Groove Magazine Zimbabwe Issue 2 | Page 70

The Shark and the Japanese
fisherman Part 2
By Musekiwa Samuriwo
©2010

In my previous article I
introduced the concept of
the shark and the Japanese
fisherman. The article
proceeded to provide four
key positions or
misdirected perspectives
that affect an entrepreneur
as he/she enters the
boundless ocean of
opportunity in business.
This article is going to deal
with one of the first
positions that I aptly
termed naivety.
Oswald Chambers a famous
author once stated that
innocence is for children and
purity is for the adult. In
stating this he was trying to
put across a perspective that
innocence is something
inherent that diminishes as
one is exposed to life and
some of its harsh realities.
Hence his position is that the
adult is faced with a bigger
challenge of maintaining a
good conscience in spite of
circumstance.
Interestingly enough, many an
entrepreneur has entered the
world of business with
innocence (in reality entering
a pool with sharks with a
clear and open wound).

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It would help before we go
further to consider some other
words that mean naivety to
help show us why naivety is
dangerous in business:
Gullibility (lack of caution),
simplicity, inexperience,
ingenuousness and artlessness.

So what is the big
problem with naivety?
Being naïve often establishes
assumptions that you need
money to get a good idea off the
ground and the money is in the
hands of a shark. Business is
about having money in your
hands that to get ahead you
need connections and
networks. As often as is the

Groove Magazine Zimbabwe

case, these 3 assumptions
may be considered true and
fundamental in the success
of any business but in the
hands of a naïve
entrepreneur these
assumptions are fatal.

One of our first encounters
with a shark as a business,
we noticed the dangers of
naivety. We entered
spacious corner office in a
beautiful skyscraper in the
very heart of Zimbabwe’s
capital city and we met a
man who would lead us to
the pot of gold at the end of
the rainbow. Initially, we
were overawed by the fact
that this established
business man was willing