So perhaps the question shouldn’t only be: What is wrong?
Perhaps we should also ask: What are we going to do about it?
Why WalkWizely Media Exists
This is one of the reasons I believe WalkWizely Media needs to be more than another media platform.
Yes, we want to tell stories. Yes, we want to have conversations.
Yes, we want to produce podcasts, articles, interviews and educational content.
But the purpose isn’t simply to keep people entertained or informed.
We want information to lead somewhere.
We want a conversation to inspire someone to learn. We want that knowledge to inspire someone to organise.
We want organisation to produce action. And we want action to produce something tangible.
A business. A skill. A project. A cooperative. A community initiative.
A new opportunity. A new institution. A solution to a problem. Something.
Because ultimately, nothing changes simply because we have discussed it well.
Change happens when somebody decides to take the next step.
But What Do Ordinary People Actually Have?
This question has occupied my mind for a long time.
When someone says: “I don’t have money.”
We often interpret that as: “I have nothing.”
But those two things are not the same. A person may not have capital, but they may have a skill.
Another may have capital but no idea. Another may have an idea but no technical ability.
Another may have land.
Another may have a truck.
Another may know how to manufacture something.
Another may know how to market.
Another may understand accounting.
Another may have thousands of relationships within their community.
Another may simply be willing to work. And another may know where the problem is.
Individually, these resources can appear insignificant. But collectively?
They can become something very different.
I Discovered a Simple Idea: BantuMali
Through my own journey, I came across an idea that resonated deeply with me:
BantuMali — people are the wealth.
The exact expression and meaning can vary across African languages and contexts, but the idea that struck me was simple:
Our people themselves are an enormous form of wealth. Not just our money.
Our people. Our knowledge. Our skills. Our hands. Our minds. Our creativity.
Our businesses. Our ideas. Our relationships. Our ability to work together.
Our ability to organise. Our ability to buy from one another. Our ability to produce.
Our ability to teach one another. Our ability to build.
Perhaps our greatest mistake is looking outside ourselves for everything we need before asking: What do we already have among ourselves?
The Problem Is Often Not the Absence of Resources
Sometimes the resources are there. What is missing is organisation.
Imagine ten people. One is an electrician. One is a mechanic. One is a mechanic.
One understands agriculture.
One knows marketing.
One is good at technology.
One has access to land. One understands logistics. One has experience running a business.
One understands the community. Individually, they may all struggle economically.
But put them in the right room with the right problem and the right structure, and suddenly they possess something none of them possessed individually: Collective capability.
That is where my thinking has been taking me. Perhaps the real question isn’t:
How do we find someone to save us?
Perhaps it is: How do we organise ourselves?
From Consumers to Owners
I believe one of the most important conversations we need to have is about ownership.
Too often, ordinary people participate in an economy mainly as consumers and workers.
We buy.
We work.
We consume.
We pay.
Then we repeat the cycle. But what happens when communities begin to participate as owners and producers?
What happens when people collectively own:
businesses; agricultural operations; manufacturing facilities; distribution networks; technology platforms; housing projects; energy projects; marketplaces; financial institutions; intellectual property?
The question becomes much bigger than individual entrepreneurship.
It becomes: How can communities create and retain wealth together?
That is the question that interests me.
This Is Why I Believe in Action
My own journey has reinforced this belief. When I came across organisations and movements whose ideas aligned with my own, I could have simply said:
“I support them.”
But I wanted to do something. When I discovered the Ubuntu Civilization Model, I volunteered to help build its website because I believed the ideas deserved a platform.
When I discovered the Ubuntu Civilization Model, I volunteered to help build its website because I believed the ideas deserved a platform. Nobody had to convince me to act.
I saw something that aligned with what I believed, and I asked:
What can I do?
That question is powerful. Because you don’t always need permission to make a contribution.
Sometimes you simply need to recognise a need and take the first step.
What If We Organised What We Already Have?
Imagine a community where people could say: I have an idea.
And someone says: Let’s evaluate it.
Someone else says: I have the skills needed to build it.
Someone says: I can help with the finances.
Someone says: I understand the market.
Someone says: I know how to manufacture it.
Someone says: I can distribute it.
Someone says: I can teach the people involved.
And another hundred people say: We believe in this enough to participate.
Suddenly, the community isn’t simply discussing its problems. It is organising its resources around a solution.
That is the kind of action I want WalkWizely Media to inspire.
We Need to Educate Ourselves
Action without knowledge can create new problems. That’s why education is so important.
We need to learn: How businesses work. How money works. How ownership works.
How cooperatives work. How communities can organise. How projects are evaluated.
How to develop skills. How to manufacture. How to distribute. How to build sustainable institutions.
How to protect what we build. How to protect what we build. And we shouldn’t be afraid to teach one another.
Because knowledge that remains with one person is limited. Knowledge that is shared becomes community capacity.
We Also Need to Learn How to Work Together
This may be one of our greatest challenges. It is relatively easy to say:
“We need to work together.”
It is much harder to actually do it. It is much harder to actually do it.
Different interests. Different skills. Different expectations. Different ideas about money.
Different ideas about leadership.
Different levels of experience.
That’s why collaboration needs structure, accountability and values.
We need to learn how to disagree without destroying the institution.
How to compete without destroying one another.
How to build something together.
How to share responsibility.
How to hold one another accountable.
And how to think beyond ourselves.
Build It. Own It. Protect It.
This is becoming a personal philosophy for me:
Educate ourselves. Empower ourselves. Create for ourselves. Create for ourselves.
Protect what we own. Reinvest in ourselves. Repeat.
And not just in one industry.
Why stop at agriculture?
Why not manufacturing?
Why not technology?
Why not housing?
Why not energy?
Why not transportation? Why not education? Why not media? Why not finance?
Why not distribution?
The objective isn’t to build one successful project. It is to develop the capacity to build again and again.
This Is Where WalkWizely Meets My Own Philosophy
WalkWizely means something very personal to me. It is about learning to navigate life intelligently.
To think before acting.
To learn from experience.
To make better decisions.
To help one another.
To build.
And to keep moving. WalkWizely media isn’t about pretending we have all the answers.
It is about asking better questions and then having the courage to do something with what we learn.
That’s why our conversations matter.
That’s why our podcasts matter.
That’s why our articles matter.
But only if they eventually lead somewhere.
So What Can We Actually Do?
Maybe the answer begins very small.
Ask yourself: What do I know how to do?
Then: What problem can I help solve?
Then: Who else can help?
Then: What resources already exist?
Then: What can we build with what we have?
It doesn’t have to be a billion-rand project. It could be a small cooperative.
A local business. A community garden. A manufacturing project.
A training programme. A marketplace. A savings group. A technology solution.
A community-owned asset.
The important thing is that something moves from an idea into reality.
My Birthday Question
So today, on my birthday, I don’t want to make this only about me.
Instead, I want to leave myself — and perhaps anyone reading this — with a question:
What are you going to do with what you already have?
You may not have money.
But perhaps you have knowledge.
You may not have a business.
But perhaps you have a skill.
You may not have influence.
But perhaps you have relationships.
You may not have an organisation.
But perhaps you have five people who believe in the same thing.
You may not have the solution.
But perhaps you have identified the problem. Start there.
Because maybe the greatest resource we are waiting for is the resource already standing beside us.
Each other.
The Work Continues
I don’t know exactly where all of this will lead. But I know what I want to keep doing.
Inspire. Educate. Motivate. Connect. Mobilise.
And, most importantly: Push toward action.
Because I don’t want WalkWizely to become another place where we simply talk about the future.
I want it to become a place where conversations help create the future.
And perhaps that’s what I want from this next year of my own life too.
Not just another year lived. Another year building.
Another year learning. Another year helping. Another year connecting people. Another year taking action. Because the power is not somewhere far away.
It is in the people.
It is in us.
We just have to discover it, organise it, develop it, use it, protect it — and do it again.
That is how we WalkWizely.
— Nkhosi Mfaume
Founder, WalkWizely Media