Be fruitful

The antidote to poverty is to create, scale and then dominate your field. This path to wealth can be found in the biblical story of creation where God tells Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

Consider an unemployed graduate sitting at home doing nothing. Let’s say this home happens to have an oven in the kitchen. Following this biblical path to wealth, the graduate starts to bake some cakes and bread in the oven. She is now implementing the first step of creation or being fruitful. She has created something which is useful to another human being. Creation follows need. And if you look around you will see a lot of need. People need food, water, shelter, clothing, transport, communication, financial services, education, medicare, etc. All these needs provide potential paths for wealth generation.

Our graduate, let’s call her Lillian, is no longer unemployed! She is now a creator! Now she needs to multiply and fill the earth. In short, she needs to scale her small venture. She approaches her parents for a small loan to buy a bigger oven and other baking equipment. She hires her unemployed cousin as a sales agent. She opens up a bank account. She buys a motorbike to sell her cakes and pastries. She opens up a Facebook page and starts marketing her products. She enrolls for a free online executive MBA to learn about running a business. Lillian is no longer the sad jobless graduate she was a few months ago. Life has taken on a new meaning. She has something to look forward to every day.

A few months go by and the project has taken off. Mummy’s kitchen is now too small. She partners with her brother who runs a successful law firm in town. The brother invests some more capital and they find a new place for rent in the nearby trading center. The plan is now to subdue the market. She focuses on being the number one brand for fresh cakes, pastries, and bread in the neighborhood. She creates a unique brand that stands out from the crowd. She develops excellent relationships with her customers.

Eventually, Lillian’s finances improve. She moves out of her father’s house and finds a nice apartment for herself. With tears of joy, her parents bid her farewell as she leaves home. The tears of joy represent mixed feelings. They are sad that their last born is moving out of home. But they are also proud that their daughter has found a renewed sense of direction, meaning, and independence.

Be fruitful, multiply, and subdue the earth!