Entrepreneurs from hell: Get informed

Revamp Construction Company Limited* or RC² is an upcoming construction company owned by a young promising Architecture graduate with a passion for designing high end residential properties. After securing a middle size office in Nairobi Central Business District he now settles to make the office functional and thus the company.  One thing the company needs is a functioning ICT department since the owner of RC² Knows too well that in the modern world, without ICT solutions your work is bound to fail. So Samson, the owner of the company, needs a business support system tailored to his needs and thus he engages the services of Company ABC an ICT solutions provider.

Christopher who is the owner of the ABC Company does the quotation after the deal is sealed and a down payment of Kshs 200,000 is done. When Christopher went to seal the deal, he was driving a sleek grey Nissan Noah; he was also smartly dressed in black expensive business suit and shiny pair of shoes. He also had a very nice briefcase and a big brand new laptop; a clear sign that he is very serious with his business.

After the initial payment is done, Chris suddenly gets busy and unavailable. Samson tries to contact Chris but most of his calls go unanswered and so are his emails. Unknown to Sam, he has just fallen a victim of one of the entrepreneurs from hell, who we are going to read about next.

They are entrepreneurs from hell who are so ruthless, cold hearted, unfeeling, insensitive, brutal and outright evil.  They are also so cunning, extremely shrewd, very smart and clever. They have mastered the art of exploiting consumers, customers and clients’ feelings to their advantage. They have also mastered the trend in the market world with respect to the demand-supply curve and they move with military precision to meet the ‘demands’ of the market. They know when certain products or services are in high demand almost to a point of desperation on the general population or certain client(s) such that they move with speed to meet the demands but in their wake they leave their clients more miserable than they got them, and you will be lucky if these entrepreneurs will ever supply you with the product or the service they were to initially deliver satisfactory. They have the mentality of “get rich quick, get rich or die trying”. They believe that in order to succeed, you must be very aggressive to counter competition, but in their aggressiveness, they end up causing more misery to the world than the products or services they deliver.

Most seal so many deals with so many clients than they are capable of delivering due to their lust for quick money, such that they end up with so many frustrated customers running after them. This is because once they get your initial down payment, they are done with you and they go hunting after more gullible clients.

So many people have tales to tell with their encounters with these entrepreneurs from hell. To them all that matters is getting money, money and more money and they hardly care about the feelings of their clients. They also rarely deliver quality products or services unless you are just so lucky with them. They have mastered the art of convincing potential clients and turning them into customers, only to turn their clients into enemies due to how they handle them. With them, the popular saying, “Friendship and business does not mix” is just pushed to the edge of enmity.

In their quest for quick money, they have mastered the art of convincing customers to quickly part with their money with the promises of prompt delivery of products and services but once you pay, the cat and mouse game begins. You will call them, and they will not answer. You will email them but they will hardly reply. If you are lucky and they communicate they always have some convincing stories to cover up for their inefficiency.

I still remember back in 2006, my brother wanted a certain famous tailor to make for him a nice suit worth Kshs 4000. So my brother was to pay some initial deposit of 50% so that the work would commence immediately. But after paying Kshs 2000, the tailor always had some excuses as to why he had not yet began making the suit. The story dragged itself for almost 2 years until my brother threatened to report the tailor. So the tailor got a low quality material and made a suit for my brother hastily such that it made him seem like some scarecrow wearing it. My brother simply took the suit and decided to use it for farming until it got work out due to frustrations from the tailor.

I also know of a lady who hired a photographer to cover her wedding and did a down payment of Kshs 10,000. The photographer never delivered the photos, disappeared for a whole two years only to resurface with a cock-and-bull story about what made him not to deliver the photographs. By then the lady simply had let go off the issue and did not bother with him anymore, after all, life does not stand still due to Kshs 10,000!

Don’t even think about the scenarios we face daily with our neighborhood electronic repairers, bicycle repairers, clothes repairers, even shoe makers etc. They are all notorious with; you take your item to them for repair, do a down payment for the cost and leave your item with them with the promise that your item will be made within 2 weeks only to return there after 2 weeks are over and have to face the fact that he has even forgotten you even left him with your 24 inch Flat screen Television, or your mountain bike, or your latest I-Pad, etc. With some unlucky customers, the goods even gets more damaged, or list altogether and judging the worth of the item, you simply let go and move on with life.

Most people are losing money to these entrepreneurs from hell simply because even if you choose to report them to the authorities process of filing a law suit against them might be even more costly in terms of money and effort than the amount you are losing to them hence why most people just let go the case, treat it as one of the challenges you have to encounter in life and move on. The agony you will also get into chasing after them to many is not worth it.

The major problem is such entrepreneurs from hell are making so many people lose trust with most product and service providers such that they end up locking out genuine entrepreneurs from penetrating the market. They are like the Sadducees that Jesus condemned telling them they stay at the entrance of the kingdom of heaven, not bothering to enter but they block other people from getting in. These entrepreneurs from hell prevent others from delivering quality products and services while also not delivering, thus blocking so many people from even accessing the right products and services.

How and why do these entrepreneurs from hell gain an upper hand against genuine entrepreneurs? 

1. People’s desire for quick and cheap products and services.
2. Corruption whereby some of these entrepreneurs from hell even have lawyers protecting their ‘business’ since they ‘eat’ with them.
3. General lack of knowledge and skills in the general population thus it is easy for the entrepreneurs from hell to exploit consumers and clients.
4. Break down of moral codes and ethics in the society where people praise these entrepreneurs from hell as creative, hardworking, smart, industrious etc since the only measure for success in our modern world is the amount of wealth you have amassed regardless of how you amassed it.
5. The fact that honestly does not pay in our society, sad but true. In business world, the more honest you are, the more likely you will never fully penetrate the market, your profit margin will forever be too low as compared to those of entrepreneurs from hell and your own enterprise might even collapse. So why not say, “If you cannot beat them, join them”?
6. Lack of properly working consumers protection authorities and federations which would safeguard business people from exploiting consumers and clients; and that would represent exploited consumers in a court of law should one encounter such entrepreneurs from hell.

All in all, most entrepreneurs from hell happen to be people who we know so well, who we trust, who we know their business operations, some are even our brothers and sisters, our friends, close business associates etc but you only discover they are entrepreneurs from hell once you engage them in a business engagement. They strike without warning like terrorists, and they operate stealthily like snipers behind an enemy line such that it is difficult to identify them before you engage them.

Worse, they do not even fall under the category of conmen since eventually after a long cat and mouse game they somehow deliver their products or services, which mostly end up being not even worth the amount you paid for them, or deliver at a time when you no longer need it. The worst case is they just cease to exist once they have amassed millions from unsuspecting clients only to resurface after almost 5 or 10 years. By then, you will have no time or energy to pursue them, or even launch a legal case against them.

Their mouths, is their greatest weapon. They are sweet talkers who have mastered business language of persuading clients and hunting for customers. Even if they burn bridges with one client, they shall never lack more clients to exploit.

Characteristics of entrepreneurs from hell

1. They are always too good to be true. Having mastered the art of convincing clients, they always move to exploit as many clients as possible before someone realizes the loophole. All they want is money.
2. Most entrepreneurs from hell almost always move around with a company profile in order to convince.
3. Before a deal is sealed, they are too available at any time. They will even “abandon” another work they are doing in order to come to listen to you and your needs. They seem to really care for the needs of their clients. They feign the motto: Customer is always right.
4. They always talk big, act big, drive big cars which they change with unrealistic frequency; after all their aim is to impress. They will even hire cars to impress!
5. They always push your trust levels as to wanting to seal most of the deals outside of office, pretending to care so much about you they do not want you to incur so much expenses looking for them.
6. They always have a price which will suit you, even if it means lowering the initial price of a certain product or services to less than half of what they normally ‘sell’ the product or service.

They are the perfect description of, “If the deal is too good, think twice”.

How to avoid entrepreneurs from hell

1. Do a thorough company profile of the company you want to engage in your business. You would rather deal with an established company than a fresh entrant into the market.
2. Demand for service contract fully signed and if possible in presence of a reputable lawyer.
3. Avoid getting into the temptation of wanting something too quickly, or wanting something so pocket friendly; too cheap to be true. Most entrepreneurs from hell exploit such deals. Take your time even if it means one year as long as you will end up operating with a reputable person or organization.
4. Demand to know previous record of the person or organization you are dealing with, and do all you can to enquire about him/her before sealing a business deal. If not satisfied, then leave the deal alone.
5. Use your instinct and common sense; if the deal sounds too good to be true, chances are high it is a fake deal hidden under the disguise of perfection.
6. If the worst happens and you encounter one of the entrepreneurs from hell, warn all your friends and close business associates, spread word and let all who care avoid him/her as much as possible if it is possible.

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