Why sell tacos in Africa? By Paul Oberschneider. Reviewed

By @SimonCocking. Available to buy from Amazon here.

16 Start-Up Strategies for Entrepreneurs

What is a self-made man or woman? Ever thought about it? Success is not a straight-line deal. There is no A-to-Z path, and there are no magic beans that will carry you upward overnight. Have you ever wondered how to start, scale up, build teams, and flourish in an uncontested market? I can tell you. I did it.

In 1992, I landed in Estonia with $400 in my pocket. There, I discovered a truth that changed my life and the way I conducted business: You can make a lot of money as an entrepreneur by moving decisively in blue-sky markets – markets where you face very little competition and the tide can carry you to riches.

Over the next decade and a half, I built a portfolio of businesses worth $200 million. Now, I want to share the paths that led me to success, passing on my knowledge to you. In Why Sell Tacos in Africa? I explain sixteen principles that allowed me to drive such tremendous growth. May you, too, find a blue-market and watch your business soar.

This book at just over 100 pages, is a quick read. That said it has a great title and some good insights along the way. The chapters are short, aim to be thought provoking and ask you questions and set you tasks to try out at the end. The title is provocative, and compels you to think counter intuitively, and to try and find those blue ocean spaces where no one else is trying to do what you are doing. At the same time he does try to help you to ask the hard questions quickly, to assess as soon as possible if you are looking at a viable business opportunity or not.

We have run a series of guest posts by Paul, (see below) and these certainly complement the ideas he is aiming to get across in this book. At a time where more and more jobs are being replaced by automated processes it probably remains a strategic time to read books like this and consider what your own future strategies might be. By the end of the book he says that the Tacos in Africa idea had become more than a metaphor and may well be his next business. It could be interesting to have him back in Irish Tech News in 6 months time to see how it is going, and how the experiences described in this book helped him.

How to create a vision that will inspire people, Paul Oberschneider

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.net or on Twitter: @SimonCocking