The Matelong Family Home on the Web

Kaap Matelong, I have recently been building a home library to try and enrich my scope of the world. One such is a book that goes by the name The Jewish Phenomenon (seven keys to the enduring wealth of a people). It is written by Steven Silbiger and I will tell you in a synopsis what the book says. Steven Spielberg (Hollywood movies?) and Michael Dell (owner of the top computer franchise in the world by volumes of sales) arel Jewish. In 1997, these are the facts were true and they probably still are today:

But why have they succeeded? The question may not be answered unless you have read this, and admittedly other books. However, just imagine that yesterday (Sunday) after watching Wolf Blitzer on CNN, I wanted to confirm that he was German. I was wrong, he was born of Polish Jewish immigrants and worked in Israel until 1990. Why have, for example, the owners of Manchester United Football Club succeeded in sports entrepreneurship? Avram Grant, the coach of Chelsea Football Club is Jewish. The summary sounds simplistic but it may help.

1. Understand that real wealth is portable; It's knowledge. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, the author says. He advises that even if one defaulted on the repayment of (HELB?) loans, nobody can reposses your certificate. Listen to this, "The value of an education is really not a secret: it's similar to the "miracle" of compounding financial returns given with every pitch for retirement savings". The idea is built on the paradigm that 'getting an education requires the ability to defer gratification for a bigger payoff later'. With this kind of mindset, it is no wonder that this community has had a fair share of Nobel prize winners in science.
2. Take care of your own and they will take care of you. To safeguard and enhance the health of their community, the Jews zealously deploy their wealth for both charity and social actions. They make money so hard, and they give so generously. Do this challenge this family and the entire Nandi community to shoulder each other's burdens?
3. Successful people are professionals and entrepreneurs. Specialised people earn from their skills. Again does this take us back to education? Just consider the leading medical doctors in the US, the lawyers and the physicists. They have something to do with the Jewish mentality towards professionalism and success.
   
4. Develop your verbal confidence. Boldness, assertiveness, a willingness to demand what is due, to defy tradition,just to be able to have the balls to dare to be different. It is from the Hebrew word chutzpah. Avoid selff-pity, let your language prop you and feed your ears with strength from your mouths.
   
5. Be selectively extravagant BUT prudently frugal (mean!). Listen to that advert on Kass FM about borrowing not more than half what you earn. Spend what you can make, make more than you need to spend. The Chinese are good at savings. To be rich, youneed to save!
   
6. Celebrate individuality: Encourage creativity. Look at the uniqueness of your name, you are yourself, set out to make the most of you!
   
7. Have something to prove: a drive to succeed. The mind is the most potent of drivers. Feed your mind with the positive psychological drive to succeed. Again define success in a global sense, to another is success to a second person your success is failure. Look outwards, it helps to reach out to see other strngths and role models. Then 'tune' your mind to conquer and deliberately design the success path!
   

Michael Bloomberg has succeeded as a media magnate and a politician. How can we use these to inspire the Kaap Matelong and Nandi and indeed the Kalenjiin to aspire to excel and make a difference and an impact all at the same time? By looking to icons and success stories of those American and world entrepreneurs, are we able to inspire a briefcase businessman to wax on and become a multi-millionaire? How much of these things are in the genes, rather than the conducive (or lack thereof) environment? Can we learn any (and what) lessons from these people and grow our wealth and earn respect? Can't we, and why not?