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Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation

12-07-2010 , 05:28 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by JayTeeMe
Sorry for the newb question but how have you been paid back (+profit) before the hotel is even built?
Had explained in post 140, but basically one of the guys involved in the project didn't meet his terms of the agreement/deal with regards to construction and the schedule, as well as some mistakes that cost money to correct so he decided to get the money to pay for it rather than be bought out, some of that money was used in paying back some investors
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
08-13-2011 , 02:06 PM
Update on hotel, what's been going on, and plan moving forward. Cliffs at bottom, even though I think it's an interesting read.

Hotel:
Since posting this thread, the hotel has now been finished and functional/operational for a good bit now. It's turned out pretty good and has been a pretty cool experience seeing the hotel (on my first visit) when it was still being constructed and bare block, to seeing it now finished and operational. I have not personally been back to the hotel to see it now that it's finished, but my mother and her sisters took a trip to Tanzania as a vacation and they all stayed at the hotel. I was told it was very nice. From the pictures I have seen it looks pretty good to me. Here's a couple:







We have been hosting a lot of different events such as weddings and government related events, which has been keeping us pretty booked up. Here's a picture from one:


Now that the hotel is basically done and functional, the current plan, as I mentioned in earlier stages of the thread I believe, is that we are going to be transitioning into trying to tap into the housing market there. Not sure if I went into details, but essentially there's a pretty huge shortage of adequate housing all throughout the country, which has created a market with lots of demand for a growing class population.

What's gone on in the mean time:

I continued grinding poker while waiting for the hotel to be completed. I believe I mentioned it in other parts of this thread or another one that I created, that my plan at the onset was not to just invest passively on the sidelines, but to actively learn what's going on so that I could learn the ropes and position myself with the knowledge/experience to try to invest money on my own at some point. So what ended up happening was my uncle and I decided, the best way for me to get started in learning and being involved was to come down to where he was in the US and work first hand on some housing construction we were doing here in the states.

The general plan was that we were doing some experimental construction here to test out some different things we want to implement in the houses we plan to build in Tanzania, but felt doing it here in the states in a more controlled environment first, with less money at risk, was the best idea. So I came down here right as the project was beginning and have spent the past 4 months or so essentially acting as the project manager for the houses we're building. My uncle really wanted me to get experience managing a project and learning on a micro level how construction works, so that I can help be the eyes/ears for us when we begin building in Tanzania.

I wouldn't consider myself a newbie at this point anymore (guess I could just post from my normal name now too) since in the past 4 months I've basically learned how to build an entire house on my own from start to finish, while focusing on keeping costs down, staying on schedule, and staying within budget. I was the sole full time worker on the houses we built here in the states and it was a HUGE learning experience. I had various employees working for me, had to manage a payroll, negotiating terms, coordinating various phases of the job with diff teams I had (for example, my foundation people can't get in until I get my guys who bring in the dirt and clear the trees have finished, then my plumbers can't do X until I've made sure my carpenters did Y).

My uncles approach to helping people learn things is basically throw in the pool head first and let them sink or swim. So as a result, when I first got here I didn't even know what a "rebar" was, to now knowing all sorts of specifics and details that are relevant to a project. I feel like I learned a lot incredibly fast and think a poker players skills overlap quite nicely with that of a project superintendent, since it requires mostly a lot of attention to detail, planning, organization, tilt control, analytical thinking, multitasking, comparing EV of diff options, etc (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-a-...tendent-do.htm). I think the other big thing I gained from this experience though was that it gave me a lot more confidence in actually taking action in doing something. I, like many people, tend to sort of feel a bit in the dark about actually taking the first step even if we have the capital and intelligence to do something. This experience here really made me feel a lot more confident about learning how to get things done. It also made me realize that a lot of successful people in the business world really aren't all that sophisticated. I had different business meetings with CEO's of some construction companies we were working with where I didn't think the guys were too smart, to put it politely.

Plan going forward:
We are at the point now where we are about ready to start building the houses and the plan is for me to move out there full time and work in conjunction with our project manager and team we have in TZ, to show them how to build the houses using some of the things we are bringing from what we learned here in the states. I'll be helping to keep an eye on our investment, keep things moving along, watching over how things are going, and making sure it's done right.

I'm pretty excited about it as well since I'm supposed to be living at our hotel, which has air condition, internet, and a nice atmosphere. When I first made the thread I thought it was going to be a bigger sacrifice moving there, since I wasn't sure where I'd be staying, if there'd be internet/air condition, how the food would be, etc. Most that's been resolved though. I'm planning on hiring one of the cook's from our restaurant or someone else to cook my meals each day and having a lot of foods just shipped over in bulk each month. Only reason that's necessary though is since my diet is pretty specific, otherwise they have plenty of good food there. But they won't have stuff like whole grain noodles, specific protein powders, truvia/splenda, etc. The timing of all this is pretty perfect considering black Friday and all. I had coincidentally already came here and put poker on hold shortly before black friday happened.

Anyway, if there ends up being enough interest, I may start another thread where I post more information and updates on how things are going.


Cliffs:
- Finished hotel, has been operational for a while and has had great occupancy rates thus far, we are hosting events and such at the hotel to build interest and business, mother/sisters visited it and said it was nice, pictures included above.

- Since we are planning to now build houses, I ended up moving near my uncle and becoming project manager for the houses we were building and learned an enormous amount about how to build a house from start to finish, as well as managing a projects budget/schedule/team.

- Am planning to move to TZ and live in our hotel, for the purpose of assisting our engineers/project manager/team that worked with us on the hotel, in managing the construction of houses we plan to do there.

Last edited by NewbieInvestor; 08-13-2011 at 02:25 PM.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
08-13-2011 , 02:33 PM
Thx for the update.

Could you elaborate on this:

Quote:
The general plan was that we were doing some experimental construction here to test out some different things we want to implement in the houses we plan to build in Tanzania
I am not sure what you are saying here. Are you talking about different building materials i.e. is there is a different natural resource base in TZ or something? Or, are you talking merely about different methods? Relatedly, what type of State inspection processes exist in TZ? Have they adopted Western Code (adapted to their specific environment ldo), or do they have a Code built from scratch, or do they even have a Building Code?

Also, what type of exit do you have in mind? Do people primarily pay cash? Do they have available credit? Or, will you be financing the units you build? Of course, I am assuming you are building to sell; are you planning on building to rent long term?

Anyway, interesting thread.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
08-16-2011 , 02:45 PM
Quote:
I am not sure what you are saying here. Are you talking about different building materials i.e. is there is a different natural resource base in TZ or something? Or, are you talking merely about different methods?
Yeah, essentially what our group had brewing before I really became more in the know about what the plan was, was they were testing out various different aspects and systems of building a house that was intended to circumvent a lot of the obstacles present in Tanzania.

For example, as you mentioned, different building materials was one of the things we were testing. We were building some test homes using systems that were made out of all concrete/cement and metal/steel, without a single piece of wood present anywhere in the home. Mainly because there isn't a reliable source of quality wood throughout Tanzania, nor is there reliable termite protection. Majority of homes there are made from concrete blocks/cement.

Also as you mentioned, the method. We were trying out a couple different systems to see if it would be more efficient, faster, and cheaper than the most common method of building homes currently in Tanzania. Instead of laying blocks, the methods we were testing involved the use of a shotcrete application where you basically spray cement on like they do when building pools, except for the houses we were doing it was used to spray on the walls and the ceiling. (Heh, on a side note, for an introductory crash course in home construction, I was told that I got about as tough of a beginner lesson to be thrown on that I could have. None of my local contractors had much experience whatsoever with shotcrete and had never done the system we were using, so they didn't really have the expertise for me to just coast through observing and learning. I ended up having to get hands on reading blueprints and figuring things out with them myself through communication with the CEO of the companys for the system we were using. Works to my benefit though since it's a better way to go about learning of course.)

Also, we were testing out a steel roofing system that was easier and reliable, since roofing is a big problem for houses throughout Tanzania. The roof was one of the biggest problems we ran into with the hotel.

Quote:
Relatedly, what type of State inspection processes exist in TZ? Have they adopted Western Code (adapted to their specific environment ldo), or do they have a Code built from scratch, or do they even have a Building Code?
As far as I know through conversations with our engineers in Tanzania and my uncle, there's no inspections and codes lie here in the states. Through various parts of our construction my uncle would mention "yeah, this isnt something we'll have to worry about in Tanzania since they don't require it". Unless I'm mistaken, the housing market in Tanzania is in such an infant and early stage that there's not much regulation for the building and is possibly similar to the very early stages of online poker where it was a market that had only just began to evolve. I'll know more specifically once I get over there again.

Quote:
Also, what type of exit do you have in mind? Do people primarily pay cash? Do they have available credit? Or, will you be financing the units you build? Of course, I am assuming you are building to sell; are you planning on building to rent long term?
Very good question, as it relates to part of the long term strategy my uncle has in mind. Currently in Tanzania, there doesn't exist any market for long term financing on building a house. All the houses built are bought by the rich and usually paid for in cash or a 5 year loan at the most. From what I'm told (I will verify once getting there myself), the market is such that nobody sells houses because the demand is too high. Currently, the only people building houses are building them for the upper range of the market simply because they can build a home for $200k and turn around and sell it for $400k+.

Nobody is targeting the market of middle class individuals who have a job and can afford a long term mortgage but not the expensive short term 5 year loans. So what you end up with is a great # of people who build the houses themselves slowly over the course of 10 years just taking money out of their paycheck while renting somewhere else. So what my uncles plan is, is to essentially be able to build the house for $$25-$30k, sell it to someone for $50k-$60k, have them put ~$10k down or so, and then finance them for a 15 year loan. Then he intends to take that $40-$50k mortgage that they are financed for and use that to get our own 5-year loan on that note we have on them, where we can then take that money and the downpayment to go build another house, while paying off our loan with their mortgage payments and also profiting from a spread through charging them a higher rate of interest than we are being charged on their note/our loan.

My exit that I have in mind is to focus on balancing poker into my schedule as much as I can to limit the opportunity cost, and then evaluate as time goes on how things are going. I don't have the exact exit plan laid out since I feel there will probably be other opportunities I discover throughout the course of this that I will be interested in. I already know of 2 that I am very interested in that I may go into more detail later on. I figure worst case scenario I'll just go back to grinding poker and try to find some way to capitalize off the knowledge/experience I gain.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
08-16-2011 , 03:43 PM
This is a pretty awesome thread.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
08-16-2011 , 03:47 PM
Why would you want any exit strategy? Just keep working with your uncle. You aren't going to find a better in or a better opportunity. Here you are living in Tanzania, supervising a building project, living in a hotel that you are a part owner of...You are accumulating awesome experiences. Stay on this path.

The only reason to leave, would be if you aren't enjoying it.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
08-16-2011 , 04:32 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by rothko
Why would you want any exit strategy?
You should always have an exit strategy.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
08-16-2011 , 04:38 PM
as an investor, yes. but, that's not what i was referring to and probably not what i was addressing, either, so my comment was lame.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
08-16-2011 , 06:45 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by rothko
Why would you want any exit strategy? Just keep working with your uncle. You aren't going to find a better in or a better opportunity. Here you are living in Tanzania, supervising a building project, living in a hotel that you are a part owner of...You are accumulating awesome experiences. Stay on this path.

The only reason to leave, would be if you aren't enjoying it.
Yeah, I intend to make this my top priority -- I interpreted "exit plan" as more of "contingency plan" in the event things weren't going well. I had a few other ideas I felt pretty good about being able to finance and execute from using information I got through contacts I have on the ground floor in Tanzania. I'm putting that off for now though and am planning on committing to this.

The only scenario where I won't be going forward with the current plan is if my uncle and I aren't able to work out a % deal that I think is fair for my participation. We have yet to discuss how much my % will increase and what salary will be for my involvement, but I figure with everything I've learned I'm in a pretty good spot as far as negotiating terms. I'm not going to try to hardball or anything, but clearly have to do what makes sense for me, while keeping my opportunity cost in mind (poker, lifestyle, the other businesses I had in mind, etc).

At this point since I actually know more about construction and building houses from start to finish than anyone else in our group, am putting up $150k (will just re-invest what I got back from hotel investment), and presumably would be a trustworthy set of eyes/ears due to my relationship with uncle, I feel like I'm bringing a good bit to the table. We should be able to work it out, but since we haven't discussed the details of how much yet, I figure there's a non-zero % chance I go a different direction. But obviously I gain a lot just from the experience so I have to factor that in too.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
08-17-2011 , 01:36 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewbieInvestor
Very good question, as it relates to part of the long term strategy my uncle has in mind. Currently in Tanzania, there doesn't exist any market for long term financing on building a house. All the houses built are bought by the rich and usually paid for in cash or a 5 year loan at the most. From what I'm told (I will verify once getting there myself), the market is such that nobody sells houses because the demand is too high. Currently, the only people building houses are building them for the upper range of the market simply because they can build a home for $200k and turn around and sell it for $400k+.

Nobody is targeting the market of middle class individuals who have a job and can afford a long term mortgage but not the expensive short term 5 year loans. So what you end up with is a great # of people who build the houses themselves slowly over the course of 10 years just taking money out of their paycheck while renting somewhere else. So what my uncles plan is, is to essentially be able to build the house for $$25-$30k, sell it to someone for $50k-$60k, have them put ~$10k down or so, and then finance them for a 15 year loan. Then he intends to take that $40-$50k mortgage that they are financed for and use that to get our own 5-year loan on that note we have on them, where we can then take that money and the downpayment to go build another house, while paying off our loan with their mortgage payments and also profiting from a spread through charging them a higher rate of interest than we are being charged on their note/our loan.
Thanks for the response. I am somewhat familiar with what you are talking about doing; while I do not have any hands on experience I do know a guy who does precisely the method you describe in the States, only he holds his own paper, and does not have as large a spread. He has been very successful for 30+ years doing only these type of deals. The part that would give me pause is selling the paper. It is hard enough to sell the type of paper you are talking about in the US (from what I have read), much less in a foreign country with a history of political instability. But, I am sure your Uncle has that all figured out. Probably some HNW friend or something who is willing to buy seasoned paper for a decent return. Anyway, thanks for the update and I look forward to some success stories in the near future.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
08-17-2011 , 04:22 AM
You are very lucky to have a wealthy uncle if I was you I would just commit to your uncle and ur set , forget about poker.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
08-17-2011 , 09:02 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by savman
The part that would give me pause is selling the paper. It is hard enough to sell the type of paper you are talking about in the US (from what I have read), much less in a foreign country with a history of political instability. But, I am sure your Uncle has that all figured out. Probably some HNW friend or something who is willing to buy seasoned paper for a decent return.
Yeah, I'm a bit familiar with his longer term plan for selling the paper once it's amassed into a sizable portfolio holding, if that's what you were referring to. But shorter term I don't think the plan was to sell the note of theirs, it was to just use their note to get a loan there to get more liquidity to build more houses, while also cash flowing it positively from the spread. I'm planning to sit down with him and run the #s on all this to get a better handle on it, but he had gone through an amortization schedule with me and showed me how it would cash flow.

I also was thinking of posting pictures from the houses we were building here since this has been a pretty crazy experience and one of the houses is all but done. I forgot to mention a couple other things we were trying out here to see how we liked it for use in TZ. One was concrete staining, which is an alternative to marble or fine stone floors, whereby you stain the concrete after it's been cured with a smooth finish. It's cheaper than tile/carpet/hardwood and can come out looking like a more expensive floor than it is. Here's some pics of what I mean:
http://www.concretenetwork.com/photo...d-concrete_30/

Also we were going to try out some alternative energy options like solar panels and wind turbines, since infrastructure and reliable water/energy can be shoddy, so we wanted to incorporate something that can supplement power for when it goes out. There's times in TZ for a lot of areas where the power can go out for a couple days I believe a family ends up having to throw out an entire fridge of groceries.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
08-17-2011 , 10:30 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ragstoriches
You are very lucky to have a wealthy uncle if I was you I would just commit to your uncle and ur set , forget about poker.

Great advice also residential development I have been told is easier than Commercial
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
08-17-2011 , 11:06 AM
Great update, thanks!
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
01-30-2012 , 08:14 PM
In the time so far that we've been operational, things seem to be going really well.

I'm living in the hotel while overseeing it for our group, as well as helping to manage the construction of the houses we're building. I may make a different thread about that later on since I'm far more involved on a micro level with the housing construction than I was with the hotel. For the hotel I just invested passively and am helping now that it's done. For the houses though, I've been involved since the beginning in building the various prototypes, as well as coordinating different deals with various companies we're working with, so I should have more interesting information to divulge on that front in another thread maybe.

Last edited by ahnuld; 02-28-2012 at 12:01 AM.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
01-30-2012 , 08:27 PM
Great read, always motivating to see someone start from down up.

Just a small nit at the website, how come there is no option for online reservations? It looks pretty barren/ghetto when you click on it to only have the number and email without even a welcoming message.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
01-30-2012 , 08:59 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by bearz
Great read, always motivating to see someone start from down up.

Just a small nit at the website, how come there is no option for online reservations? It looks pretty barren/ghetto when you click on it to only have the number and email without even a welcoming message.
Agreed, website def needs some work still. It was one of the last things they did so I don't think it's 100% finished yet. Not even sure how long it's been live tbh, I just came across it today. I don't think much of our business is coming from online at the moment, but am assuming it's still going to be set up soon.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
01-30-2012 , 10:57 PM
I've never been so psyched to have been so wrong as I am ITT.

edit: Congrats OP
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
01-30-2012 , 11:56 PM
A nice concrete floor finish if staining isnt working out is grinding (use nice aggregate or colored cement is cool). Finish with Ashford sealer...
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
05-29-2013 , 09:25 PM
I think my pw to the account I was using for this thread got changed when 2+2 had that problem a while back, and I can't remember what throwaway email I used for it. Didn't really feel like figuring it out or making new name and don't really post on 2+2 as much these days anyhow.

Anyway, had some free time this evening and thought it may be good to update this thread since it's been more than a year since my last post. Figured other poker players would find my venture from online poker into business rather interesting. I don't mind posting more details about what's going on out here now since 1) The opportunities are endless at the moment and 2) Doing business out here seems to have an upfront learning curve anyway in becoming connected first, understanding how business here works, and learning to maneuver through all the bureaucracy and red tape.

Hotel:
The hotel has been doing extremely well. In 2012 we had $1.4m in revenues and we're up about 20% from that so far in 2013. I re-invested/loaned my money back to the hotel alongside my uncle so that the hotel could make some additions to the hotel such as a pool, staff house, gym, etc, and got a decent return on that. We are doing a 2nd and 3rd hotel this year, where we already have land for both and the construction for the 2nd one has already begun. After having been out here for a year+ now full time, I can definitely say that my uncle was spot on in his view that the opportunities out here are abundant relative to other developed countries in the world. Our hotel thrives due to the fact that there's no real competition for at least 3+ hours and it's located between the business capital of the country and the political/government capital, so we get a lot of those clientele, as well as tourists due to our location right by the mountain and national parks.Here's some updated pictures from the hotel:














Nightclub:

Although I mentioned in my last post that I would be working on housing, we ended up running into a few issues that delayed housing and our group thought focusing on hotels and a few other projects we're doing should take priority. Since I was just an investor in the hotel and wasn't working on housing actively, I ended up going out and networking/socializing, and in the process was put in contact with someone that a person in our group knew was looking for an investor for a night club. Long story short, the club was nearly 80% done and needed an investor to come in to finish up in exchange for equity. I used my uncles lawyers and contacts to assist me in papering the deal and bought a decent % of the night club. The club opened maybe a month later than expected, but had a huge boom in the first few weeks where we were all over the blogs and TV, and where a lot of the big local celebrities, radio personalities, business people, and well known people in the country and entertainment industry came out. Obviously a lot of fun socially to be involved in that and recognized as one of the owners.

In keeping with the same theme as the hotel as far as the opportunities in this country, we are definitely the most upscale nightclub in the country at the moment. Not because the club is amazing on the level of what you'd find in the US, but because there's not many nightclubs here and the country is still early in the developing/growth. I actually think we're possibly a bit too far ahead of the curve at the moment. My partner for the club want to target a certain type of clientele that is higher class and has money, but that demographic isn't the crowd that goes out consistently every weekend to the other clubs in town. The crowd that goes to the clubs consistently every weekend is the young middle class Tanzanian crowd. We tried to implement a dress code early on, which is typical for an upscale club in developed countries, but out here we found that we were turning away too many would-be customers. The young tz crowd is also more sensitive to prices than I think my partner expected, so we've had to tweak that somewhat. It's doing pretty good nonetheless. We get good turnouts on events and weekend crowds are good, but weekdays we can't justify staying open at the moment. A lot of thought and ideas has gone into pricing, target market, stay upscale vs lower standards, how to promote, etc, but it would make the post even longer than it already is to get into. Pics (downstairs is a bar/lounge that people can pregame at before going upstairs to club):



(With lights on)


(downstairs)






(not me, just showing the types of pictures taken on opening night)




(one of the VIP rooms)


(another one, don't' have pics of third though saved for some reason)
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
05-29-2013 , 09:26 PM
Gelato company:

Another thing I'm working on is I'm partnering with a girl I know out here who already had an idea to launch a Gelato company for making high quality ice cream, since there's only 2 suppliers of ice cream basically that dominate entire country. They use artificially modified flavoring for their ice cream, which tastes pretty inferior to what you'd find on other countries. What attracted me to this was that she already had some traction on her own making sales to people off instagram and facebook, she had just recently started selling to a big hotel in town, and I genuinely thought her ice cream already tasted a lot better than the current brand in the market. She was running a small operation with some small ice cream maker and needed an investor to get the right equipment to scale things up and improve her product. When I met her she didn't have any relevant numbers for me to look at, so a lot of my questions as far as the volume hotels/restaurants in town do of ice cream, the potential, the profit margins, etc was all kind of unknown.

So I figured I would go around to some of the hotels and restaurants her business plan said she'd be targeting and talk to them first hand to gauge their interest level. I simply went to them and would say I was an investor that was considering investing into a gelato company and give them a brief rundown, and many of them immediately began asking to taste the ice cream she currently was making, which then snowballed into more demand on it's own than we could even keep up with. We started selling ice cream to Hilton Hotel (Double Tree) out here as well as some other big hotels and restaurants. We were getting invited to events with top executive chefs in the best restaurants in town so that they could try the ice cream and many of them wanted to place orders. All of it was kind of reality shattering to me considering in the USA the chances of walking into a Hilton hotel and having a serious conversation about selling them your ice cream you made at home in your kitchen are about zilch I assumed. But it just goes back again to the theme of opportunities out here. Because the high end hotels don't have someone to supply them with a high quality product, they're all just reverting to the same ice cream you buy stock in a grocery store.

We already are on menus with our brand/logo, as well as have a banner out front of the restaurant advertising our presence inside... all without having even bought the proper machines yet to really improve consistency and taste. So at this point, we have already gone through the legal process of registering the company, structuring the deal, having contracts and agreements drafted and signed, and are soon to be ordering the machines. We actually have a big event coming up where we have to prepare 60 liters of ice cream on the small ice cream machine she's currently using, but it should be great exposure. Our plan is to get into certain hotels/restaurants and brand our ice cream as much as possible, to then lay the framework for starting a chain of mobile carts and then eventual ice cream parlors. Will be my first time actually being hands on with a company in which I'm playing a fully active role and have majority stake in, so it will be interesting. The start up capital required isn't too much though and the upside potential feels good based on the numbers I've gathered and plugged into excel. The margins out here at the retail level for ice cream are pretty insane. 1 liter that costs about $1.8-$2 to produce, retails at $50-$60 (when sold by the scoop).


Life outside of business here:

Must say, prior to moving out here I was bracing myself mentally to take a big hit in my standard of living, largely due to having no idea whatsoever what life would be like in an African country. Having been here a year now I can honestly say I'm enjoying my life far more than I was back in the USA. Granted, before I left I was spending all my time either playing poker online or building houses, which isn't that fun, the lifestyle out here shattered what I expected. I thought I'd be eating local african foods, no air condition, no internet, substandard living situation, no women, no social life, etc. But they have all of that here. Good restaurants with food that's as good as back home, air condition, high speed internet (I actually prefer internet here... I use a mobile broadband that I can almost place in my pocket and take with me anywhere that gives download speeds of like 1-1.2mb/s), there's nice modern apartments (although expensive), and I love the women.

I'm an African American though so it's kind of perfect for me. I certainly prefer Tanzanian women over African American women and it's not even close. Basically get the same looks, with a more peaceful, laid back, and sweet demeanor. And being a young African American in an African country places you in incredibly high demand. Having a nightclub has also been about as fun as you can imagine owning part of a night club can be. I think it's actually better since I'm just a passive investor/partner, so I get all of the social perks without all the headache of running it. For now anyway. Being American out here already opens so many doors business and social wise, so owning part of a night club has really thrown it over the top as far as becoming connected in the city. Then my uncle is connected about as high as it gets out here so that helps as well. I'm definitely in love with this place even outside from all the business opportunity out here.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
05-29-2013 , 10:17 PM
fantastic read, and congrats. Seeing how your life turned out from reading this thread reminds me of a thread in EDF on changing your life http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/79...your-life-787/ very inspirational and has inspired me to get out of my comfort zone and do something with my life. This is great.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
05-29-2013 , 11:18 PM
big congrats. you sound like a great salesman.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
05-29-2013 , 11:36 PM
Thanks for the update and congratulations on your success!
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote
05-29-2013 , 11:39 PM
wow, thanks for the update; that's incredibly interesting. my friend is moving to Jo'burg for work and I'm very interesting in hearing more about the investment opportunities in Africa.
Making my first big investment:  Buying 0k worth of hotel corporation Quote

      
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