Most African start-ups are solo projects and that is exactly why many fail and those that don’t never grow through infancy. The reality is that there is this belief that by not fostering partnership in their business, they protect their interests against the risk of the co-partner defrauding the business.

I find this quiet disturbing because an entrepreneur is supposed to throw out such mentality when starting a business as the business itself could fail, on its own without the need of a co-partner doing anything, and such mentality in-fact exposes a business to various liabilities and risk.

Why should you have a partner in your start-up?

1. Start-up Cost Burden - Starting a business is expensive, and costs a considerable amount of money to begin, if you have a partner, this financial burden is divided so is your exposure to the risk of the business which is reduced proportionately.

2. Specialization – Your co-partner might have certain skills that complements your business model, so would you, collaborating in a partnership construct ensures that this unique contribution creates high quality products and services.

3. Backup-Runner :- What happens when you get sick? What happens when you are on holiday? What happens when you have emergencies or Gets hit by a truck? Who would handle the business and services ? Having a partner fixes that perfectly.

4. Growth Limitation - A solo run business’s growth is extremely limited. You can only do as much as a one man army. Look around you for small businesses that are more than 5 years old, and yet they are still in the same size and shape as they were before. Wonder why?

5. Accountability - If you are running a solo startup you are only accountable to yourself, hence there is high chance that you would be very indisciplined financially.

How do you form an effective partnership in Africa with or without an African?

How do you structure your partnership, so that everybody contributes effectively?

How do you structure your partnership to avoid conflicts?

I would answer this and much more in my next post titled, Forming a bulletproof business partnership in Africa.