Why Business Networks Compress Trust

I was glad to share a few thoughts in Tuesday's Daily Monitor feature by Dorothy Nakaweesi on the power of business networks in Uganda.

My view is simple. Business runs on trust and in our market, trust is expensive. When contracts and courts take time, we rely on people who can vouch for us. That is the real work good networks do. They compress trust.

In my experience, the right room gives you 3 things. Deal flow, because a referral means someone has already spoken for you before you walk in. Cheap counsel, because the most expensive money in Uganda is the money lost to the wrong partner or an untested idea. And credibility, because belonging to an organised network tells others you are serious and can be worked with.

But a network cannot save a weak business. It multiplies whatever you bring into it, good or bad.

I lost my father at 13 and went into the market trading sugar. The traders gave me stock because I kept my word. Every serious door I have walked through since opened the same way.

So to the young entrepreneur watching from the outside: start small, show up, deliver something people can see and let your reputation arrive before you do.

Your network will carry your net worth, provided you arrive as a giver and carry something worth referring.

Thank you Daily Monitor and Dorothy Nakaweesi for telling this story.

To explore the full story, click the link below.

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