“In business you have to know the difference between the two” says Waceke Nduati, founder of Centonomy, a Wealth building training company based in Nairobi, Kenya. When you track what you are doing in a week, you have to critically question what you have been focusing. Important are the projects that are not for today, but will mature after three months or even a year. There are the strategic moves that you need to make so that you can have certain relationships that propel you to certain opportunities.

The important will need you to show some persistence. According to Waceke, you might need to take this particular person out for lunches and even do some follow up calls. The important takes time but is absolutely necessary for growth. Waceke explains that when they began, it was not urgent for them to create an Entrepreneurship program for Centonomy because a lot was happening at the time with the various classes they already had, but it was necessary because she knew at some point in the future they would need it. “Time factor of anything you do in business matters a lot. At Centonomy we have always been clear that we are not a building business that is just about today it’s also about tomorrow” says Waceke. Today, the entrepreneurship program has graduated over 1,000 students, and continues to grow in its importance to Centonomy as entrepreneurship is now a topical issue in Kenya.

Urgent is what we do for every day so that we can sustain our day to day life. If the urgent is not there then structure is missing in your business. However, says Waceke, if you find your business mostly focusing on the urgent then there is a problem with your business structure. As a leader you should be able to delegate the urgent to your staff and then you work on the important. Your business structure is very important to the sustainability of your business.

Waceke Nduati was a guest at Un.thinkable roast (our monthly 10X Growth Challenges Leaders meet-up) in March 2020. Click here to apply for membership in Un.thinkable.