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simbarashe

I love Arsenal and Iam always happy to tell someone about it. On two separate occasions, I have seen Darlene Zschech and Kaka two dreams fulfilled but Arsene Wenger is still on my to-see list. The Arsenal mentor is the best football manager in England. Wait, don’t click the close button. That’s just my opinion. I respect yours. You are probably wondering where Iam going with this.

The North Londoners mentor is credited for changing English football since his arrival both on the pitch and on the balance sheet. Arsenal has successfully managed to stay in top flight football, finishing in top four every season and proceeding from the group stages of the champions’ league every season. I guess the next fact will not surprise you. Arsenal has a fully paid stadium and boasts as the only team to have never seen relegation on all the teams in the English league. I will not talk of the Invincibles, probably Arsene’s best team to clinch the title without a defeat. Quite a record

It’s the resources that Arsene has to work with to fight against teams like the Manchester duo and Chelsea which lives the odds against the French mentor. Enough about football, let’s talk about your business. A lot of SMEs have found themselves in Arsene’s shoes at one point in time. Having to go 50/50 against financially stronger multinationals with a multi skilled work force and an undisputable brand is a little less different than Arsene Wenger’s young half backed squad playing against the run away Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.

It beats me than Arsene’s team were the only ones to win against a sharp, alert and hungry Bayern Munich at home during the 2012/13 season. Using this soccer metaphor, consider your competitor in your niche, X (Pvt) Ltd as Chelsea and your organization Y (Pvt) Ltd as Arsenal. The bottomless pockets of Roman Abramovich against the limited resources of Arsene will translate not only to a relatively lower remuneration scale but also to a lower marketing investment of Y (Pvt). A lot of SMEs are versions of Arsenal battling against superior multinational companies for a share of profits and market share.

The question then is how has Arsene managed and can his success be duplicated by our local business enterprises. Iam going to assume, with some exceptions, that if you have read this article to this point you own a small business, want to own a small business or you manage a small business and you know that something is missing to take your business to the next level. By all means, do take what Iam about to share seriously. Why am I questioning your sincerity, you are probably asking? Because when it comes to Arsenal or your business, it’s all about money. Your employees want more money, your landlord want more money. To beat competition your business requires more money in marketing. To acquire state of the art machinery to produce x units in one hour you require more money. Sounds like Arsene Wenger trying to acquire the services of Gonzalo Huiguian and Wayne Rooney. Your marketing manager (Robin van Persie) left because of money and the biggest challenge is X (Pvt) Ltd is offering you the manager a more than respectable package if you live your company to work for them. For the record, everyone who is in business in Zimbabwe should support or at least appreciate Arsenal.

If you are going to build a world class team (company) you will need to work out your relationship with money. Despite the odds being against Arsene, Arsenal has managed to make a profit almost every transfer window. Besides the odds being against you, always make sure your system enables you to make a fair profit on every sale. As we speak, Arsene like your business is struggling to hire employees because he does not have money. But we both know he will succeed in the end. But will your business succeed too.

One of Arsene’s strategy is to buy were he can sell and to sell were he can buy. Most of his youth talent comes from Germany and Barcelona and of late he has returned the favour by selling Cesc and Song. There is no doubt that this reciprocal business will continue into the unforeseeable future. Arsene has been rated as one of the best transfer negotiators in football. He signs reciprocal business contracts whenever he transact. No wonder why Arsene had the first priority on Cesc if he was to ever live Barcelona.

Besides posting more than respectable profits in the past seasons, Arsenal has not gone out to spend it foolishly.  A lot of SMEs find they are bankrupt after squandering profits on flashy cars and high rentals. A lot of SME owners believe that any change in their profitability should automatically translate to a change in life style. They act as if they were home sick when the first lecture on Business Management was conducted and they don’t know that a business is a separate legal person. Thus if that person makes money it doesn’t automatically mean you have made money too. Besides Arsenal having made a lot of money from the sale of key top players last season, Arsene ended up buying Nacho during the mid-season break. He did not spend his money lavishly.

In the past ten years Arsenal haven’t won a trophy, the north Londoners were building a new stadium and paying off the debt. This has forced the club to manage its expenses but the most important thing is Arsenal did not downsize its vision. Manchester City and Chelsea were then bought by rich owners but Arsenal remained title contenders. Arsene did not downsize his vision. A lot of entrepreneurs have downsized there vision in the wake of emerging risks, competition and economic environment.

If you want to build a strong brand, a world class company, never downsize your vision. Be rigid with your vision. Arsene has managed to produce world class super stars like Cesc and van Persie because he was loyal to his goals and his vision. I hope you are with me. If you like this post, write me a comment.

To your success.