The Nation Newspaper

Category: Small Business and Entreprenuership

  • Entrepreneurs who made fortune before they were 18

    From just six years, when he started selling body lotion, Farrah Gray tried to make his own money.

    At the tender age of 13, he founded a specialty food company, Farr-Out Foods, and just one year later, orders of over $1.5 million made him a 14-year-old millionaire.

    Gray holds the record as the youngest person to have a Wall Street office.

    At 15, he set up the Farrah Gray Foundation, using some of the income from his speeches and best-selling books to fund literacy programmes and scholarships for inner-city youth. He’s certainly a fitting role model.

  • Carving a niche in the paint industry

    Carving a niche in the paint industry

    The boom in the construction industry has opened opportunities for entrepreneurs in the paint industry. One of them is Nnemeka Vincent , a former mechanical engineer with Tractor and Equipment, a division of UAC of Nigeria, now Chief Executive,Vilux Paints, Daniel Essiet report.

    In the last 10 years or so, the construction induistry has been in the upsurge, spurring an equally high tempo of activities in the paint industry.

    As a result of the boom, many opportunities have been thrown up for descerning entrepreneurs in the small and medium scale enterprises (SME) sector, particularlly those in the paint industry. One of those who has seen these opportunities and have since keyed into it, is Nnameka Vincent, Chief Executive, Vilux Paints, Lagos.

    Against all the odds, the company is producing different kinds of industrial paints and smiling to the bank.

    Vincent started with N350, 000. Today, the business is worth over N1 million. He operates the business from his house. The way things are going, it could just turn out to be the best decision he has made. For him, one of the hallmarks of a well-kept home is a fresh, professional coat of paint. The advantages to this business are that one can also work from home.

    The feeling of accomplishment that comes from a good day’s sale can be both rewarding and lucrative. But one’ll need experience in painting interiors and exteriors and in working with different types of paints and primers. His targets are homeowners, apartment buildings and condominium complexes, large and small businesses, interior designers, and real estate agents who may need help with a vacant property.

    Vincent needs financial support to upgrade existing system, add a state of the art system to a completely different area of his plant. So far, he has made efforts to produce paints for internal and external coatings. He is hoping to expand to cover a wide range of paint and decorative products, serving both the professional and DIY (Do It Yourself) markets for all building materials.Key to growing the business in the years to come will be the recruitment of young workers.

    Vincent said he was working with his wife. He sees his product as the market leader in the residential and commercial painting space. The firm is growing gradually, having built a huge and loyal clientele. The business is very strong and reliable. The money and recognition that come from nurturing an idea into a booming business are nice, but it’s the challenge and thrill of the conquest that really stoke entrepreneurs such as Vincent. He is not alone.

    Like other entrepreneurs who hit it big with their first startup, he’s facing the endeavour with hard-earned knowledge and experience. The start up is the part of the process Vincent loves the most.

    From the scratch, he is slowly building a company without the challenge of debts that have been a pain in the neck of budding entreprenures like him.

    The success of a start up such as Vilux Paints, ultimately, rides on a clear vision of what the firm is and can be, as well as having a strategy to realise that vision. He knew that moving out of his comfort zone as a mechanical engineer with Tractor and Equipment, a division of UAC of Nigeria, would be a challenge, but he saw it as a matter of fulfilling a need to help build industry and individuals.

    One of the things he has going for him is his attentiveness and agility. He has to listen carefully to what the market tells him. He wants to invest in infrastructure at the right time.To build momentum, he is drawing upon some of the same entrepreneurial traits that helped him quickly build the company into a small player.

    The business offers him the opportunity to start a business in a lucrative and growing industry where one can get back to the basics of being passionate, happy, and in control of the decision-making process. He is looking forward to providing great, quality service to customers and changing how they think about the painting industry.

    For him, painting is an essential service. “In a slow economy, people are enhancing their homes or maybe trying to sell or simply moving into a new space. In a booming economy, people are building new homes, expanding existing ones, or simply upgrading what they have. Regardless of the situation, painting comes into play. No matter the economy, it’s always in demand.’’

  • 14 Apps every entrepreneur needs

    Entrepreneurs are known to be the masters of efficiency, right? The secret? We don’t do it alone. Besides having an amazing team to support our endeavor, we also utilise cutting edge apps to keep us on our A-game. (When you’re heads down building a business from scratch, your time is extremely valuable.) With that in mind, we’ve rounded up the top apps that will help any entrepreneur take 2014 by storm.

    Faster is better

    In our app rundown, lets first focus on efficiency — a necessity for the entrepreneur that is constantly juggling various tasks. The faster you can access information and execute, the faster you’ll build your company.

    1. TrackMaven: This app streamlines your ability to monitor data on your competition, without going through the hassle of consulting multiple sources. Filter the marketing activity you want alerts for and erase all the extra white noise.

    2. EchoSign: There’s no longer an excuse to delay the closing of a deal (You never know when Mark Zuckerberg will call with that $3 billion dollar bid.) This Adobe app allows you to electronically sign documents easily and securely. It also records and stores each document’s history, so you have automatic audit trails — saving you the time and trouble of backtracking in case the need arises.

    3. Free Wifi Finder: A definite game-changing app for the entrepreneur and tech guru who needs to be plugged in 24/7. In the early stages of a startup, every situation and opportunity is high stakes and you can’t afford to allow a poor Internet connection to get in the way of your company’s success.

    4. Uber: This app never lets us down. For any on-the-go entrepreneur, this service is essential to ensure you always have a way to get to that last minute meeting — even when every cab in the city is full.

    5. MobileDay: For those frequent occasions when you’re too busy to be sitting in the office, use MobileDay to coordinate all of your in-person and conference call meetings. With this app, you can dial in automatically, email with participants and even get directions to your meeting place.

    6. Skitch: Screenshots are second nature in the business world these days, but it’s a tedious task to make notes directly on them. Enter Skitch. A product of the ever popular, Evernote, this desktop and mobile application allows you to get directly to the point through different annotations, shapes and sketches.

    7. FedEx Office: This mobile app is one of the most helpful on-the-go apps for entrepreneurs. Easily send files, documents or photos through the app to your nearest FedEx location to be printed or made into a beautiful presentation. You can even upload files directly from Box, Google Drive and DropBox.

    8. Hukkster: Looking for work attire but need to spend less due to a limited budget? No time to browse the sale racks? Let our app Hukkster do the dirty work for you and track your most coveted products so you can easily get your hands on the items you want, the moment they go on sale.

    9. Hinge: Single and no time to mingle? Hinge is a great app that allows you to scope out other single men and women in the area based on your personal network.

    10. Power 20 Fitness Trainer: Sometimes it’s hard to find the time to stay fit, yet exercise is essential to staying energized and focused. We love the Power 20 Fitness Trainer, an app that provides 20 minutes of body weight movements you can literally do anywhere — in your apartment, a hotel room or even the office.

    11. Venmo: is the perfect app for nights out with friends. Don’t waste quality time doing math on the back of a napkin. Simply link Venmo to your bank account and then easily exchange cash virtually with friends anytime, anywhere.

    12. Mint: An entrepreneur probably knows a thing or two about managing finances, but it’s always good to be able to easily access information about personal cash flow. Mint allows you to record expenses, create budgets and manage savings plans, all from your phone.

    13. Pocket: As entrepreneurs, we’re full of great ideas, so much so that they hit us when we least expect them. Enter Pocket, a phone-based bookmarking app which can save all types of content – anything from a lengthy article to a work report — to all your electronic devices.

    14. Unroll.me: There is nothing we hate more than a crowded email inbox. Thankfully, Unroll.me was created to fix that exact problem. Simply sign up with your email address and let Unroll.me find all of your subscriptions for you. Then easily scroll through and unsubscribe from the ones you’d rather never hear from again.You can also make sure the right emails break through all the noise.

     

  • From Youth Service to farming

    Because  of the high unemployment rate in the country,  many youths  are forced to look inward for means of income. Already, many  young Nigerians are surviving by keeping small plots of land in their backyards.  DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    Jane Inyang is a graduate of genetics and biotechnology from the University of Calabar, Cross River State. She finished her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) assignment in October, last year in Anambra State.

    Later, she returned to Benin-City and opted for farming.

    She began with backyard farming. With the help of her parents and siblings, she cultivated vegetables, particularly,pumpkin leaves and bitter leave and reared chickens, all on the available one plot space behind the apartment rented by her parents in Benin-City.

    She got some broiler chickens and began to raise them. She has always dreamt of a growing agribusiness investment and looked forward to adding fish farming as soon as she is able to raise funds for that purpose.

    Why agric business? “I know I am in Nigeria and there are no while-collar jobs anymore. There have been campaigns on going back to agriculture. Even our lecturers encouraged us to prepare our minds for agriculture. And I know that when I was in school, I used to call home for money and they would tell me they had not sold their farm produce. I told my supervisor in school, Dr Peter Aikpokpodion, that I wanted a research topic that would make me practise agriculture and make money and so he introduced me into fisheries.

    When I left school, I told my parents of my plan to practise farming and they supported me,” she explained.

    Continuing, she said: “When I was in NYSC, I was mobilising farmers in the rural community to embrace the GES, because their crops were not doing well as a result of poor inputs. Their challenges, they told me, were mostly poor seeds, seedlings and lack of fertiliser. I told Dr Aikpokpodion and he said there was a government scheme going on for farmers where they get seeds and fertiliser at subsidised prices.

    “I gathered the farmers and educated them on what to do.It was a personal project and the farmers were skeptical initially, but I was able to convince them, and they registered. As many of them who registered got improved seedlings and fertiliser from the government at subsidised prices. I am specialising in poultry and fisheries. Those are the areas of my interest.”

    Inyang believes that the market for agric produce is very large. She said what she requires is land and other input to start a large poultry farm and fishery. According to her, at the onset, some of her friends did not take her serious, while others were sources of encouragement.

    One of her friends saw the wisdom in what she was doing and even started a palm seedling production business after she opened his eyes to the opportunities in the business.

    “I am optimistic that agric will take me far in life. Very soon, every youth would want to own a farm. Now, youths struggle to own cars, but soon, they would struggle to get farms,” she told The Nation.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • China to grant African SMEs $1b loans

    China is to establish a $1 billion special fund for the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), financed by China Development Bank (CDB).

    The additional funding will increase the Special Loan for the Development of African SMEs to $2 billion, the Deputy Head of the international department at CDB Liu Hao told Xinhua news agency.

    SMEs will receive loans of up to $1 million with a maximum duration of five years.

    The objective is to boost the growth of SMEs in Africa, broaden their financing sources, boost the local economy and contribute to job creation, Le Soleil newspaper reports.

    CDB will establish rates depending on the importance of the project, the borrower’s level of credibility and the results of the project’s risk assessment.

    The targeted sectors will include agriculture, export led industries, construction, health and medicine, irrigation, education, environment protection and energy savings.

     

     

  • Social media report to be released

    Alder Consulting is set to release the Alder Social Media Report (AlderSMR), a presentation of Nigeria’s most impactful and innovative social media brands (corporate, government, institutional and personal) this Friday.
    Subomi Plumptre, Executive Committee Member at Alder Consulting and the Head of the Social Media Practice, made this known in a statement yesterday.
    The report features contributions from experts across the world who analyse the impact of social media and its invaluable contributions to business, politics, governance and culture.
    Plumptre said, “Because of the vastness of the report, it will be released in 2 volumes. The first volume features Nigeria’s top social media brands and will be released on January 31st, 2014. A special brand mark will also be released, which can be used by the top ranked brands. The second volume includes all contributory articles and insights for businesses & brands. It will be auspiciously released during Social Media Week, February, 17th – 21st, 2014.
    “The decision to stagger the release of the report takes into consideration the fact that individuals will like to download the report directly to their mobile devices. Social Media Week will also provide a great platform to discuss the data from the report”.
    Topical areas of the report according to the statement, are: Top Social Media Brands in Nigeria; Nigerian Social Media Trends & Insights and Expert Articles by notable African and International contributors including Morin Oluwole (Facebook), 2go, Michelle Corsano Pellettier, Kate Henshaw and many more.

  • IFC to boost financial service to underserved SMEs

    IFC to boost financial service to underserved SMEs

    International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector lending arm of the World Bank, has expressed willingness to capitalise Nigerian banks to mobilise microfinance banks (MFB) and boost financial service to underserved SMEs in the country.

    Non-performing loans and high interest loans provided by Nigerian financial institutions have created credit scarcity in the economy which is strongly impeding the growth of small businesses, the largest employer of labour in oil-rich country.

    The development unit is “going to finance market leaders and those who can set the right standard and have other microfinance institutions understand what it means to operate well,” IFC Nigeria Africa department Country Manager, Solomon Adegbie-Quaynor said.

    The IFC hopes through its plan to lead an exemplary credit system with innovative products and catalyse SME lending.

    According to report, the IFC, focused on MFB innovations, issued a naira bond February last year to raise funds locally and to lend to clients, and has invested up to $25 million up five microfinance institutions.”

    IFC also has interests in 26 MFBs in 12 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, reaching over 3 million micro-enterprises and low-income households

     

  • CBN gives finance houses 18 months to recapitalise

    CBN gives finance houses 18 months to recapitalise

    • How policy will affect SMEs/MSMEs

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given finance houses 18 months to raise their capitals to a yet-to-be disclosed amount. This is contained in a guideline released by the bank, which was obtained by The Nation at the weekend.

    The CBN and operators have been bickering over the issue. An insider at the Finance Houses Association of Nigeria (FHAN), who asked not to be named, said operators want the capital base raised from N20 million to N100 million, but the CBN prefers N200 million.

    The source said investors were interested in knowing the capital base before putting in money.

    In 2012, CBN reviewed finance houses’ operations, resulting in the closure of 47 “inactive” firms. 55 were found to be active and four undergoing restructuring. The CBN, in statement, said it recognised only the 59 finance companies with CBN licenses.

    The affected Finance Houses included Asset Management Group; Cal Finance Investment Limited, Capri Martins Finance Limited; Corporate Finance Group Limited; Equator Capital Assets Management Limited; Eston Funds Limited; First Bond Finance Limited; First Spring Finance and Investment Limited; Grand Bond Finance & Securities Limited; Intel Trust Limited and Leo Investment Limited, among others.

    The CBN, therefore, commenced comprehensive reforms of the Finance Houses subsector. The regulator said the sector, still wallowing in neglect and lacking clearly defined operational structure, has been relegated to the background in recent years.

    It said it now wants to see Finance Houses that are strong, efficient and able to perform their constitutional roles in the economy.

    Achieving this requires comprehensive reforms of the subsector that would enable it carve a niche for itself in the financial services sector.

    Meanwhile, analysts have argued that this policy may rub off negatively on the fortunes of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as well as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as finance companies provide services to consumers, industrial, commercial and agricultural enterprises in terms of credit and loans. They also manage funds for customers/clients on agreed tenor and rate.

    According to the guidelines, finance companies can access SME funds subject to compliance with minimum prudential norms, as defined by the CBN and may assist clients access SME funds. This can be done through vehicles such as the SME Credit Guarantee Scheme, MSME Development Fund and the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) funds for clients in the Agric value-chain business.

    It also said that in addition to the specific requirements defined for the SME funds, these funds may only be accessed for asset finance, working capital and export finance transactions.

  • BOI to begin disbursement of AfDB $500 million fund soon

    BOI to begin disbursement of AfDB $500 million fund soon

    The Bank of Industry (BOI) at the weekend announced that it would soon commence the disbursement of the African Development Bank’s 500 million dollars fund to industrialists in Nigeria.

    The Chairman of the bank’s Shareholders Committee, Mr Muhammed Dikwa, announced the plan at the 53rd Annual General Meeting of the bank in Abuja.

    Dikwa said that the Federal Government facilitated the acquisition of the fund in order to deepen the bank’s credit delivery process and funding of the industrial sector at concessionary rates.

    “As soon as BOI complies with the disbursement process which has reached an advanced stage, the Nigeria industrialists will start benefiting from the incentive-backed facility,” he said.

    Aside from the AfDB’s funds, he said that there were other existing development fund initiatives under the bank’s management, including the five billion naira BOI/Dangote Small-Scale Businesses Development Fund.

    Other available funds are N100 billion Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) Fund, National Automotive Council (NAC) Fund, NFRA Rice Processing Intervention Fund, Cement Fund, Dikwa said.

    He added that Cottage Industries Fund and Small-Scale Processing Fund and National Sugar Development Fund were also available.

    Dikwa also stated that the bank recorded increment in fund disbursement by five per cent from N218.8 billion in 2011 to N229.18 billion in 2012 and that the number of beneficiaries also increased from 498 in 2011 to 534 in 2012.

    According to him, BOI’s schemes have generated indirect employment with the cumulative turnover of the obligators increasing from N503.17 billion per annum before intervention, to N659.15 billion after.

    “Direct employment by beneficiaries increased from an average of 62,097 before intervention to 76, 581 after intervention, representing an increase of 23 per cent,” he said.

    The chairman also said that total fund disbursed under the N300-billion Power and Aviation Fund (PAIF) increased by 23 per cent from N147 billion in 2011 to N181 billion in 2012.

    He claimed that the beneficiaries under the PAIF scheme had been able to increase their investments in assets and revenue base as a result of lower obligations that they were given on the loan.

    “The PAIF scheme has helped in promoting the development of long-term bank credits for infrastructure financing and institutional capacity building for financing power projects within the banking sector,” he said.

  • CBN Gov laments non-accessability of N220b intervention fund for SMEs in Edo

    CBN Gov laments non-accessability of N220b intervention fund for SMEs in Edo

    The Governor of Central Bank, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has lamented the failure of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Edo to access the N220 billion intervention fund floated by government.

    Sanusi expressed his concern at the Government House in Benin at the weekend when he paid a condolence visit on Edo Government on the death of wife of Oba of Benin, Esther Erediauwa.

    He said that the high interest rate on the loan prevented enterprises from accessing the loans, noting that high interest loan was not a way of alleviating poverty.

    He said that there were 30 microfinance banks across the country mandated to grant the loans to the SMEs at low interest rates.

    The CBN governor said that the fund was targeted at the most excluded segment of the society, adding that 60 per cent of it was dedicated to women.

    Sanusi, who also condoled with Gov. Adam Oshiomhole on the death of his wife, said that he had a close relationship with the palace and treasured the memories of the queen mother.

    Responding, Oshiomhole thanked the CBN governor for the visit, adding that the death of the queen mother was painful.

    The governor described the late queen as a mother who showed interest in the development of the state.

    He also commended the CBN boss for repositioning banks in the country in the interest of the masses.

    Oshiomhole said that poverty in the country was as a result of wrong policies, adding that there was the need for deliberate laws to address the menace.