Practical Guidance and Knowledge Library to help Afghans start/ build companies and build Afghanistan across key industry sectors - 3.2
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I wish you great success! With love and dedication to build Afghanistan, Sincerely, Alex Steinberg, Afghanistan.
Contents
Current Situation Analysis of Afghanistan:
Afghan people are good-natured people
Many Afghans are friendly, hospitable and helpful people.
Prevalent wrong perceptions by foreigners about Afghanistan
Most foreigner are misled by Western media that provide an outdated and (deliberately) wrong information about Afghanistan. Fact: Afghanistan is very safe for life, business, and travel!
Afghanistan has no effective job market
It is very hard for graduates to find jobs.
Relationships and family ties are often a main hiring criteria.
The Afghan education system is not working well
Many public high schools produce graduates that often struggle to read and write. Focus is on attendance. Teachers are often not equipped for the teaching.
Most universities do not equip their students for the needs of the market. Most graduates become unemployed.
Many local Afghans are depressed, emotionally struggling and negative:
Decades of war and frequent changes in leadership have caused much anxiety among people.
Many local Afghans have a negative, pessimistic outlook on life. They wrongly believe that most of the things in Afghanistan are just so difficult, where they equally assume that life in other countries is so easy. ?
Numerous formerly poor, illiterate Afghans have built successful companies
Other local successful Afghan businesspeople demonstrate that it does not take money or education to do business, but courage, persistence and hard work.
Many Afghans wrongly expect that other “people” should do things for them
o?? Foreign donation & humanitarian aid (poorly thought-out/ administrated for decades in Afghanistan) has led most Afghans to believe that “other people” should just do many things for them (that they in fact should do themselves)
o?? Many Afghans have adopted a victim role. Instead of building their own lives, many Afghans believe that whining is enough to just get some (ignorant) other people (foreign organizations, NGOs, donors, etc.) to do things for them.
o?? Many Afghans blame their new government for not creating them jobs or providing products & services, instead of assuming responsibility and developing solutions/ providing solutions themselves.
Most local Afghans agree that they lack stamina and that they are often mentally & physically “lazy”
o?? Most Afghans admit that they are “lazy” and “too complacent”.
o?? Local Afghans often lack the willingness to do something and/ or stop doing things when they encounter even relatively small challenges.
o?? Even very educated and experienced people often fail to concentrate, follow a logical sequence, or do simple problem solving.
NGOs and foreign donation efforts have created much harm in Afghanistan and are not part of the solution of a better sustainable country
Foreign aid has predominantly focused on humanitarian aid, crisis relief, and capacity building. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been “spent”, but little evidence shows in Afghanistan. Billions of dollars more used by NGOs are unlikely to produce better outcome.
The only solution to building a prosperous Afghanistan is through the local Afghan private sector
o?? The Afghan government has little money to invest.
o?? Foreign investors profit driven are unlikely to invest
o?? NGOs have not achieved necessary outcomes (despite billions of dollars in spending)
o?? The only hope is the private Afghan sector! It will create the necessary economic growth, jobs, spending, and practical way of building Afghanistan!
Many Afghans perceive life and business situations with a very narrow view
Many Afghans have overlooked many obvious opportunities to earn a living and resolve key needs for decades. Some of their practices violate basic common sense.
·Perceived problems, in fact, represent great opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses in disguise
·?????? ““Poor job market”: -- But good news: Easy to hire good talent with all needed skills at low cost!
·?????? “Many people are depressed and negative” -- But good news: There is little competition in business as few people have creativity & energy to start/ build business.
·?????? “Government has limited money to pay for public projects” -- Compelling reason to build private sector!
·?????? The banking system may be not working well. But good news: Entrepreneurs can find funding for their businesses from private people (as most people have their money, gold and other possessions at home). Successful Afghan business 1: How to raise funds and finance your profitable projects | LinkedIn
Afghanistan is short of electricity. Expensive electricity increases costs for most industry products & services
Afghanistan lacks a masterplan that guides the individual key industries and their stakeholders
Misalignment leads to over-production in some categories and shortage in other categories.
Oversupply often rots and perishes.
Difficulties to store or export goods.
Afghanistan has high trade deficit - and it grows larger
Afghanistan is a land-locked country. Surrounding nations have their own ambitions
Afghanistan struggles across most key sectors
Prevalent lack of knowledge, skilled resources, direction, funding, vision
Situation Summary & Investor guide:
Afghanistan has many unaddressed basic people needs
o?? Life for the average individual Afghan person is challenging.
o?? Traditional job seekers face tough challenges.
o?? People seek notable improvements in all areas of their basic needs: Food, Water, Housing, Electricity, Communication, Healthcare, Education, etc.
Afghanistan is one of the best countries start and scale companies.
·?????? Many great business opportunities across all industry sectors
·?????? Many of those opportunities offer very profit margins of several hundred percent!
·?????? Skilled labor very cheap
·?????? Little competition
Afghanistan offers an entrepreneurs a great environment to become rich very fast
o?? Afghans willing to start a business (see opportunities) and work hard can become multi-millionaires within 3 to 5 years and build 50-100-million-dollar companies within 5 to 7 years.
o?? Success stories of local Afghan entrepreneurs are plenty. Many of multi-millionaires started as illiterate and poor people!
Afghanistan offers very interesting opportunities for savvy, international investors
o?? Many Afghans lack the ambition and stamina to start their own businesses.
o?? International investors can take advantage of the local situation to build very successful businesses in Afghanistan
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Practical guidance for business success: 1) Identify/ select business opportunities 2) Plan and execute 3) How to finance 4) Other advice
?1)???? Identify business opportunities
·?????? Start with the right values & perspective:
§? Food & Agriculture: Irrigation, Land development, flood & drought management, smart cultivation, machinery, seeds, fruit & vegetable mix, cold storage, import/ export, food laboratories, animal industry,
§? Water/ Wastewater: Water purification, recycling, conservation, canalization,
§? Energy: Generation, Distribution, Conservation, Storage. Renewable Energies. Types: Solar, Wind, Hydro, H2 fuel cells, biofuels, Coal, uninterrupted power supply, energy efficiency, smart metering, national security, tariffs
§? Mining: Proper surveying, mining concessions, inexperience miners. Lack of technologies and expertise. International power play. Processing industry. Power Supply. Environmental protection.
§? Shelter & Heating: Residential real estate
§? Healthcare: hospital, pharmaceuticals, research, production, fake medicine, equipment, technicians to operate, doctors, nurses,
§? Communications: Telecom, Internet, Voice, network, outdated/ refurbished equipment, downtime, bandwidth, 2G, national security
§? Manufacturing: Factories, Processing
§? Transaction abilities: Banking system. Sanctions. Shariah. Hawala. EMIs.
§? Education: Shariah Compliance. Outdated school system. Brain drain. Universities to start up companies.
§? Jobs: Offices, Industrial Park. Government.
§? Other: Identify the efforts that can impact millions of people in a valuable way.
·?????? Prioritize efforts by profitability.
·?????? Make compliant with government plans and their interpretation of Sharia law.
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2)???? Develop & execute projects
1.????? Practical plan.
2.????? Core Team
3.????? Lean start-up
4.????? Collaboration
5.????? Piloting
6.????? Learning
7.????? Improving
8.????? Scaling
9.????? Standardizing & Optimizing
10.?? Continuing growth
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3)???? Finance the business and project efforts
a.????? Financing through local Afghans
b.????? Collaboration
c.????? Ownership sharing
d.????? Cost deferral/ Positive cashflow
e.????? Payment in kind, shares, etc.
f.?????? Other
4)???? Additional Advice
a.????? Focus on profitable, practical results. Develop a barely viable solution
b.????? Do not depend on foreign aid and donations
c.????? Take courage and do it!
d.????? Obtain needed skills through contracting, hiring or collaboration
e.????? Work hard
f.?????? Define a higher purpose than “just making money”. Example: Do it to build your country!
High profit business opportunities & key initiatives that benefit millions of Afghans
Food & Agriculture
Healthcare
o?? In Afghanistan: 200 healthcare programs and their respective supporting organizations | LinkedIn
Marketing, Sales, Distribution and Outsourcing
Telecommunications
Energy
Manufacturing
Real Estate & Infrastructure
Mining
Investment
Education & Training
领英推荐
Government and cross-sector opportunities
Networking and collaboration opportunities
o?? Join the “Build-your-Business workshop” in Herat, Afghanistan, for a limited time only! | LinkedInJoin the “Build-your-Business workshop” in Kabul, Afghanistan now! | LinkedIn
o?? 80 to 100 hours a week. Non-stop building Afghanistan. When will you step up, Afghans?! | LinkedIn
Interviews
About the Author Alex Steinberg
o?? Alex Steinberg is an industry expert and business advisor who has helped develop and transform 30+ multinational companies and has guided governments to build their countries across key industry sectors.
o?? Alex has designed education & training curricula, trained, and educated over 300,000 people on five continents.
o?? Alex is currently in Afghanistan to help build the country focusing on key initiatives that positively impact the lives of millions of Afghans including Food & Agriculture, Telecommunications, Energy & Water, Mining, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Education, and other.
o?? Alex’s life mission is to help and positively impact 700 million people using his business & technology expertise, methodologies of working with world-leading consulting firms, as well as insights into 230+ projects across all business functions, process, and value chains.
o?? You can reach out to Alex Steinberg by connecting with him through LinkedIn, WhatsApp +966 531824178 (Alex is in Afghanistan, but keeps his international number), or email at [email protected]
Alex Steinberg’s ambition in Afghanistan
1)????? Alex is in Afghanistan to help...
a.????? build the country in Telecom, Media & communications, Real Estate & Infrastructure, Power & Energy, Mining, Food & Agriculture, Healthcare, Education
b.????? impact the lives of 20+ million Afghan people in a positive way.
c.????? build the private sector and advise nationals & regional decision makers.
2)????? Alex’s goals for building the private sector of Afghanistan
a.????? Afghans build Afghanistan – Stop depending on foreign donors & NGOs.
b.????? Build 70+ local multi-million-dollar companies in 5-7 years.
c.????? Build 10+ 50 to 100 million-dollar companies in 5-7 years
Motivation & Inspiration
·??????? “Afghans build Afghanistan”
·??????? Make Afghanistan a great home and nation!
·??????? Let us write history together!
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Additional articles by Alex Steinberg that provide deep insights into key business functions, industries and relevant business topics
HEALTHCARE & LIFE SCIENCE
Healthcare
Analysis of China's powerful Health Care Players: Alibaba, Tencent, Ping An, JD.com and their AI empowered Solutions | LinkedIn
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Hospitals
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MedTech
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Life science - overall
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Life science enabled by Technologies
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BioPharma
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REAL ESTATE & INFRASTRUCTURE
Real Estate & Infrastructure, Construction, Smart city, Sustainable Development
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Real Estate specific to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030
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Automotive & Manufacturing
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BUSINESS FUNCTIONS
Strategy
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Leadership & Motivation
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Finance
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DIGITAL AND TECHNOLOGIES
Digital
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RPA
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Shared Services
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ERP
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Data
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Joint Ventures
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Dealing with Chinese organizations
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Legal Disclaimer
This article reflects the opinion of Alex Steinberg only. It does not claim to represent the viewpoints of any present/ former client, employer, or partner. The author acknowledges that there are often different viewpoints on a topic, which are equally valid. Constructive discussion rather than criticism can lead to better ideas and positive outcome & value to business and society.
If you are an expert, government advisor or business owner, you may reach out to Alex Steinberg through WhatsApp at +966531824178 or email at [email protected]
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Finance Manager | Experienced in Financial Planning, Budget Management & Compliance | Former Sales Executive & Healthcare Accountant
1 个月Actually I really appreciate your valuable time you spent here and we are blessed we had a guest like you, you pointed out the real pain here, it’s time for our people to concentrate, and not to waste the precious time.
Strategy, Management Consulting, Programs & Transformation
2 个月https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/practical-guidance-knowledge-library-help-afghans-key-steinberg-%25E6%2596%25B9%25E6%25BE%25A4%25E6%2598%2582-crdpf/