There are many ways to become rich in the world over. These include getting a well-paying job, entrepreneurship or even winning a jackpot. What matters is the money you make as long as you do it legally. In this article, I will only focus on legal ways to become rich in Kenya in 2024.
Allow me to ask a basic question, what is being rich? I would assume that it differs between individuals. Is it worth a million, 10 Million, or even a billion? Because all these answers could be true, I will let you define your level.
We all want to be rich. Nobody hates to drive a big car, live in a posh estate, or eat good food regularly. The aspirations have made looking for riches a day-to-day job for most Kenyans. However, only a few make it in the end. This brings the question, if only a few make the riches, what happens to the majority? Why is it so difficult?
There are many motivational speakers and even writers across the world teaching how to get riches, as a person who has read most of these, there is always a gap between what works globally and what can work in Kenya. After many years of research in this area, below are some of the Key pointers that I have narrowed down.
Follow the process
Few people would avoid a shortcut, especially in matters of riches. However, the only way to guarantee that your riches last a lifetime is through following the process. When I touch on the process, I mean time. This entails doing the right things without seeking quick fixes.
The reality with genuine riches is that it takes time to build. Let’s take an example of a career. You will start by going to school, looking for a job, doing it well, and finally climbing up the ladder step by step. This process is painstakingly tedious and slow. However, if you do it right and consistently, you are going to be rich.
At the end of the process, you will have the capability to account for all your riches. The people around you will also not question your wealth as they see you go through the process. Instead, you will become a mentor that others can emulate.
Example 2, Let us look at starting a business. It is a well-known fact that 90% of all new businesses fail in the first year of operation in Kenya. For the remainder, at least 50% of them fail within three years. In the end, only 5% of all businesses succeed in Kenya.
For a business to become successful and start giving you returns requires a lot of effort and time. You have to be ready to do whatever it takes to achieve the top 5 %. Even so, it is not a guarantee that it will make you adequate money in the first few years after breaking even to become rich.
However, you have to keep going until such a time when the flow is sufficient and has extra to accumulate riches. Instead, most entrepreneurs choose to go for quick returns but end up losing it all. This includes practices such as offering lower quality products or services and corruption. In the long term, you find yourself without customers or with legal challenges. So, following the process will not only guarantee you riches but also long-term riches.
Identify emerging opportunities
Kenya is a developing country. As such, one of the key characteristics of such an economy is there are many emerging opportunities that you can target. As an example, the population is heavily adopting technology and so the demand in this sector can only rise in the future. With this in mind, you can seek to value add in this area and turn it into a business. This can either be in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Software, and Hardware business.
Another key area is the food economy. Kenya is still food deficient in several categories with the country relying on imports to fill the gap. You can seek to identify one area to focus on and decide whether you want to join either as a middleman or a farmer. However, you have to innovate to become competitive. As an example, if you are doing farming, ensure your costs remain lower and ensure there is consistency. This element of scarcity combined with a fast-growing population projected to double in the next 30 years guarantees you a good market in many years ahead.
There is also a huge opportunity in areas such as housing, transport, and sports. However, to identify a niche, you have to do sustained market research which ensures all the gaps are closed. Then come up with a long-term plan and pursue it religiously.
Enhance your skills
Not everyone can make it in entrepreneurship. There are some of us born to be natural career people. Hence, if you are one of these, your income is based on how many skills you can acquire. Make it your goal to keep advancing as it helps up your value in the market. The workplace is changing fast and becoming more competitive as technology advances. Hence, employers are only willing to pay for value.
If your value is high, it also makes it possible to change jobs and negotiate for higher pay. By gaining skills, I mean taking that extra course, learning from those ahead of you, and doing this consistently. Some of the high valuable skills right now include computing and data. This is due to the fast-growing industry around this area.
You should be strategic when selecting a career or skills path.
Work Hard
The millions will never come easily. Whether you have good skills or a great business idea, you have to put in the work to realize value. This means that you have to sacrifice some nice things such as sleep, parties, and tours.
This is more so common during the early days. If you are in business, the early days are very demanding as you compete to curve a niche for yourself, hire the right people, or even raise capital. If you are in a career, you have to outwork and outproduce the rest to be recognized and promoted. This involves working extra hours and taking on extra duties. With time, someone will note and recognize your efforts through a promotion or better pay.
Hence, there is no substitute for hard work. It is an exchange between your energy and sleep for riches.
There is no doubt that if you follow these processes, riches will come your way. Other than gambling where the chance of success is one in a million, you have to follow the process. It takes time, but it is worth it. That time when you have the riches, you will look back and be proud of what you accomplished.
