An entrepreneur – the owner or manager of a business enterprise who, by risk and initiative, attempts to make profits. (empresario/a)

An interview with Pat Jently -- the challenges of entrepreneurship in developing countries. When 42 year old Pat Jently started his company, Fhakawi, to supply farmers in Africa with crop spraying equipment, he believed that the huge demand would launch his company to success. But in fact, the company eventually had to be liquidated, a victim not only of internal miscalculations but also of the bureaucracy, corruption, and environmental factors faced by start-ups in Africa and other developing countries. But not all was lost. Pat told his story in his book Learning to love Africa Through Business which will be published later this year. And now he is working with global corporations to overcome the obstacles he faced and to create a business development that will bring a wide range of consumer products and services to middle and lower income segments of the African population. From his home in Essex, England, Pat shares his thoughts about bureaucracies, challenges, and opportunities presented by Africa.

challenge = reto to supply = proveer, suministrar crop spraying = fumigación del cultivo huge demand = demanda enorme to launch a company = lanzar una empresa to launch a product = lanzar, introducir, presentar en el mercado to liquidate = liquidar to face a problem = afrontar un obstáculo a start up = a new business enterprise overcome an obstacle = superar un obstaculo a wide range = una gama amplia

Listen and repeat.

Before you listen to the interview with Pat, read the following questions.

1. Did Pat like and admire Africa and African people more or less after his experience there?
2. Which African country did Pat start his business operations in?
3. Which of these organisations is NOT mentioned in the interview;
    a) The World Bank
    b) The World Health Organisation
    c) The United Nations

Now listen to the interview and answer the questions.

Match the following definitions with their expressions. Follow the example.

economic development / monopoly / human resource management
purchasing power / market penetration / captive market / consumer products

Listen and repeat.

Read the following questions.

1. Apart from writing the book to help other business entrepreneurs, Pat wrote the book

  a) to reflect (reflejar) on what happened to him and his business in Africa.
  b) to explain to people how exciting Africa is.
  c) to explain why he and his management team gave up (abandonaron/se rindieron) and went back to the UK.

2. What were the main reasons for choosing Tanzania?

  a) A stable country with a large population.
  b) A stable country with high demand for the product.
  c) A stable country with help from the government.

3. Pat says that one of the problems of working with an international staff is that

  a) they often try to tell the president of the company what to do.
  b) they have different cultural ideas about how a company operates.
  c) they often do not have good business skills and technical knowledge.

4. What is Pat’s advice for dealing with governmental and nongovernmental bureaucracies?

  a) Avoid (evitar) them completely.
  b) Deal with them as much as possible.
  c) Deal with them as little as possible.

5. Which of the following does Pat say are the legal elements necessary for private investment to be successful?

  a) Rule of law
  b) Administrative infrastructure
  c) Protection of property
  d) Suppliers of products and services
  e) Capital resources
  f) Open competition
  g) Absence of corruption

6. What is NEPAD?

  a) New Economies for Pan-African Democracies.
  b) No European Parliament in African Decisions.
  c) New Partnership for Africa's Development.

7. True or false? Pat believes that you can make the most money by selling things to poor people.

  a) True
  b) False

8. One of the things that surprised Pat the most was

  a) It’s not enough to have a big demand for your product.
  b) There are not many business schools in Africa.
  c) There is a lot of suffering (sufrimiento) and poverty (pobreza).

9. How many consumers does Pat think there are in the lower income segment in Africa?

  a) 219 million
  b) 6,000 million
  c) 600 million

10. Pat’s current business interest intends to

  a) make money for global corporations and help local businesses in Africa.
  b) make money for global corporations, help local businesses in Africa and help African consumers.
  c) only make money for global corporations.

Listen to the interview again and choose the best answer for each question. Listen as many times as necessary, and use the pause button on your media player to stop the interview.

Listen again and read the transcription.