Business legacy: EDC explores issues of business improvement

Women are now at the forefront of many entrepreneurial ventures in recent times. So, in order to build lasting businesses, issues of business improvement as well as team motivation must be handled carefully. To provide the synergetic platform for these women entrepreneurs, Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan-Atlantic University organised the Women in Africa (WIA) Conference in Lagos.

The two-day conference with theme – Leading Towards a Legacy – provided a robust platform for women to engage, network and be inspired by other women entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Towards addressing the information gap and tackling issues of unfairness, the conference also facilitated a face-to-face contact with regulators such as the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS).

Since the organisers believe that no great legacy was ever built on simply getting through, speakers consisted outstanding women entrepreneurs and a few men who have made their marks in the entrepreneurial world.

Yewande Zacchaeus, chief executive, Eventful Nigeria Limited, urged the women to be passionate about whatever business they decide to do, advocating the need to train staff, “even if they eventually leave because it is the entrepreneur’s way of sowing into the future of others.”

Zacchaeus also urged the business owner to start at whatever level possible, no matter how small.

On how technology could be used by women in business to achieve greater success, a panel was moderated by Adetunji Adegbesan of Gidimobile. The panellists – Martha Alade, Women in Technology in Nigeria, Ore Lesi, Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre, Ibironke Taiwo of INITS Limited, Damilola Solesi, Smids Animation Studios Limited, and Adeola Allison of IBM, all spoke on how technology could transform businesses.

Alade said: “If you have a website, tell the person monitoring it to give you monthly analytics, so you know the pages or products people are checking on your website. For instance, a furniture maker posted a beautiful family bed on Facebook costing N350,000. By checking what people are saying about how expensive it was, he realised if he could get 200 people to buy it, he could bring down the price to as low as N150,000.”

She explained that it was by assessing what people were saying on the internet that he was able to make that business decision.”

The panellists urged on the need for business owners to learn how to monetise, the likes of visitors’ mark on their Facebook pages since it could help in reducing the amount of money spent on market research.

Representatives of regulating bodies at the forum in a session moderated by Aderonke Onadeko of Deli-R Company Limited urged the business owners to seek knowledge on taxation, because for someone who lacks knowledge, it can be difficult dealing with tax officials. Issues of certification also came to the fore. Getting the National Industrial Standard for a product entails both content and packaging. Complying with standards will help a business to be competitiveness in the market, the regulators urged.

OLUYINKA ALAWODE