KYP Requirements📝📝
"Every game has its rules, and its own language."
#83
I know you’ve heard of KYC (Know Your Client) requirements usually employed by financial institutions. It’s a form of due diligence checks. I call this KYP (Know Your Partner).
I think I’m a pretty good judge of character. I’ve been able to sense a couple of bad nuts (even though some of them got through) and stay away from some opportunities even though they looked quite promising at the time. Investing in businesses is mostly about building partnerships. In fact, they’re marriages. If you plan on investing in someone else’s business, keep in mind that you will be hearing from them weekly, if they’re an active and serious investor, for the next 7-10 years of your life. This happens especially when they’re a venture capitalist and they need to return funds to their limited partners. If this marriage is off, you’re going to have a whooole lot of problems. And at the end, it is not possible to grow big on your own. You will need partners. It’s all about partnerships.
What’s the key ingredient to building a successful partnership? I think it’s mutual trust. Succeeding n business is way more about just having a good idea and raising capital. If you don’t know how to forge meaningful, long term partnerships, based on mutual trust, you will not make it.
Strive Masiyiwa noted:
“The best partner for you, is not some big powerful politician, or someone with a lot of money, or some big international company. The best partner for you, is someone just like you, who has the passion for entrepreneurship, that you have. Someone who has the skills to compliment, what you do best, and is willing to work hard, very hard, alongside you.”
I’d add that you must have a sense of common values. The most important ones to me are honesty, integrity and hard work. If these are yours as well, come and let’s build.
📱📱Quote of the day
“Focus on integrity, because one day, you will be the partner of choice for anyone wanting to do business in Africa, the right way…” — Bishop Garlington to Strive Masiyiwa
Remember: “Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.”