What every entrepreneur should know

While it takes courage to start up a business in Nigeria, it takes much more to sustain it, given the several challenges ranging from access to capital to infrastructure militating against businesses in the country.

However, despite the challenges, many start-ups in the country are recording fantastic growth and making waves across the country and beyond. From Jobberman to Konga to IROKO TV to DealDey to Jumia to Evans Akanno to Wild Fusion to I-One-C, these growing start-ups have mastered the art of pulling out all the stops to make their businesses survive and thrive.

Poised to help catalyse the evolution and development of start-ups in the country, BusinessDay (BD) Start-Up Seminar held recently in Lagos brought the brains behind two of those businesses to its head office to confer with young aspiring and budding start-ups.

The duo of Ayodeji Adewunmi and Opeyemi Awoyemi, co-founders of Jobberman, Nigeria’s number-one jobs website; Kelechi Dozie, managing director, I-ONE-C Limited, Nigeria Financial Services, and Kabelo Makwane, country manager, Microsoft Nigeria, were on hand at the event.

Passion

Dozie stressed the need for an entrepreneur to keep his or her passion about the business alive. “As an entrepreneur, you should not allow your passion to be killed. If you do, the business is dead. Let your passion override the challenges you face.”

Boldness

Awoyemi, who went down memory lane on how Jobberman evolved back in the days when they were undergraduates at the Obafemi Awolowo University, said his passion for graphic design made him to pay N1,000 to learn web-design for one hour.

“Boldness is very important. If you want to do anything, just go out and get it done,” he enthused. “I was able to use technology to create solutions. I got interested in tech and how it can be used to solve real life problems.

“There is always an opportunity for anybody to plug in. There are different things you can do across the industry. Technology and entrepreneurship equals innovation,” he said.

Relentless

Awoyemi did not mince words in telling the aspiring and budding start-ups to learn to be dogged in their entrepreneurial pursuits. “Relentless is very key. Don’t give up as an entrepreneur. You just need to be relentless.”

Value creation

One key thing that is lacking is people thinking about how to create value, said Adewunmi, president and chief executive officer of Jobberman. “If you are someone who thinks value creation, you will begin to see opportunities where people see problems.”

Noting that the growth in Nigeria is being driven by entrepreneurship, he said opportunities abound in Africa for people who are value-oriented.

“You have to decide where and how you want to play. Do you want to be value-oriented so as to be able to create the best opportunities in the next five years?” Adewunmi challenged the audience.

We are going to start seeing transfer of power from the people in politics to those in business, he said, asking the participants: “What are you doing now to tap into the present opportunities in the country?”

“Opportunities are everywhere. I think it is about consciousness. Once you raise you consciousness, you will start seeing opportunities. I think Nigeria is the best place to make money,” reckoned Adewunmi.

Understand the industry

Entrepreneurs should understand what is happening in the industry where they do business and how they can carve a niche for themselves, said Makwane. “Understand the industry and the emerging opportunities and carve a niche for yourself. Believe in yourself and what you are capable of.”

FEMI ASU