A Note from the Chairman
Firstly I would like to record my thanks to all the people that have put in their unrelenting efforts to establish The Association for African Owned Enterprises (UK). It would not have been a possibility without their efforts and I hope I will be able to carry on their great work and achieve our goals and objectives in my tenure as president of the Association.
The Association for African Owned Enterprises (AAOE) is committed to raising levels of enterprise and prosperity among Africans nationals and descendant, with no bearings to race, religion, tribe or political inclination. As president of the Association I have set goals and objectives that I aim to achieve. In this note I aim to highlight an overview of these and how we intend to achieve them. I would also like to highlight that we are constantly looking to build partnerships with anyone who feels they can make a contribution to the Association and/or its members. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly as I will welcome the opportunity to hear your opinions.
The first and foremost guarantee that an African owned enterprise must expect from the Association is longevity. Many organizations have been set up and have not lasted for the long run. Perhaps they ran out of steam or they lost their management’s enthusiasm. We are setting out a constitution that will ensure that the members will proactively choose their future presidents from a panel selected by the members. The board of the Association will consist of elected representatives and the Association will play a proactive role for several years to come. We have set up strategic relationships with various governmental and private organizations with a view of effecting change over various time scales including yearly plans, five year goals and longer term goals. We also realize that several new businesses only begin to flourish after the first or second years of their existence. Seldom will a company begin to flourish before these time scales. We plan to support all member organizations to become profitable and established within 5 years. So our members need not worry about us going away before they reap the rewards of Association membership. We want our members to know that this is THEIR Association. A non-profit organization set up to make their companies more successful in all ways possible. Our members can draw strength from the fact that we are here to stay and we will only grow stronger as our members grow in strength and numbers.
Our vision is that we can create camaraderie amongst member organizations. We want to create a network within the member organizations that can expand its reach to all sectors across all verticals. From history we have seen that the most successful societies have been good communicators. If we can provide a platform for member organizations to network with counterparts we will have succeeded.
For too long the African businessman has long believed in making wealth for self and family. We have since looked at business models from other successful societies and we have noticed that, although one must take care of one’s interests, helping thy neighbour can also have profitable results. If we can erase the stigma in African business practice and bring it closer to African societal fundamentals, where everyone in the village was family and the family helped each other in everything including hunting, raising children, security and all other aspects of society, we will have made the biggest impact on our members’ organizations. I don’t propose a utopia by any means. Where there is a client looking for web development, we propose to recommend a member organization if the member can provide an equally professional service as any other indigenous business. If we can cultivate inter member business relations we can retain wealth and consequently make members more profitable. We do not propose that working with non-member organizations is wrong or bad in any way. All we suggest is that we could create an environment where we are passing business to our fellows.
We have a vision that we can increase the professionalism of member organizations and produce a Code of Practice and Ethics. This will be done with the view of promoting member organizations as viable business prospects, and consequently win new business for member organizations from indigenous organizations that previously view dealing with African owned enterprises as a liability exercise. Instead of taking our business to other societies, we have a vision that member organizations will promote business relations amongst each other and retain wealth whilst attracting new business from indigenous firms.
The biggest impact the Association can have on its members is changing the views to business and promoting inter member trade with a view of retaining wealth and attracting more wealth through increasing skills and professional image of member organizations.
As president of the steering committee, my initial objectives are to get the message of the Association out to the widest possible audience. My goal is to ensure that every African owned enterprise and individual African professionals have at least heard of the Association for African Owned Enterprises. My goals are to achieve this through word of mouth networking and via the website and our magazine The Ambassador. My goals are to increase membership to over 1000 members in my tenure. We need to secure funding and sponsorship to remain solvent. This remains a priority for me as long as we are to succeed. We have an outstanding management team in place, assuring me that we can and will deliver on our offerings. We have excellent events that will become annual fixtures on our members’ diaries. We are securing excellent partnerships ensuring we can deliver more services to our members. Ultimately, there is an excellent infrastructure out there ensuring we have a platform to be heard by central and local government. My goal is to create a forum where all prohibitive factors can be addressed and put to my attention so I can relay the voice of the people to the highest audiences.
I strongly believe that the Associations greatest achievement will be in improving the image of African owned organizations and professional individuals. We will become an identifiable entity in corporate UK. I believe the greatest achievement will be in harnessing our collective strength and creating an audible voice for our members. I strongly believe that, if the Association manages to create new business for at least one member enterprise from another member enterprise - that alone will be success. But our greatest success will be when we are recognised as an entity that stands alone, not under a wide encompassing umbrella of Ethnic minority, or the broad umbrella of Afro-Caribbean. Black, white or Asian, all member organizations will have a corporate voice that transcends religion, politics, history and social ideologies. We will only be successful when we realise the strength of group action.
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