‘Any business that is not online will soon go into extinction’

Tolu Craig is the founder and business lead at PTwebs, a digital solutions firm based in Lagos. Tolu has B.sc in Mathematics & Statistics from the University of Lagos. In an interview with BUNMI BAILEY, he shares his vision, experience and how he encourages young people like himself to embrace entrepreneurship.

Tell me about your business.

We offer services ranging from website design, website hosting, website management, digital marketing, social media management, to corporate digital branding, training and consulting.

PTwebs as a business started in February, 2015. However, before then, I had found myself as an enterprising and industrious person while growing up. I was always busy that I barely had time to catch fun like my other age mates.

At a point on the university campus, some close students started calling me ‘Jackopreneur’ which I defined as ‘Jack of few trades, master of all’. And even as a student, I encouraged as many young minds as I could to embrace entrepreneurship.

I remember leading a team of students then to several youth entrepreneurial empowerment programs. I see entrepreneurs as solution providers that pave the way. So, whether you are an employee or an employer, if you don’t have an entrepreneurial mind, you will soon be kicked out of business.

What inspired you to go into this business?

I saw that in the nearest future, every business that is not online will soon be out of fashion. So I saw an opportunity in the industry and decided to drop other businesses I was doing to focus on PTwebs.

I have different sources of inspiration as a young entrepreneur in Nigeria.

Firstly, at the age of 14, I heard my pastor and mentor (Bishop David Oyedepo) make some statements that sank into my head. “We are not backward in Africa because we are blacks; we are backward because our mind-sets are backward.” Really, I was almost becoming a victim so I decided to liberate myself by reading books, attending seminars, connecting to mentors, and I made up my mind not to build friendship with anyone who has no sense of purpose.

Secondly, I discovered that every country has ‘the poor’ and ‘the rich’, so against the norm amongst young people, I told myself that I didn’t need to travel out of Nigeria to make it— that I will make it here.

If foreigners are travelling into our country to do business, it means that they are seeing what the Nigerians who are travelling out are not seeing. A lizard in Nigeria will not become an alligator in America. I made up my mind to stay here and be part of the transformation that my country needs.

Thirdly, I discovered that successful people today that we envy are people who were able to see opportunities in problems that other people complained about. So instead of complaining, I developed the attitude of first telling myself that ‘there must be a solution’. And this alone has turned me into a young man that does a lot of thinking on how things can be better than they are presently. Indeed, we are in the thinkers’ world.

Why do you think most start-ups fail after five years of being birthed?

It is discovered that 90 percent of every business fails in the first five years of establishment and I have discovered that the reasons for the failure hangs on two legs, which can either be the business itself or on the founder(s).

It is important for market research to be done before investing so much into any business.

Sometimes people run out of cash. Just as blood is to the body, so is cash to every business. Cash-flow keeps every business robust. Sometimes, it is not having the right team of people to work with.

People are also kicked out because of competition. You must be innovative enough to stay relevant in the market.

There are also issues around poor product or service delivery, lack of a workable business model and poor marketing. If you don’t effectively communicate what you do, your sales will drag and that will affect your cash- flow.

Again, Warren Buffet once said, “Always keep your customers excited”. When your customers are happy with you, they will bring you more customers.

And on the part of the founder(s), what causes early business failures are, among other things, lack of focus, motivation, commitment and passion; pride, resulting in unwillingness to see or listen.

How much did you start the business with?

Just as I share to motivate young minds whenever I’m privileged to speak at seminars or conferences, my start-up capital was my head. The key is that, “If you can think well, what you have is enough to launch your business idea”.

In more direct terms, I started my business with customers’ money. I strategically sent out my message that I designed websites, someone believed in me, gave me the first job, and I delivered promptly and professionally. That was how I started building my business profile. Today, over 70 percent of our new clients were referred by those we’ve worked for in the past.

No matter what your business model is, don’t just sit because you don’t have money. Most of the time, it does not happen that way, especially if you are from an average home like me.

My advice is to start with what you have and then what you don’t have will come as you begin to take steps. Build credibility with your moves and integrity. The investor you have been looking for has also been waiting to see that you are faithful with the little you have in your hands today.

How would you say your business has grown since starting?

PTwebs has been able to grow from the idea stage into an established firm. We have come not just to stay but to make a difference. We have come to help Nigerian businesses have a strong and yet professional online image, which will translate into increased sales and profits for our clients.

From one client, we have been able to maintain a sustained growth to having over fifty clients. And from a one-man business into business an eight-man team.

We are not there yet. Personally, I will describe PTwebs as a seed that was planted at inception and is now trying to break the ground in order to shoot out. I believe that it can only get better in the future.

What are the challenges confronting your business?

I will say having the right team to work with has been a major challenge to me. Other challenges are minor if you have the right people around you, because the solution to every other challenge is inside your team as a business lead.

At one point or the other, I have suffered from wrong staffing, but I learnt my lessons and still have to keep moving.

As a business, you need a team that will understand your vision, speak your language, be self-motivated, skilful, creative, faithful, and loyal and can relate well with your customers.

How can government address some of those challenges?

Two things I want our government to look into, which I am sure also affect other businesses, are electricity and tax policies.

Businesses spend a lot trying to generate electric power for operations. The efforts of the government are quite commendable, but dispensing funds for electricity projects is not enough. The right company should be awarded the contract and the right personnel should be appointed to supervise those projects till completion. We need results.

The second is tax policies. Government should review tax policies to encourage young entrepreneurs. The SMEs in Nigeria represent the larger portion of the country’s business community and hence policies that threaten the existence of these businesses should be reviewed.

What would you tell your younger self?

I will say; “Tolu boy, put God first in all you do. Take things one step at a time. Have a clear set goal for what you are doing, take your time to strategise and plan your actions. Seek sound counsel and make necessary research, and pursue your dream with all sense of commitment. Don’t try to always play it safe. Dare to leave your comfort zone. If you think you can, you are correct and if you think you can’t, you are also correct. If you are not different, then you are not needed. On a final note, Tolu, bite more than you can chew, and then trust your invisible teeth to chew the rest.”