Lagos Chamber: Promoting entrepreneurship among Nigerians through mentoring
Empirical evidence has shown that there is hardly any successful entrepreneur today who did not, at one point or the other, have someone guiding and mentoring them.
Just like it is popularly said that ‘behind any successful man is a woman’, so should it be extrapolated that ‘behind every successful entrepreneur is a mentor’.
Zig Ziglar, American author and businessman, put it succinctly: “A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could.”
From Steve Jobs to Bill Gates, down to Carlos Slim, there were people, often relatively less popular, who provided nuggets of critical information on accounting, marketing, personal branding, risk management and personal finance, among others. Whether the information or advice was informal, semi-formal or formal, the fact remains that there were people these successful entrepreneurs often ran to.
In 2013, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), through its Business Education, Services and Training (BEST) unit, initiated a pilot mentoring programme, with a view to stopping the incessant failures of start-ups and small businesses, which die as a result of lack of capacity. Since 2013, the programme has been adjudged successful by industry observers and analysts.
Just last week, the 2015 edition was concluded. This year’s edition brought together 50 entrepreneurs who were taken through tortuous but worthy mentorship training for six months. Forty-seven of them eventually graduated with skills that could match entrepreneurs in any part of the world. Three could not cope with the discipline inherent in the programme and had to drop out.
“Among the many memorable experiences that our mentees (trainees) had, one of our 2013 mentees is a beneficiary of the YouWin programme while another won the Sterling Bank Entrepreneurs award for 2013,” said Toki Mabogunje, chairman, board of BEST unit of LCCI, at the graduation ceremony held last Wednesday in Ikeja, Lagos.
“One won the ‘She Leads Africa Entrepreneurship Awards’ while another won the 2015 Lagos State African Industrialisation Awards,” Mabogunje said.
Of particular interest this year is Celestina Utoro’s case. Utoro, CEO of Catyna Design and a 2015 mentee of LCCI’s BEST unit, was invited to a seminar in Kenya by the United States embassy, in which Barack Obama , US president, also participated.
According to Mabogunje, a lot was done to ensure the success of the 2015 programme.
“Baseline forms were developed and applied. Mentoring application forms were designed, and mentoring documents considered. These mentees attended personal development workshops and rigorous business management training sessions before they were allowed to participate in the practical mentoring sessions,” she said.
She expressed hope that the 2015 graduates would be ambassadors of the programme to enable others who were still struggling in their businesses to have a taste of what the chamber could offer.
The 2015 edition was done in partnership with Accenture, a consulting firm which provided the diversity required and ensured the programme remained exciting throughout.
Remi Bello, outgone president, LCCI, expressed confidence that the mentees would apply what they were taught to put Africa’s largest economy in its rightful place.
The programme, initiated by Muda Yusuf, director-general of the chamber, had mentors who could be regarded as some of the best in the country. These mentors included Larry Shogunle, Gabriel Idahosa, Victoria Onofowokan and Shina Ganiyu, among others.
Mayowa Olanihun, a facilitator who ensured that standards and quality were maintained through the six-month course, said strict discipline was required throughout the programme as lateness, often called ‘African Time’, was eschewed.
Gabriel Idahosa, one of the experienced mentors, said: “We expect to have future Dangotes after this. All I can tell you all is that the world is now your stage. It is up to you what you will do with it.”
Idahosa said the mentees had an advantage as they were now in a dynamic and modern world where they could do business with people all over the world without moving an inch.
Isaac Olusola Dada, one of the mentors, said: “With my experience, I have realised that Nigeria is going somewhere. There is unemployment everywhere because many of our graduates have been looking for white collar jobs when they can easily become employers of labour. I am convinced that with the crop of mentees we have here, Nigeria will, in ten years, become like China and India.”
Dada pointed out that despite that there was a challenge of sourcing capital in the country, entrepreneurs should remain undaunted while exploring other sources of funding.
To ascertain how successful the programme was, mentees were equally asked how they felt.
“Through this programme, I was able to learn planning, strategising and operations, things I never knew before,” said Oluwatoyin Ajani, one of the mentees.
“I have found out that when you are running a business, you need proper accounting. I was able to understand that company’s money is not yours. When you make money, pay yourself first,” Ajani said, while urging the mentors to help provide them with solid referential backing when needed.
Krystie Kayode Ogun, a mentee, said she had to come to classes from Abeokuta, Ogun State, because of the quality of mentorship.
“I consider a one-on-one mentorship as the best. I learnt a lot from it,” Ogun said.
Joseph Chris Anayochukwu, also a mentee, said he had lacked the administrative knowledge of business before the programme but had now garnered adequate knowledge that would enable his business to grow.
“I am happy to have learnt some of my mistakes and I believe I will not repeat them,” Anayochukwu said
ODINAKA ANUDU