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THE VALUE OF IDEAS
Posted by Dei-Tumi (admin) on Apr 19 2010
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In the last quarter of 2008, some inspiring thoughts run through my mind. Since 1995, the Foundation has been preaching the need for the youth to cultivate the habit of saving and investing. I was thinking of how we can create a platform that will enable them to develop this habit right after our seminars. I spoke with a number of financial institutions and business executives in that sector to help shape my idea and get them on board as partners. I was very confident of the possibilities in those thoughts at that time. I succeeded in selling the idea to a number of financial institutions and in May 2009, the Future Leaders Investment Club (FLIC) took off. Today, we have over 12,000 people signed on as members, from over 50 educational institutions and have raised over GH¢120,000 so far.

But it all started with an idea I had and I want to share with you some of the lessons I have learnt from this experience. Today, it is no longer an idea but a vehicle for educating and empowering the youth and its impact, I am very proud of. Great achievements emanate from great thoughts. Thoughts though unseen produce every other thing that we see. Great organizations, discoveries, inventions and any other achievement are all invented twice – first in the mind and then the actual putting together of the resources to create it. The first method of creation is probably the most important since it is the precursor and blueprint for actual creation. It was Victor Hugo, the French playwright who said that, ‘‘one can resist the invasion of an army; one cannot resist the invasion of ideas.’’ Ideas are therefore very powerful in our quest to succeed at whatever we do.

Ideas are more powerful than weapons of warfare. Some of the factors which make one win a war include strategy and weapons and they are all products of ideas.

Another truth about ideas is that you need ideas before resources and not resources before ideas. FLIC has employed several people both directly and indirectly. We have succeeded in raising over GH¢120,000 for the private sector. They are products of the idea because ideas have the power to attract and generate resources. I did not have all resources at my disposal to implement it but I did not play down on the possibilities and power of the idea.

Of great importance also is commitment and action. Commitment and action to the idea is what adds value to our ideas and not the ideas in themselves. In other words, what you do with an idea is what determines its value and not the idea itself. While we were planning for FLIC to take off, we discovered that there are similar products in the market already but they had not been able to commit enough and the right resources for their implementation. The people behind an idea and their commitment to it are some of the factors that contribute to its success. You and your commitment to your idea will determine how high your idea will fly.

In translating the investment club idea into reality, I will like to agree with Gilbert Seldes, a US theatre and radio critic that ‘‘all great ideas are controversial, or have been at one time.’’ Not everyone believed in the idea as I believed in it. Some saw me as a motivational speaker, youth worker and training consultant and therefore had no business venturing into financial services. Others probably thought that I was loosing sight of my original vision. There were still others who saw it as impossible that we can get young people and students for that matter to contribute a minimum amount of GH¢5 every month towards their future. But we have succeeded to wade through some of these challenges and are still fine-tuning it.

Every idea you have will be challenged. Do not allow the opposing views people have to kill your idea. Take it as a challenge. In some of their criticisms lie breakthroughs for your novelty.

You need ideas to make your business more competitive. You need ideas to improve on your performance at work. You need ideas on the business you can start for yourself. You even need ideas on how to improve on your marriage. You need ideas on what you can do with your knowledge, talents and skills. Remember, today’s ideas are tomorrow’s realities.

Last changed: Apr 19 2010 at 11:40 AM

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