The word scale is used interchangeably with ‘scale up’ which means exponential growth or growth in significant proportions. Since I started evangelizing that small businesses should scale in the last two years, I have received several emails and had various conversations with people who say they want to scale their business. I am always excited by the notion that people are ready to begin to make significant impact in their industry.

However, when I engage more in the conversation, I realize that they are really seeking to grow their business some percentage points and not to the level that scale will require.

I have dedicated the last two years to studying exponential growth first because I was fascinated by how businesses in the United States and some Asian countries seem to achieve scale in under a decade. In much recent years, it has become somewhat of an obsession because I have a deep concern for African small businesses.

Over 95% of businesses in Africa are actually micro businesses. They are more or less subsistence and exist more to meet the immediate needs of the business owner. The implication of the set up and structure is that these businesses will remain small or eventually die which will threaten the livelihood of the business owner.

With unemployment and underemployment being at an all-time high in most African countries, most young people will turn to a form of small business or ‘hustle’ to provide a means of livelihood. The millennials are truly entrepreneurial and my heart swells with joy when I see a new creative idea or business birthed. In the same vain, I am saddened by the statistics that most of these businesses would not survive.

The little light in this scenario are the technology start-ups funded by Silicon Valley investors that are achieving some critical mass in the last two to three years. Sadly they still represent less than 5% of the new businesses springing up.

In my bid to do something about what seems like a discouraging situation, I poured myself into research to see how you can take a small business in Africa and scale it.

I realize the conditions in our environment are significantly different from more developed economies, but I believe with the right tool set, optimism and resilience, we can have more businesses than will scale in the next decade.

The result of my research is my new booked titled small to scale. The book has three parts. The first part studies various countries that have created businesses that have scaled significantly in the last decade and provides inspiration that should propel us to want to do the same in our own countries and continent.

The second part is the juice of the book where I break down the 7 steps to take your business from small to scale.

The third part of the book has case studies of inspiring business all over Africa. We included this part in the book because I understand the concept of mirroring. It is easy to replicate what you can see than to attempt to do what has not been done before.

I have also decided to do something different with this book. I want to teach the concept in the book before it is published. I want to nurture a community of people who will start applying the 7 core concepts even before the book is published because like every great book, the results of those who read and apply the concepts is the real fulfilment.

I will like to invite you to be part of this community if you want to make more significant impact in your industry and country by taking your business from small to scale. The community will be called the small to scale club and in 7 weekends, I will teach the core concepts of the book and support the members of the community to implement it.

If you will like to be part of this community, please visit www.smalltoscale.com. The club is free for everyone, but you need to pre-order the book as you will get the soft copy of part 2 immediately to use as our learning guide for the 7 weeks.

My vision is to see more businesses hit the billion mark in the next decade and I do hope yours will be one of them. This is a call for you to scale and I hope you will join me in the club HERE.