For the last eight years, i have been working on projects with micro, small and Medium entrepreneurs across Africa & the Middle East, One thing stands out. Some businesses fail, other flourish. But, universally, the biggest challenge most struggling business owners face is not knowing what their biggest challenge is. Contradicting? Yes, that’s so true. Ask a a failing business owner of what the cause is and they will say; economy, bad luck, and other seemingly invalid issues. The truth is, you can’t treat what you don’t know. If you find yourself trapped between negative cash flows, stagnating sales, poor workmanship, less customer retention, etc, what do you fix first? This is a tough question to every entrepreneur. To be sick is one thing, to know the sickness is another. So, do entrepreneurs know the sickness in their business often times? As it is for sickness, that the doctor must know the sickness before treating it, same as in business, to proactively correct something in your business, you must know it first, and to know it you need solid systems in place.  Systems allow you to know and see exactly where the bend is in your business. Systems make alarms when