Business.
商业。
African entrepreneurs.
非洲企业家。
Parallel players.
同舞者。
Why many of Africa's budding businessfolk are jacks-of-all-trades.
为何许多非洲的新兴企业家杂而不精。
ONE of the many terms Silicon Valley has bequeathed to the business world is "serial entrepreneur", a label for those restless souls who start one business after another. Perhaps Africa can now contribute another expression: the "parallel entrepreneur". More than in any other part of the developing world, the continent's budding business folk create networks of several firms across a number of different sectors of the economy, according to research by IMANI, a think-tank based in Ghana. The 189 successful entrepreneurs it surveyed in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya own, on average, six businesses each. One boasted more than 60. What explains this entrepreneurial hyperactivity?
硅谷留给商界的众多术语之一是"连续企业家"，指的是那些接连创业的不安分的人。也许非洲正在提供另一种表述"并行企业家"。根据加纳智库IMANI的研究，与世界任何发展中的地区相比，更多非洲大陆的新兴企业家创造了横跨不同经济领域的系列公司网络。在参与调查的加纳，尼日尔和肯尼亚的189个成功企业家中，他们人均拥有6家企业，其中一位拥有超过60家企业。如何解释这种企业家的极度活跃现象？
One reason for it is simply the wealth of opportunity, says Cyril Allen II, a well-connected businessman in Liberia's capital, Monrovia. He and his family farm cocoa and coffee, run a cleaning business, lease out property and manage logistics for international companies. "The civil war here ended less than a decade ago."
利比里亚首都蒙罗维亚一家实力雄厚的家族式企业家，Cyril Allen 二世表示，大量的机会是造成这种现象的原因之一。他和他的家族种植可可树和咖啡树，经营一家清洁公司，财产租赁以及为跨国公司提供物流管理服务。他还表示"内战已经结束将近十年了"。
Once a firm has established a degree of trust among its customers, that can in turn spawn new businesses, particularly when many other firms are unreliable. "We work based on relationships, so if I have a good relationship with a client, they might ask for another service," explains Njeri Rionge, an entrepreneur in Kenya whose interests extend from an internet provider to a management consultancy.
公司一旦在客户群中建立了一定的信用度，这就可以孕育出新的公司，尤其是在其他企业没有信用的情况下。肯尼亚企业家Njeri Rionge的业务涉及网络接入到管理咨询服务等领域，他解释说："我们的工作基于关系网，这样如果我与客户维系一个良好的关系，客户就有可能会要求提供其他服务"。
Necessity can also give rise to the creation of more than one company. UT Holdings, in Ghana, started out in 1997 granting loans. But Prince Kofi Amoabeng, its founder, soon discovered that he needed to provide additional services to make the loans business work. He first added a debt-collection company, then security firms. "We found existing companies wanting," says Mr Amoabeng. He keeps expanding his business portfolio, which now includes a life-insurance firm.
需求会导致更多公司的创建。位于加纳的UT Holdings创建于1997年，提供贷款服务。但创建者Kofi Amoabeng王子很快发现他需要提供额外的服务来维持贷款业务的运行。他首先创立一家债务收缴公司，然后是证劵公司。他说："我们发现已有公司的需求"。他不断的扩展公司的业务组合，目前还包括了一家人寿保险公司。
Certain characteristics of African economies also make it more profitable to keep starting new firms rather than build a single big one. Key resources are scarce. Mid-level managers are in sufficient supply, but few are capable of running large businesses, which is why they often apply their talents in several firms simultaneously. Financing is hard to come by (in many countries loans are granted for as little as 20 months); entrepreneurs find it easier to get several small loans for each business rather than a large chunk of money.
非洲经济的特性同样使得创建新企业比建立一个大型企业更加有利可图。关键资源非常稀少，中型企业的管理者可以获得充足的供应，但很少人有能力运行一家大型企业，这也是他们使人才同时从事不同企业的原因。融资非常困难（在很多国家需要20个月才能拿到贷款），而企业家发现为几个企业单独申请小额贷款比一宗大笔贷款更加容易。
But the most crucial factor may be bureaucracy. Its unpredictability deters businessmen from putting all their resources into one basket-out of fear that the market could be the target of onerous regulation. Separate companies are often used to lower tax payments, says Bright Simons, an entrepreneur in Accra, Ghana's capital, who also works as a business analyst. A second firm might be formed to supply materials to the first, he explains, allowing the owner to adjust the prices and profits. And once an entrepreneur has learned how to navigate the red tape, why not apply this valuable skill to other undertakings?
但是最关键的因素应该是政府。它们不可预知的阻碍商人将所有资源集中到一起——由于担心市场会被麻烦的监管条例所限制。Bright Simons是加纳首都阿克拉的企业家，同时也是一名商业分析师。他解释说，单独的公司通常缴纳较低的税金，而第二个公司为第一个提供原材料，这使得企业家可以调整产品的价格和利润。如果一个企业家学会了如何驾驭这些政府的繁杂手续，为何不将这种有价值的技术应用于其他的企业中呢？
Critics of Africa's parallel entrepreneurs worry that jacks-of-all-trades cannot become masters of any. And some investors are wary of putting money into African firms because of their often labyrinthine ownership structures. But multitasking has its good sides, argues Ms Rionge, who in one of her parallel activities mentors young entrepreneurs. "It makes African business leaders agile and adaptable—both good skills that are absent in many developed economies."
针对非洲"并行企业家"的批评家担心，这种杂而不精的方式会使企业变得没有专长。一些投资者由于非洲企业错综复杂的所有权结构而采取非常谨慎的投资行为。但在自己的并行企业中培训青年企业家的Rionge女士认为，这种多企业的并行方式有着自身的优点，它培养了非洲企业领导人的灵活性和适应性，而这两种优秀技巧正是许多发达经济体中所欠缺的。