Groove Magazine Zimbabwe Issue 1 | Page 61

The shark and the
Japanese Fisherman
By Musekiwa Samuriwo
© 2010

Before I venture into writing some
views on business it would be
important to appreciate my view
of sharks and the excessive
hunting of any animal by man. I
would explicitly say I believe that
God has made us stewards of his
creation thus we must act
responsibly and accordingly that is
to say avoiding any excesses as
with trawlers, poachers and other
types of greedy hunters.
But interestingly enough from a
business
perspective
the
relationship between the shark
and the Japanese fisherman is an
interesting one to look at. I would
consider it to be a significant
metaphor especially for any
entrepreneur who has experienced
the pain of loss, having been bait
or prey to the shark.
Sharks in business are a revered
species, renowned for one thing;
hunting down and killing the
naïve
or
inexperienced
entrepreneurial
spirit.
Many
people have dived into the ocean of
opportunity somewhat blindly
believing that they would swim
without any peril or danger.

And sometimes there isn’t but
most times many of us have
entered in with massive bloody
wounds or small lacerations giving
off the scent that attracts sharks;
simply put blood.
In business terms I believe this
scent represents a number of
positions
that
turn
many
entrepreneurs into prey.
Naivety - when one enters
business with the notion that
everybody is genuinely interested
in helping. It isn’t to say that there
aren’t any genuine people in
business but it is appropriate to
say that one needs to recognise
and discern genuine interest.
Sharks can smell this a mile away,
the young entrepreneur with a
brilliant idea who is desperate for
someone to believe in him/her.
Naivety in entrepreneurship is
dangerous and exposes most of us
to heartbreak and sometimes
certain death (giving up) as we
become bait to predators in open
and perilous waters.
When we started developing our
software business naivety led us to
encounter some people who were
just looking for an opportunity to
make money. Most of these people
proved to be a waste of time
because they weren’t in it for the
long haul; they wanted a meal
there and then (little did we know
that we were the prey).

Ignorance with certainty is not
bliss in business.
Many an
entrepreneur has lost an idea
because
of
ignorance.
Entrepreneurs
who
are
uninformed pay the ultimate
price; they will experience
painful losses because they did
not know. Hosea says that, “My
people perish because they do
not know.” Ignorance in business
is one of the main reasons people
fall prey to sharks. Entering into
business
uninformed
and
uninterested in knowledge is
dangerous. The money may
sound great and the opportunity
may look good but careful
inspection and understanding is
critical. It is important to learn
to read the lines and to read
between the lines, that is to say
knowing what to look out for. In
business, we’ve met people who
claim to be privy to some
important people, resources or
information. Initially, we fell
nicely into his jaws, lapping up
his bold assertions that he knew
so many powerful people. More
so he was boasting about his
capacity to rollout a multimillion dollar network in a few
months. Yet, as we got more
informed and as we called his
bluff we realised that we had just
encounter ed a shark and our
ignorance and lack of knowledge
would have led inevitably to
death.

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