Money makers are the keys to success

Entrepreneurs and investors are two different kinds of people, but there can also be striking similarities to the extent that they often act like Siamese twins. Generally, it is the same person – an entrepreneur can become an investor and an investor an entrepreneur, writes Heinrich Kruger.

Irrespective of recessions, depressions, inflation or deflation, entrepreneurs and investors make the world of money go round – they are the money makers, the job creators, the surfers of those cosmic waves that also create the ebb and flow of financial cycles.

Governments, officials and technocrats may be the printers of money and the creators of man-made rules in their little boxes, but the money makers stay outside of the box.

They exploit the man-made creations in their quest to play the game, but they do not allow it to contain their freedom to ride the waves and to be the money makers.

Who are Bill Gates and Warren Buffett?

Gates started off as an entrepreneur who made money and became an investor.

Buffett started off as an investor with entrepreneurial skills and flare. He invests in entrepreneurs so that both he and they can make money.

Which comes first – the chicken or the egg?

Without the one, the other will not be able to grow. The entrepreneur is the one with the idea and the drive to chase that dream.

The investor is the one with the fertiliser and water to make the seed grow into a tree that will bear fruit – both need to find the other to be truly successful.

Ideas are a dime a dozen, but the entrepreneur is that one in a thousand individuals with the endurance to go on and who is not deterred by obstacles on the journey to find the right combination of ingredients, including investors, for success.

The need and greed for capital is an ever-growing demand, but the successful investor is the person who will find the ones that will grow into plants and bear the more fruitful seeds.

The current recession is a typical example of how the shortage of capital restricts world economic growth, which makes everybody suffer.

It is like a drought that suffocates the plants and many will not survive, but those that do are the strong ones that bear strong seeds from which a stronger economy revives.

Unfortunately, the weeds that survive are also stronger and the struggle between good and bad becomes even more intense.

In times when there are restrictions, we need the money makers the most because they give the engine that vital kick-start.

For them it is also more difficult, but the most challenging is usually the most rewarding.

The moral of the story in these times, whether you are an investor or an entrepreneur, is go and find the other money maker – your key ingredient to success – because now is the time to plant.

Heinrich Kruger is the founder, CEO and CIO of Kruger International – www.krugerinternational.co.za