King Mansa Musa
There was a great King who ruled the kingdom of Mali long before we landed on the shores of America in 1619. His name was King Mansa Musa, ruling from 1312 – 1337. He was strong, courageous, and wise beyond his years. His kingdom of The Mali Empire centered around the Capital of Timbuktu. Mali was far technically superior to other countries in the region. He built a library with the first written books ever recorded. The engineers, scholars, and artist of Timbuktu created a society with living standards greater than Egypt.
People know him as the richest man ever in history. His net worth was close to the $1 Trillion mark, a record that will possibly never be broken. How could a man be this wealthy at such an early age? The trade of Gold. Remember gold mining was done by hand and mined in small quantities in ancient times. His wealth came from consolidating the Gold trade. A Superior Management Technique unheard of at the time. If loss of wealth is due to mismanagement. Then superior management will build wealth rapidly. His tenure as King only lasted 25 years, but his accomplishments were great. His true testament was the amount of people he empowered. You cannot build a wealthy estate of this magnitude without allowing people to educate themselves for a better life. The asset of Gold was the vehicle that permitted his citizens to prosper. Salt, another valuable commodity, also created wealth in the Mali Empire. He knew you always had to have an alternative source of income.
King Musa was a Muslim. In 1324, he made his lifetime pilgrimage or Hajj to Mecca, a journey of 2700 miles. He was accompanied by a caravan of 80,000 men, women, and children wearing fine silks and carrying soft leather bags filled with gold dust. The caravan’s 80 cargo camels each hauled 300 pounds of gold bars. The other pack animals carried lesser weights of gold. On the journey, the caravan stopped off in Egypt to see the Pyramids and The Pharoah. As custom of the time, The Pharoah would require visitors to kiss his ring, whether they were Kings or lesser known people. When he extended his ring to King Musa, Musa’s people watched closely to see what he would do. King Musa bent down and kissed the ring acknowledging Pharoah. His people were shocked, but King Musa knew exactly what to do about this egregious offense.
You don’t become the wealthiest man in the world by being a poor chess player. King Musa was a Grand Master. The Pharoah heard all about King Musa’s wealth and wanted to show his superiority. Musa’s next move was swift and decisive. He flooded Egypt’s markets with purchases paid in gold. He gave poor people in the street gold donations. He gave The Pharoah’s court gold gifts. Egypt was drowned in so much gold, inflation took off like a comet. This caused Egypt’s economy to be depressed by Stagflation. It took 10 years to recover from that one wrong move by the Pharoah.
King Musa continued on his pilgrimage and had a successful journey to Mecca in Arabia. On his way back when he got to the River Niger, he allowed the women and children to sail home by boat, while the men had to soldier on by foot with their King.
Being the GM of this wealth building cooperative, I included this account of King Musa because I wanted you to know, no person is either superior or inferior to you. No man in history has ever acquired the amount of wealth that King Musa had, an African man with your same heritage. Do not allow anyone to make you feel small or ashamed of who you are. King Musa built the kingdom of Mali through intelligence and ability. He was also a generous man. You can only receive this type of wealth from God. If you are tightfisted and stingy, you place a ceiling on how high you can fly in your pursuits. Be a blessing to others, so you will be blessed. Follow Mansa Musa’s example! The original King of Gold.