Everything I do, and everything I do professionally -- my life -- has been shaped by seven years of work as a young man in Africa. From 1971 to 1977 -- I look young, but I'm not — (Laughter) -- I worked in Zambia, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Somalia, in projects of technical cooperation with African countries.
Sve što radim, radim profesionalno - moj život - je formiralo sedam godina koje sam u mladosti proveo radeći u Africi. Od 1971. do 1977. - Izgledam mlado, ali nisam - (Smeh) - Radio sam u Zambiji, Keniji, Obali Slonovače, Alžiru, Somaliji, na projektima tehničke saradnje sa afričkim državama.
I worked for an Italian NGO, and every single project that we set up in Africa failed. And I was distraught. I thought, age 21, that we Italians were good people and we were doing good work in Africa. Instead, everything we touched we killed.
Radio sam za italijansku nevladinu organizaciju i svaki projekat koji smo počeli u Africi je propao. Bio sam izbezumljen. Sa 21 godinom sam mislio da smo mi, Italijani, dobri ljudi i da činimo dobro u Africi. Umesto toga, sve što smo dotakli, smo i uništili.
Our first project, the one that has inspired my first book, "Ripples from the Zambezi," was a project where we Italians decided to teach Zambian people how to grow food. So we arrived there with Italian seeds in southern Zambia in this absolutely magnificent valley going down to the Zambezi River, and we taught the local people how to grow Italian tomatoes and zucchini and ... And of course the local people had absolutely no interest in doing that, so we paid them to come and work, and sometimes they would show up. (Laughter) And we were amazed that the local people, in such a fertile valley, would not have any agriculture. But instead of asking them how come they were not growing anything, we simply said, "Thank God we're here." (Laughter) "Just in the nick of time to save the Zambian people from starvation."
Naš prvi projekat, onaj koji me je inspirisao za moju prvu knjigu, "Talasi iz Zambezija", je bio projekat u kom smo mi, Italijani, odlučili da naučimo zambijski narod kako da uzgaja hranu. I tako dođosmo sa italijanskim semenjem u južnu Zambiju u jednu veličanstvenu dolinu, niz reku Zambezi, i učismo lokalno stanovništvo kako da gaji italijanski paradajz i tikvice i... Naravno, lokalno stanovništvo nije nimalo zanimalo da radi tako nešto, tako da smo im platili da dođu i rade, i ponekad su čak i dolazili. (Smeh) Bili smo začuđeni kako to da lokalno stanovništvo, u tako plodnoj dolini nema nikakvu poljoprivredu. Ali umesto da ih pitamo kako to da ne sade ništa, mi smo jednostavno rekli: "Hvala bogu što smo tu." (Smeh) "Taman u poslednjem trenutku da bismo spasili zambijski narod od gladi."
And of course, everything in Africa grew beautifully. We had these magnificent tomatoes. In Italy, a tomato would grow to this size. In Zambia, to this size. And we could not believe, and we were telling the Zambians, "Look how easy agriculture is." When the tomatoes were nice and ripe and red, overnight, some 200 hippos came out from the river and they ate everything. (Laughter)
I naravno, sve je u Africi predivno raslo. Imali smo taj predivni paradajz. U Italiji, paradajz može da poraste do ove veličine. U Zambiji, do ove. I nismo mogli da verujemo i govorili smo Zambijcima: "Pogledajte kako je poljoprivreda jednostavna." Kad je paradajz postao zreo i crven, preko noći je negde oko 200 nilskih konja izašlo iz reke i sve pojelo. (Smeh)
And we said to the Zambians, "My God, the hippos!"
I onda smo rekli Zambijcima: "O, bože, nilski konji!"
And the Zambians said, "Yes, that's why we have no agriculture here." (Laughter)
I Zambijci su rekli: "Da, zato se mi ovde ne bavimo poljoprivredom." (Smeh)
"Why didn't you tell us?""You never asked."
"Zašto nam niste rekli?" - "Nikad nas niste pitali."
I thought it was only us Italians blundering around Africa, but then I saw what the Americans were doing, what the English were doing, what the French were doing, and after seeing what they were doing, I became quite proud of our project in Zambia. Because, you see, at least we fed the hippos.
Mislio sam da smo samo mi Italijani zabrljali po Africi, ali onda sam video šta rade Amerikanci, šta rade Englezi, šta rade Francuzi i nakon što sam video šta oni rade, postao sam prilično ponosan na naš projekat u Zambiji. Jer, vidite, mi smo bar nahranili nilske konje.
You should see the rubbish — (Applause) -- You should see the rubbish that we have bestowed on unsuspecting African people. You want to read the book, read "Dead Aid," by Dambisa Moyo, Zambian woman economist. The book was published in 2009. We Western donor countries have given the African continent two trillion American dollars in the last 50 years. I'm not going to tell you the damage that that money has done. Just go and read her book. Read it from an African woman, the damage that we have done.
Trebalo bi da vidite otpatke - (Aplauz) - Trebalo bi da vidite otpatke koje smo ostavili bezazlenom afričkom narodu. Ako hoćete da pročitate knjigu, pročitajte "Mrtvu pomoć" od Dambize Mojo, zambijske ekonomistkinje. Knjiga je izašla 2009. Mi zapadni donatori smo dali afričkom kontinentu dva biliona američkih dolara u poslednjih 50 godina. Neću da vam govorim o tome koliku je štetu naneo taj novac. Dovoljno je da pročitate njenu knigu. Pročitajte šta kaže Afrikanka o šteti koju smo naneli.
We Western people are imperialist, colonialist missionaries, and there are only two ways we deal with people: We either patronize them, or we are paternalistic. The two words come from the Latin root "pater," which means "father." But they mean two different things. Paternalistic, I treat anybody from a different culture as if they were my children. "I love you so much." Patronizing, I treat everybody from another culture as if they were my servants. That's why the white people in Africa are called "bwana," boss.
Mi zapadnjaci smo imperijalisti, kolonijalisti, misionari i postoje samo dva načina na koja se odnosimo prema narodima: ili ih patronizujemo ili se prema njima odnosimo paternalistički. Obe reči vuku koren iz latinskog "pater", što znači "otac". Ali su značenja različita. Paternalistički se ponašam ako tretiram nekog ko je iz drugačije kulture kao da je moje dete. "Mnogo te volim". Patronizujem ako tretiram sve iz drugačije kulture kao da su moje sluge. Zato bele ljude u Africi zovu "bvana", gazda.
I was given a slap in the face reading a book, "Small is Beautiful," written by Schumacher, who said, above all in economic development, if people do not wish to be helped, leave them alone. This should be the first principle of aid. The first principle of aid is respect. This morning, the gentleman who opened this conference lay a stick on the floor, and said, "Can we -- can you imagine a city that is not neocolonial?"
Ošamarila me je knjiga "Malo je lepo", koju je napisao Šumaher, koji kaže, najvažnije od svega u ekonomskom razvoju je, da ako ljudi ne žele da im pomognete, treba da ih pustite na miru. To bi trebalo da bude prvi princip pomoći. Prvi princip pomoći je poštovanje. Jutros je gospodin koji je otvorio ovu konferenciju stavio štap na pod i rekao: "Možemo li - možete li da zamislite grad koji nije neokolonijalan?"
I decided when I was 27 years old to only respond to people, and I invented a system called Enterprise Facilitation, where you never initiate anything, you never motivate anybody, but you become a servant of the local passion, the servant of local people who have a dream to become a better person. So what you do -- you shut up. You never arrive in a community with any ideas, and you sit with the local people. We don't work from offices. We meet at the cafe. We meet at the pub. We have zero infrastructure. And what we do, we become friends, and we find out what that person wants to do.
Kad sam imao 27 godina, odlučio sam da samo odgovaram ljudima, i izmislio sam sistem nazvan Olakšavanje preduzetništva, u kome nikad ništa ne počinjete, nikog ne motivišete, već postajete sluga lokalne strasti, sluga lokalnih ljudi koji sanjaju o tome da postanu bolji ljudi. Znači šta radite - ućutite. Nikad ne dolazite ni u jednu sredinu sa idejama i sednete i slušate lokalne ljude. Mi ne radimo iz kancelarija. Nalazimo se u kafiću. Nalazimo se u pabu. Nemamo nikakvu infrastrukturu. I šta radimo - postajemo prijatelji i saznajemo šta bi te osobe htele da urade.
The most important thing is passion. You can give somebody an idea. If that person doesn't want to do it, what are you going to do? The passion that the person has for her own growth is the most important thing. The passion that that man has for his own personal growth is the most important thing. And then we help them to go and find the knowledge, because nobody in the world can succeed alone. The person with the idea may not have the knowledge, but the knowledge is available.
Najvažnija od svega je strast. Možete nekome da date ideju. Ali ako ta osoba to ne želi da uradi, šta ćete vi uraditi? Strast koju osoba ima za svoj sopstveni razvoj je najvažnija od svega. Strast koju čovek ima za svoj sopstveni lični razvoj je najvažnija od svega. I tada im pomažemo da pronađu znanje, jer niko na svetu ne može da uspe sam. Osoba sa idejom možda nema znanja, ali znanje je dostižno.
So years and years ago, I had this idea: Why don't we, for once, instead of arriving in the community to tell people what to do, why don't, for once, listen to them? But not in community meetings.
Tako sam pre mnogo godina došao na ovu ideju: Zašto ne bismo, jednom, umesto da dođemo u neku zajednicu i da kažemo ljudima šta da rade, zašto ne bismo, bar jednom, poslušali njih? Ali ne u mesnim sastancima.
Let me tell you a secret. There is a problem with community meetings. Entrepreneurs never come, and they never tell you, in a public meeting, what they want to do with their own money, what opportunity they have identified. So planning has this blind spot. The smartest people in your community you don't even know, because they don't come to your public meetings.
Dozvolite mi da vam odam tajnu. Postoji jedan problem sa mesnim sastancima. Preduzetnici nikad ne dolaze i nikad vam neće reći, na javnom sastanku, šta žele da rade sa svojim novcem, kakve su prilike pronašli. Tako da planiranje ima tu slepu tačku. Najpametnije ljude u vašoj zajednici vi čak i ne poznajete, jer oni ne dolaze na vaše javne sastanke.
What we do, we work one-on-one, and to work one-on-one, you have to create a social infrastructure that doesn't exist. You have to create a new profession. The profession is the family doctor of enterprise, the family doctor of business, who sits with you in your house, at your kitchen table, at the cafe, and helps you find the resources to transform your passion into a way to make a living.
Mi radimo jedan na jedan, a da biste radili jedan na jedan, morate da stvorite socijalnu infrastrukturu koja ne postoji. Morate da izmislite novu profesiju. Ta profesija je porodični lekar za preduzeća, porodični lekar za poslovanje, koji seda uz vas u vašoj kući, za vašim kuhinjskim stolom, u kafiću i pomaže vam da pronađete izvore da biste pretvorili vašu strast u vaš način zarade.
I started this as a tryout in Esperance, in Western Australia. I was a doing a Ph.D. at the time, trying to go away from this patronizing bullshit that we arrive and tell you what to do. And so what I did in Esperance that first year was to just walk the streets, and in three days I had my first client, and I helped this first guy who was smoking fish from a garage, was a Maori guy, and I helped him to sell to the restaurant in Perth, to get organized, and then the fishermen came to me to say, "You the guy who helped Maori? Can you help us?" And I helped these five fishermen to work together and get this beautiful tuna not to the cannery in Albany for 60 cents a kilo, but we found a way to take the fish for sushi to Japan for 15 dollars a kilo, and the farmers came to talk to me, said, "Hey, you helped them. Can you help us?" In a year, I had 27 projects going on, and the government came to see me to say, "How can you do that? How can you do — ?" And I said, "I do something very, very, very difficult. I shut up, and listen to them." (Laughter)
Počeo sam to kao pokušaj u Esperanci, u Zapadnoj Australiji. Radio sam tada na svom doktoratu, u pokušaju da se udaljim od tog patronističkog sranja u kom mi dolazimo i kažemo vam šta da radite. I to što sam uradio u Esperanci te prve godine bilo je jednostavno šetanje po ulicama i u tri dana sam imao svog prvog klijenta i pomogao sam tom prvom momku koji je dimio ribu u garaži, bio je Maor i pomogao sam mu da proda restoranu u Pertu, da se organizuje i tada su ribari došli kod mene i rekli: "Jesi li ti taj koji je pomogao Maoru? Možeš li da pomogneš i nama?" I pomogao sam toj petorici ribara da zajedno rade i da ne daju svoju predivnu tunjevinu fabrici za preradu u Albaniju za 60 centi po kilogramu, već smo pronašli način da odvezemo ribu za suši u Japan za 15 dolara po kilogramu i onda su poljoprivrednici došli do mene i rekli: "Hej, njima si pomogao. Možeš li da pomogneš i nama?" U godinu dana sam imao 27 tekućih projekata i vlada je došla da me vidi i rekla: "Kako to uspevaš?" Kako uspevaš - ?" A ja sam rekao: "Radim nešto vrlo, vrlo, vrlo teško. Ćutim i slušam njih." (Smeh)
So — (Applause) — So the government says, "Do it again." (Laughter) We've done it in 300 communities around the world. We have helped to start 40,000 businesses. There is a new generation of entrepreneurs who are dying of solitude.
I tako - (Aplauz) - I tako je vlada rekla: "Uradi to opet." (Smeh) Uradili smo to u 300 zajednica širom sveta. Pomogli smo da se započne 40.000 preduzeća. Postoji čitava nova generacija preduzetnika koji umiru od usamljenosti.
Peter Drucker, one of the greatest management consultants in history, died age 96, a few years ago. Peter Drucker was a professor of philosophy before becoming involved in business, and this is what Peter Drucker says: "Planning is actually incompatible with an entrepreneurial society and economy." Planning is the kiss of death of entrepreneurship.
Piter Draker, jedan od najvećih savetnika za menadžment u istoriji, umro je u svojoj 96. godini, pre nekoliko godina. Piter Draker je bio profesor filozofije koji se uključio u poslovanje, i evo šta Piter Draker kaže: "Planiranje je zapravo nekompatibilno sa preduzetničkim društvom i ekonomijom." Planiranje je poljubac smrti za preduzetništvo.
So now you're rebuilding Christchurch without knowing what the smartest people in Christchurch want to do with their own money and their own energy. You have to learn how to get these people to come and talk to you. You have to offer them confidentiality, privacy, you have to be fantastic at helping them, and then they will come, and they will come in droves. In a community of 10,000 people, we get 200 clients. Can you imagine a community of 400,000 people, the intelligence and the passion? Which presentation have you applauded the most this morning? Local, passionate people. That's who you have applauded.
I tako sada izgrađujete Krajstčerč, a da ne znate šta najpametniji ljudi u Krajstčerču žele da urade sa svojim novcem i svojom energijom. Morate da naučite kako da ti ljudi dođu do vas i pričaju sa vama. Morate da im ponudite poverljivost, privatnost, morate da budete fantastični u pomaganju i u tom slučaju će doći, doći će u gomilama. U zajednici od 10.000 ljudi imamo 200 klijenata. Da li možete da zamislite zajednicu od 400.000 ljudi, svu tu inteligenciju i strast? Kojoj prezentaciji ste najviše aplaudirali jutros? Lokalnim, strastvenim stanovnicima. Njima ste aplaudirali.
So what I'm saying is that entrepreneurship is where it's at. We are at the end of the first industrial revolution -- nonrenewable fossil fuels, manufacturing -- and all of a sudden, we have systems which are not sustainable. The internal combustion engine is not sustainable. Freon way of maintaining things is not sustainable. What we have to look at is at how we feed, cure, educate, transport, communicate for seven billion people in a sustainable way. The technologies do not exist to do that. Who is going to invent the technology for the green revolution? Universities? Forget about it! Government? Forget about it! It will be entrepreneurs, and they're doing it now.
Ono što hoću da kažem je da je preduzetništvo tamo gde jeste. Mi se nalazimo na kraju prve industrijske revolucije - neobnovljiva fosilna goriva, proizvodnja - iznenada, imamo sisteme koji nisu održivi. Motor sa unutrašnjim sagorevanjem nije održiv. Freon za konzervaciju stvari nije održiv. To što moramo da tražimo je kako da hranimo, lečimo, prevozimo, komuniciramo, za sedam milijardi ljudi na održiv način. Ne postoji tehnologija koja bi to uradila. Ko će da izmisli tehnologiju za zelenu revoluciju? Univerziteti? Zaboravite! Vlade? Zaboravite! Biće to preduzetnici i oni sada rade na tome.
There's a lovely story that I read in a futurist magazine many, many years ago. There was a group of experts who were invited to discuss the future of the city of New York in 1860. And in 1860, this group of people came together, and they all speculated about what would happen to the city of New York in 100 years, and the conclusion was unanimous: The city of New York would not exist in 100 years. Why? Because they looked at the curve and said, if the population keeps growing at this rate, to move the population of New York around, they would have needed six million horses, and the manure created by six million horses would be impossible to deal with. They were already drowning in manure. (Laughter) So 1860, they are seeing this dirty technology that is going to choke the life out of New York.
Postoji divna priča koju sam pročitao u futurističkom časopisu pre mnogo, mnogo godina. Bila jednom grupa stručnjaka koja je pozvana da raspravlja o budućnosti grada Njujorka 1860. godine. I tako 1860., skupila se ta grupa ljudi i razmišljali su o tome šta će se dogoditi gradu Njujorku u sledećih 100 godina i zaključak je bio jednoglasan: Njujork neće da postoji za 100 godina. Zašto? Jer su oni pogledali grafikone i rekli: ako stanovništvo nastavi da raste ovom stopom, za prevoz građana Njujorka biće potrebno šest miliona konja i balega koju bi šest miliona konja proizvelo bi bila nerešiv problem. Već tada su se davili u balegi. (Smeh) Tako su 1860. imali viziju te prljave tehnologije kako guši život u Njujorku.
So what happens? In 40 years' time, in the year 1900, in the United States of America, there were 1,001 car manufacturing companies -- 1,001. The idea of finding a different technology had absolutely taken over, and there were tiny, tiny little factories in backwaters. Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford.
I šta se desilo? Četrdeset godina kasnije, 1900. godine, u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama je bila 1001 fabrika za proizvodnju automobila - 1001. Ideja za traženjem nove tehnologije je potpuno prevagnula i nastajale su male, sićušne fabrike u zabitima. Dirborn, Mičigen. Henri Ford.
However, there is a secret to work with entrepreneurs. First, you have to offer them confidentiality. Otherwise they don't come and talk to you. Then you have to offer them absolute, dedicated, passionate service to them. And then you have to tell them the truth about entrepreneurship. The smallest company, the biggest company, has to be capable of doing three things beautifully: The product that you want to sell has to be fantastic, you have to have fantastic marketing, and you have to have tremendous financial management. Guess what? We have never met a single human being in the world who can make it, sell it and look after the money. It doesn't exist. This person has never been born. We've done the research, and we have looked at the 100 iconic companies of the world -- Carnegie, Westinghouse, Edison, Ford, all the new companies, Google, Yahoo. There's only one thing that all the successful companies in the world have in common, only one: None were started by one person. Now we teach entrepreneurship to 16-year-olds in Northumberland, and we start the class by giving them the first two pages of Richard Branson's autobiography, and the task of the 16-year-olds is to underline, in the first two pages of Richard Branson's autobiography how many times Richard uses the word "I" and how many times he uses the word "we." Never the word "I," and the word "we" 32 times. He wasn't alone when he started. Nobody started a company alone. No one. So we can create the community where we have facilitators who come from a small business background sitting in cafes, in bars, and your dedicated buddies who will do to you, what somebody did for this gentleman who talks about this epic, somebody who will say to you, "What do you need? What can you do? Can you make it? Okay, can you sell it? Can you look after the money?" "Oh, no, I cannot do this.""Would you like me to find you somebody?" We activate communities. We have groups of volunteers supporting the Enterprise Facilitator to help you to find resources and people and we have discovered that the miracle of the intelligence of local people is such that you can change the culture and the economy of this community just by capturing the passion, the energy and imagination of your own people.
Međutim, postoji tajna uspeha poslovanja sa preduzetnicima. Prvo, morate im ponuditi poverljivost. U protivnom neće doći da razgovaraju sa vama. Osim toga im morate ponuditi potpunu, posvećenu, strasnu uslugu. I morate im odati tajnu preduzetništva. I najmanja kompanija i najveća kompanija, mora da bude sposobna da savršeno obavi tri stvari: proizvod koji želite da prodate mora da bude fantastičan, morate da imate fantastičan marketing i morate da imate strašan finansijski menadžment. I pogodite šta? Nikad nećete sresti jednog jedinog čoveka na svetu koji može da proizvodi, da prodaje i da se bavi novcem. Ne postoji. Takva osoba još nije rođena. Obavili smo istraživanje i proučili smo 100 svetski poznatih kompanija - Karnegi, Vestinghaus, Edison, Ford i nove kompanije, Gugl, Jahu. Postoji samo jedna stvar koja je za sve uspešne svetske kompanije zajednička, samo jedna: nijednu nije pokrenula jedna osoba. Sada predajemo preduzetništvo šesnaestogodišnjacima u Nortamberlendu, a čas počinjemo dajući im prve dve stranice autobiografije Ričarda Brensona, a zadatak za šesnaestogodišnjake je da podvuku, u prve dve stranice autobiografije Ričarda Brensona, koliko je puta Ričard upotrebio reč "ja" i koliko je puta upotrebio reč "mi". Nijednom reč "ja", a reč "mi" 32 puta. Nije bio sam kada je počeo. Niko nije sam pokrenuo kompaniju. Niko. Tako možemo da stvorimo zajednicu u kojoj imamo pomagače koji dolaze iz malih poslovnih pozadina, sede u kafiću, u baru i postaju vaši predani ortaci koji će učiniti za vas ono što je neko učinio za ovog gospodina koji govori o ovom epu, neko ko će da vas upita: "Šta ti treba? Šta možeš da uradiš? Ok, je l' možeš da prodaš? Da li znaš sa novcem?" "Oh ne, ne mogu to da uradim." - "Je l' hoćeš da ti nađem nekoga?" Mi aktiviramo zajednice. Imamo grupe volontera koji podržavaju Olakšavanje preduzetništva da bi vam pomogli da pronađete izvore i ljude i otkrili smo da je čudo inteligencije lokalnih ljudi takvo da možete da promenite kulturu i ekonomiju te zajednice hvatajući strast, energiju i maštu vaših sopstvenih ljudi.
Thank you. (Applause)
Hvala. (Aplauz)