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By PETER MUTUA
In Summary
Leaders of family business should recognise that it is not possible to perpetually enjoy a harvest free of adversity.
When unpleasant circumstances accompany immense financial gain form investments these should be borne with grace.
Business leaders who go through unfortunate circumstances parallel to bountiful harvests should not be made to feel guilty for having invested well.
When unpleasant circumstances accompany immense financial gain form investments these should be borne with grace.
Business leaders who go through unfortunate circumstances parallel to bountiful harvests should not be made to feel guilty for having invested well.
The owners servants came and asked him, Master,
you sowed good seed in your field didn’t you? Then where did these weeds
come from? He told them, “An enemy did this!” The servants asked him,
“Do you want us to pull them out?” He said, “No, if you pull out the
weeds you might pull out the wheat with them. Let them both grow
together until the harvest and at harvest time I will tell the reapers
“Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles for burning but bring
the wheat into my barn”
Matthew 13:27-30
Matthew 13:27-30
Daisy Katathi* worked hard to establish herself and her family business.
Starting off as a housemaid, she and her casual
labourer husband Musyoka* painstakingly saved every month. Finally,
after more than four years, they bought a plot of land on which they
built their first home.
Musyoka thereafter graduated from casual labour to
driving a matatu while Katathi opened a milk parlour adjacent to their
house. The business venture took off, allowing Musyoka to leave his job
as a driver to join his wife in the shop.
Diversifying into trading cereals, Katathi and
Musyoka eventually joined the big leagues and are now considered the
leading business owners in their town.
In August last year, Katathi went for a routine
medical examination; it was found that a growth in her ovaries was
cancerous. She was immediately put on chemotherapy. Sadly, the treatment
did not work and she has now been put on a more aggressive regimen.
Relatives, family and friends prayed for the best.
Samson Oketch* and his wife Siprosa* were gifted a small transport business by her parents when they got married.
Through prudent cost management and investment,
they grew the business venture to the point where they are now prominent
transporters in Kakamega. In addition to trucks, they also own a
wholesale shop, several commercial and residential buildings. Their
monthly rental income is estimated to be in the tens of millions.
Sadly, the Oketch children have never taken off in
spite of excellent upbringing, consistent parental supervision all
combined with a high cost education.
The first-born, Darren* is a well-known local
philanderer cum drunkard. Their second child, Wilfrida*, is, to put it
gently, a lady of questionable virtue who seems addicted to unknown
drugs. Only the third born, Alfred* seems to show mild potential; Samson
and Siprosa wait for him to complete his university studies with bated
breath.
Both these couples have reaped incredible financial
rewards from careful investment and have taken every measure to ensure
that they and their loved ones are financially secure.
Both have done all they can to live balanced,
healthy lives and to bring up their children to the best of their
ability. Yet both couples are faced with a traumatic present and an
uncertain future.
Some around them counsel them to “repent of their
sins” naming greed, bitterness and immorality as some of the vices that
could possibly have spawned these conditions. While the couples’
fervently seek divine intervention, none are aware of any conscious
wrongdoing.
Leaders of family business should recognise that on
this side of heaven there is no such thing as a perfect harvest — one
in which only good seeds grow to maturity and where no unpleasantness
interferes with the return from diligent investment.
No matter how well leaders balance seed and harvest
from investment, there always are painful factors to deal with
physically, emotionally or spiritually. These must be taken along with
good outcomes as a reality of being mortal.
No matter how wisely and strategically family business invests
it is not humanly possible to refine harvests from investment to the
extent where one continuously enjoys benefits without discomfort, pain
or loss. Runs of perpetual good fortune do not exist.
Even those leaders of family business who meticulously
invest for themselves and future generations are occasionally
disappointed by the outcomes of their ventures or offspring. They must
learn to take these unpleasant developments stoically even as they
celebrate positive results.
Not all unpleasant circumstances are necessarily
signs, as some believe, that the family business amassed wealth through
unscrupulous means.
They may just be divine interventions that
demonstrate that all human beings are equal and vulnerable to the same
sets of laws regarding the harvest.
Mr Mutua is a Humphrey Fellow and a leadership
development consultant focused on family businesses. His email address
is p.m.mutua@googlemail.com.
*Names used in the article are not real.
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