Five Books Every African Entrepreneur Should Read Before the Year Ends

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.”

George R.R. Martin may have been writing about fiction, but the same wisdom applies to business. Every good business book allows you to borrow years, and sometimes decades, of someone else’s experience without paying the full price of the same mistakes he made and learnt from along the way.

For the past several weeks, we’ve talked extensively about mid-year reviews, performance audits, resetting goals, and preparing for a stronger second half of the year. Those conversations were necessary because successful businesses are built on honest assessment.

But now here’s another important question.

What will shape your thinking between now and December?

Businesses rarely outgrow the mindset of the people leading them. Machines can be upgraded. Offices can be renovated. Capital can be raised. But, if the business owner continues to think the same way without improving his outlook and broadening his horizon, the business eventually reaches a ceiling.

One of the cheapest ways to expand your thinking is through books.

The entrepreneur operating in Lagos, Nairobi, Kigali, Johannesburg, Accra, or Lusaka faces realities that many Western business authors never experienced; power interruptions, unstable exchange rates, infrastructure challenges, policy uncertainty, and rapidly changing markets. Yet, the principles behind successful businesses remain surprisingly universal.

I have selected a few that can help every business owner especially the ones in the African continent. These books listed below won’t solve every uniquely African challenge. What they will do is help you think better, decide faster, lead wiser, and build stronger systems. Combined with local knowledge and practical experience, they can become powerful companions for the remaining months of the year.

1. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber

Many African entrepreneurs don’t actually own businesses. They own demanding jobs disguised as businesses; everything depends on them. Every customer wants to speak directly with the owner. Every payment requires the owner’s approval. Every staff member waits for instructions. Every problem lands on the CEO’s desk. The business works only because the owner works endlessly.

In this book, Gerber explains why this happens. He introduces the idea that every entrepreneur plays three roles; the technician who does the work, the manager who organises it, and the entrepreneur who imagines the future. Most small business owners become trapped as technicians.

This lesson is especially important here where many businesses begin as survival ventures. The founder becomes accountant, marketer, driver, customer service officer, procurement manager, and security supervisor all at once. While this may be necessary in the beginning, it becomes dangerous if it never changes.

As you prepare for the remaining months of the year, ask yourself one question: “If I were absent from my business for two weeks, would it continue to operate effectively?” If the answer is no, this book deserves your attention.

2. Good to Great by Jim Collins

Some businesses survive, others endure. A much smaller number become institutions.

Jim Collins spent years studying companies that made the difficult transition from being merely good to becoming consistently great and he shared the result of his study in this book. One of the most powerful ideas in the book is the “Flywheel Effect.” Sustainable success rarely comes from one dramatic breakthrough. It comes from hundreds of consistent decisions that gradually build unstoppable momentum.

African entrepreneurs often work in environments where sudden disruptions are common. Policies change. Fuel prices rise. Supply chains fail. New competitors emerge overnight. In such an environment, it is tempting to chase every opportunity that appears. Collins reminds us that greatness usually belongs to businesses that master a few things exceptionally well rather than many things poorly.

Perhaps the second half of this year is not the time to launch five new products; it may be the time to perfect the one product your customers already love.

3. The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

This may not appear to be a traditional business book, but every entrepreneur should read it because many businesses fail not because their owners lack intelligence, but because they misunderstand money. Housel argues that financial success depends less on mathematical brilliance and more on behaviour: Patience, Discipline, Consistency, Humility.

These qualities are particularly valuable in African markets where inflation, currency fluctuations, and economic uncertainty often tempt business owners into emotional decisions. One profitable month can encourage reckless expansion. One difficult quarter can trigger unnecessary panic. One large contract can create dangerous overconfidence.

The book teaches entrepreneurs to build businesses that can survive difficult seasons rather than merely celebrate successful ones. That lesson alone well learnt, is worth the price of the book.

4. Atomic Habits by James Clear

Business transformation rarely begins with major announcements; it begins with small daily improvements. James Clear demonstrates how tiny habits, repeated consistently, create extraordinary results over time.

Many entrepreneurs spend January writing ambitious plans. By July those plans are forgotten. By December they wonder what happened.

The problem is often not ambition, it is systems. Instead of setting a vague goal like “increase sales,” set specific targets that build habits that support and eventually increase sales. For example, the target can be: “Call five prospective customers every day,” “review cash flow every Friday,” “meet your management team every Monday,” “read industry news every morning,” “respond to customer complaints within twenty-four hours.” Small steps based on professional discipline eventually become competitive advantages.

As the year enters its final stretch, this book offers practical guidance for finishing stronger than you started.

5. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

Every entrepreneur enjoys talking about success. Far fewer discuss loneliness.

There are moments every CEO experiences what no motivational speaker prepares you for.

• Having to reduce staff because revenue has declined.
• Losing your biggest customer.
• Making payroll when cash is scarce.
• Negotiating with creditors.
• Making unpopular decisions for the survival of the business.

Ben Horowitz writes honestly about these uncomfortable realities. He doesn’t pretend leadership is glamorous. He explains that sometimes there are no perfect options, all you have are difficult choices that leaders must make with courage and integrity.

African entrepreneurs, perhaps more than most, understand this reality. Many continue operating despite infrastructure challenges, regulatory uncertainty, rising operating costs, and fierce competition.

This book reminds leaders that resilience is not the absence of difficulty. It is the determination to keep making thoughtful decisions despite difficulty.

That mindset can carry a business through seasons when strategy alone is not enough.

Having recommended these books, I must emphasize that Reading Is Not the Goal, Application Is. Buying books has become easier than reading them. Many CEOs have beautifully arranged shelves of books in their offices. They like the ambience it creates and the impression it gives about them but they hardly open the pages.

To take it further, reading books has become easier than applying them. Knowledge creates value only when it changes behaviour. As you read, keep a notebook beside you. Write down one lesson after every chapter. Identify one action your business can implement immediately. Discuss the ideas with your management team. Challenge long-held assumptions. Experiment carefully. Improve continuously.

The entrepreneur who reads one good business book and applies its lessons thoroughly will often outperform the entrepreneur who reads twenty books without changing anything.

Don’t forget:

The remaining months of the year still hold tremendous possibilities. There is enough time to recover lost ground, strengthen your team, improve customer relationships, build healthier financial habits and position your business for a remarkable new year.

One good decision can change the trajectory of an entire business. Sometimes that decision begins with opening the right book. So before you purchase another expensive gadget, attend another conference, or chase another shiny opportunity, invest in something that will quietly sharpen every decision you make thereafter.

Your business will only grow as far as your thinking allows it. And, a well-chosen book will help expand your scope.

Cheers!!

Fatherhood with Ibe

BECOMING A GRANDFATHER CHANGED HOW I SEE FATHERHOOD

I have written articles on Fatherhood for over 35 years, right from when my oldest child was just a toddler. I like to think of myself as a present father; I tried to connect with my children and be involved in their lives despite the demands of building a career in a multinational company then. I was the kind of dad that interviewed nannies and lesson teachers and constantly reviewed their impact on my kids and discussed their observations.  I planned my vacations around school calendars and mostly visited my children’s preferred places of interest. They are mostly all grown up now, with some running their own homes and lately, I have been writing about the transition from the dad that directed and supervised to the dad that gives advice and sits back to allow his children to do their own thing – spread their wings and earn their feathers.

So, now, I am a grandfather and people often ask me what it feels like. Do I have the temptation to take charge and raise the grandchildren as if they are my direct responsibility? Do I feel the same way about my grandkids as I did my children?

My answer usually surprises them.

I tell them that seeing my grandchildren makes me feel grateful. Becoming a grandfather is the privilege of seeing life begin again while carrying the wisdom of having lived through it once already. They are not the same thing.

When my first granddaughter was born, I looked at that tiny child with emotions I struggled to describe. I had held newborn babies before. I had held my own children when they entered the world. I knew what it meant to become a father. Yet this felt different. Not greater, not lesser, simply different.

As a young father, my mind was full of responsibilities. There were bills to pay, careers to build, school fees to plan for, a home to maintain, and a future to secure. Every decision carried the weight of providing stability for my family. Even the happiest moments were accompanied by silent calculations about tomorrow. That is the nature of fatherhood in its early years. A father learns to carry burdens quietly.

But becoming a grandfather gave me something I did not know I had lost along the way. It gave me the luxury of slowing down and simply enjoying without the anxiety to rearrange. For the first time in many years, I could simply watch a child discover the world without feeling that every moment had to prepare her for the next stage of life. I found myself enjoying conversations that went nowhere, answering endless questions that had no practical purpose, and laughing at things I would once have hurried past because work was waiting or another responsibility demanded attention.

Children have a remarkable way of reminding us that life is not lived only in milestones. Sometimes it is lived in puddles after the rain, in bedtime stories read for the fifth time, in tiny hands reaching for yours without hesitation.

Age teaches us this and children remind us of it.

One of the greatest surprises of becoming a grandfather is discovering how much patience time has quietly deposited into your life. When I was a younger father, patience was something I had to work hard to practise. Between earning a living, meeting deadlines, and trying to raise responsible children, there were days when my responses were quicker than my understanding.

Looking back now, I wish I had paused more often. It was not because I loved my children any less; I loved them with all I had. But love and patience are not always twins. Sometimes one arrives long before the other.

Today, when my grandchildren ask me questions that stretch on endlessly, I smile instead of glancing at the clock. I have learned that children are rarely asking only for information. Often, they are asking whether we have time for them. They just want to know that you can focus on them for a bit.

As fathers, we answer questions. As grandfathers, we begin to understand the question behind the question. Perhaps that is one of the quiet gifts that age gives us.

People sometimes assume grandparents love their grandchildren more than they loved their own children. I do not believe that. Love does not become greater. It simply becomes less distracted. When my children were growing up, I loved them while trying to build a future. Today, I love my grandchildren after having built most of that future.

The worries are different. The pace is different. The heart is the same.

Watching my own children become parents has also been one of life’s greatest lessons.

There is a peculiar humility that comes from seeing your son or daughter comfort a crying child, explain right from wrong, or patiently guide little hands learning something new. In those moments, you begin to notice echoes of your own parenting.

Sometimes they repeat habits you are proud of. Sometimes they improve on things you wish you had done differently. Oddly enough, that does not wound the ego, it heals it. Every generation should become wiser than the one before it. If our children become better parents than we were, then perhaps we have succeeded more than we realised. That thought brings me great comfort.

I have also discovered that grandparenthood gives you a front-row seat to the passage of time; you begin to see your own children through different eyes. The little girl whose hand once disappeared inside yours is now holding the hand of her own child. The little boy you once carried on your shoulders is now carrying responsibilities you remember carrying yourself. Life has a beautiful way of coming full circle. It reminds you that no season lasts forever: Not the sleepless nights, nor the teenage years, nor the empty nest. Each season quietly prepares you for another.

One of the blessings of this stage of life is that I no longer feel the need to prove anything.

When I was younger, I believed fathers had to know all the answers. Experience has taught me otherwise. Children do not need fathers who are always right. They need fathers who are always learning. That lesson has stayed with me into grandparenthood.

My grandkids are growing up in a world very different from the one I knew. Technology changes almost daily. The way families communicate has evolved. Opportunities have expanded in ways my generation could hardly imagine. Yet, beneath all these changes, children remain wonderfully unchanged. They still need kindness, security, encouragement, and tender care. They still bloom when they know someone delights in their presence.

Some truths never grow old.

Perhaps that is why I worry less today about raising successful children than I do about raising good human beings. Success can be measured by titles, salaries, or achievements. Character is measured by what people do when no one is watching. Long after careers have ended and applause has faded, character continues speaking. If there is one conversation I hope to have with my grandchildren many years from now, it will not be about examination scores or professional accomplishments. It will be about what they remembered most. I hope they remember that their grandfather listened. That I laughed with them, prayed for them in the quietness of my heart. I hope they remember that they always found acceptance before advice and that I always believed in them.

Those are the memories that survive the years.

As I have grown older, I have also realised something else: Fatherhood never really ends, it evolves.

There was a time when my role was to protect. Then it became a season of providing, and later, it became guiding. Today, it has become encouraging. Different responsibilities, the same love.

Many younger fathers ask me what the secret to successful parenting is.

I always disappoint them because I do not have a clever formula.

I simply tell them this: Do not rush through the ordinary days. One day, the toys will disappear from the sitting room. The school runs will come to an end. The noise that once exhausted you will become the music you miss. I tell them to take more photographs, document ordinary days as well as the momentous ones. Read one more bedtime story. Accept one more invitation to play. Listen to one more long explanation about something only a five-year-old can find fascinating.

Those moments seem ordinary while you are living them. Years later, they become priceless.

If becoming a father taught me responsibility, becoming a grandfather has taught me perspective. It has reminded me that life is not ultimately measured by how much we accumulate, but by how deeply we love and how faithfully we remain present for the people entrusted to us.

At my age, I have no illusion that I have discovered every secret about fatherhood. In truth, I am still learning. The classroom has simply changed. Now my teachers have smaller shoes, brighter eyes, infectious laughter, and an endless curiosity about the world.

I count it one of God’s greatest gifts that, after all these years, I have been given another opportunity to learn what love looks like through the eyes of a child.

Only this time… I am in no hurry at all.