On our recent trip to Zanzibar we were met at the airport with a sign waving driver. He introduced himself as Abdul. Full name Abdul-Rahman Kesi Ali. Husband of two wives, father of 4 children, his youngest only a week old.

Abdul entertained and educated us about his country on the way to our resort and on many other tours we took during our stay. Abdul loves his country but has realized that the false promises of government and friends are as temporary as the high tide on the coast.

He has taken his future into his own hands and has developed a multi income stream business for himself that is destined to secure a solid financial balance for him and his family.

With unemployment around 65%, secure jobs are scarce. Abdul owns his own vehicle and runs a taxi and tour guide service during the day. Both his wives work and the kids are looked after by grandparents when moms are not around.

Abdul also imports and sells second hand cars from UAE direct from Dubai. The cars come in containers via ship. This is not an uncommon form of income, but he has worked out that filling up all the space within and around each car with cement, mattresses, tiles and appliances boosts his income profit 10 fold for each import.

His youngest wife is also learning to drive and will soon be able to double up as a second tour guide to fill her spare time after work and weekends.

We chatted to Abdul about business strategy and plans for his future was came to an agreement to trade some solid business coaching for a bag of sweet mangos and a free trip to the slave caves. Not a bad trade from our part. If we only had more people like Abdul in Africa we would begin to see a lot more financial control back in the hands of the citizens and away from government and corrupt officials.