The Nation Newspaper

Tag: enterprise

  • ‘How technology boosts enterprise’

    ‘How technology boosts enterprise’

    Bankole Cardoso, 25, is the Founder/Managing Director, Easy Taxi, Nigeria. He studied Business Management and Accounting at Boston College in United States of America (USA), and later acquired a three-and-a-half year working experience with a technology outfit, Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC), a consulting accounting firm in New York city, among others. In this interview with JOKE KUJENYA he speaks on his passion for entrepreneurial venture which led him to establish a thriving e-tech operated Easy Taxi business in July 2013. 

    Easy Taxi in Nigeria?

    After about twelve years out of Nigeria, what I wanted to do was move back home and start a business to contribute my quota to the economic growth of my fatherland.

    I came home eventually in July 2013 and almost immediately launched Easy Taxi, an online service aimed at hailing a taxi from the comfort of one’s home or office via a mobile device or computer. Before then, I had been exposed to a similar technology like this in USA which I used all the time then. So, I thought it was an idea that could work here especially with the spate of unemployment in the country.

    Prior to that however, I occasionally come home at Christmas. That was when I grasped a little feelings of how things were happening here and I saw the opportunity to fill a gap. I also have friends that told me how hard it was for them to get jobs. Also, when I watched the news on Channels TV via Youtube and saw the sorry pictures painted, I became seriously home sick. I felt if I could return home and try to do something worthwhile.

    Using E-taxi?

    Technology these days make life a lot more easier. People that patronise our services all have the smart phone application on either their Androids, iPhones, PC or laptops. Our programmes are easy to use and free to download. Our duty is to connect passengers to drivers in a very simple way. We use GPS to connect our clients to the closest driver.

    When a passenger request from, let’s say, Lekki, we radio on our GPS to call one of the drivers on our services within a ten minutes’ range. Before the driver arrives, we would send the passenger the driver’s name, the exact car, license plate number with which our clients can use to trace the taxi on a map. You’ll see him as he connects respective streets leading to your location. The passenger sees his or her to be driver’s face and the cars they drive as they come towards them. We help our customers with prompt ways of getting a taxi instead of standing for long by the roadside waving taxis or going through your phones to call their very busy taxi guy.

    Reception in Nigeria’s security-sensitive clime?

    Precisely, security is the main thing that we are trying to sell. This idea was birth because I had been exposed to this kind of technology out of the country. And previously when I visited Nigeria, I saw that people would caution me about using taxis because of safety.

    So, when we were packaging this idea, we decided, in our little way, to use technology to bring safety to bear. When we sign up any driver on our platform, we take all his information, take them through a screening process, check his background, driver license, car registration, license, plate number and insurance documents. We go to their parks and associations to verify and know everything about them before they belong to our taxi bank. So, our customers can actually see the safety upfront. In the case of companies using our services, they would have and see information of the drivers we are sending to them.

    Guarding against falsified information?

    So far, we have not encountered such. And it would really be tough for any of them to attempt such. We rely more on the original government documents and license they provide. We don’t do testing for them. We leave that for the government to do. We also don’t have a link with the government yet. But we make sure we do background checking on them. However, we are confident that what all of our drivers present to us so far have been real. We haven’t had any issue because they all belong to one taxi associations. We don’t approach drivers on the streets. We only go to them through their associations. If a driver is not part of an association, he can’t be a Easy Taxi driver.

    Staff strength and managing the business?

    It has been very daunting. So far, we have about 600 drivers across the country, only in Lagos and Abuja. But it has been capital intensive to manage them. We have the technology in the office because Easy Taxi is a global team. We actually started in Brazil about three years.

    We are having our anniversary soon in some African countries. We only started the Nigeria version last year. So, it’s in Brazil that we have the IT, where they make all the updates to the application, maintain the Apps and ascertain that all the technology are functioning well.

    What we have on the ground here is to recruit the drivers, publicise, promote the business and give the people of Nigeria an E-Taxi experience. Right now in Lagos and Abuja, we have about fifteen members of staff, two customers service engagement teams, an Admin HR officer and our drivers’ recruit team to keep them online and show them how to use our services and as well tell them about the new media. We call them customer engagement because we want them to show Lagosians and Abuja people that this is E-Taxi.

    Making profit?

    We are a start-up business, just a year old. Of course, not many start-ups can clearly articulate their profits in one year. But we are a very low cost business because we don’t own the cars. And we don’t deal with tyres or petrol. We make our money, as in, on every ride that we give a driver, we take roughly about ten percent in commissions.

    Five year projections?

    We want to be the number one E-taxi service in Nigeria and in Africa. By the end of the year, we want to launch in two or three more cities in Nigeria, eyeing places like Ibadan, Port Harcourt and Benin.

    Dealing with sceptism?

    At first, people were like this cannot work in Nigeria. And then, as they kept having the experience, they’ve been like ‘wow’. Now, our customers are the ones telling their friends to try and use Easy Taxi and that is very powerful statement for us.

    On timeliness?

    We don’t disappoint for the most part. This is Lagos where the taxi culture have not been quite amazing. So, I can’t say they don’t disappoint, but it is very infrequent. You know, the infrastructure, the roads, sometimes, cars break down and so on, but with E-Taxi, we have good cars so they don’t break down.

    We don’t see none of those issues.

    Most of our drivers use the official Lagos yellow taxis. And we use the cleaner ones that are not rickety. We also have unpainted car hires because that is what majority of our customers prefer because there are places that the painted taxis are not allowed to enter.

    Fighting unemploy-ment?

    I would say that we are providing jobs and it is clear. With a staff strength of about fifteen people, it is tough in Nigeria. As a young person, I found that rate of youth unemployment is about sixty percent. And that is a really bad record for Nigeria and indeed, for any country. So, I feel that it is up to us, youth in Nigeria, to create employment for ourselves. That is what I try to do with Easy Taxi by creating employment directly. Today, we have about six hundred drivers who are given jobs on a daily basis.

    Funding and breaking-in?

    Major nag is a lot of people, while in the university, are looking for jobs in big companies like Shell, Chevron, ExonMobil and all that. But there are many opportunities outside such places. The main thing is about showing possible financiers your professional strength. You try to highlight what you have done, that you are hard working and you can really do more. What we see now is that while the jobs are available, it is how to match people to the right jobs that is a problem. So then, one thing is selling your strengths, another is projecting that you do have ideas and you can try things. I always tell young entrepreneurs like myself that we should strive, especially as so many things are technology-based and one can just start selling things even from your Blackberry.

    Business potential of E-Taxi?

    I would say it’s a scalable business. I say that because we can effectively run the business across  Nigeria with our staff strength of fifteen from Lagos. All we need to do in Abuja is to recruit trusted drivers and let customers know that we are there and also maintain our relationship with drivers.

    That way, we don’t need a customer service team because we can do it from anywhere. Once we have the information from Abuja, Ibadan, Port Harcourt and other cities, the team in Lagos will distribute the details as needed to other areas.

     

  • ‘SMEs still battling with teething problems’

    ‘SMEs still battling with teething problems’

    A lot of small and medium scale enterprises have been lamenting lack of support by banks. Mr. Ken Opara, Head of Small and Medium Scale Department of Fidelity Bank in an interview with Bukola Afolabi speaks on the challenges confronting SME’s and what banks are doing to ameliorate their pains  

    Small and medium enterprise remains the engine of growth for any economy. That much Ken Opara, Head of Small and Medium Scale Department of Fidelity Bank, admits.

    “They are very critical and in Nigeria for instance they represent more than 60% of the economy. If you will take countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and India that have developed SMEs still remain the engine of growth in those countries. They remain the major area of capital. It is an important sector of the economy that cannot be over looked, you are right to say that they have not been able to get support and I will quickly answer you by saying that it is also because of the way SME’s are structured in Nigeria.”

    He was however quick to admit that the problem confronting SMEs in the country are mostly structurally issues.

    “What I mean by structure is that they don’t have record of accounts, that’s also a key risk that is associated with it. There is not separation of the person from the business. The person that starts the business today is not also accountable and also doesn’t really understand how the business will be in the next three years. And for a lender, the first thing that occurs to a lender is that you want to do self lending and that is that why when they lend to you they want to be sure that when they have given out support that there will be return.”

    Expatiating, Opara noted that: “Unfortunately, a lot of them don’t even understand them, they don’t even have a website, there is no way the institutions will feel very comfortable whether international or local to provide support to them.”

    He also explained that Fidelity Bank has been a plc has a mandate to do business in a prudent manner with shareholders and all the stakeholders. “At one point CBN stipulated that we should support SMES, not only the initiative that has been put in place for there have also been intervention funds from other areas like the bank of industry. I think that for us as a bank we look beyond the statutory and we deal with the issue. So, with us as a bank we try to do things that would avoid people saying that we have limited them from having access to company. We have tried as much as possible to remove all those things. And that is why we have SMEs centers.”

    To create a conducive environment for SMEs what the bank does is “To take an advisory free of charge and we have one on one engagement and we call it hand-loading to understand what it means to be in business and to do proper record of account to help you set up an accounting record to help you build up those things and also to provide the luxury for you to help you understand how your business is structured. And so having done that we are then at the comfort level say yes we understand now where you are headed and also that the implication of this business and so we have also started to provide something bigger to them. For instance we first identify cluster of people who we can also provide funding support to. In terms of the 10% I don’t think it’s just the 10% that fidelity has done, if you ask me how well fidelity has done you will understand that they have done more than the 10 percent and we are also very aggressive and we also doing it to those that have the discipline to go through the fidelity process and that’s what we have been doing.”

    Next Opara informs that the bank is not an institution that is run on charity, it is also an institution that is run on capital will then favor the institution which they know.

    “The power sector for instance is been on the line when government decided to privatize it, fidelity has been at both ends. Fidelity if I’m not mistaken is a leading bank in the power sector and also the SMEs is that has also been, the distributorship then has also been and if you also see other banks that have succeeded in that area you will see that fidelity has, so I will rather say that part of the reason why SMEs hasn’t been able to acquire the required support is because of the way they are structured. And I say to you clearly we took a bold steps and today you will see what will happen in the one is that the power it will makes them not attractive like the foreign counterpart too because the cost of doing business is high.”

    Talking about is the challenges of SMES in Nigeria, Opara insists that having the right structure is a step in the right direction. “And with the statistics we have showed that within five years that most of the SMEs die and so in terms of structure they don’t have the right structure. They don’t have all the relevant areas, they don’t have an accounting record they also don’t have tangible asset. There is also key man risk because it revolves around one person and also do not have access to market for the nation and the way they are structured. Also they don’t have the access to short term loans. Most of this institution doesn’t have business plans.”

    While talking about some of the achievements recorded, Opara explained that: “We have been in the incubation period where we have problems and how to deal with that. And after addressing that we came up with what we call manage SMEs.

    This is essentially for building and managing entrepreneurs. The next generation of Nigeria that will then become the UAC and lever brothers and the concept of it is like taking them on an advisory to those things that can affect them from having access to funding to the market. Recently Fidelity partnered with US trade and investment, USAid commission for partners that are in Nigeria and this won’t have been possible if they we haven’t been able to give them access.

    Opara also uncovers some of the other opportunities available. “We are also collaborating with the British Council and they have come up with what they call free banking and of course the fidelity is small business account. The fact is that most of the SMEs that have their business are very high and the margin is very small. They are very sensitive and they don’t have opportunity and financial inclusion making them to come and provide them with small business account. And what that means is that they can do business without paying duty.”

  • Enterprise centre celebrates 10th anniversary

    Enterprise centre celebrates 10th anniversary

    It was a whole week of festivity for the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) and the Global SME toolkit as they both celebrated their 10th anniversary. Delegates comprising SME Toolkit partners, content providers, specialists from 25 countries converged for the SME Toolkit Global Partner Conference in Lagos, Nigeria.

    With the theme ‘Enabling SME Success: Becoming The Go-To Portal for Business Growth’ participants spanned across various business related sector which ranged from banking to business development institutions, telecoms to ICT, universities to NGOs.

    At the opening session, the IFC Country Manager in Nigeria, Solomon Adegbie-Quaynor, welcomed all the delegates to Nigeria and shared the strategic target of the corporation in supporting SMEs most especially to enhance job creation in developing countries which is aimed at reducing poverty level.

    He mentioned that organising the toolkit conference will help to strengthen the SME Toolkit in becoming the ‘go to’ resource for small businesses in increasing their productivity and growth.

    Taiwo Otiti, the Country General Manager for IBM West Africa, talked about IBM’s partnership with IFC and support on the SME Toolkit since 2006. He went further to explain how the relationship has helped in providing innovative business related opportunities for SMEs through the toolkit platform.

    The keynote speaker, Alex Otti, Managing Directror of Diamond Bank, highlighted the importance of banks in positioning themselves in the MSME space by sharing the Diamond Bank experience. The learning points from the deliberation and discussion sessions centred on the future of the toolkit enhancing and enriching the features/ contents, increasing users’ engagement through eLearning methods. To spice up the conference, a day was set aside where over 200 toolkit users across Nigeria joined the Global SME Toolkit team at the Lagos Business School for insightful and consultative sessions with the toolkit experts.

    The conference was drawn to an end with the partners’ award of certificates and an entertaining Gala evening. The SME Toolkit Nigeria received an award on the best Innovative use of Social Media.

  • Enterprise Bank promo debuts

    Enterprise Bank promo debuts

    Enterprise Bank Limited at the weekend launched its ‘Brazil 2014 BetaLife Promo’, which will enable six of its customers win an all-expense-paid trip to Brazil next year. The bank said in a statement that the programme is part of its quest to continually delight its customers.

    It said the promo, which will run from August 2013 to March 2014 provides opportunity for customers of the bank to visit and have a feel of the land of soccer, samba and carnivals.

    Subscribers for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Elite and Individual Accounts of the bank are expected to be winners of the trip to Brazil.

    To qualify for the draw, customers, or prospective customers of the bank are to open either the SME Account with N150, 000; the Elite Account with N75, 000, or Individual Account with N15, 000 and maintain the corresponding amount in the account every month from August, this year till March next year.

    The bank said winners will emerge from these three categories of customers of SME, Elite and Individual accounts. Many participating customers will also win mouth- watering consolation prizes.

    “The launch of the ‘Brazil 2014 BetaLife Promo’ is a further effort by the management of Enterprise Bank to continually seek new ways of delighting the customers and improving the lives of all stakeholders. The draw will hold April 2014,” it said.

  • Why we are starting banks’ sale with Enterprise Bank, by AMCON

    The lean and clean structure of Enterprise Bank Limited offers the best platform to initiate the divestment transactions of its three wholly-owned banks, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has said.

    AMCON’s Managing Director, Mr.  Mustafa Chike-Obi, at the weekend offered insights into the decision of the Corporation to start the sale of its three banks, describing Enterprise Bank as the best step forward for a successful divestment programme.

    AMCON recently announced the beginning of the final process for the sale of its wholly-owned bridge banks, indicating it would start with the sale of Enterprise Bank, followed by the other two – Keystone and Mainstreet Banks. AMCON expects to complete the sale of the three banks by September next year.

    Explaining the preference for Enterprise, the AMCON boss said Enterprise Bank is the smallest in terms of size and cleanest of the three banks and thus makes a good starting point in terms of attractiveness to investors and less probability of complications in the complex transaction process.

    He said while the clean structure of the bank would entice investors and motivate strong rallying start for the entire divestment transactions, the size of Enterprise Bank presents it as a learning curve for AMCON to guard against possible mistakes in the sale of the other two.

    He said there are more than 20 bidders that have indicated interests in the purchase of Enterprise Bank, which not only underscored the attractiveness of the bank but justified the decision of the Corporation to start with the bank.

    The AMCON boss noted that the existence of several expressions of interests provides for competitive valuation and would enable the Corporation to achieve the best bargain in the disposal process.

    “In a complex transaction like the sale of a bank, you have to take it from the less complicated so that it will serve as learning point to correct any unintended consequences. “This will provide you with the opportunity to avoid such mistakes when you are handling bigger and much more complex transactions,” Chike-Obi said.

    He said the three banks have been restructured and stabilised for growth, adding that the large sizes, spread and structures of Keystone Bank and Mainstreet Bank have also been the main attractions for bidders looking for big impact and wider entry strategy such as FirstRand.

    Latest audited report and accounts of Enterprise Bank for the year ended December 31, 2012 showed remarkable growths across key performance indicators as the lender rebounded from a five-month loss of N5.2 billion in 2011 with a profit before tax of N11.3 billion in 2012. Enterprise Bank was incorporated and commenced operations immediately in August 2011 to take over the assets and liabilities of the defunct Spring Bank Plc.

    The report showed that gross earnings increased significantly to N40.4 billion in 2012 as against N10.5 billion recorded in 2011. Deposit base rose from N162.6billion to N208.4 billion while total assets increased from N198.5 billion to N261.1 billion.

     

  • Odun Aje: Celebrating Essence of Enterprise

    Odun Aje: Celebrating Essence of Enterprise

    The Onigbongbo,Maryland area of Lagos reverberated with the pulsating drumming, singing and dancing. It was the time for the celebration of Odun Aje, the seventh of the 17 festivals sponsored annually by the Otunba Gani Adams-led O’odua People’s Congress (OPC).

    According to the Yoruba tradition, the best day to go out in search of wealth is the first day of the working week. It was not by accident, therefore, that the organizers of the Odun Aje decided to stage the festival on a Monday.

    Within the last couple of years, one of the things the OPC, through the Olokun Foundation, has succeeded in digging deep into is the culture of Yoruba and trying to build on this and bring it to the consciousness of not just the Yoruba people, but the world at large.

    The air of festivity enveloped the whole area as both traditionalists and residents gathered for the festival in celebration of the efforts to acquire wealth that is built on hard work and observance of the societal ethos.

    It kicked off with music and merriment. Right from the palace of the traditional ruler of the town, Oba Nurudeen Olatunji Yussuf, there were some traditional drummers bedecked in native attire steadily beating about three huge drums, about three feet tall. A little farther , a musical band was also dishing out popular Yoruba tunes to the delight of guests and indigenes who danced to the music.

    The high point of the event was the wealth dance done to show affluence and attract greater blessings.

    The chief promoter of the festival, Otunba Gani Adams, talked about the need to continue to uphold the essence of the Yoruba culture and the significance of the festival.

    He said: “This festival has been helping us to revive our cultural philosophy about wealth. It emphasizes the importance of Monday, the Yoruba’s designated day for commercial engagements. Yoruba people value Monday because it signifies the beginning of weekly commercial activities and people do not offer any product without any payment on Monday. That is our philosophy, we must uphold it.

    “In upholding this indigenous concept, we can inculcate sanity and morality in ourselves. I will, therefore, centre my discussion with you today on a Yoruba ideology: ‘inu igbe laje wa’, which literally means that wealth often hides in the forest.

    “I just say that this event is planned to create moral habits in the society. A moral society will produce decent individuals, if it adopts the good values of its culture. Culture can foster a desire to acquire decent wealth. We cannot toy with this important aspect of life. Though we often use all of our festivals to rediscover our cultural values and heritage, we also use them to uphold our social development because the cultures of the world are extremely dynamic, and we must pass our own through the spectrum as others do.

    “Inu igbe laje calls our attention, therefore, to the neglected source of prudent and decent wealth in Nigeria. I am talking about agriculture. Without citing any figure, most Nigerians know the importance of agriculture to our economy and survival.

    “Agriculture is a viable means of engaging young people and able-bodied, and it is an alternative means of revenue generation for government. At least, about 10 million young people can get employment in agriculture, if it could be repositioned . We witnessed and benefitted from developmental legaqices that Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his lieutenants used the revenues from agriculture to create in the South West. No matter how rich any one may be, he or she cannot assemble money in a plate and eat. Farmers feed the rich and the poor; they support the economy of the nation. “

    Also, one of the guests, Mrs. Ekundayo Adele, a Brazilian Ifa worshipper, commended the efforts the organizers of the festival put in in promoting the culture of the Yoruba people. To her, a people that cannot uphold the essence of the culture and tradition faces cultural extinction.

  • Enterprise Bank rolls out prepaid MasterCard

    Enterprise Bank rolls out prepaid MasterCard

    Enterprise Bank customers will, henceforth, enjoy additional convenience with the introduction of the lender’s dual purpose prepaid MasterCard used locally and internationally.

    In a statement, the bank said the new addition is a multi-purpose chip and pin debit card that can be pre-funded with cash. The card can then be used to effect cashless payments (like a bank debit card) on the internet, Point of Sale (POS) terminals and cash from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

    It said that the unique benefits of the card, which is open to both customers and non-customers of the bank alike is that the individual would have no need to open or have a bank account in order to have the prepaid card. The card, which can be pre-funded in naira or dollar denominations, is ideal for students, corporate accounts expense cards, estacode, and corporate travel and travel cards among others.

    The card, the bank added, also eliminates the burden of carrying cash around just as it allows its holders to spend more than their approved daily spend limits since both the Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) and Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) are loadable on it.

    “With the product, holders of the Mastercard prepaid do not need to carry huge amounts in foreign currencies for foreign trips because money loaded in the card is already available, secure, safe and can be used anywhere in the world,” it said.

     

     

     

  • Enterprise Bank goes live on Google maps

    Enterprise Bank Limited has been listed on Google Maps.

    Google Maps is a Google service offering powerful, user-friendly mapping technology and local business information – including business locations, contact information and driving directions.

    In a statement, the bank said the map offers street maps, a route planner and an urban business locator in numerous countries around the world. It also provides such special features as scale control, street view, and configurable location icons amongst other facilities.

    “By getting listed on to this mapping platform which now features its branches, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and Point of Sale Terminals (PoS) locations, it is now easier for stakeholders to access us and our services from anywhere in the world. This unique relationship between Enterprise Bank and Google has enabled the financial institution boost visibility and excellent service delivery to its numerous customers,” it said.

    The statement added that this is yet another milestone in the bank’s move to reposition the brand, products and services by providing excellent customer service to its existing and prospective customers in the years ahead.

    Also commenting on the development, Juliet Ehimuan Chiazor, Google Nigeria Country Manager, said: “The goal of Google Maps is to make it easier for people across the world to locate places and businesses of interest. We are excited to see Enterprise Bank Limited and more Nigerian businesses using Google Places to get listed on maps.

    “This makes it easier for Nigerians to find and engage with these businesses. Customers can also search for their banks and get directions on the go, using Google Maps on their mobile phones.”

  • Enterprise Bank chief advocates discipline, good management

    HIGH moral values, efficient management, service discipline and cultural change in the public and private sectors of the economy are keys for growth, the Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise Bank Limited (EBL), Mallam Ahmed Kuru.

    He spoke at the 28th Omolayole Management Lecture at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA).

    It has as theme “The future of enterprise in the age of collaboration”.

    He said though it takes a lot of hard work and commitment to achieve these virtues collectively and individually, there was no better value the leaders can bequeathe to the younger generation in the country than to leave them with good legacies.

    He said countries that have experienced and are still going through impressive economic, social and political growths, transparent and sincere leadership styles as well as high moral standards are those that realised that low moralism, poor knowledge, bad leadership or management structures, indiscipline and poor service standards, among other vices, are not the bedrock for building a stable and programme economy.

    He added that there was urgent need to positively collaborate with other nations with the view to leveraging their advantages and approaching every endeavour from the perspective of enterprise, which he defined as the ability to think of new project ideas and turn them into successful ventures.

    The Enterprise Bank boss added, “The primary purpose of establishing an enterprise in the first place is to create value through the production of goods or services that satisfy both domestic consumption and export earnings”.

     

  • Made by enterprise online

    Made by enterprise online

    Mrs  Iyabo Oyawale, a former Deputy Editor of City People Quarterly, a subsidiary of City People, is drawing  many Nigerians to take part in an entrepreneurial spark business start-up programme online. It is designed to help businesses start up up and run successfully.

    She was brought up by indigent parents. Her parents were traders who couldn’t afford to send their children to schools. But she was determined to make something out of her life. “I was ambitious and never cared about the challenges I had regarding finance.”

    Her struggle and entrepreneurial acumen led her to establish successful online coaching  companies. Known as Nigerian Adsense and Quit your day job Queen, Mrs  Oyawale  resigned from City People   after she got to know about Internet business and started a couple of successful ventures online. She  started her business with N10,000 in 2003. She created  an information product, How to Successfully Start Your Dream Business with Little or No Money based on her own experience.

    The manual was introduced into the Nigerian market. It sold well with high profit margins – encouraging her to do another manual on 101 Businesses You Can Do Without Quitting Your Day Job. This did well, too, on the Internet.

    Since then, Mrs Oyawale has done several other successful businesses on the Internet. She believes anybody can run a profit able business online. She started her Internet business part-time. She would go to her day job and return at night to face what she was trying to build. Then, she used to call herself an employee by day and entrepreneur by night. Those were really heady days as she won’t sleep for days but she endured all the sacrifice because she knew she had a destiny to fulfill.

    Mrs  Oyawale is a popular fixture on  the social  media, and  earns good  money  from blogging.  She  runs  two  blogs http://naijanetwarriors.com and www.askiyabooyawale.com. She   started blogging in 2003. She started after registering some success online and felt comfortable teaching others. The two  sites give people solid  guides to Internet business. Since she quit her  day job in 2007, the entrepreneur said she has no regret.

    To keep on growing a start up, Mrs  Oyawale said  one  needs passion day in and day out.  According  to her, when one is  passionate about something, it will keep one  up late at night. A strong passion, she explained will compel one to wake up early in the morning for the simple fact that one truly enjoys what one is doing. Once one discovers a passion, she added, the person will start following it with deep commitment to obtain business success. A champion of the “Quit Your Day Job” message, Mrs  Oyawale  is concerned  about people who have high-paying jobs but are inwardly unhappy because they are not fulfilling their God-given purpose.” I want to encourage these set of people that they can still do what God created them to do. That is why I am passionately spreading this message. I see it as a pure waste of life for people to come to this world and die without fulfilling the purpose for which they were created.”

    Her   greatest challenges in this business have been poor power supply from Power Holding  Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and Internet connectivity. She got a generator to tackle the power issue.

    Mrs  Oyawale  is able to make a living because she has  succeeded in developing multiple avenues to serve  her audience.

    An important hurdle some entrepreneurs, she said bloggers need to overcome is inability to self-promote. While working to produce great works, she said bloggers must work hard  to ensure people  find it. To be a successful entrepreneur, one has to make sure people find such works. Her blogs have built a brand that brings her income from other platforms.  As her profile grew, she has taken up other paying opportunities as seminars. These talks help build her brand and network of contacts.