By Noel K. Tshiani
As we move closer toward the beginning of the new year, professionals and entrepreneurs need to be aware of the five terms that will distinguish them in business in 2019. These five terms are professional network, project, impact, financing, and expertise. Success in business or in professional life going forward will be determined by those who have a good understanding of these terms, especially by those who have developed a proactive approach and not by those who act in a sporadic way.
Technology progress has made the world a smaller place, and this phenomenon is also known as globalization. As a result, the value of any professional or any entrepreneur in a company is now determined by having a solid professional network through which to do business both at the local, national, and international levels. And a professional network can not develop itself by chance, it takes a serious investment of time, effort, and money in order to build and maintain it.
However, a solid professional network is of little value unless a professional or an entrepreneur has a specific business project to work on so that individuals who have expertise or other resources within this network can be identified and mobilized in a specific way toward the realization of the project. But to mobilize people effectively toward a business project, it is necessary to assess the impact of the project within a company or in the marketplace because a project that has little or no impact will not motivate people to take action and contribute the resources that are being sought.
And to start and finish any project successfully, financing is a required element. Financing has three components: time, effort, and money. If any one of these three elements is missing, a professional or an entrepreneur is not going to finish a project at all, despite having the best intention to do so. It is a major mistake to think of financing just in monetary terms, and not also in other important aspects such as time and effort.
In addition, many entrepreneurs assume that having money or having more of it will automatically lead to success in the business environment even if they may lack the expertise to start and finish a project in a specific industry sector. The reality is that it takes a long time to develop genuine expertise that can be utilized to produce valuable products and services. That is why copying what your competitors do without having developed the knowledge and experience in the sector does not lead to success in the long term because the foundation on which to innovate will not be in place.
This year, I took the initiative to launch Congo Business Network, a professional network to which I have brought over 20 years of experience of many things that I have learned in the United States, especially in the business environment. In the diaspora and in Congo, professionals and entrepreneurs who want to distinguish themselves in business in 2019 must recognize, understand, and embrace these five terms: professional network, project, impact, financing, and expertise. That is why the second online event that we held on December 1 this year focused on the importance and strategies for developing a professional network that is now a requirement for success.
For Congo Business Network, online events have three specific goals: Connect the diaspora to professionals and entrepreneurs in Congo; share knowledge and expertise in a specific sector of the economy; and create real-time networking opportunities among participants through video conversations using Cisco WebEx.
Congo Business Network is an international network of Congolese professionals and entrepreneurs. Our mission is to connect professionals and entrepreneurs in the diaspora in order to take action and contribute to the economic development of Congo.
Noel K. Tshiani is president of Agere Global, an investment advisory and business strategy firm based in New York.
