SETTING A NEW PRICE:

How to Charge What You Are Worth Without Losing Clients

Every year, we mentally prepare ourselves for price increases. We hear about rising fuel costs, higher rent, inflation, exchange rate fluctuations, and increased taxes. Yet, when it’s time to pay more — or worse, charge more — resistance sets in.

As entrepreneurs, this tension is even sharper. We understand rising costs better than anyone, but we also fear the reaction of our customers. What if they leave? What if they complain? What if they accuse us of being greedy?

So we delay the inevitable. We absorb the costs. We overwork ourselves. We underprice our value. And slowly, silently, our businesses bleed.

The truth is this: a business that cannot price correctly cannot survive. The key question is not whether to increase prices, but how to do it in a way that preserves trust, loyalty, and long-term growth.

Why Price Increases Feel So Personal

For many entrepreneurs — especially service providers — pricing feels deeply emotional. Your price is not just a number; it feels like a judgment on your worth, your skill, and your relevance.

In many African markets, relationships matter. Customers often see you as their person:

• “She has been my tailor for years.”
• “He’s the mechanic I trust.”
• “This woman has been supplying us since we started.”

So when prices change, it can feel like a betrayal on both sides.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: loyalty that requires you to suffer is not loyalty — it is dependency and it is one sided.

The Hidden Cost of Underpricing

Before talking about how to raise prices, let’s be honest about what underpricing does to your business:

• You work longer hours for diminishing returns.
• You cut corners to survive, which affects quality.
• You burn out and lose passion for the work.
• You attract clients who don’t respect your time or expertise.

Many businesses don’t fail because there’s no demand. They fail because the price structure makes growth impossible.

If your business cannot pay you, reinvest in itself, and withstand shocks, it is not sustainable — no matter how busy you are.

Here are a few tips on how to calculate your real costs and place a fair value on your products and services:

Step 1: Understand Your True Costs

One major mistake entrepreneurs make is pricing based on what competitors charge or what customers are “used to,” rather than on real costs.

Sit down and calculate:

• Cost of raw materials or inputs
• Transportation and logistics
• Rent, utilities, internet, data, fuel
• Staff wages or outsourced services
• Tools, subscriptions, and maintenance
• Your time and expertise

Many African entrepreneurs forget to price their own labour. If you don’t account for your time, you are essentially subsidizing your customers.

Your price must reflect reality, not sentiment.

Step 2: Shift from “Cheap” to “Value”

Customers don’t always want the cheapest option — they want the best value for their money.

Instead of asking, “Will they accept this price?” Ask:

• What problem do I solve for my clients?
• What risk do I reduce for them?
• What convenience, speed, or peace of mind do I offer?

When you position your offering around value, price becomes secondary.

For example:

• A logistics company isn’t just charging for delivery — it’s charging for reliability.
• A consultant isn’t charging for time — but for clarity and results.
• A caterer isn’t charging for food alone — but for experience and trust.

When clients understand the value, price resistance reduces.

Step 3: Communicate Early and Clearly

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is announcing price changes abruptly.

Instead:

• Give notice — even if it’s two to four weeks.
• Explain why the price is changing (rising costs, improved quality, expanded service).
• Reassure clients of continued value and commitment.

You don’t need to apologize excessively. A simple, respectful explanation builds trust.

You can say:

“Due to increased costs of materials and logistics, we will be adjusting our prices from March 1st. This change allows us to continue delivering the quality and reliability you expect from us.”

Clear communication shows professionalism, not greed.

Step 4: Segment Your Customers

Not all customers should be treated the same during a price increase.

You can:

• Offer existing clients a grace period or loyalty discount.
• Introduce new pricing only for new customers.
• Bundle services or products to soften the impact.

This approach protects long-term relationships while still moving your business forward.

Remember: not every customer is meant to follow you into your next level — and that is okay.

Step 5: Improve the Experience As you Increase the Price

A price increase should ideally come with visible improvement:

• Better packaging
• Faster response time
• Improved customer service
• Clearer communication
• More professional branding

When customers see effort and growth, they’re more willing to pay more. People resist price increases when they feel nothing has changed.

Step 6: Prepare Emotionally for Pushback

Some customers will complain. Others will threaten to leave. A few may actually leave.

This is normal.

Do not panic. Do not immediately reverse your decision. Price changes often act as a filter — those who stay are usually better clients.

If everyone leaves, your value proposition needs work. But if some leave and your business stabilizes or improves, you made the right move.

Growth often feels uncomfortable at first.

Step 7: Stop Negotiating Against Yourself

Many entrepreneurs announce a new price and immediately start discounting out of fear.

Confidence matters.

If your pricing is fair, well-calculated, and communicated properly, stand by it. Constantly justifying or reducing your price sends the message that even you don’t believe in your value.

You can be kind without being cheap.

In conclusion, price fluctuations will remain a constant part of our reality until the African economy stabilizes. When entrepreneurs operate in environments with:

• Unpredictable inflation
• Currency volatility
• Rising import costs
• Infrastructure challenges

Your pricing must reflect this reality.

Charging “old prices” in a new economy is a fast route to collapse. Customers may not like price increases, but they understand economic pressure — they feel it too.

What they won’t forgive is poor quality, inconsistency, or sudden disappearance because the business can no longer cope.

Setting a new price is not just a financial move — it’s a leadership one.

It says:

• “I respect my work.”
• “I intend to stay in business.”
• “I am building something sustainable.”

Charging what you are worth is not about greed. It’s about fair exchange — value for value.

When you price with clarity, communicate with honesty, and deliver consistently, the right clients will stay. And your business will finally have room to grow.

Fatherhood with Ibe

About 40 Years After, What Still Surprises Me as a Father

When I became a father nearly forty years ago, I thought I had a fair idea of what lay ahead. I had watched my own father. I had listened to older men talk. I had read a few books and received plenty of unsolicited advice. I believed fatherhood was something you learned once and then simply practiced.

I was wrong.

Four decades later, what surprises me most is not how much my children have changed, but how much I am still changing because of them.

I Thought Love Had a Limit, It Doesn’t

In the early days, fatherhood felt practical: Feeding, rocking, paying school fees, ensuring discipline, keeping the household running. Love, I assumed, was strong but finite — something that would be shared out among children like slices of bread.

But here’s the surprise: love multiplies.

I remember the day my first child was born. I held that tiny human and thought, This must be the peak of love. Then the second child arrived, and instead of love dividing, it expanded. By the time the third came, I realised love is elastic. It stretches without tearing.

Even now, as a grandfather, I am surprised by how fiercely I still love, worry, hope, and pray. The capacity never maxes out.

Children See You More Clearly Than You Think

One of the biggest shocks of fatherhood is discovering that your children are always watching, even when you think they are not.

I once scolded my son for snapping at his younger brother. He looked at me and said, “But Daddy, you talk like that when you’re angry.”

That sentence humbled me more than any sermon ever could.

Children absorb behaviour, not instructions. They hear your tone, notice how you treat their mother or even the maids, observe how you react to failure, money stress, traffic, disappointment, and success. Long after they forget what you said, they remember what you did.

Forty years on, it still surprises me how my offhand comments or casual habits reappear in my children’s lives – sometimes for good, sometimes as a mirror I wish I had cleaned earlier.

You Never Stop Being Needed—It Just Changes Shape

I used to think fatherhood had phases. Infancy, childhood, teenage years, then adulthood – after which you retire.

That is a myth.

You are needed when they are toddlers and when they are professionals. You are needed when they are learning to walk and even more when they are adults learning to understand society or corporate life or to forgive unjust behaviour. The same way you quietly sort out school fees because it needs to be paid even if they haven’t reminded you, is the same way you share your wisdom even when they are too proud or feel too grown up to ask.

My first daughter once called me late at night. She didn’t ask for money or advice. She just said, “Daddy, I needed to hear your voice.”

At that moment, I realised fatherhood doesn’t expire. It simply becomes quieter, subtler, and more sacred.

You Will Be Wrong — Often

In my younger years as a father, I believed authority meant certainty. I thought admitting error would weaken my position.

I have since learned the opposite.

Some of my most meaningful moments as a father came when I said, “I was wrong,” or “I’m sorry,” or “I didn’t know better then.”

I once pushed my child too hard academically, thinking I was preparing him for the world. Years later, we spoke about it openly. That conversation healed more than silence ever could.

After nearly forty years, it still surprises me how much respect honesty earns and how children forgive more readily than we expect when we are sincere.

Each Child Is Truly Their Own Person

You can raise children in the same house, with the same rules, the same food, the same schools, and still end up with completely different human beings.

One could be cautious, another bold. One could be analytical and another deeply emotional. One could love structure and another resist it with all he has.

Early on, I tried to parent my kids the same way. Experience taught me that fairness is not sameness; it is understanding.

Even now, I am surprised by how my children continue to reveal layers of themselves — new passions, convictions, fears, and strengths I never predicted.

They are not extensions of me. They are individuals I have the privilege of knowing.

Time Moves Faster Than You Are Ready For

This surprise never softens.

One day you are teaching a child how to tie shoelaces. The next, you are attending their wedding. One moment, you are carrying them on your shoulders. Suddenly, they are carving their own paths, carrying responsibilities you once carried for them.

I remember dropping my first child off at the boarding house when she was barely 11 years old. I smiled, waved, and drove away but my heart was heavy as if I’d lost a part of myself. It happened over and over as the kids grew. Going from secondary school to university and into their own lives.

Even now, I am still surprised by how quickly moments pass, and how important it is to be present when they arrive and to enjoy each of those moments.

Your Legacy Is Not What You Thought

In my younger days, I thought legacy meant property, education, achievements, and titles.

Today, I know better.

Legacy is the confidence your child carries into the world. The way they treat others when no one is watching. How they raise their own children. The values they hold when life pressures them to compromise.

I am often surprised when my children reference lessons I don’t even remember teaching; things they picked up simply by living beside me.

Legacy is quieter in applause but louder than inheritance in the long run.

You Will Learn as Much as You Teach

Perhaps the greatest surprise of all is this: fatherhood is not a one-way relationship.

My children have taught me patience. They have softened my judgments. They have challenged my assumptions. They have forced me to grow emotionally in ways my career never could.

They have taught me to listen, to adapt, to apologise, and to love without conditions.

Even after forty years, I am still learning — from their struggles, their resilience, their questions, and their courage.

The Journey Never Really Ends

If I could speak to my younger self, I would say this: Relax. Pay attention. Love generously. Learn.

After nearly forty years, what still surprises me as a father is not the difficulty of the role but its depth. Fatherhood is not something you finish. It is something you become.

And if I am honest, that ongoing becoming has been one of the greatest privileges of my life.