‘Entrepreneurs’ failure is down to poor financial discipline’

Mohammed Sani Haruna is the founder of Sternom Resources. Haruna holds master’s degree in entrepreneurship. In this interview with JOSEPHINE OKOJIE, he looks at the Nigerian entrepreneurship space and what his organisation offers to young entrepreneurs in the country

How would you describe Nigeria’s entrepreneurs space?

Nigerians naturally are enterprising people. They strive to survive under difficult circumstances, but the major problem is that the enterprising spirit, especially of youths, is not properly incubated in order to channel it towards wealth creation. With a large number of youths that are very creative, I would say successive governments and our educational institutions have not done enough to groom and empower them with the right knowledge to dare to succeed through entrepreneurship. Of course, some may fail, but a great number will succeed. It is pathetic when you see a highly talented person looking for a job and can hardly find, or a highly intelligent and creative person staying on a job he is not happy with just because he is afraid to venture into business. At our forth coming Master Salesman training, the modules are designed to bring out the winning entrepreneurship potential of each participant that will help him to succeed either as an employee or a business owner

With the current challenges facing the economy, what is the outlook of entrepreneurs in the country?

Business opportunities abound in every economic condition. A good entrepreneur envisages challenges in his area of operations before they occur and adjust accordingly. Some of the challenges facing entrepreneurs in Nigeria now have been with us for quite some time. Like access to credit from banks, poor infrastructure, and inadequate power supply, among others, these are some of the major problems affecting businesses generally in Nigeria. These challenges have made entrepreneurship a daunting task. But with belief in one’s self, discipline and a strong desire to succeed, the opportunities are enormous in Nigeria

Why do most start-ups fail within five years of existence?

Most start-ups fail within the period because of lack of proper definition of oneself; entrance into a business without proper understanding; poor appraisal of his challenges, and lack of financial discipline.

Funding has remained one of the major challenges facing entrepreneurship in Nigeria. How can government ensure entrepreneurs get adequate funding?

I think the NAP 3.0 is one good initiative towards addressing this challenge. The Action Plan is aimed at addressing challenges inhibiting the smooth operations of SMEs. Some of these challenges are: access to credit, multiple taxation, and administrative bottlenecks, among others. I believe if the plan is implemented as outlined, it will change Nigeria’s business for the better and will encourage more local and foreign investments in the economy.

The government is taking so much about diversification, what role can the SMEs play in this process?

No economy can survive on one product alone. The diversification drive of the Federal Government is a right step in the right direction. Not only the diversification, the ease of doing business is something SMEs need to key into. Opportunities abound in the solid minerals sector. Most importantly, with the right discipline and determination, Nigeria has enormous potentials for business growth.

What is the role of sales and marketing in business success?

Businesses exist to serve various needs of the population it intends to serve. Without the right publicity, a product, no matter how good, may not be accepted by the market. For a product to be accepted and make the desired impact, it has to be well packaged and marketed using the right channels of communication and techniques

You are planning to hold ‘The Master Salesman’ training in April. Can you tell us about the training and what you intend to achieve with it?

The Master Sales Training is conceived with the aim of building the capacities of participants with current global thoughts and skills of conceiving business ideas, designing strategies for market penetration and placing their companies’ products and services on the right pedestal for success and profitability. We have some of the best minds in the business of selling in Africa who shall serve as resource persons in the training.