Experts advocate bottom-to-top approach for young entrepreneurs

Experts say bottom-to-top approach, which involves taking responsibility and participating in decision-making and strategy, is key to driving start-ups in the country.

According to them, innovation on the part of young entrepreneurs is essential for promoting the development of small and medium scale enterprises.

Ndidi Nnoli Edozien, founder, Growing Business Foundation, said young people could establish their small scale businesses and build their independent entrepreneurship careers through identifying and solving key problems which require innovation and technical know-how.

According to Edozien, who is also a social entrepreneur, young people should innovatively explore social media tools for harnessing better business opportunities to solve modern-time problems in businesses.

Edozien urged young entrepreneurs to understudy ways of accessing funding through windows opened by the government like the Bank of Industry (BoI) and the N220 Billion MSME Fund, advising that if such funds are not forthcoming, they can look more closely within the family sector with a presentable business proposal.

“Driving businesses as an entrepreneur requires lots of information, better bookkeeping and deep research on the business environment you are going to trade on,” she said, during an interaction aired on African Independent Television.

“One of the greatest ways of reaching out to businesses is through a less complex and simple way, and ICT offers a whole lot of opportunity in that platform. Young people could leverage on ICT to advance innovation in businesses,” she suggested.

“It could cost-effectively reach more people at the same time. It is a grand new way of generating millions of jobs. We would launch hacker form in our platform and young people could look at the socio-economic problems to be solved using the template,” she added.

In a separate presentation, experts say entrepreneurs must take issues such as integrity, trust, branding, social impact/responsibility, resilience and humility as these can move their businesses to the next level.

Tonye Cole, managing director, Sahara Energy Group, said start-up owners should not compromise their integrity no matter what they think they can gain from doing so. “Opportunities will come for you to compromise,” Cole said, during this year’s learning summit organised by the Entrepreneur Organisation (EO) in Lagos.

“But let people know you as someone whose ‘yes’ is ‘yes’ and whose ‘no’ is ‘no’.

“Do not try to dodge phone calls. Once you are known to be honest, you will be trusted. Trust can change your business for the better in the twinkling of an eye,” he said.

According to Cole, most start-up owners want to be associated with ownership of their businesses, but he urged them to focus more on the result rather than recognition.

“The title on that business card is not important. The business model is very simple in our firm: All of us are staff,” he said. “You must not feel less important if people do not know you as the owner of the business. For me, I don’t really matter in the context of things; the most important thing is that dividends will come whether I am recognised or not. Build your brand and let it grow,” Cole advised.

Harrison Edeh