Once upon
a time, the world was full of only two people, the entire
planet full of two people. I try to imagine, there
had been plenty
than the human needs. The only difference it makes
is that, everything
was natural, provided by nature; no air
conditions, sofa sets and
Toyota V8. As time went on, people multiplied and
today we strive and
struggle to acquire the limited resources; the
demand of almost
everything seems to be greater than its supply.
The world has several
times declared food shortage, fuel shortage, clean
water shortage,
clean air shortage, land shortage, to mention few.
Scientists are
exploring if a room can be found outside planet to
damp the excess
population. Life is becoming a struggle for the
fittest, to refer
philosophers.
But the question remains, is it real true that we
have shortage of
everything? Is it true that food cannot be
abundantly supplied, water,
air? Is it real true that the planet is at optimum
of its capacity for
even survival? This is the paradox in the midst of
synonymous
questions.
Talking of Africa, specifically Tanzania, are
these questions
answerable? In Dar es Salaam, it takes several
millions to get a piece
of land while in Makete-Iringa it takes just
several thousands to get
the same piece of land, for the same purpose.
Seven major rivers pour
their water into Indian Ocean day and night, 24
hours a day, seven
days a week; but Dar es Salaam, Dodoma and some
parts of Kilimanjaro,
suffers water shortage to the extent that water is
becoming amongst
scarce commodities (totally against water-diamond
paradox). It takes
several ten millions to build a home in Arusha,
but it takes several
millions to build the same home in Lushoto-Tanga.
People are sleeping
outside others’ homes and business premises in Dar
es Salaam while
there is plenty land to build a hut in Lushoto.
Economics has answers to all these scenarios; I
have no doubt of that
because I have studied and understood it all. But
my concern is, why
should that be? Why should be existing problems in
both rural and
urban? While rural suffers of power shortage but
full of water supply,
the urban suffers water supply shortage but full
of power supply!
While urban suffers land shortage but enjoys
transport access, the
rural suffers transport access but enjoys plenty
supply of arable
land! This is paradox easy to answer by economics
principles but hard
to depict in reality.
Sincerely speaking, there are problems in both rural
and urban. There
is luxury in both rural and urban. The only
difference is, they are
differentiated in terms of levels, nature and
approach. If that is so,
then there are businesses opportunities in both
rural and urban; that
mean someone can invest in rural and get returns
while the other
invest in urban and get returns as well.
The very shocking shortage that the country is
provokingly facing
right now, and it will sooner get worse, is
employments shortage,
simply put unemployment. A good number of graduates
is released every
year, meanwhile there is irrelevant growth in
number of employment
opportunities in formal sector. Frankly speaking,
employment shortage
may be greater than food shortage, water shortage,
and power shortage;
and this may have severe consequences than any
shortage ever happened.
Currently, it is normal to interview 1,000
applicants for a single
post needing 10 people. So far the Post System is
currently doing
business because of one post announced by one
small firm.
The question should be, is it real true that there
is no employments?
If the answer is yes that means there are limited
or no problems in
the society hence we have a perfect society. This
is not true, our
society has many problems than the good it has;
that is to say there
are many potential employments than what we
currently have. That is to
say, the provoking unemployment shortage about to
multiply can be
solved.
I hope it is true that the available employments
are the solutions to
problems we are currently experiencing. There are
currently have
doctors because there are patients; we have
teachers because there are
children, there are accountants because we have
financial
transactions, we have auditors because there are
thieves in
organizations, there are civil engineers because
we have house and
infrastructure constructions, there are marketers
because we have
needs to be satisfied, etc. Hence there are vast
problems in the
society that need people, that is to say there are
vast employment
opportunities in the society.
Is it not true that the unemployed army constitute
of accountants,
teachers, marketers, medical doctors, project
planners, lawyers and
psychologists? Don’t we have such shortages in the
society? The truth
is, the unemployed army constitutes of such people
and the society
suffers such a shortage.
The only and biggest problem remain, who is to
link between the
society’s problems and problem-solvers at the
expense of payments!
Because it is not true that unemployed accountant
do not want to be an
accountant, unemployed lawyer do not want to be a
lawyer, unemployed
teacher do not want to be a teacher, and
unemployed marketer do not
want to be a marketer. It is totally not true,
every unemployed
somebody wants to be an employed somebody.
The approach to solve this problem is categorized
into two, the
Aggregate Approach and the Individual Approach.
The Aggregate Approach
is when the government, parastatals or private
organization takes a
responsibility to define society’s problems and
hire the
problem-solvers at the expense of a pay. Meanwhile
The Individual
Approach is when the problem-solver takes a step
to define a society’s
problem and offer a solution to it at a
profit/gain.
Now, the fact that unemployment will remain a
problem is defined by
the fact that either or both of the two approaches
have not been in
effect. At the end of the day unemployment should
not add to problems
that the society already has. I admire the fact
that the system itself
does not create its people to take the individual
approach to solving
the society’s problems at gain, but it should not
be an excuse because
there is still a room to learn on how to go about.
As I have said
before, the aggregate approach is when a
government, parastatals or
private sector builds a link between society’s
problems and
problems-solvers at the expense of a pay. Mind
you, majority of these
private sectors ever began by taking an individual
approach. Hence
behind individual approach is entrepreneurship.
Following the nature of our society, some of us
should take this
approach; I believe there is ability but just
willingness and
confidence. Those who tried it ended up succeed, I
have examples. Less
educated people are solving society’s problems,
and they gain from it;
retired and old people are doing the same and
enjoy their gains; I
believe a fresh graduate can take the same move
and excel. Don’t ask
me about capital, just get out of such a box of
thinking of million to
thinking of hundred thousand; am sure even a
hundred thousand does
something and multiplies.
It is then obvious that your family will be proud
to hear you are
employed at ABC Company, but I am also sure that
they are not happy
that you are not currently employed. I know that
you real need a
reward to what you have constantly studied in more
than 17 years, you
need a fast and good pay for it. Unfortunately
going to individual
approach will mean, “Hey, you need some more time
for good pay”, but
off course this is the way it works in this
approach, in long-run it
gives more than a good pay.
Hence, it is and it will never be an easy task to
go for individual
approach, but it is the move to take for the good
of the country, but
also for your own good. If you feel courageous
about this, if you feel
desperate, if you feel discontented and if you
feel like doing
something like building a business venture; don’t
hesitate, do it. A
try was always a good attempt except to an
adolescent. So give it a
try and invest in it, invest your time and
strength, invest your
skills and make a smart move. You may undergo a
hard way, but don’t
give up; I can allow you to change a course of
action but I don’t
allow you to give up!
Just to excite you, this will determine at what
side of the table you
will sit during an interview. If you real need to
live a fabulous life
at early age, try this. Don’t do it to get your
daily bread, do it to
build a business empire, that you can employ your
fellows. Remember,
what we call employment today was ever called
slavery. An employee and
a slave have the same meaning, working for
someone; the only
difference they make is that one is legitimate
while the other was
illegitimate. Even a slave in Kenya used to stay
at his own home!
By Azgard