Great ideas are conceived by great minds. Better still, these ideas are birthed by focused, determined and persistent minds. Conception can keep ideas hidden but birth takes them out of darkness into the light. Birth brings the ideas to the knowledge and enjoyment of human kind. However just like a child is born and needs to be nurtured so does the birth of a great idea need to be nurtured too. The capability and ability to nurture these ideas is what determines their success or failure. Often times, when an idea is birthed, the intention is to nurture it with an ultimate goal of bearing fruit but the realization of this goal results from the ability and capability to nurture the idea to maturity. This explains why businesses, companies and institutions that are birthed either survive, thrive or die. They survive because there is hope to thrive, they thrive because they are bearing fruit and unfortunately they can also die if the roots dry up thus bearing no fruit. The dryness of the roots does not always imply the death of a business or an institution or a company. These roots can be resurrected through watering and in context realizing and acknowledging the problem and finding solutions to resurrection and sustenance to sustainable ventures.
When we talk about the roots we are not talking about founders only despite the fact that they conceive these great ideas in addition to other contributing factors like funding. The roots of any existing business or institution majorly lies in the human capital employed, the education systems that shapes this human capital and the level to which technology is embraced especially in this 21st century. If the human capital is skilled, professional, collaborative and eager to continue learning and exploring, competitive in healthy terms and sensitive to the needs of their clients then this creates firm basis for well watered roots that will aid any venture to operational and financial stability and to flourish. When we begin to see signs of flourishing then the company or institution is becoming sustainable with additional packages like human capital remunerations to sustain employee satisfaction for improved returns. Part of the continuous sustainability of institutions lies in the repeated cycle of contributors to stability. That is why the great men who bring to light great ideas must devise a sustainable work plan to maintain this cycle for decades and generations to come. Such great men often move from riches to becoming wealth creators.
The 21st century world is fast changing and growing towards embracing the dominating space of science, technology, innovation and creativity. Human capital alone is not sufficient to drive an idea to the depth of satisfactory fruition but embracing the space of technology can make great ideas greater beyond national, regional and continental boundaries. Therefore as great thinkers bring to light great ideas they must embrace a work plan involving the tech space to improve, refine, redefine and direct their ideas to serve the world plentifully. Technology is holding people accountable, it is streamlining people and their activities, and it is yielding high returns and leading to fast growing and recognized businesses. A great idea must have a balance of human and tech capital. These two are interlinked to create satisfactory results, for wider connectivity, outreach and impact.
Every aspect of today’s evolving world is interlinked that without one part, impact is compromised. To complete the sufficiency of great ideas, the academia undoubtedly has a significant role to play. Human capital must grow in knowledge and technology requires enlightened human capital to invent, to improve or refine it to serve the needs of the fast changing world. The drivers of the education system need to embrace change to align their services with the changing world needs. An education system that still lives twenty or thirty decades back cannot serve efficiently and effectively today. The need to shape the human capital of tomorrow must start with deliberately improved education systems today. Academic institutions need to know their niche, to grow and develop that niche, to be identified with that niche, to incorporate that niche in all its programmes to enable a holistic approach that embraces world needs.
There is need to work towards dispensation of specialized services in the education sector. This is what Uganda and most developing nations need, to be more globally competitive and highly demanded world over. The urge for an employable population that is skilled, knowledgeable, technologically enlightened, innovative and creative in thinking and application is what will define great ideas and their application to greatness.
Dorothy Wegoye Kimuli
Principal Marketing & Public Relations Officer
Uganda Technology and Management University
