Don’t Believe The Hype

A Zambian man will try what he can to put a meal on the table. From getting into the transport business with a Toyota Hiace minibus to hosting motivational conferences in 2024. We are inclined to go where the money is.

That’s why within minutes of meeting a guy that was begging you to buy him a drink, the fella becomes your stock, bonds, real estate and investment advisor.

“With food, you can never go wrong.” A variation of this is that other gem, “You can never go wrong with real estate.”

As you mull this, you hear someone chip in with, “People are buying ma VX with gold.”

So off you go to Kansenseli to look for customary land or dig a pit because “Gold is in demand. People are making money.” 

While you’re there, you meet a despondent ‘gold miner’ who tells you that there’s actually more money in supplying mealie meal and beans to the small-scale miners in the area. 

Then you hear how people are building apartments in North Western Province because of the economic boom there. Change of plan. You’re now ‘building flats’ because you can never go wrong with real estate.

Well, you can never go wrong eating into your best years acting on all the advice you hear in a bar, on a bus or at a funeral. 

You go down a perilous rabbit hole when you take on board the random advice of every man you encounter. 

The taxi driver saying there’s money in the business, as if it doesn’t have overheads and problematic drivers. The man in the airport departure lounge that swears there are no good women out there but actually neglected his. 

Or the gainfully employed guy that has multiple examples of why you should never work for anybody yet is terrible with his own finances and professionalism. 

The thing is, as the modern man, you can’t take anybody’s random advice and run with it. The Russians have a saying, ‘Trust but verify’. Do this or you’ll find yourself with costly and half-built apartments, running around for an elusive mining license, a marriage on the rocks, leaving your secure job and on a bus to Kasumbalesa to sell reams of paper. 

All this because the beers were flowing and some random guy showed you photos of the house he’s building with his herbs business. 

Today’s man has to be more measured in what he believes. Almost everybody’s telling a tale. 

There’s no guarantee you’ll find the same success or failure but if you’re going to be told you can never go wrong, hear it from somebody with the dirty hands to show for their reasoning.