‘The answer to unemployment is SMEs development’

Starting out

I quit high school when I was 15 years old to set up this business. My family needed support; so I had to do what I had to do. I set up the IT business, and slowly it has grown. I haven’t been back to school since then. Entrepreneurship has always been my passion. It has always been the thing I love.

I borrowed about $5,500 from three people in Uganda. I took a small amount from everybody and I gave them the confidence that I was very passionate about what I wanted to do and knew what I was doing; that I had thought it through. When asking for a loan or asking somebody to fund you, it is very important to give them the assurance that one – you know what you are talking about, two – you are very passionate about it, and three – you have really thought about it. If you come to me with a business plan today, and if I ask you three questions and you don’t have answers to two, then I’ve lost confidence. But if you answer them, even if you are trying to answer them in the right way, I can tell if you have really thought about it or not. So, I think they believed in my passion, they believed that I had really thought about it. I was dreaming about it and I really wanted to make it happen. And I was doing something that I loved which was IT, it just fascinated me.

I started buying and selling computer parts. Part of the $5,500 went towards my first month shop rent, a few pieces of furniture, and a ticket to go to Dubai to buy goods. I had only about $2,500 to buy goods. So, I started the business itself with a very small amount.

Presence

We have presence in 19 countries and will have in 22 African countries by the end of this year. We have 2,000 employees in Nigeria with four organisations – three businesses, including a glass manufacturing company that we are building in Rivers State, and we have a foundation.

I met President Goodluck Jonathan a few months ago in Davos at a conference. I am very happy to see that the president is taking youth empowerment very seriously. In my opinion, we need three things to help young entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs. So, in my opinion, we need to create an enabling and empowering environment. We need to inspire them. Enabling them is giving them mentorship, guidance and advice. Empowering them means giving them access to funding, let’s give them the credibility they need at the incubation stage and inspiring them by giving them the hope that it is possible, by showcasing certain people who have achieved it.

Advice

Never give up. Don’t look for the easy way out. Don’t justify failure in your mind. You have to succeed. You have to make it work, no matter what. You should not focus on the negativity like power and this and that. If you focus on the positive, your mind will work inevitably to find the solution. It’s all a mindset shift. And this is why Mara Mentor is trying to help by giving advice and guidance free to a lot of young men and women entrepreneurs across Africa. We are partnering the government of Nigeria through our mentorship programme to get access to more people.