Category: Small Business and Entreprenuership

Some business accelerators are helping entrepreneurs to get their businesses off the ground. DANIEL ESSIET reports the activities of one of them – Co-Creation Hub Nigeria – based in Yaba, Lagos.

For many entrepreneurs in the tech space, being part of something larger has helped them get their businesses off the ground more quickly and smoothly.

An incubator can be the  bridge to take the leap from idea to execution. This is what Co-Creation Hub Nigeria, a hands-on startup accelerator and entrepreneurial hub, based in Yaba, Lagos is doing to help young Nigerians create software applications(apps) that solve problems and create jobs.

To help them is a team of investors, mentors and executives who are committed to helping its founders build their startups into successful companies.

At the kick off of its Growth Academy programme recently, the firm’s Managing Partner, Mr Tunji Eleso, said there are opportunities for young Nigerians with talents but without jobs to get into the mobile apps development business.

This business, according to him, does not require huge capital to  start. He explained that there are  opportunities for those with mobile apps to solve problems.

The role of CC hub, he added, is to create the enabling environment for starters to take advantage of the undeveloped mobile apps market.

Its accelerator programme, according to him, is three months of intense collaboration designed to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

CC hub provides the space and extensive hands-on mentorship. One of the benefits of the programme is that the entrepreneurs would tap into a strong network of business partners.

He said his organisation   helps to build new businesses and diversify its economy by providing both early-stage and established companies with funding, business and technical expertise, and access to a network of innovative, expert resources.

The Director of Programmes (Open Living Labs), CC hub, Mr Femi Lounge, said the firm helps with product support and how to access to the value chains of big industry partners to scale their user base.This quarter, he said, 10 startups were selected to take part in the  programme run by the  firm but powered by Intel.

These include tuteria that connect customers with quality private tutors and trainers near them for learning; mamalette, a platform where mothers and mothers-to-be interact to provide mutual support and community throughout the motherhood experience; eazyhire who  offers rental services ranging from cars, properties, musical instruments, event halls  and verge, a retail management solution built to address challenges faced by micro and small retail solution.

Others are Edves Suite, a one-stop-shop academic portal automating manual operations in schools and colleges in Africa;

Vacant boards, an online outdoor advertising marketplace that enables one-click booking of outdoor advert spaces and track advertising campaigns; genii games that creates interactive mobile apps and web videos for kids to learn about african cultures and drop buddies; drop buddies an online crowdsourced on-demand delivery and errand running service.

Others are GoMyWay, a ride-sharing platform that connects passengers with drivers who have spare seats to share and Wesabi, a marketplace to outsource tasks, find local services or complete flexible jobs to earn cash.

Lounge  added that the   Academy is where developers hone their skills; focus on developing solutions relevant for the local market and gain a clear understanding on how to monetise their solutions, especially with mobile applications.

The programme is in major three parts: training and mentoring, growth hacking and market linkages. The final part of the programme is  dedicated to preparing entrepreneurs for the pitch sessions.

Each team will undergo ‘how to pitch’ training and demo pitch sessions with the CcHUB Incubation team. Demo day gives startups the opportunity to share their solutions with members of the public, the media and possible investors. The focus of demo day will be on showing how they have progressed in the three  months and future growth potentials.

Religious bodies are keying into small business empowerment initiatives, not only as a means of evangelism, but to empower the less privileged. At an event by The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Praise Sanctuary, Ikeja, Lagos, young entreprenuers shared their success stories and challenges to inspire youths, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

IN Nigeria, women of various backgrounds have shown  that being a successful entrepreneur is possible. One of them is a Lagos-based entrepreneur, Folake Fasehun, who runs Lamofeth Beauty Spa.

Her story has shown how a  dream can be realised and turned into a huge success. She was one of the presenters who shared her success at the entrepreneurial event organised by the Praise Sanctuary of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Ikeja, Lagos.

Folake,who holds a Bachelors in Business Administration from University of Lagos (UNILAG) struggled to make a living after she lost her parents.

Her vision was to become a businesswoman. This was because good jobs were hard to find. She went into trading.

But she was not making enough  money; so she re-evaluated her priorities and decided to opt for a business where she could find fulfillment.

She met a spa operator. Fascinated with the business, Folake dreamt of how to become one. But there was so much to learn. She began the training. Soon, she completed it and started getting clients. The clients were happy as they got value for their money.

Her popularity soared but she was concerned that this might affect her relationship with her employer. To avoid this, she quit the business and returned to trading.  But her clients would not let her be.

Eventually, she returned to  massaging.

Though she started from nothing, in the past 15 years, she has grown the business from a small room to a big place where she provides for health, beauty and wellness.

She has received accolades from high-profile individuals. For her,  business has been good.

Yemilowo Enterprises Chief Executive,Oluwayemisi Ogunsanya, also shared her story.

She is the owner of a fresh produce company that manufactures  fruity flourish cold pressed natural fresh fruit juices.

When she started her business, she experienced an unexpected  success. A holder of a degree in economics, she liked juices. She decided to start a fresh fruit juices. She makes bottles of cold-pressed juice weekly based on order. She oversees sourcing, patronising local farms for produce and fruit and oversees production. She buys the produce and the fruit, did the juicing and bottling herself and made the deliveries. The company growth is “incredibly exciting for the wealth, the jobs and the opportunities it creates for others. Her cornerstone to  success was being really frugal in the beginning. She has continually put everything back in the business. She  is not only a small business owner, she’s an inspiration for anyone looking to lead a healthier lifestyle.

From her modest beginning, in her kitchen to an established commercial production firm, Oluwayemisi proves that there’s no limit to where a good product can go. The market is going for cold-pressed juices  that have joined the long list of must-haves for the health conscious.

Oluwayemisi is one of the entrepreneurs who have taken up the challenge of spreading the love for fresh cold-pressed juices.  Starting off with less than N5000, she sells different flavours to friends and family. But she has  developed a delivery system that drops off juices for individual and corporate buyers.

The Lagos  Commissioner of Agriculture, Mr. Oluwatoyin Suarau,  who was represented on the occasion spoke of opportunities in the agricultural industry.

He said the agribusiness sector remains one of the most viable areas the state government is paying  serious attention to boost its revenue generation and create jobs.

He said the government has put in place  policies to enhance rapid development in the sector, adding that so far, the government has energised its Agriculture Land Holding Authority (ALHA) to make more land available for agricultural development.

He also urged entrepreneurs  to take advantage of its  fisheries and fish farm estate, arable crop estates, rice processing mill, livestock resources, forestry, agricultural equipment explore opportunities in agriculture.

One of the Coordinators of the programme, and Chairman, Olubunmi Aina & Associates, Mr Olugbenga Ain, said starting a business is challenging.

He said finding out what the entrepreneurs have been through is worth more for those learning how to start a business.

To encourage more people to go into self-empowerment, Mrs Bunmi Aina, said the church and  Olubunmi Aina & Associates organised the programme.

She said the event would open  opportunities for further engagement and dialogue.

Mrs Aina stressed the need to promote entrepreneurship and to  bring entrepreneurs to the mainstream.

A 300 Level Computer Science student of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Abia State and founder of Hoursspent.com, Miss Blessing Ijoma, 24, has emerged winner of the Global Student Entrepreneurs Award (GSEA) competition.

Ijoma, whose company, makes at least 10 per cent commission from every job handled by freelancers on her platform, will represent the country at the global finals in Bangkok later in  March where she is expected to present her business ideas to a global Entrepreneurial Organisation (EO),  GSEA jury to contest for the global prize.

Awarded for her innovative business ideas out of six finalists, she also got a cash prize of N1million, an all-expenses paid trip to Bangkok to contest in the global final in March.

While presenting the award to her in Lagos, the Global CEO, Entrepreneural Organisation (EO), Mr. Vijay Tirathrai said he was impressed with the presentations of the six finalists.

In his keynote address, he said  EO was proud of the GSEA project which is aimed at creating better, more successful, and enlightened entrepreneurs out of the crop of the global youth population.

“We are proud creating a source of influence to younger entrepreneurs and the contestants should be proud to have been mentored by EO members.

“Trust is necessary because the entrepreneurs might need the people someday in their careers as business people”, said Tirathrai.

EO President, Lagos Chapter, Mr. Vincent Brown Molokwu congratulated all the contestants highlighting that this year’s edition which produced Blessing as winner is another very successful GSEA edition in line with its achievement over the last 5 years ago.

EO President-elect, Mrs. Funmi Babington-Ashaye, promised to sponsor the winner to Pulse School to brush up her packaging and presentation skills while Mr. Fola Sotubo, CEO,  A-Z Healthcare (UK) Limited also supported Ijoma with N200,000.

The first and second runner-up Oscar Odebuara of LASU (Green Barn) and Crystal Light (FUTA) went home with N500,000 and N250,000 and in kind prizes of access to mentorship all courtesy EO.

Both will also access training worth N1million at the Business School Netherlands (BSN) courtesy BSN one of the GSEA partners.

 

Religious bodies are keying into small business empowerment initiatives, not only as a means of evangelism, but to empower the less privileged. At an event by The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Praise Sanctuary, in Ikeja, Lagos, young entreprenuers shared their success stories and challenges to inspire youths, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

IN Nigeria, women of various backgrounds have shown  that being a successful entrepreneur is possible. One of them is a Lagos-based entrepreneur, Folake Fasehun, who runs Lamofeth Beauty Spa.

Her story has shown how a  dream can be realised and turned into a huge success. She was one of the presenters who shared her success at the entrepreneurial event organised by the Praise Sanctuary of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Ikeja, Lagos.

Folake,who holds a Bachelors in Business Administration from University of Lagos (UNILAG) struggled to make a living after she lost her parents.

Her vision was to become a businesswoman. This was because good jobs were hard to find. She went into trading.

But she was not making enough  money; so she re-evaluated her priorities and decided to opt for a business where she could find fulfillment.

She met a spa operator. Fascinated with the business, Folake dreamt of how to become one. But there was so much to learn. She began the training. Soon, she completed it and started getting clients. The clients were happy as they got value for their money.

Her popularity soared but she was concerned that this might affect her relationship with her employer. To avoid this, she quit the business and returned to trading.  But her clients would not let her be.

Eventually, she returned to  massaging.

Though she started from nothing, in the past 15 years, she has grown the business from a small room to a big place where she provides for health, beauty and wellness.

She has received accolades from high-profile individuals. For her,  business has been good.

Yemilowo Enterprises Chief Executive,Oluwayemisi Ogunsanya, also shared her story.

She is the owner of a fresh produce company that manufactures  fruity flourish cold pressed natural fresh fruit juices.

When she started her business, she experienced an unexpected  success. A holder of a degree in economics, she liked juices. She decided to start a fresh fruit juices. She makes bottles of cold-pressed juice weekly based on order. She oversees sourcing, patronising local farms for produce and fruit and oversees production. She buys the produce and the fruit, did the juicing and bottling herself and made the deliveries. The company growth is “incredibly exciting for the wealth, the jobs and the opportunities it creates for others. Her cornerstone to  success was being really frugal in the beginning. She has continually put everything back in the business. She  is not only a small business owner, she’s an inspiration for anyone looking to lead a healthier lifestyle.

From her modest beginning, in her kitchen to an established commercial production firm, Oluwayemisi proves that there’s no limit to where a good product can go. The market is going for cold-pressed juices  that have joined the long list of must-haves for the health conscious.

Oluwayemisi is one of the entrepreneurs who have taken up the challenge of spreading the love for fresh cold-pressed juices.  Starting off with less than N5000, she sells different flavours to friends and family. But she has  developed a delivery system that drops off juices for individual and corporate buyers.

The Lagos  Commissioner of Agriculture, Mr. Oluwatoyin Suarau,  who was represented on the occasion spoke of opportunities in the agricultural industry.

He said the agribusiness sector remains one of the most viable areas the state government is paying  serious attention to boost its revenue generation and create jobs.

He said the government has put in place  policies to enhance rapid development in the sector, adding that so far, the government has energised its Agriculture Land Holding Authority (ALHA) to make more land available for agricultural development.

He also urged entrepreneurs  to take advantage of its  fisheries and fish farm estate, arable crop estates, rice processing mill, livestock resources, forestry, agricultural equipment explore opportunities in agriculture.

One of the Coordinators of the programme, and Chairman, Olubunmi Aina & Associates, Mr Olugbenga Ain, said starting a business is challenging.

He said finding out what the entrepreneurs have been through is worth more for those learning how to start a business.

To encourage more people to go into self-empowerment, Mrs Bunmi Aina, said the church and  Olubunmi Aina & Associates organised the programme.

She said the event would open  opportunities for further engagement and dialogue.

Mrs Aina stressed the need to promote entrepreneurship and to  bring entrepreneurs to the mainstream.

The Chief Executive, Britts Foods, Belema Alagun, whose passion to make food readily available, and affordable, has established a fresh food distribution business in Lagos. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Female entrepreneurs are achieving their dreams by taking their industries by the storm. They are almost in every industry  – food, real estate, fashion, healthcare and the environment.

One of them is Chief Executive, Britts Foods, Belema Alagun. She started her food company last year. A lawyer, Belema came up with the idea of a food supply business when she noticed a gap in the market.

She had difficulties getting fresh produce. From a very young age, she had developed an appreciation for quality food and a love for cooking. Later, she spent time learning about food and exploring new ways of cooking and eating.

She said: “I love food, being healthy and feeling great.There was no access to clean fresh vegetables. As a young busy working professional, I would finish work and rush off to the nearby supermarket to pick up unwashed vegetables which I add to my meal preparation. What I found will either not be fresh or the store had run out of it. Life was tough and then one day, I thought there might  be other people facing this same issue – that is how this dream for Britts Foods came.”

She started with N70,000, supplying fresh produce, breakfast and lunch to individuals and organisations. The company produces meals. She also runs a take-away outlet. Today, the business is worth N9.5 million. She has four workers. The business is providing enough money to pay her bills. She is happy to have founded a local food canteen and catering firm that promotes a sustainable and healthy lifestyle.

Besides, she prides herself in using local ingredients; not  because this supports the farmers, but because fresh, healthy ingredients  fresh from the farms taste best.  Her products include honey-glazed chicken salad, fish fillet salad, egg salad, bacon salad, avocado corn spring salad, shrimp salad, pasta salad and grilled potatoes.The ingredients in the company’s food are available. Her experiences and history with the challenges of getting fresh food has given  her  a passion and the  drive to succeed.

However, transiting from a simple idea to a full-fledged business posed certain challenges. From getting supplies from farmers, to transportation and getting the produce to customers in time -all these present challenges. Despite the demand for local, sustainable food, operators are not able to meet them because of insufficient infrastructure and logistics for getting food to markets and consumers.

Belema has diversified into the logistics business. For her, there are so many opportunities in the area, including those that provide marketing services. She sees the value the business has added to the community. Her logistics business plays a critical role in moving her food to market, contributing to the economic success of not only her firm, but all those involved in the food chain.

It’s a smart business that plays to Belema’s strengths in dealing with people, but it’s also a business that requires attention to detail. For her, being a good leader takes time. She has found that staff are motivated differently.

As she reflects on her successes, what gives her satisfaction is her abaility to provide Nigerians with good food.

To stay ahead, she is fine-tuning as the company grows. She has taught herself so many things, from sourcing ingredients, co-packing, and packaging.

Her experience reinforces the fact that wearing many hats is part of the deal.