10 Brutal Mistakes New African Entrepreneurs Make, Why Most Won’t Survive 5 Years
So you’re planning to start a small business — or you’ve already started?
Bad news: Most small businesses in Africa never make it to their fifth birthday.
Good news: If you know what traps to avoid, you’ll not only survive — you’ll scale.
If you’re going to break through, your mindset has to be different from the average hustler on the street.
Here are 10 brutal mistakes that kill businesses before they grow:
1. Obsession With Capital
You don’t need money to start a business—you need money to grow it.
Most people will die with “million-dollar ideas” they never started because they were waiting for capital. That’s foolish.
Ask yourself:
How much did Facebook start on?
Nash Paints? Coca-Cola? Airbnb?
Answer: next to nothing.
Execution beats capital every time.
2. Underestimating the Effort Required
Your goals are probably fine. The problem is you’re not working hard (or smart) enough to reach them.
You want 10X results on 1X effort. It doesn’t work like that.
To achieve new results, you must become a new person.
Change your habits. Change your friends. Change your fire.
3. Setting Unrealistic Timeframes
You won’t make real money in the first five years. Period.
In fact, if you’re not willing to commit 10 years, don’t bother starting a business.
This is why I recommend you keep your job while you build.
You can’t build a generational business with a backyard broiler farmer mentality.
(Short-term thinking, zero systems, panic moves.)
4. No Repeat Customers = No Business
One transaction doesn’t make you money.
Several transactions do.
If customers never come back, integrity is probably missing.
Don’t give people a reason to regret trusting you. Build long-term value, not short-term hype.
Begging for Support
A great product doesn’t beg—it commands attention.
Don’t cry for support. Build something so excellent your customers beg to give you money.
Support mindset = poverty trap.
Value mindset = prosperity path.
6. Premature Sense of Success
You opened a small shop yesterday, now your business card says “CEO.”
Next: new wardrobe, new car, new address, new prophet, and maybe even a new partner.
All funded by debt or fantasy.
This is madness. Stay humble. Let the results speak.
Build before you broadcast.
7. Failure to See Beyond the Curve
Malawi is not difficult—it’s just different, so is the rest of Africa.
You don’t make a business decision and go on vacation. You may need to revise it before end of day.
This market moves fast. Learn to read the signs.
Very few things have shocked me in the past 10 years. Even COVID found us ready.
8. Doing Things “By the Book”
Books give you principles, not formulas.
Don’t try to photocopy strategies from New York and expect them to work in Lilongwe or Nampula.
9. Trusting the Wrong People
In business, everyone is guilty until proven innocent.
The word “trust” in business is not the same as in social settings.
This is why we use contracts, collateral, and suretyships.
Business runs on systems, not emotions.
Don’t misplace meanings—or you’ll misplace your money.
10. Turning to Prayer for Survival
Don’t retreat to a prayer mountain when what you needed was a boardroom.
God cannot be manipulated by tears.
Even Bishop David Oyedepo—one of the most anointed men alive—says he prioritizes thinking time over prayer time.
Dr. Myles Munroe said it best:
“If I have an hour, I’ll pray for 10 minutes and think for 50.”
Let’s wind up!
If you want to survive in business, evolve and innovate.
Entrepreneurship in Africa isn’t just about hustle—it’s about wisdom, patience, and brutal self-discipline.
No excuses. No shortcuts. Just strategy.
Tamvana apa!
