Mothers are nurturing small businesses.The founder/creative director of Mumpreneur, Mofolusade Sonaike, “a community of mums united to support each other”, shared her experience during the inaugural Accelerator forum held in Lagos, DANIEL ESSIET reports.
Mrs Mofolusade Sonaike is a work-life integration coach and trainer for mothers. Her mission is to show mum entrepreneurs what really works to build a profitable business. She is the brain behind Mumpreneur, a community help mom-slash-entrepreneurs connect to build better businesses together.
She started it because she wanted enough time to take care of her children and to help other women building their businesses.
She was one of the speakers at The Next Leader Series with the theme:‘The Excess Capacity: Leveraging Existing Opportunities to Lead a Successful Life’.
She has a background in Chemical Engineering with an MBA from the Lagos Business School. She worked in the corporate sector for about four years before she decided to exit and start her own business mainly because she wanted control of her time for family. The turning point came when she had her first son while she was studying for her MBA at Lagos Business School (LBS). After giving birth, she found it difficult to find a balance between her career and time for family. She decided to pursue her dreams of owning her business. She quit her job and started Trezorlandia, a gift packaging company in 2010.
Three years down the line, business came to a halt. She was broke, and had just had her second son. The business was centred around her, she said. If she wasn’t around, nothing could be done.
She became frustrated, and as an outlet, she started a blog tagged An Entrepreneur’s Journey. She shared her reality without filter, and in no time, she began getting emails from people who could relate with her experiences. That was how Mumpreneur was born.
Now as a lifestyle entrepreneur and blogger, she writes and speaks about habits, lifestyle design and entrepreneurship. In five years as an entrepreneur, she has made many mistakes and seen a lot of entrepreneurs do them too.
According to her, becoming successful in business is more about mentality, psychology and determination.
She said the biggest mistake first-time entrepreneurs tend to make is not asking for help or not asking for the right help from the right people. She urged entrepreneurs to seek the right help from the right people and nurture relationships.
According to her, networking is the main thing many new entrepreneurs ignore.
She observed that first-time entrepreneurs start their businesses without really understanding the total scope of work that’s going to be required. Before one quits, she urged new entrants to create a solid financial foundation to cope with the initial challenges the company may face in the first few years.
According to her, such preparation will account for mistakes and unforeseen events along the way. Her advice is plan for a solid buffer when the cash flow drops, create checks and balances to keep that plan in line.
Mrs Sonaike urged entrepreneurs to focus on taking small steps, being consistent and starting with a tangible goal.
According to her, many entrepreneurs believe in their idea so much that they fail to validate it.
Her advice is that entrepreneurs don’t dismiss negative feedback.
To help women, she has created an e-learning platform – www.kickassmum.com, work in progress where mothers can take practical courses that would help them in life and business right from the comfort of their homes. Some of the courses are available for free, while others will be at a nominal fee. There is currently an accounting automation course up for free on the platform.
The Managing Partner, The Accelerate Company, Babajide Duro-Emanuel, said the forum was critical for founders and established business leaders looking for growth opportunities for their ventures .
According to him, the forum aims to provide young business leaders with access to the connections, financing, resources and strategic insight they need to grow their businesses.
He said the forum is designed to accelerate large change initiatives, helping companies work on to advancing innovation, economic development at a local and national scale.
According to him, opportunities in the startup ecosystem are enormous and there is need for organisations to be more innovative to explore them.
He noted that Nigeria will continue to be in the running as a pivotal entrepreneurial scene as such empowerment programmes should focus on supporting its growing army of startups and tech specialists.
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