is no

happiness there. All you do is “hope” for a better tomorrow.

But when you have money, problems become challenges. Even

when you lose a loved one, you cry for losing a loved one, but you
don’t get worried about how you will survive.

If money has failed to make you happy, please come to me and

you will instantly learn how to be happy with money.

Money answers all things!

117
 Chapter Seven

DO WHATEVER IT
TAKES TO SUCCEED

When you are a child, parents and teachers will tell you need to
get good grades in school to become successful.

Many parents, including me, want their children to be number

one in class. We perceive it that a child who does well in class will
eventually do well in life.

This belief is true for some and false for many. I was one of the
brilliant kids in school and yet not one of the most successful kids
in life.

I recently met a guy who was not academically smart in class but
living a very successful life. I also know MBA and PHD holders
who live like paupers.

In some communities, people assume that being religious will get

you the favour from the Lord. I meet people who spend most
time praying for a miracle in their lives, getting no results.

118
Some people end up being conned by fake prophets in their
quest to become successful through religion. Religion has not
helped them.

There are people who also trust juju and witchcraft, to become
successful. I don’t know how it works for them because I think it
is one of the most stupid ideas.

The witch doctors or prophets who promise to make people

successful live very poor and miserable lives. If he or she has not
figured out the way, how can he make a way for you?

There was a time when I studied attributes and strategies that

can help anyone become successful. So, I studied people who had
a massive impact on the world.

Among the people I studied included Jesus Christ, Prophet

Muhammad, Shaka The Zulu, Martin Luther King, Mahatma
Gandhi, and Adolf Hitler.

If you study these people, they changed the world in their own
way. They brought a different message, and they led the world
to new thinking.

Jesus Christ introduced a new way of looking at the relationship

between humankind and Jehovah God. He taught new things
which ended up taking away his life.

Prophet Muhammad founded Islam with very few followers in

the city of Mecca. As at today, Islam is one of the fastest growing
religions with highly committed followers.

119
Shaka The Zulu was an outcast and illegitimate child of Chief
Senzangakhona. However, through the help of Dingiswayo, he
claimed the chiefdom of his father and viciously ruled the Zulu
Kingdom.

Martin Luther King was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement for
the injustice done to the black human race in the United States
of America at the time at the time when it was dangerous to do
so.

Mahatma Gandhi championed the independence of India

through peaceful protests at the time when everyone held as
true that violence was the only way to stop British Rule.

We consider Adolf Hitler one of the world’s worst dictators. He

was a propagandist and populist who started the World War II by
attacking Poland in 1939. He hated Jews and ordered their
massacre.

I know that many people hold different views for the definition
of success. Success is the ability to move yourself from where you
are, to where you want to be.

Starting with Jesus Christ and ending with Adolf Hitler, they all
had missions that they accomplished. Some people will not
consider Hitler to be a success, while some admired him.

Therefore, even as I teach how you can do whatever it takes to

become successful, we need to agree that success means
different things for different people.

120
I got a friend who only wants to make it to heaven as a measure
of her success. And my daughter only wishes to make a lot of
money and live like a superstar.

Our goals and ambitions are different. We got no rights to tell

people what success is and what is a failure. What you consider
being success could be failure for some people.

Misfits is what some people call them. These had no respect for
the status quo but shook the entire world.

These people envisioned their future and created a way to it.

They broke the rules that existed and created new ones. These
were hated by other people, but they still pushed their cause.

Guess what? They did whatever it took to succeed.

Since they championed different causes, the approach was also

different. Gandhi championed a cause of peace, but not Hitler.

However, collectively, they had attributes which made them

stand out. We can combine their unique concepts and use the
ones we like for the things that matter to each one of us.

Have unwavering faith

“If you had the faith of a mustard seed, you would tell this
mountain to move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing
will be impossible for you.”

121
These words are from the Bible, quoted from the book of
Mathew 17:20. It is Jesus Christ who was saying this to his
disciples.

In Hebrews 11:1, the Bibles teaches that faith is being sure of

what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

When I examined the Merriam-Webster dictionary, I found that

‘unwavering’ means continuing in a strong and steady way.

In 2005, I told myself that when I moved from Chipata to Lusaka,

my life would change. I didn’t know the HOW, but I just knew that
my life would change.

Guess what?

My life changed from extreme poverty to middle-class income. I

could no longer desire to get a piece of bread because I can buy
the bakery if I want.

However, it was unrealistic to even think my life would turn out

the way it did. Some people used to laugh at me for telling them
about my dreams.

It was impossible back then, but it is happening right now. And it

is all because I had faith without a doubt that what I envisioned
for my life will come to pass.

Some people might think when you have unwavering faith, then
you will not pass through problems. You will still face challenges.
So many problems will come your way but remain faithful.

122
Others might think it will be easy. No way! Life will never be easy.
There are so many rotten apples in the world and it is up to you
to make a good bite on the side which is fresh.

There are also people who think other people will support them.
No! It does not work out like that. Your mission in life is not their
mission.

My point here is that even when you go through hell and fire,
your faith should be unwavering. You should never doubt
yourself, your mission, and your God.

In due time, you will become what you always wanted to be. It
will come to pass if you remain faithful to your dreams and
abilities.

Think about a guy who starts off from Bamako in Mali for a
journey to the United States via the sea from the west coast to
Brazil.

He then reaches Sao Paulo, where he risks being arrested by

Brazilian authorities for not having residence papers.

After reaching Brazil, he then starts off for the USA. There is a
language barrier and issues of drug dealers trying to use innocent
immigrants to carry drugs.

Upon arriving in Mexico City, he finds that America has pushed

Mexico to crack down immigrants and send them to their
countries.

123
However, despite the risk of death on the ocean, imprisonment
in Brazil, and drug loads taking advantage by using him to traffic
drugs, he arrives safely in the USA.

There is a possibility that he may cannot get a job in the United

States or get arrested by the authorities there. Anything is very
possible.

However, there is also a possibility of living a good life in the USA.

It is possible that he may do what Abraham did when he left his
comfortable father’s house to pursue the dream God shown him.

It is never easy. You might lose everything. You may end up in

prison or see the face of death, but that is “unwavering faith.”

Become a go-getter

If there is one thing I instilled in my two beautiful daughters, it is

the belief that they can get whatever they want in life.

When I was growing up, they advised me more about how

impossible it is to get the life you want. Our parents would even
tell you to wait until you grow up to understand how difficult life
can be.

I would tremble hearing dreaded stories of how our parents

struggling at work and business. Most of the time, their stories
would end with “life is not as easy as you think”.

124
However, I realized after growing up that most of our limitations
are in our minds. The moment you tell yourself about how
difficult life is, it has become difficult for you.

The people who think mathematics is hard, mathematics is hard

for them. The people who think money is scarce, money becomes
hard to find for them.

It is about beliefs. Whatever you tell your mind to believe, your

mind will get the results according to your thoughts and beliefs.
It is as simple as that.

There is a three step to getting whatever you want in life. The

process involves asking, asking for more than what you want to
get what you want and the persistent in asking until you get what
you want.

1. You must ask for what you want

Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given unto you. This might sound
simple and vague, but it works wonders.

You cannot assume that people know what you want. You cannot
also hope for things to come your way without asking for them.

You must ask. I am not talking about begging here. I mean asking.
Ask for a job and business opportunities, friendship, hand in
marriage, and even for money if you are so stuck.

Just ask. Don’t assume that people know your problems. Ask.

125
2. Ask for more than what you want to get what you want

The world has a habit of giving less than what you deserve. You
may look for a $1,000 and people will offer a $200.

Sometimes you want full-time employment and people will offer

you temporal work. It is disheartening, isn’t it?

But you can flip the coin. If you are want a $1,000, you might also
ask for a $5,000 so that even when people giving you less, you
might end up getting the $1,000 you wanted.

This will protect you from disappointments and heartaches. You

should therefore ask for more than what you want to get what
you want.

Ask for friendship to get married. Ask for a Mercedes-Benz to get

a Toyota. Ask for a Paris holiday to get a trip to Mauritius.

The person who is giving you will feel like it is a bargain, but you
and I know that the so-called bargain is what you wanted.

3. Don’t stop asking until you get what you want

Many successful people say that persistence helped them to

succeed. It is because people give up too early.

Think about the embarrassment that comes your way every time
someone says no to you. It is unbearable.

126
However, if you can pick yourself up again and ask for another
chance, the person might reconsider.

There are many people who don’t like to give or share for the
very first time you meet them. Most people prefer building
rapport before they can do business with you.

We could build the rapport on all times we give offers without

losing enthusiasm. When someone gives you a no, a maybe, or a
come tomorrow, you are still building rapport.

Still, the most important lesson here is persistence. With

determination and persistence, you will get whatever you want
in life.

Harness public speaking skills

Have you gone to a meeting with brilliant ideas and couldn’t say
a word for fear of public speaking? Have you also met someone
who do little but stand in front and tell you how to do things?

Well, that’s what happens when you remain intelligent in gossip

circles. People who champion a cause speak from the podium.
They don’t speak in dark corners about how great they are.

Most effective leaders are great communicators. If you knew our

former late president, Dr. Fredrick Joe Titus Chiluba, then you
know what I am talking about.

127
You should meet a West African. He or she will praise you when
you do well. If he or she does not agree with you, be ready to get
challenged.

West Africans don’t hold punches. They are very aggressive in

speech and communication. You might tell yourself that you are
a quiet guy who doesn’t enjoy talking, but that’s not what I mean.

I am not asking you to talk for the sake of talking. I want you to
become a public speaker. There are people who talk little yet
effective public speakers. They know how to deliver their story
and captive people’s hearts.

Public speaking can make you look more intelligent than the
average person in the room who has said nothing.

Public speaking can help you fight injustice and champion a cause.
However, if you remain quiet, no one will know what you want.
People will proceed with a decision even when you have a better
idea.

Why?

Because the only place you can share your ideas is in dark corners
with your fellow gossipers. You should challenge yourself today
to harness public speaking skills.

128
Develop a bit of selfishness

Most kids in Africa possess a sense of responsibility towards their

families to a point where it impedes their progress. It is a sad
story for certain young men and women.

We live in communities where people have created a culture of

entitlement. Children must give back to their parents, siblings,
and relatives. And we entitle some children too.

Uncles, aunties, nephews, nieces, grandparents, cousins and

other relatives will all look up to one person in the family who
seems to be able to help everyone. It is difficult to be an African.

If you cannot do that, some people will go to an extent of hating

you. They will discuss how ungrateful you are. Sometimes, if you
are a man, your family may accuse your wife of influencing you
to neglect the family.

My grandfather used to warn me about this kind of mentality. He

used to say that we should never create a culture of dependence.
Everyone should learn to stand on his or her two feet.

Think about it. The average net salary for most jobs in the country
is around K2,500 for entry jobs and K6,000 for managerial
positions.

We understand that jobs are scarce and very few graduates are
getting good salaries. Since we find most jobs in town, it means
every worker will rent and commute to work.

129
The rentals for most single bedroom houses in Lusaka are around
K1,500 to K2,500. If you are getting on a bus, it will cost between
K600 to K1,200 to and from your workplace.

The cheapest food will cost around ZMW20 per day and K600 per
month. And since the employer requires that you dress well at
work, clothes and grooming will add another cost to this mix.

If someone gets a K2,500, they will finish the money on rentals,

transport, and food. The employee will even spend K100 more
than his income. He will probably be in debt just for consumption.

Parents expect that child to be educating his or her young sisters

and brothers. They will also expect something every month. The
other relatives will also ask for airtime and K100s.

At work, some work mates will ask for wedding contributions.

The church-mates will also include him or her in their Kitchen
Party committees. A child will instantly move from hand to
mouth to hand to debtors.

If you are a reasonable parent, would you like your child to be in

this position? Is your child who gets a K2,500 capable of taking
care of him/herself and your entire family?

Can the child take him/herself to school for further studies if

he/she is in this position? Is he/she even capable of building
wealth for him/herself and your family?

I doubt it.

130
There are some things we do in our communities which
perpetuates poverty. In some families, you can even see poverty
moving from one generation to another. It’s terrible.

But you must stop it. Mulembwe wa chipuba, upwila muli

tumfwe. This is a Bemba saying means that people asking to taste
will finish a fools pot of relish.

It’s a good thing to be generous. God will reward you generously.

However, only give because you can do so and not because you
are obligated.

There is nothing wrong with refusing to give someone when you

are not able to give. Some people might put you on a guilty trip,
but it should never move you.

Lazy, selfish, and ungrateful people can make you feel like a bad
person for not giving them, but don’t mind. The people who will
accuse you of not giving have given nobody.

You cannot help everyone in the world. And you can only help if
you are capable. You must help yourself first before you can
extend a hand to another person.

Otherwise, you will end up as one blind man leading another. And
the poverty of your grandparents will end up visiting your
grandchildren. You must be wise.

131
Get comfortable making quick decisions

I recently had a conversation with a friend about Donald Trump’s

decision-making techniques. This was after Trump ordered a
missile attack on Iran and changed his mind seconds before the
strike.

My friend said that Trump likes to make quick decisions without

analysing the data presented to him. He said that it causes him
to make too many mistakes and change of mind.

He is not the only one who made that observation. CNN and their
political commentators thought the same way. They could be
right about Trump, but they are wrong about decision making.

A quick decision does not always mean that it will always be a

bad one. You can make a quick decision that can be the best
decision of your life. I made a couple which turned out great.

The problem we are having in this world is the inability to decide.

There is too much information in the world that most people
spend too much time analysing and less time executing. You
should not be proud of delaying decisions.

A real hustler is never afraid of making quick decisions. You

should also accept that some of your decisions will make you feel
embarrassed and others will make you feel proud. This happens
whether you decide quickly, or not.

132
There is no assurance that your decisions will always turn out to
be great. The moment you trust that you should always make the
right decisions, indecision will creep in.

Delay in decision making has a time factor effect in this digital age.
As you are contemplating on deciding, your competitor might
just execute on the same idea and win.

Many people and businesses lose out on opportunities for failing

to make instantaneous decisions. The hierarchy for approving
decisions in certain companies makes them ineffective at
execution.

You must allow yourself and others to decide if you want results
in your life. You should never get mixed up when deciding.

It’s important to trust your yourself and follow your guts.

Sometimes you will make bad decisions, but you must get
comfortable deciding on your feet.

Challenge the status quo

Most people are comfortable with the status quo. The trouble is
that people comfortable with mediocrity teach others to settle
for less. People who are in employment with a good salary are
culprits.

The time I was in the village, thinking you will leave the village
and live in town was like an insult for people who had settled to
live in the village.

133
People in employment with a good salary perceive employees
who pursue side hustles to be ungrateful and chasing winds.

The spirit of settling for less is common among many African

countries except the West Africans. Before anyone thought
about how to enjoy the Internet, some Nigerians were using it to
make quick bucks.

While some Africans are thinking about how they will try to make
some money in their own countries, West Africans migrate to
another country to make some money.

At the time when many Africans were debating about online

education and certifications, many West Africans had already
enrolled and got certified with many degrees.

The point I am to put across here is that you cannot seek new
opportunities if you are comfortable with where you. You can
only look somewhere if you feel there is more out there.

This does not mean that you are not grateful for what you
achieved. I think we must be grateful for what God has given us
without closing our eyes.

The world is full opportunities for people who don’t accept the
status quo. If you continuously seek, you will always find.

However, if you are comfortable where you are, opportunities

will pass you by. You will even reject opportunities because of
being blinded by the status quo.

134
Never Take No For an Answer

In World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), there is a guy called

Kofi Kingston, with real names being Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-
Mensah.

Kofi is a WWE wrestler who hails from Kumasi, Ghana. His

parents moved to the USA where Kofi got educated and trained
to become a professional a wrestler.

Since the day he joined, Kofi used to fight as a mid-card. A

wrestler who is a mid-card is cannot feature for main events and
does not fight low wrestling matches.

A mid-card usually fights in the middle of the show as people wait

for the main event. Kofi fought for eleven years as a mid-card
without a main event opportunity or world title opportunity.

I know that WWE is a staged performance, but we can learn

something from his journey. When the time came for him to get
a chance for a world championship opportunity, all the odds
were against him.

They gave him five men to defeat in one match to qualify. After
winning that match that lasted an hour, they gave him another
match in an elimination chamber just to get an opportunity.

The title opportunity still eluded Kofi. He had to wait for another
opportunity. And to qualify for the next opportunity he had to
fight two other vicious guys known as the bar in a handicap match.

135
Despite all that, Kofi defeated the bar and fought at
WrestleMania and won the WWE Championship, which is a world
title.

What I want you to see in this story is the attitude of never

getting a No For an Answer. Even when the world says no a
couple times, you must continue knocking again and again until
someone says YES.

People will say no to your ideas, promotion, marriage, business

opportunity, migration, religion, beliefs or whatever you want to
achieve. However, never get frustrated and give up. Keep on
asking until you get a yes.

Jacob did it before naming him Israel. He wrestled with God until
He got the blessing he was asking for. You should never take No
For an Answer.

Use anything and anybody to get what you want

If you think you will succeed in life without the help of resources
such as people and other things, then you need to think again.

You cannot go very far without the support of people and

systems, which helps people to attain success. You need to know
how to use people and other resources available.

Whenever you see something which will put you at an advantage

of achieving something, use it. We are living in the world of
internet and social media right now.

136
While others were debating about the merits and demerits of
social media, people who are real hustlers used the same media
to get the attention and achieved what they wanted.

In South Africa, there is a controversial prophet called Prophet

Bushiri, also known as Major One. He is a well-known religious
man. There are people who think he is just a conman and others
who truly consider him a prophet.

With the recognition that he is a force in the “ministry,” other

upcoming pastors use him to attract people to their churches.

The upcoming pastors will put a billboard stating their names and
showing that Major One is their spiritual father.

Some pastors, especially those who are financially sound, will

even make a trip to South Africa and get as many photos as
possible to share with people who follow them that Major One
“anointed them”.

Funny stuff but works all the time.

Politicians use this tactic. They go to churches to donate things in

the name of working with the church. However, we know it is a
tactical manoeuvre to make people perceive them as religious. I
don’t like it, but it works for them.

Politicians will go to Chiefs, students, civil society groups, political

commentators, labour unions, media houses and any other
group of people who can give them a platform to win an election.

137
There are people who also know how to introduce themselves to
CEOs, Presidents, Chiefs, Reverends, Publicists, and anyone who
can help them build their image.

We also know people who understand how to use things like cars,
airplanes, phones, houses, radio stations, TV, sports events,
business meetings, and anything which can add value to what
they want to achieve.

We may call them as opportunists or selfish, but no one cares.

They are just hustlers who want the best for their lives.

If what it takes to succeed is befriending your boss, do it. If your

boss is a someone who associates being religious with good
performance, you need to seem religious to use his bias for your
benefit.

When you learn that social media is good for your business, use
it even though you don’t like how it affects productivity for some
people.

You must use whatever is at your disposal to succeed. This

includes people and anything valuable for your mission.

People who are successful use many things and people in their
pursuit of happiness. And you need to understand that you need
not disadvantage someone to use them.

You can use someone without putting them in a disadvantaged

position. You can use things without destroying them. However,
you cannot afford not to use them.

138
You need to realize that people and many other things could be
the keys to where you want to be. Take time to learn how to use
people and things for your advantage.

Do what seems impossible

They have designed the world in such a way that everything

seems impossible. If you ask people whether it’s possible for you
to accomplish a certain goal, most people will tell you it’s
impossible.

Most people have little faith in themselves and their abilities. I

cannot count the number of things I achieved over the years
which people initially told me it would not be possible.

I know that many people think when people say it will not be
possible, then it could be true. However, I view it with a different
set of eyes.

If everyone is backing out, then I get the biggest chance of

success. The more people doubt it, the better for me. Since I
know that people without a spine will back off.

This opens the door for me. I write my books at night when
everyone is sleeping. Most people will tell you it is not possible
to work during the day and write a book between 11pm and 1am.
It’s difficult.

However, that is also my opportunity. When you have the will to

do that which everyone says it’s impossible, you become your

139
own competition. There is no one to compete against except
yourself.

In the world of negativity, positiveness is an opportunity. When

everyone lacks faith, your faith will move mountains. If everyone
gives up, you will become the person who achieves it alone.

There was a time when I used to think convincing everyone to

believe that they could achieve something is the best way to live
my life.

Then I discovered that sometimes you must behave like everyone

else but think differently. Let people believe that you cannot find
water in the desert, so you can sell it to them.

Sometimes, you just must let people suffer with their lack of faith
and ignorance while taking advantage of their wrong beliefs.

I know that you think it is evil to think like that. But if you tried to
convince people adamant about their wrong beliefs, you might
as well pretend to believe what they believe and take advantage
of them.

Let me give you an example.

If you are smart enough, you realize that the only thing a
politician can do for a country is to create laws and policies which
helps you to become successful.

140
However, there are so many people who think good politicians
are those who promise to create miracles in people’s lives. They
want politicians who can promise to give them a paradise.

It is now common to see politicians giving false hope to poor

people by telling them they will do what every other politician
has failed to do. They understand that people love unrealistic
promises.

It sounds like politicians take advantage of poor people, but

that’s how the real world works. Some prophets perform magical
stunts just to make their congregation believe that they can do
the impossible.

Hate it or love it, it sets people apart. All will love the person who
is bold enough to do what the cowards regarded to be impossible.

Push everything to the highest limit

I have a cousin who was so terrible at cooking that every time we

complained, she would say “as long as you can eat”. She told us
to leave the food if we didn’t like the way she cooked it.

In her opinion, the food is delicious if we ate; It didn’t matter

whether the food got half-burnt. If we ate, the food was delicious
and delightful.

Many businesses and people behave the same way. If customers

can buy, then our product or service is okay. If my wife has not
complained, then whatever time I arrive at home is okay.

141
You must be a person who goes the extra mile in everything you
do. Whether it is your relationship or work, be the person who
delights people. Be the person who does more.

Good enough has never changed the world. You must

deliberately do exceptional things. Think about people who come
up with all these innovative ideas. They wanted more and gave it
to others.

Imagine if these great companies were just coming up with good

enough products or services. Would we have the technological
advancements we got right now?

We could have lacked real progress! But these companies

wouldn’t win the way they did.

Even you as a person, you must set yourself high standards for
life. Don’t be that kind of person who is comfortable giving the
world what is good enough.

It is great when give the world exceptional results. And the world
will reward you with exceptional rewards. It is important that
whatever you do, you just do it better than before.

If you can, watch closely at how exceptional people do things and

model them. Decide today that whatever you do will be
exceptional.

You must give the world a wow performance.

142
Create strong cult-like beliefs

Have you ever met an Adventist, a Muslim or Jehovah witness?

Did you ever try to talk to them to think outside what they believe
in?

Whenever I meet a person with strong beliefs, I tell myself to stay

away. There is nothing you can say to someone with strong
beliefs to change their way of looking at the world.

There is a lady I know who told me about how a certain married

man will marry her. Many people tried to convince her it was not
the right thing to do, but it didn’t work.

She married the man without the blessings of her family and
friends. A marriage got broken, and it disappointed many people
with her.

However, every time I spoke to her before she got married, I

could almost feel her convincing me it was the right thing to do
for her to marry the married man.

I don’t think she was deeply in love with the man. She deeply had
faith in her illicit affair and the man. She was like someone
bewitched and it used to hurt many of us.

There is also a time when I wonder what goes in the mind of

robbers. One thing is true - they truly believe that what they do
is right. It is worship.

143
Satanists, witches, liars, adulterers, thieves, murderers, and all
the people who do evil things have somehow convinced
themselves that what they do is okay.

They believe in what they do. They believe in their missions.

Some of these people pray that all these kinds to go their way.

Let’s put those evil things aside.

What about musicians, writers, actors, footballers, pastors,

artists etc.? Don’t you think they need faith to believe that people
will like their work?

Musicians want everyone to worship their music. Writers want

their readers to talk about their books and articles. Actors pray
that people fall in love with their drama.

Lionel Messi also envisions how he would score the next magical
goal which football commentators and pundits will talk about for
many years to come.

Every pastor will tell you they prepare their message to touch
someone’s life. They want every person who listens to their
message to give their life to Christ.

The mission therefore is to touch another person’s life. Whatever

you do should touch another person’s life. If you can do that,
whatever you want will come to you.

Remember the lady who deeply trusted that a married man

would marry her? All she did was touch the guy’s heart. That’s it.

144
Musicians, footballers, coaches, pastors, actors, lovers, wives,
husbands, children, friends, leaders, and anyone who goes after
our hearts is very resistible.

You cannot resist someone who has your heart in their hands.
The heart does not resist love, kindness, gentleness, genuine care,
friendliness, patience, meekness, hope and joy.

If you can captivate other people with your God-given human

qualities, you will be resistible. Men and women will follow you
like a cult because of your basic universal beliefs.

Remove all obstacles including people

On your journey people will accompany you to the promised land.

There are also some things which you will need to move as fast
as possible.

You will never go very far in life is you go alone. There are people
who be there to cheer you up in your down moments. Certain
people will be there to motivate you when you think about giving
up.

However, some people will slow you down. Others will even stop
you from achieving your goals. There are also certain things and
behaviours which can stop you from achieving your dreams.

There was a day my wife, and I went to do some errands in town.

After reaching town, we had to walk from one office to another
to get our business done.

145
My wife was bigger. I haven’t said fat for political correctness
sake. The last office we needed to visit was the passport office to
get our renewed passports.

We therefore needed to walk much faster. However, my wife

couldn’t just do it and we were only remaining with 3 minutes to
move from the car to the passport office.

I got torn between walking at the pace of my wife or the right

pace. If I walked without considering my wife, my wife would
think I don’t care.

If we don’t walk fast, it meant that we will not travel until the
next weekend. And that could also mean that it might ruin our
vacation plans.

When my wife realized that I was debating between walking fast

to reach on time and keeping her pace, she told me to rush to the
passport office and reserve her spot.

Wow! It relieved me.

My wife had just relieved me from my dilemma. Many times, we

get into such circumstances involving people or things we love.

Maybe you love soccer too much that you cannot set aside time
for your family. Maybe you love beer too much that you cannot
control your expenditure.

146
Sometimes our friends or loved ones are so clingy and insecure
that we cannot do anything fearing that they might fear bad and
complain.

All these situations can make you cannot progress in life. You
need to identify things or people that are not helping you to
become a better version of yourself.

This could also be your family. Mothers, fathers, siblings, and

children may stop their loved ones from doing anything in life.
Your mother could be too judgmental, without realizing.

Your father could be insecure and think he will suffer without you.
Your siblings might be jealous of you. The aunt and uncle you love
so much might wish you bad luck.

These things are real. I have been in a situation when I had to cut
a loved one from my life because of believing in different things.

If you are serious about life, you will end up doing the same.
Some of your friends and relatives will just need to leave your life.
Some will leave naturally, and others will need letting go.

There are also certain things you like to do which you will need
to let go. I love watching soccer and at some point; It became a
hindrance to my progress.

Sometimes, it could be a certain lifestyle. There are lifestyles

which don’t support certain ambitions. If you want to become a
successful pastor, you might need to close your night club.

147
Things like that take bold decisions. But if you are serious enough,
you will make such decisions.

You can make such a move today.

Turn tragic moments into magical experiences

In the Bible, there is a story of Job. He is a man blessed with a lot

of wealth and family. However, calamity fell upon his life and he
lost it all.

After going through all the tribulations, Job got more than what
he had before he lost everything.

And Job’s story became a magical experience.

There are people whose lives became better after being divorced.
Some people became better employees after being fired.

We also know people who became committed Christians after

coming face to face with death. Certain individuals became
wealthy after going through extreme poverty.

The trouble with many people is that hardships or tragic

moments break them, and they lose hope. I learnt that it is in our
lowest moments when we discover who we really are.

It is when everyone concludes that you will fail when your

opportunity comes. It is in those trying moments when you will
appreciate what you are capable of.

148
My advice to you is to change the story.

Whenever I tell people that I had days when I went to bed

without food, they think it is just a way to motivate them. It
sounds like an exaggeration.

People think I lie, when I tell them I completed grade twelve, with
a pair of slippers (Eagle Pat Pat) and two pairs of trousers. It
seems unbelievable.

When I tell people that I started working in the Bank as a Direct

Sales Representative, they think it’s just another way of being
humble.

However, what many people don’t understand is that I am not

the only one. There are so many people who changed their
stories out there.

There are single mothers out there who were almost going crazy
after being divorced but now they stand on solid ground.

I know so many orphans who ended up becoming the pillars of

their families. I know different-able people who use their
condition to inspire and help others.

All they did was to change their story. They somehow found the
hidden treasure in their tragic and created a magical experience
from their troubles.

149
It’s not an easy thing to do, but you too can do it. We all got
stories. However, the best you can do with your story is to change
it and make it pleasant.

I know that it is possible. Just do it!

150
 Chapter Eight

NEVER BACK DOWN

ON YOUR MISSION

Edwin Shulo Luzhawo Ngwane. These were the names of my

grandfather. At 87, he was not a beggar. He did not ask for
anything from anyone.

The motto of his life was very simple - don’t depend on another
man to live. He always taught us to depend on ourselves. He
preached self-reliance to everyone.

Without heaping too much praise on my grandfather, I need to

mention that he suffered from high blood pressure in the last
days of his life. The torch of his life had slowly started to dim.

He could see angels occasionally and he would ask the catholic

fathers to come and pray for him now and then. The man was
preparing for his last wishes.

In 2014, he finally passed away and left his beloved family behind.
At 87, begging from his children could have been his only option.

151
But not my grandfather. He left something behind. He did not just
leave children and grandchildren behind; he left a legacy. I will
always remember him as Edwin Shulo Ngwane.

Look beyond your age

Life has so many hurdles. The more hurdles you jump, the more
you see in front of you. You might even get tempted to just give
up.

There are people in employment who always dreamed about

getting the next promotion, and they reached 60 years without
getting one.

I remember when Grandfather used to tell me about his friends

who passed away much earlier after being separated from their
jobs.

My grandfather told me about his friend who was looking

forward to being appointed as Permanent Secretary (Senior
Government Official). However, what he received was an early
retirement letter in National Interest.

Tough. Tough. Tough.

What do you do in such situations? Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, our first

Zambian Republican President, once said that “Ambition does
not end. You must continue dreaming.”

152
He said this when he got defeated in an election by the second
Republican President Dr. F.T.J. Chiluba in 1991. This was after
ruling the country for 27 years!

He had a very good point. The man was only 68 eight years when
he lost power to the late former President Chiluba. He was still
young!

President Donald Trump became President of the United States

of America at 70. And the man challenging him for re-election,
Mr. Joe Biden, is 77 years old.

President Kaunda sounded like someone who couldn’t just take

the loss of the Presidential Seat, but I now understand what he
meant.

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria became an elected

president at 72. Colonel Harland Sanders was 72 when he sold his
company (KFC) for $2 million to a group of investors.

And the most important example I can give is about our African
hero - Nelson Mandela. He became president of South Africa at
77, after spending 27 years in prison.

A long walk to freedom.

These people could have given up. They could have listened to
people hurling insults about their age. It would have been
understandable if they quit because of old age body pains.

153
They could have said that it’s over because they could not cope
with the new technology. They could have given a lot of sensible
reasons to quit, but they just couldn’t.

Donald Trump didn’t quit.

Ronald Reagan didn’t quit.

President Buhari didn’t quit.

Col. Harland Sanders didn’t quit.

Nelson Mandela didn’t quit.

Why do you want to quit at a young age?

You can become an old person at 30, while a 69-year-old person

might still feel and look younger than you. The different between
you and the other fellow is the state of mind.

If you retire your mind at a young age for loss of employment or

gray hair, that is your choice bwana. People who are older than
you are still dreaming and achieving things.

Age is just a number. It should never stop you from dreaming and
living.

Focus on long-term vision

The biggest problem with many of us is short-sightedness. If

something does not work in a few years, we give up.

154
There are so many brilliant kids I knew who gave up in secondary
school. There are so many talented artists who never saw
stardom because they gave up too quickly.

We also know presidential material like Elias Chipimo Jr, who

gave up too quickly. And the reason we give up too quickly is the
lack of a long-term vision.

It took many years to build the empires we admire today. It takes

longer to build a great thing. There is no fast track to real success.
You need to stick to the long-term vision.

I usually recommend a 10 to a 30-year plan. Every time I mention

that you plan for over ten years, people get indifferent. They
want it quick.

You must play a full 90 minutes to win the game. You cannot win
at half-time. It doesn’t work that way. But to win after the full-
time whistle, you need to play 90 minutes.

One reason I did not become successful in trading clothing was

because I didn’t deploy the long-term game plan.

If I went into that business with a long-term vision and plan, I

would be owning a couple of clothing shops by now.

The best thing you can do for your life is creating a master plan
for yourself. Your master plan should be clear, big enough, but
flexible. The starting point, though, is having one in place.

155
You should be able to adjust quickly when things are not going
according to plan. The reason we give up is that some small things
in our missions might fail and you start thing everything has failed.

It is just like a Christian journey. No Christian worth salt would

say that they never stumbled. We all stumble along the way but
pick up the pieces toward paradise.

Whatever your goal is, I can predict that you will fail quite a lot
and things will not work according to plan. However, if you focus
on the main goal, the vision, you will eventually succeed.

Don’t move too fast. Walk.

A certain man who I loved for the teachings he used to give me

once told me it is better to walk and stay steady, than to run and
fall.

When I asked what he meant, he shared a story about his friend

who was doing business with him. He said that when his friend
started making money in his business, he decided to go fast.

He started getting debts from anyone who could, so he could

expand his business. He got a loan from bad people who started
demanding 50% of the principal.

After a few months, he realized that it was becoming difficult to

service those bad loans. He therefore got into panic and sold
some newly opened businesses to clear his debts.

156
Before he knew it, he was back to his first shop for stabilization.
After learning it the hard way, he expanded the business once
again but at a steady speed.

There are so many people who want to move quickly to the

finishing line. What do you want to do at the finishing line?

You should ask people who climb Mount Everest. The goal is not
about getting to the top of Mount Everest as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, they can get there using a chopper. But what would
be the point of doing that?

We desire many things to happen too quickly in our lives. And

that is why we make too many mistakes. The journey to the top
is more exciting that being on the top.

If you cannot enjoy getting to the top, you will miss out the joy
that comes from the hustle and grind of getting to the top.

Again, there is nothing wrong with using the fast lane to get to
where you are going if you know the road well. But if you are
unsure of the road and its pot holes, drive carefully.

It is a wise thing to do in business, career or relationship. Just

walk. There is no point in running for nothing.

157
Celebrate your achievements

One day, I woke, looked around the house and realized that I had
a lot of things I used to wish for. Before that realization, I wished
for a nice G-Class Mercedes-Benz car.

My consciousness told me there was something missing in my life.

Truthfully, I need The G-Class. It is the car I want in my parking
lot. I know that I will buy it one day, regardless.

However, I must take note of the blessing God has bestowed

upon my life. Merely a few years ago, I did not have a job or an
income, and was sleeping at the sitting room of my friend’s house,
Mwika.

I can even remember my difficult days at Lusaka City Market, and

Soweto Market, where we used to get soaked in the rains as we
searched for salaula (second hand) clothing for resale.

And here I am now, Edwin Ngwane, the Client Service Manager

for a bank. The guy who used to rent a house without a toilet and
bathroom in Kanyama is now renting a beautiful house in
Woodlands.

Isn’t that worth celebrating?

Think about a villager who grew up in the village where he could

not even see a car and go to town to work as a security guard.

158
A few years of working as a security guard, he gets a driving
licence and starts working as a Taxi driver. Then he works for
another few years and gets his own taxi.

Isn’t that an achievement worth celebrating?

What about a single mother who provides for her family by

working as a maid? Doesn’t she deserve to celebrate when her
child finally makes it to the University?

I love celebrating achievements. All accomplishments. It’s

important that people should celebrate their milestones. If you
don’t, you will end up getting frustrated because you may think
you are a loser.

People naturally look down on other people’s achievements. If

they are not telling yourself that you are lucky, some people will
convince you achieved nothing in your life.

Certain people will not just accept that you can also achieve some
level of success. They cannot accept you in their league. You will
be considered a person of a lower class. And it’s because you
think so too.

Others will even accuse you of doing something nasty to get

ahead. They will tell people you slept with your boss or used
some juju to get promoted. They will throw malice in your face.

But guess what?

159
You still must celebrate your journey. It is only you who knows
how far you came. It doesn’t matter how anyone passes
judgement. You deserve a party!

Scientists discovered that when you acknowledge your successes,

you stand a higher chance of scoring more successes in future
because of your dopamine hormone released in your brain.

A person with more dopamine chemicals has more faith,

confidence, zeal, will, courage, desire and determination. And
celebrating your achievements releases your dopamine
chemicals.

Find something to celebrate about every single day! I know there

is something you achieved this week. Why wouldn’t you give
yourself a treat?

It is worthy it.

Lead an army of believers

The other thing you can do to reach far in life is surrounding

yourself with believers. I personally can’t stand people who are
negative. Negativity doesn’t just go well with me.

There are people who were previously close to me who are no

longer in my circle for lacking a stem of positiveness. People who
always who want to find something wrong in everything are not
my type of friends.

160
I truly love to be surrounded by believers. When I say believers, I
don’t want Pentecostals to start think that I mean people who
regularly go to church. No! I mean people who truly believe that
God can give you manna and meat in the wilderness.

Apparently, this breed of human beings is very rare. We get

caught up in the fiasco of negative news, politics, religion, culture
and many things which make us lose faith.

However, you still need to find people who will trust in you. They
will make you a better person. You will become fearless and bold.
You will learn how to stand firm amid challenges in the company
of believers.

People can easily plant thoughts of doubts in you with their

comments or what they consider as advice. But what believers
do is recognizing the challenges and still teaching you how to
overcome them.

It is better to have one person like that in your life than a

thousand unbelievers. Remember, it is better to have one lion on
your side than being in the company of hyenas.

Let the young fighters lead the battle

The other part in your hustle is to realize that your energy levels
will wane with time. You will not run or push as you used to push
when you were young.

161
A time will come when you need young soldiers in front. This is
conventional wisdom. There is a point in your life when you need
to let the kids to run the show.

They will give you great ideas because they understand it better
than you. You also need to realize that the money you will pay
them is less than what you will get from them.

The only thing you will need is leadership. They young people
always need nurturing, guidance, protection and assurance.

If you can give them things which they need in their youthful days,
they will go to the moon for you. The benefits will be immense
for you and you will not need to be at the battlefield ever again.

Leverage on your wisdom

My grandfather never held a hoe at his farm, but he managed to

produce enough for his family every year. There was plenty more
produce for sale.

For many people in the village, farming meant going to the field
to cultivate. My grandfather learnt a long time ago that you don’t
need to learn how to make dough to open a pizza shop.

I remember one time when my grandfather went to town to

purchase fertilizer and left me with a piece of land to cultivate.

162
The servant who used to help my grandfather to farm told me
that I will not be able to finish the land I was allocated because I
was weak and lazy.

He had a point in his own context. I wasn’t the guy who proved
my work ethic by lifting heavy stuff or cultivating the land from
6am to 6pm.

One day, as we ate mangoes after work, I realized that the

servant stared at my cardigan with a certain level of admiration.
It was one of those cardigans I didn’t even like.

It seemed like a nice piece of clothing for him. I asked him if he

liked it, and he agreed. Immediately, I made him an offer.

I asked him to cultivate my piece of land for my cardigan and

promise that he would not tell my grandfather he cultivated on
my behalf.

Guess what? He accepted!

I gave him the cardigan and by the time my grandfather was

coming back; I was 75% done with the piece he left for me. My
grandfather was proud. It thrilled him.

After a few days, one guy close to my grandfather’s servant told

my grandfather that Edwin was not the one who cultivated the
piece of land but his servant.

163
When I heard about it, I was afraid that my grandfather would
rebuke me for my so-called laziness. However, he came and
called me mfumu (King).

He said, “I am so proud of you. You are so young, yet you

understand what most ordinary people fail to comprehend.

I asked you to cultivate the land, but I did not dictate how you
will do it. The only thing that matters to me is that my farm
cultivated.

There are so many people who want to get involved in so many

mundane tasks that need outsourcing or delegation.

It is very difficult to produce exponential results if you will do

everything by yourself. You need to learn to hire or pay for
services are of low importance to you.

Let me give you another example.

I write books. Every time I write a book, I need other services to

get done. The common ones are book cover design, manuscript
editing, formatting and marketing.

If I want, I can dedicate enough time to learn Photoshop and start

designing my book covers. It’s possible. Again, I can also do
editing, formatting and marketing.

However, the big question here is; Is it important for me to be

doing all that stuff instead of thinking about how to write a great
book?

164
The answer has been very easy for me to choose. Focus on
writing and give all these other services to experts who will even
help me polish the book at the end of the day.

And that is wisdom. I am not claiming to be wise. I am a humble

wise guy. What I am saying is that deciding like that is a measure
of wisdom. Shots fired.

As human beings, you need to identify things of low importance

to you. You must delegate or outsource them. You should only
focus on the things which creates more value to you.

Again, I am not saying the people whom I hire to do these services

are of low importance. I mean, book cover design is of low
importance to me, the same way writing is of low importance to
them.

We need to be wise enough to only do things which gives us more

joy and value. As for the things which don’t fit that category, hire
people to do them for you.

Commit to accomplish your mission

Why would you start anything if you are not willing to finish? Why
would you start journeys and turn back without getting to the
finishing line?

In 2015, I started teaching people about entrepreneurship on

radio. When I started, it was all about creating an expert
personality for myself.

165
The journey was not smooth sailing. The radio station started
calling me for programs during working times. I would sneak out,
but it eventually became unfeasible.

I dropped out of the day programs and stuck to weekend

programs where I could speak at the time when it was convenient
for the radio and myself.

And after months of being on radio, I gave up. I stopped going for
radio shows and was posting my videos and articles on social
media.

It was smooth sailing until the day I stopped engaging with most
people on social media. I got quiet and stopped posting for
months without even thinking about all the people who followed
me.

Then came a day when I went to my page and started reading my

messages.

The first message went like this, “Hello Edwin, I just wanted to let
you know that through the advice you shared on your talk show
at Jive FM.

I left that guy who was wasting my time and getting married to a
serious guy in December. Thank you very much and may God
continue to bless you with more wisdom.

The second message was like this. “Hello Edwin, why have you
stopped posting those motivational posts on Facebook? Through

166
your advice, I started a small business and now I am stuck
somewhere. Please respond. I need your help.”

The third message was like this. Hi Edwin. Please find time to
respond. I am a grade nine and consistently failing my exams. I
study hard, but it seems nothing is working.

I heard on radio about how you overcame failing in maths at

school and you almost dropped out in Grade 8. Please help.

After reading a few other messages unnecessary for this topic, I

found another message from the mother of the boy who was
who had challenges in school.

The message read, Edwin, speak to my son. He is really depressed,

and he is rest assured you can help him. He is about to stop going
to school because he cannot handle the embarrassment of
failure.

The boy sent the message in May while the mother sent hers in
August. And I was seeing the messages in December 2017.

I became concerned. I didn’t keep the faith my inspiration was

doing anything in people’s lives. I trusted my content and delivery,
but I did not conceive that it was really helping someone.

The first thing I did was to call the boy because he had indicated
his number. And guess what? The number did not go through. I
tried to contact the mother on messenger and I got no response.

167
I therefore responded with an apology to both. I told them to
contact me when they find time.

In June the next year, I received a message from the boy. I was
back on Facebook doing my thing. I was just sharing my thoughts
on business, life and entrepreneurship.

And he said, the time I got no response from you, I was really
depressed. I started drinking and quit school. However, one day
I saw a post of Facebook saying, “fall 7 times, but rise 8 times”,
and I went back to school.

I was ecstatic and relieved. I got worried about this boy who truly
had faith in my work and it was fulfilling to see that somehow; he
had found his feet.

Since that day, I never take my motivation lightly. Of course,

there are people who leave insults on my page and tell me that I
am a time waster.

There are also people who think I am one of those motivational

speakers who teach people about business and life while failing
to apply the same principles.

I was almost giving up. I was tired of inspiring people who

considered me to be lucky. I was tired of teaching women who
called men dogs despite reading my article about “How to get
married easily”.

I just got tired.

168
And in my getting tired, I let down one boy who truly admired me.
When I finally spoke to him, I told him that he was my inspiration.

The questions I ask anyone who is about to give up are;

Do you know the number of people who look up to you? It might

be children, friends, relatives, and the community.

Have you ever thought about the level of impact your quitting
will have on the lives of people who look up to you?

If someone who has a sense of admiration for you asked for

advice, would you advise them to do what you are about to do?

Some people will never appreciate you. Others will insult your
work. And some will classify you as a loser.

However, you should always remember that there is that boy or

girl who truly has a sense of admiration for you. Please don’t
disappoint him or her.

You could be the light he or she needs in their life right now. Keep
on shining. It will get tough, but keep on moving. Don’t you ever
think of quitting.

Leave a solid foundation and legacy

At the end of it all, the amount of impact will measure your legacy.
It is more about how you changed other people’s lives.

169
I truly believe that God has created each human being with a duty
of care. When I get off the bus, I thank the driver. I understand
that he may decide to be careless and cause an accident. I thank
him for his duty of care.

When I call a plumber to come and work on our sewer system, I

respect and thank the plumber who does the job. I understand
that I am the one to do that job.

Every time I see cleaners, doctors, street sweepers, nurses,

teachers, maids, gardeners, pilots, bricklayers, dancers,
musicians, actors, makeup artists, and many other people who
give me a service, I appreciate them.

I understand that they offered me a service which if they didn’t

provide it, the world wouldn’t be as great as it is.

It is important to learn the intricacies of treating people. The best

you can do in life is to love your neighbour as yourself.

This does not mean allowing to be abused or mistreated. No. It

means appreciating other people, good or bad. You need to learn
how to leave a warm spirit in other people’s lives.

David in the Bible said, “I have never seen a righteous man’s child,
beg for food”. It is very true. You must leave a good name for
yourself and for your children.

Your name can make your children get persecuted or find

blessings. Your name. Through your name, your children and

170
grandchildren can get favoured and through the same name,
they can get condemned.

In 2007, my grandfather visited me at Lusaka City Market. He had

never been to my stand before. He had come for the first time. I
had just told him I am found at stand number 672 light blue
section.

When my grandfather arrived, I was not at the stand. I had gone

to open up salaula bales at Soweto Market. He therefore found
my fellow traders next to my stand.

He told them I was his grandson. When I came, I found they

served my grandfather with tea on three occasions because he
loved tea. And when I got there, I found he was eating chips
mayaya.

I didn’t like the whole drama. It troubled me imagining my

grandfather asking my friends for food. It bothered me for a little
moment.

However, when I took him to the station, he asked me to sit at a

bench at Millennium Bus Station, so he could tell me something.

He told me that when he got to Lusaka City Market and asked for
me, all my friends got busy trying to find a seat for him.

After giving him a seat, they asked him if he would accept being
served tea as he was waiting for me. And he accepted.

171
He said that every time his cup of tea was finished, someone
placed another order till the time I arrived. And I said, “wow,
thanks to those guys for taking care of you in my absence”.

However, my grandfather said, “Edwin, thanks to you for creating

such bonds with people where others can benefit from. I am so
proud of you my son.”

I know what you are thinking. It’s not a typing error. He said my
son. he loved me that much. He was my grandfather, but my
father too.

He continued to say, “Please keep on creating such relationships.

If you continue doing what you do, many people will bless your
children because of you. Some people will get favoured for
sharing the same surname as you,”.

I was very happy that from my mentor. He taught me the same

lesson at the farm and like most mentors; they forget what they
teach you.

I would also ask you to learn one or two things about leaving a
good name. By the way, I am not saying that I am a good person
even though I am a great person.

Good, I am not. Great, I am. There is a difference.

I am very authentic. I don’t know how to pronounce Rs and Ls

very well. I talk too much sometimes. My English can be
incoherent, and I sound like an illusionist.

172
But that is Edwin Ngwane.

What about you? Who are you? What are you going to give the
world? You shouldn’t be like me or another person to be liked.

You just must be your true self with a duty of care.

Enjoy and reflect on your journey

There is only one thing I love about grandfathers who did great
things in their lives - great stories. I enjoyed it at the farm, and I
also enjoy the same stories from elderly people I serve in the
bank.

The worst time to be sad and lonely is when you grow old. If you
be the person who brings negativity in people’s lives, everyone
will run away from you.

Children love to hear nice and inspiring stories from elders. It

makes them come closer. And the only way you can tell great
stories about your life is by looking back to the great memories.

I didn’t say looking back to good memories. I said great memories

for a reason. Good things come to us, and we make great things
by ourselves.

A person who once got fired will get bad memories of getting
fired, but it could be the greatest thing that ever happened to
him. As bad as getting fired can be, it can also be a great thing.

173
We can never consider getting fired as a good thing, but if there
are some great lessons you learnt which ended up changing your
life, it may be a great thing.

And as we reflect upon our lives, some people hide the bad
moments which happened in their lives. They will try to mask
their ugly past with some shine stories, but it doesn’t help them
with reflection.

I cannot hide my stories about growing in the village and going to

school with torn clothes. I cannot be complete if I don’t share
with someone that I had gone to bed without food for four solid
days.

People need to know that I couldn’t make it to the University of

Zambia because we’re so poor. It shouldn’t be a secret that we
couldn’t afford to pay for the application form.

When I am talking to new joiners in the bank, I mention how I

started from nothing and rose through the ranks in the bank.

These stories might not interest everyone, but they are my

authentic reflection about my life. If I don’t tell these stories,
there will be nothing for me to share.

And the good thing about sharing authentic stories is that people
connect to real stories. You will inspire many people with a
genuine story than a fake one.

174
However, that is not the only reason to reflect on your past. As
you reflect on your life, there are some things that will make you
proud.

You will also remember people who did great things for your life.
There are also moments which will make you praise God for how
he saved you from the traps of the devil.

As you left on your journey, you will smile, cry, laugh, wonder,
and sometimes feel the horrors as if they are happening in real
time. However, you will appreciate life.

Life is a journey. It starts, and it comes to an end. Sometimes the

mantle of hustle must be taken up by another person. There
comes a time when you just must relax, enjoy yourself and
connect with the Almighty.

It is a beautiful thing to fight, a good fight of faith. This is what

Abraham Maslow called the last stage of self-actualization.

If you are not fulfilled at this level, then you might as well miss
the mark. This stage cannot be defined by anyone but yourself.

Leave an inheritance and blessings!

The last stage of the hustle is to hustle for your children and
grandchildren. I was educated by my grandfather and I know
what the Bible meant when it said leaving an inheritance for
children’s children.

175
I benefited.

Life is full of vultures. As you grow old, people will devise

schemes to get your wealth and plan to deny your children’s
rights to an inheritance.

There are so many people in Africa who waits for the death of
another person to live. My grandfather always taught about
writing a will.

There are so many people who think that their siblings will do the
best for their children. Some people also think their spouses will
put their children first.

Others think their mothers or friends will do the best for their
children when they are gone. Alas, life doesn’t go that way
brothers and sisters.

People can change. Wives get married after the death of their
husbands and so do husbands. And it is not wrong to do so. You
must deal with it.

What you need to focus on is the welfare of your children and

dependents. Don’t forget that I included dependents.

The behaviour of one of your children should never deceive you.

Kids can change. Some parents may trust one child to manage
the welfare of the other children.

176
I have seen kids who have squandered the estate of their parents
and neglected their own sisters and brothers. Don’t get blinded.
You should do the right thing.

You cannot also trust your spouse to share your wealth with your
parents as you would have wanted. You cannot also trust your
parents to administer your estate fairly in your wife’s favour.

The world does not operate like that. There are cases where it
happens like that, but it always a game of chances. I personally
do not believe in the game of chances.

You must plan your life strategically, even after death. You must
plan your life, hustler! You will not be there when vultures come
after your estate denying the people you cared about.

The other thing every great parent does is leaving a blessing for
their children. The practice should always be to bless your
children, like what the Bembas do.

You should never keep your blessing till your death bed. It is not
wise to do so. You need to bless your children as often as you
can. You can bless your family as often as you can. It is the right
thing to do.

I will share a story with you.

In 2014, after being transferred from Chililabombwe to Ndola, I

commuted for 7 months before I moved my family. I didn’t drive
and used to hike some cars between Chililabombwe and Ndola.

177
One day, after getting on a Toyota Noah car, I sat next to a guy
who was also commuting to Kitwe. I sat near the window and this
guy was at the middle because there was another person on the
other side.

A woman came to the window where I sat and called his son to
listen to what she had to say.

And she began.

May this car take you safely to your destination.

May always your health be good, my son.

Whatever you touch at work should be fruitful.

I bestow upon you the favors of God Jehovah.

May God give you what you have always asked for.

May your job give you happiness and satisfaction.

When I thought she was done, she continued;

May you continue working hard for God.

May God continue to protect you.

May God continue to bless you.

May God continue to teach you.

May God continue to show you the right way.

May God continue to pour mercies upon your life.

May God continue to multiply everything you earn.

May God continue to take you higher and higher.

178
 And everyone on in the car said, Amen. But she had not
finished.

May each one of you get God’s blessings.

May God grant your wishes.

May God continue to keep you safe.

May God promote you.

May God remain God in your lives, my children.

And we all said, “Amen mama”. This woman had touched me

with her blessings and I could tell that everyone on the bus got
touched.

She blessed her son in all areas of his life and blessed strangers
in the company of her son. I received all the blessings she gave to
her son like they were mine.

I was like Jacob in that moment. I realized the importance of

blessing children in that moment. It was not because of how she
said it but the spirit she put in all of us.

I realized the impact of blessings in that moment. I went to Ndola

blessed and anointed. I was a different person. My names had
changed to Edwin Jacob Ngwane. Maybe I should adopt Jacob as
my other name.

And if this is what a blessing can do to your children, why would

you deny them your blessings? Isn’t that failing in your
responsibility as a parent?

179
I am a hustler. I want the best for my life till the day I will die. My
plans include leaving wealth, a good name and blessings for my
children.

Is that all there is? I don’t think so. There is more to life than
getting all that life has to offer. I want more and more even after
death.

I also want to hustle into the Kingdom of God.

I thank you for reading.

180
 Chapter Nine

ABOUT EDWIN NGWANE

Personal profile

Edwin was born in the mining town of Mufulira on the Copperbelt

in Zambia. He is the first born in a family of five.

Edwin is married to Astrida with two beautiful daughters by the

names of Chikondi (meaning love), and Joy.

He currently lives in Lusaka, Zambia.

Professional life

He went to five primary schools and one secondary schools. The

names of the primary schools are Mupambe, Mshawa, Mzaza,
Kanzutu and Katopola.

The secondary school’s name is Chipata Day.

After secondary school, Edwin never attended full time tertiary

education studies except distance and self-study education.

181
He got a Diploma in Banking (Zambia Institute of Banking &
Finance), a Diploma in Accounting (Zambia Institute of Chartered
Accountants) and a bachelor’s degree in finance (University of
Mysore).

Edwin is a seasoned banker who has worked in the banking

sector for nine years in different roles with his recent position of
Client Service Manager.

While working in the financial industry, Edwin has tried, so many

failed businesses before founding and launching Kawiwi
International Limited.

He is the current Founder & CEO of Kawiwi International Limited,

which provides a marketplace for freelance consultants.

About Kawiwi.com

Kawiwi.com is the product of Kawiwi International Limited. We

founded the website in 2019 and will provide consulting services
across the globe.

The website provides a platform for clients to get access to top

consultants around the globe and gives experts and consultants
an opportunity to find paid clients.

The platform allows clients to search for a consultant based on

their needs and they can access the consulting services via online
or offline.

182
The opportunity for Experts

Kawiwi.com provides consulting opportunities to experts and

consultants, and anyone who is an expert in their field can sign
up and find the opportunity to get paid clients.

Why you need to sign up

The difficult part of a consulting business is finding clients and

keeping them. Clients who want consultants, are always there.
They are only sceptical about who you are.

However, Kawiwi.com gives an assurance to our clients that you

will provide quality services and our clients will get a full refund
if they are not satisfied.

This might sound disadvantaging for consultants, but for an

expert who cares about helping others with their expertise and
wisdom, it is an added advantage.

Kawiwi.com gives you a platform where you can offer your

services globally. You are therefore not limited a consultant
because our platform allows you to offer online video consulting.

The other benefit of signing up on kawiwi.com, is that you will

have an option of upgrading your account to Top Consultant and
kawiwi.com will do the marketing on your behalf.

183
Where to find Edwin

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and

Instagram. You will get access to daily updates on new
happenings.

Let’s connect and chat.

Edwin.

184