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Morris Mpala, MoB Capital Ltd
IT boggles the mind that business and business decisions are always postponed based on certain political or social happenings. There is an old adage that says procrastination is a thief of time.

Once you lose time it’s a fallacy that you will ever make up for it. With time once it’s gone it’s gone and at times the same applies to opportunities. Decisions have to be made. In the same vein you manage risk, not avoid it.

How many times have you heard these lame excuses? We’re waiting for elections to come. We’re waiting for the GNU to conclude their issues. We’re waiting for the RBZ governor to be appointed. Let’s see what monetary policy brings. We’ll do that when the rains stop. The rand has crushed so no trading. Now it’s not the time to invest in Zimbabwe there is too much risk. Hold on until 2018 elections. We’re waiting for SEZ status. We are waiting for ZITF to commence. We’re waiting for things to be normal. What is normal really as this is the new norm and that means a very turbulent market is the new arena.

People even justify such events as watershed, final, mother of all, got bearing on, we’ve to wait, it has a bearing on, it’s what we’re waiting for, we’ll implement after, can’t continue am tired, . . . and when these events come to pass business only realises it was too much fuss about nothing and they would have lost out on sales, deals or contacts.

All we are doing is not making a decision. This indecision has cost business as nothing gets done and even when the event comes to pass we still have other excuses to wait for. This art has been so perfected that nothing gets done throughout the year or years. There is always an excuse to procrastinate and it gets justified. And the excuses are always there one after the other.

How many times have we waited for a report/inquiry to act on something as obvious as implementing a business decision? We always wait for something and something. How many times have we waited only for someone to implement ahead of us. There is never a year when there are no excuses in postponing decision making even though we know decisions have to be made regardless of political, financial, social, spiritual occurrences. It is occupational hazard or comes with the territory.

Making decisions is a flair that is a science based on informed decisions. Collate all data and make a decision with all the intricacies, never avoid but manage these. The lack of decisive decision making has come to haunt a lot of businesses as opportunities don’t wait for late comers. It is the early ones that catch that fat juicy one as they have the luxury to cherry pick.

Probably it is the fear to make decision that causes the wait and see syndrome or is it wait for this to happen syndrome. This is reactionary and winners/game changers don’t operate like that. It’s about being bold and making calculated calls on a course of action.

Maybe people are not used to making decisions at all or it’s the fear. If that is the case then we are in big trouble.

There is a difference between not taking a certain course of action and just folding your arms and doing nothing. These are totally two exclusive events. The former is based on an informed approach but the latter is not taking any decision at all.

We want to be usual (confusing with normal), carbon copies, parrots, seek comfort in numbers, everyone is waiting (why not us), gregarious, lead by following others, second best, create comfort zones. Maybe it’s time we went back to grooming our business leaders.

Let them have wisdom and perhaps maybe we can have serious decision makers. We have been reduced to a nation of wingers always complaining of one thing or another in trying to justify the status quo.

We even go to the extent of discouraging those that want to make decisions. Akuqalwa, lokhu ngokwe Harare vele!

We wait for the government to have money? Akulamali! We wait to be told. We wait for opportunities. We wait for someone to do it first (Doubting Thomas).We wait to wait for something (how pathetic is that). The scary part is we very much justify it aggressively.

What happened to skating on thin ice, dancing in the rain, making the sky a target not a limit, winning while losing, taking in calories but burning them later on, finding a silver lining, dare to be different, exhibiting a little bit of madness, learning from shortcomings, creating the market, taking a bath after accidentally falling into a dam, making lemonade after a good donation of the much loathed lemons.

The business environment is volatile that we know but the rewards can be enormous if well calculated. It is what it is and mourning, complaining and taking a back seat is not what this environment requires. I even asked a silly question as to what if it gets worse than this then what? If we are knowledgeable then we will make informed decisions as opposed to being on auto pilot.

Circumstances will always exist but how you react to such stimuli defines business and business leadership. This is what has shaped businesses and leaders world over. Excuses are any easy way out but it doesn’t make you stand out therefore detriment to the cause of business. Let’s wait and see who will take us up on this one.

If you live in Bulawayo please conserve water. If you live in Zimbabwe please use electricity sparingly: SOS (switch off switches)
If you live on planet earth please preserve the environment

Morris Mpala is managing director MoB Capital (Pvt) Limited, a microfinance institution offering loans, micro-insurance and advisory services to small to medium enterprises as well as individuals.