How Much Risk are you Willing to Take?

Decide today how much risk you are willing to take. Photo Courtesy of Twitter.

In a 2017 Youth Connekt Africa Summit held in Kigali Rwanda, Eugene Anangwe had a juicy discussion with Patrice Motsepe on matters Africa and her youth. Patrice Motsepe is the chairman of Africa Rainbow Minerals (ARM) and is valued at over USD 2 billion in terms of wealth. At the question and answer interlude, a participant asked Patrice how much he was willing to invest in the African youth to ensure their success. In a witty and charming response, Motsepe answered that they would invest their all.

In as much as the question was a personal one, Patrice in a plural philanthropic mood came out as a committed African statesman keen on seeing the African youth prosper. In other words he could be willing to risk his all to see a future for the continent’s youth. A full risk on behalf of another. So what do we do at personal level and in the first person order when another person is willing to risk their all for us? How far are we willing to risk and invest in ourselves to see our situations change?

To risk means that you might lose your all in the process. And the rewarding thing about this is that you may win and win really big. In this piece, we will try and explore risking in the three areas of life; economic, social and spiritual. At least there is an aspect of taking chances in any area of this life at some point. At the end of the day the point is about calculated risking versus unpremeditated ones. It is the reason why some risks bring a subsequent loss and others are highly rewarding.

Economic

Ask me in the middle of the night about the characteristics of an entrepreneur and I won’t miss to say that they are risk takers. What it means is that these are people willing to invest their time and resources on the long run in causes they consider having potential to grow. Mukesh’s father, Dhirubhai Ambani said early on in his business enterprise while taking his company on an IPO that shareholders were to put money into the business; that profits would be shared amongst them and that should they make losses, he would bear them alone.

This was a statement poised to assure excellence. Yet deeper we see an individual who had a strong conviction about the success of the business he was setting up. He risked losing his all should the business go wrong for the sake of building trust with people so that the people also could risk their money with him. That risk has made those shareholders a lot happier today. Reliance industries is a mega giant in India and is changing lives from telecommunications to retailing and as far as energy.

Are we willing to risk our resources with that small idea we have in mind? Are we willing to sacrifice our time for the sake of the idea? How long are we sure to wait to see the transitioning of the business? In all these aspects, we are putting in our all, our best to try and win. For the bold and the confident, the end is often highly rewarding.

Social and Spiritual

In last week’s article I wrote about family and its importance and I remember putting a statement there that family is important to us because they are the people we are willing to make ourselves most vulnerable to in a bid to be understood even in our silence.

What that means is that we will be opening ourselves to them completely. In other words, we sacrifice our secrecy and other personal matters for the sake of the family unity and love. It means sharing our fears and past as well as future with people closest to us hoping the information will not be weaponized against us in the form of manipulation. We risk to build associations.

Imagine finding a complete new individual and falling in love with them. We place ourselves entirely before them and commit to them in a manner of putting them first even before our families and not fearing that such an association and risk can mean the loss of our actual families’ support should we drift and forget at some point on the way till we end up distancing ourselves with them.

We place ourselves completely at their feet in a union perhaps based on our religious convictions and beliefs. Trusting that these individuals at times from different tribes, countries and races will give us a reason to live and build a future together. Yet we realize it is a risk we must take. In our churches, the bible teaches us that man and woman are to leave their parents and cleave to each other and the two will become one fresh. Sacrificing the connections with our parents built over long periods of time as well as the comfort for the sake of the other individual. One to which we give ourselves willingly and lovingly to. What a beauty?

Come to think of us going to church and allowing ourselves to be led heavenward by other fallen human beings as we are. Yet it is a risk we must take. Imagine Jesus coming to die for our sins and risking loss of eternity yet it was a risk that he must take. It thus comes to a conclusion that we must, by all means be willing to sacrifice our all even our destiny if we are to achieve whatever we embark on. Risk is not an option but a necessity we must undertake at various points in our lives should we wish to amount to anything.

If we want to make our relationships work, we must be willing to risk our all. We must sacrifice everything for its sake. Should we be willing to make it successfully in this world, we should also risk our time and resources in what we find passion in. On the long run we will enjoy the fruits thereof. Most importantly we should be consenting to the working of the Holy Spirit to guide us in all our endeavors as we faithfully look forward to the advent in the spiritual realms. It will be the greatest reward for all the risks we take while it is still now.

Decide what you will risk on today and get going. Someday you will reap the fruits.

End