The opportunity called scarcity.
“Every opportunity comes with a responsibility (response ability). People miss opportunities because they are unable to take responsibilities.” – Segun Adedeji (Professor of Economics of Education, University of Ibadan).
Means the state of a resource being scarce or limited in supply. Related words are: shortage, dearth, lack, want, insufficiency, paucity, scarceness, meagreness, sparseness, poverty, deficiency, inadequacy, limitedness, unavailability and absence. It is then pertinent to note that abundance, excess or surplus is the opposite of scarcity; apparently desirous by humans.
transform the economy and modernize the society. One of the core drivers of entrepreneurship is wealth creation through the utilization of scarce resources. It is against this backdrop that one may ponder on the following questions:
- How do people satisfy their unlimited wants and needs with limited resources?
- How do entrepreneurs create something out of nothing?
- What motivates people to move from zero to hero?
Sometimes, the strive for abundance is ignited by extreme conditions of scarcity and lack. There is an energy that comes from hopelessness and powerlessness, when duly acknowledged and maximised. If you run out of gas while driving in the desert, you will be stranded until someone finds you or you find a way out.
It is one thing to build a thriving business with the accumulated wealth of a previously successful business but nothing is more inspiring than seeing someone succeed without ready capital, funding, and sometimes even education or experience. These are the people who dared to dream and leverage the pain of scarcity to build empires and thriving businesses. These are the people who went on to become heroes from obscurity. These are the people who started from nothing and went on to become true success stories. These are the real entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted. CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) can help save a life during cardiac arrest; when the heart stops beating or beats too ineffectively to circulate blood to the brain and other vital organs. Hilariously, when my bank account is red, I think of CPR. When I have but a few grains of cassava flakes (garri) left, I can’t think right. “Sapa” is a Nigerian slang which has gained prominence in recent years, particularly among young Nigerians. It is used to describe a state of financial incapacity or extreme poverty, often resulting from excessive spending and poor financial management. Scarcity or paucity of resources can trigger ‘CPR’ – Creativity, Productivity and Resilience!
- Creativity in scarcity
“Our minds are like muscles that can stretch or shrink. It all depends on how much or how little we exercise them.” – Mr. Shiv Khera. Scarcity is the best trigger of creativity. It has the power to stretch our creativity muscles and mind for productivity. The entrepreneur’s “resource station” is creativity. No creativity, no resuscitation!
- Productivity in scarcity
There are plenty of paradoxes with regards to the African natural endowment and her socioeconomic profile. One of such is the “paradox of plenty” otherwise known as the “resource curse”. This refers to the failure of many resource-rich countries to benefit fully from their natural resources, and for governments in these countries to respond effectively to public welfare needs. The paradox of plenty (PoP) simply means poverty in plenty while paradox of scarcity (PoS) means productivity in scarcity. Countries without excess natural resources have survived because of the emphasis on human capital which drives the knowledge economy – innovation.
Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity. It is vital in the fight for a better future. Innovation is based on a view of what the human future should or will look like. It is the ability to apply creative solutions to problems and opportunities to enhance or to enrich people’s lives. Vision is the strength of innovation.
Singapore was an island without natural resources to call its own but through the vision of one man – Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister, the country pulled off a dramatic transformation – boasting of two casino-integrated resorts and an airport that has frequently topped the “world’s best” list. In addition, the central business district is crowded with skyscrapers that rival neighbouring Hong Kong and mid-town Manhattan in far-flung New York. At one degree north of the equator, tropical Singapore has become a hotspot known for its efficient infrastructure, rooftop bars, chilli crab, and host city to the only night race on the Formula 1 racing calendar. Often dubbed as the “Monaco of the East”, the red dot has beaten a path to steady economic progress and prosperity since the 1970s.
- Resilience in scarcity
I have never met a strong person with an easy past. Umbrella can’t stop the rain but can help us navigate the rain. Similarly, resilience may not bring success, but gives us power to face life challenges. “Tough times don’t last, tough people do.” – Robert Schuller
From poverty to prosperity
Jan Koum – Co-founder and former CEO of WhatsApp.
For entrepreneurs and business leaders, Jan Koum’s story serves as an inspiration. Coming from poverty in Ukraine, Jan Koum moved to California with his mother when he was 16. He used to engage in odd-jobs to make ends meet. He lost his mother to cancer few years after. During that trying period, he developed an interest in networking and programming and got himself enrolled at San Jose State University. In 2009, Whatsapp was launched and acquired by Facebook in 2014 for US$19.3 billion!
There wouldn’t be a need to delve into entrepreneurship if resources were not scarce. There wouldn’t be a need to believe in miracles if we always have our needs met. Hard times are real, so are ‘soft’ times. The sources of therapy (soft) are, either to pull the ‘trigger’ of entrepreneurship in order to release ‘CPR’, or plug into worship to release the supernatural.
Entrepreneurship is about offering value to people while worship is about rendering offerings to God. We worship God by serving Him with our time and talents. Give thankfully. Give thanks, fully. There is no scarcity in worship, but there’s a scarcity of true worshippers. Man is limited but God is unlimited. Thus, entrepreneurship is serious ‘business’, it is a concept of man designed for wealth creation. Worship on the other hand is a mysterious strategy – it is God’s proven method for prosperity.
Luke 9:13-17 TPT
Jesus responded, “You have the food to feed them.” They replied, “All we have are these five small loaves of bread and two dried fish. Do you really expect us to go buy food for all these people? There are nearly five thousand men here, with women and children besides!” He told his disciples, “Have them all sit down in groups of fifty each.” After everyone was seated, Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, and gazing into the heavenly realm he gave thanks for the food. Then, in the presence of his disciples, he broke off pieces of bread and fish, and kept giving more to each disciple to give to the crowd. It was multiplying before their eyes! So everyone ate until they were filled, and afterward the disciples gathered up the leftovers—it came to exactly twelve baskets full!
“But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.” – Matthew 6:33 Amplified Bible. Worship amplifies, multiplies and perfects possibilities.
The capacity for creativity is given by God. He is also the orchestrator of miracles. Creativity is the bedrock of entrepreneurship, while worship is the bedrock of miracles. Entrepreneurship creates an atmosphere for an exploration of man’s possibilities, but worship creates an atmosphere for the miraculous to happen. Miracles are impossibilities turned into possibilities through divine intervention. The colours of entrepreneurship are green (creativity) and blue (process). The creative process is the progress of creativity; it is moving from imagination to implementation.
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