Every successful entrepreneur in Nigeria has a story to tell about their journey from nothing to something, from nobody to somebody. Due to many Nigeria factors known to us all, many start ups and businesses have collapsed even at the seed-stage. It's not only about being an entrepreneur that does it for us, it's about being a successful one.
I want people to be entrepreneurs because they can change the world. - Pierre Omidyan (eBay).
Image SourceEntrepreneurship is about knowing a problem and proferring a solution to it. I think it's the 'problem solving part' that can change the world but to change the world, the entrepreneur has to be successful in providing the solutions to these problems in the country. Here are major tips we learnt from successful Nigerian entrepreneurs that we can learn from and make use of.
1.) It's never too early to start a business.
Procrastination is a major factor that kills many ideas or businesses at their initial stage. Many Nigerians have good ideas capable of solving lots of problems in the country but they keep delaying and procrastinating till they lose interest. To be a successful entrepreneur, you must be ready to take risks not baring the time or the cost.
The founders of Jobberman (one of the most successful businesses in Nigeria); Opeyemi Awoyemi, Deji Adewunmi andLekan Olude started working on Jobberman far from when they were still in Obafemi Awolowo University. They had a dream about it and followed through without delay or procrastination and today, they would be proud of what they have achieved over the years. A 19-year old boy in Ghana just created a search engine which is capable of rivaling Google. You are never and you can never be too young or too old to be an entrepreneur.
2.) Pick the right market.
Nigeria is a big country with lots of problems around waiting for solutions. The Nigeria market is big enough for everyone but it isn't for everyone unless you know deeply about what you are doing. When Mark Essien( Founder of Hotels.ng) was interviewed years back, he was asked if he have any message(s) to upcoming entrepreneurs and he said:
Pick the right market.
Mark Essien has a Bsc in Computer Engineering, Msc in Computer Science and has knowledge of programming before he created a tech company called Hotels.ng, which has received lots of financial support and investment. He chose the market he was familiar with.
An entrepreneur has to pick the market he/she is familiar with, a market he/she can afford to fail as many times as possible and still go on till he/sheeventually get it right, a market that you can defend anytime so you can get all the help you need. Remember, the market you pick will fail you as many times as possible till you get it right or till the market save you.
3.) You cannot do it alone but be very selective.
No man is an island, we need one another to survive. This applies also to entrepreneurship. You don't need to have everything before you start your business properly, you need expert advice on your ideas, you need a mentor and also, you need a team if possible.
You can't be a CEO, accountant, lead engineer and director of your business all at once, the stress will discourage you or kill you.
While building a team if you want to, be selective with the people you build your team with. You will spend much time with them than your family. There must be a common ground, same focus and goal before your team can be successful.
Jobberman was founded by three university friends who shared the same dream and went for it. Seun Onigbinde, Founder/CEO of BudgIT was encouraged to make his dreams possible by people around him; Chude Jideonwo and Bosun Tijani, CEO of Co-Creation Hub.
4.) Don't be afraid of failure.
Failure isn't lack of success but it is the pathway to great success. Be ready to fail and never to quit no matter how hard the challenges.
SourceFail as much as you want. Don’t be afraid of failure. Stay focused on what your dreams are. But if it’s not working stop and change what you’re doing.
Don’t get stuck and lose everything – Simeon Ononobi, Founder/CEO Simplepay .
When Simplepay failed at a time, Simeon sold his properties to pay off his staff and for a while, he reconstructured everything and Simplepay has been a success in the financial sector till this present moment. Never be discouraged at the beginning or when issues arise, that's why you need the right people around you to encourage you and support you. Simeon had his wife to support him when Simplepay failed initially.
5.) Get help/seek support.
When you are in the right market, you are passionate about your business and you have selected the right people beside you, it's high time you sought help.
Most people shy away from the truth but we all know we are in business to make money. You need money to make more money. As easy as that sounds, don't be in a rush to make your business profitable, make your business markateble and acceptable first then seek help to raise capital. While seeking for investors for your business, you need to be familiar with the kind of investment. Tiger Global who funded Jobberman reached out to Jason Njoku to fund IrokoTV, he reached out to Deji of Jobberman to discuss on how it's done before accepting the investment.
If Hotels.ng can raise $250,000 from SPARK in 2013, if Tolet.com.ng can raise $1.2 million from FDV recently, you can also raise enough money to fund your business. It starts from taking the risk, picking the right market, being passionate and watch as you become a successful entrepreneurs like the people mentioned above.
REFERENCES
This is well-analyzed. This challenged me to be a better entrepreneur and come up with good ideas. Thanks for this wonderful piece.
#bigwaves
Congratulations your post has been featured on the Stach Post Review Article.
Thanks for using the Stach Tag.
Keep Being Creative!.
Courtesy-Stach Curation team
CONGRATULATIONS....
YOUR AWESOME POST WAS SELCECTED IN THE @wafrica DAILY CURATION
COURTESY: @julietisrael
Nice Job. 👍
Congratulations @ilukujoseph! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPDo not miss the last post from @steemitboard:
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by imbigdee from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP.
Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.
You got voted by @curationkiwi thanks to imbigdee! This bot is managed by @KiwiBot and run by @rishi556, you can check both of them out there. To receive maximum rewards, you must be a member of @KiwiBot. To receive free upvotes for yourself (even if you are not a member) you can join the KiwiBot Discord linked here and use the command !upvote (post name) in #curationkiwi.
Hello!!! @steemjetdiscord just visited you. This is a token for being a member on our discord server.
This is a good read. Motivational for early entrepreneurs.
Posted using Partiko Android