Mistakes you must avoid, from women billionaires

There is no doubt that every successful person has taken a wrong turn and committed costly financial mistakes on their way to wealth.

However, there are some money mistakes that are so dire, that they will bring you and your business down.

We take a look at some of these money mistakes from the eyes of the world’s best known female billionaires. 

1. Fearing loans:

You must stop fearing loans and instead learn how to use them for your growth. Tabitha Karanja, the founder and CEO of Keroche Breweries, broke Kenya’s individual loans’ history by taking a Sh5 billion loan to fund a new plant in 2015. Speaking to the Daily Nation, she said the new plant had a production capacity of, 600,000 bottles daily, and 30 different brands. “This gives me a golden chance to stake a claim in the cutthroat market,” she said. 

2. Voices of doubt:

In 1973,Shark Tank’s billionaire investor, Barbara Corcoran and her boyfriend, founded the Corcoran Group real estate firm for the equivalent of Sh100,000. In the 1980s, the couple broke up and split the company. According to Barbara, on his way out, he told her: “You’ll never succeed without me!”

This, she says, was the best advice she has ever received. “I didn’t want to let him have the satisfaction of seeing me go down.” Years later, in 2001, she sold her part of the same company for Sh6.6 billion and became a media personality.

Her lesson? You must never let the nagging voices of doubt stop you from a potentially profitable venture. 

3. Failing to partner up:

When you get a good deal or money making idea, do not attempt to execute it if you have no resources or experience. Get a partner. Take Africa’s richest woman, Folorunsho Alakija.

In 1993, she got a lucrative license to explore for oil in a 617,000 acre block. However, she didn’t have the know-how or the resources.

She got into a joint venture agreement with Star Deep Water Petroleum Limited and transferred a 40 per cent stake to them. This is the partnership that propelled her to riches. 

4. Investing in bad business:

Before you invest in a business, you must figure out if there is a need for your product or service and whether you will be able to deliver.

Elizabeth Holmes, the 2015 Forbes richest self-made woman billionaire with a net worth of Sh450 billion, was declared worth nothing 12 months later.

Why? According to Forbes, her business manufactured hot air! Apparently, her blood-testing company which she started in 2003 and claimed would revolutionise the diagnostic market did not deliver any product that got approved.

In the same vein, its concept – blood testing – was too shallow to keep it afloat.