The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Entrepreneur

  • Entrepreneur savours sweet sauce of success

    Entrepreneur savours sweet sauce of success

    Tomato is a very valuable resource as many homes rely on it to improve the quality of their dishes. Lagos based entrepreneur Jide Adedeji has introduced a preservation method to make it last for a long time. This preservation technology has turned a money spinner for him. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    There’s no telling where a food entrepreneur will find inspiration to launch a business. These days, entrepreneurs are braving the financial risks to gather their own rewards by creating and marketing new products from cheese to nuts.

    One of them is Managing Director/CEO, Easy Sauces Nigeria Limited,Dr Jide Adedeji. He is a busy man. A dynamic serial investor. Adedeji is among professionals in the vanguard of entrepreneurial revolution. He was the pioneer Chief Executive Officer of Teragro, the agribusiness subsidiary of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, which produced commercial orange, pineapple and mango juice concentrates for the first time in Nigeria.  He is an expert in creating and developing natural flavour ingredients from  farm produce.

    Adedeji has several ideas about food processing; these ideas cover the huge desk in his office in Lekki, Lagos. But top of crops for processing is tomatoes. This, according to him, is because of the rate tomatoes spoil and waste. So processing tomato is what is occupying his time now.  He did enough market research and found there was a huge gap in packaging fresh tomato product. As tomatoes have  a short shelf life, they have to be properly processed if they must last long.

    Due to  lack of storage and processing facilities, bad roads and poor access to markets, about half of the tomatoes harvested every year get rotten,  wasted and never get sold. As a result, many farmers suffer serious losses after all the money, time and effort invested in farming tomato during the year.

    Tomatos are not available all year round; they become very cheap during harvest time and expensive in the dry season. He   decided to implement a business project out of this. When fresh tomatoes are in season and flooding the markets, he tries to process them into sauce.  Today, the project has brought him tremendous success. He is proud of making tomato sauce  for a living.  His company also processes fresh pepper and tomato sauces packaged in sachets. ESNL creates fully cooked easy delicious authentic sauces for stews, soups, pasta, jollof rice, moi-moi, beans porridges, casserole and all cooking where tomatoes, peppers and onions are needed.  The sauce is African in its concept, preparation and texture. It is formulated with authentic sauce ingredients and it is free of added sugar, honey, corn syrups, and starches and dairy.

    Adedeji said it is cost-effective and readily available at different pack sizes.  He said: “Families can now enjoy the benefit of readily available sauce at affordable price.” The other thing is that it has a shelf life of 12 to 18 months without refrigeration.

    Offering this  and lots more is  opening  up a subsector , which  he  sees as  one  of the most untapped areas,  with many  restaurants and eateries opening  across the country.

    Having operated in the United States before coming back to Nigeria,  Adedeji  knew he  had to adopt international best practices, the highest standards of service quality and operational excellence to all its valued customers.   The inclusion of value-adding processes in the business is what has given him some advantages.

    Today, the result is tremendous. Besides creating a means of livelihood for himself, he hires 30 people on full time basis apart from 30 casual workers.

    Despite the use of technology, he explained that the business is still   labour-intensive. His  regular workers is 30, but  he  engages another 30  casual workers, depending on the volume of purchase orders he receives from his buyers. He  expressed a lot of grit and determination to break into the local market, and is unfazed by stiff competition from the larger and more established brands.

    His path has not always been easy. He has encountered problems. Even now, he has to understand how to adapt and how to modify his project. One is that infrastructure is poor.

    Further constraints are high cost of accessing foreign exchange and little information on prices.  Safeguarding the input supplies and the product quality are additional limitations that have to be overcome.  To overcome this, the team makes efforts evaluating the quality of the produce and the farmers’ compliance with international safety standards.

    He has learnt a lot of lessons. One is that the initial struggles and despair of launching a start-up to many successful entrepreneurs, is not to seek immediate returns.  He is happy to play an important role in employment generation and  provision of affordable food products for large numbers of households.

  • Entrepreneur to watch

    Entrepreneur to watch

    The Founder and Group Managing Director of Courteville Business Solutions Plc, Bola Akindele is  a shining light for young entrepreneurs. He gave young entrepreneurs and prospective start-ups success tips at a forum organised by Lagos chapter of Startup Grind, a start-up community designed to educate, inspire and connect entrepreneurs in Lagos, DANIEL ESSIET reports. 

    Founder and Group Managing Director of Courteville Business Solutions, Bola Akindele, is an entrepreneur. He is a thorough bred professional with over three decades of professional experience spanning audit, banking, e-commerce, entrepreneurship, and technology. For more than 20 years,  Akindele was living the dream of an aspiring business executive. After graduating with a B.Agric in Animal Science from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), and earned an M.Sc. in Banking and Finance from the University of Lagos, Akindele started his professional career as an audit intern at KPMG Peat Marwick, Ani Ogunde & Co. in 1987.

    He later landed a job at the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) where he rose to become Treasurer/Financial Controller of the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme (ACGS). While at the CBN, he also served as a Bank Examiner on various occasions. He kept climbing the industry ladder.

    He moved to the defunct Oceanic Bank where he worked on several high-profile transactions and market deals.

    The world of banking was filled with high-energy, ambitious, and untiring hotshots like him. But all his hard work paid off. He stood out from the rest and landed the most-coveted positions.

    This tremendous exposure gave him what he needed to become an  entrepreneur. Consequently, he incorporated Courteville Investment Limited, in 2004. The firm went public in 2009; in 2011, it underwent a name change to become Courteville Business Solutions.

    The firm is a key e-business solutions and advisory provider and the first in its sector to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), with shareholders’ funds in excess of $20million.

     

     

  • Ekeh, economist as entrepreneur

    Do economists make good entrepreneurs; or entrepreneurs great economists? This has been a puzzle through the ages. Many liken the economist to someone who only knows the way but can’t drive the car. Some have even chided the economist as a splendid theorist but never one to get the job done practically. Pauline Hanson, leader of One Nation, the Australian political party that prides itself as pro-people, to show her abhorrence for the economist after her assessment of the economic misfortunes that afflicted her country once said: “I may be only a fish and chip shop lady, but some of these economists need to get their heads out of the textbooks and get a job in the real world. I would not even let one of them handle my grocery shopping”.

    Yes, it really can be as bad as that, that humanity would feel a sense of insecurity in the hands of the economist. Nigeria for instance is going through the worst moment of her economic life. The mono-product economy is asphyxiating, desperately in need of salvation. The naira is getting hit by the day at the international market, crude oil price is see-sawing at the lowest curve of the graph, jobs are disappearing and a darkly silhouette trails the corporate world, the organized private sector especially the small businesses – the ultimate drivers of the economy. At this moment, you are tempted to ask: where are the economists?

    In times like these, also, nations of the world look to the private sector for the magic wand. One sector has always stood out as bulwark to economic misfortune particularly for countries who desire to recreate themselves. The information technology sector (ICT) has always held the key to unlocking the potentials of a people and unleashing the energies of the citizenry. The United States of America and the Asian Tigers are good examples of how sustainable wealth can be created using ICT. When Obama wanted to get ‘America back to work’, he looked to the Silicon Valley magnates for help.

    In retrospect, President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address in 2011sent out a clear message: his administration was working hard to win the future. That future is not in construction, huge crude oil reserves or textiles. It is in technology.  He wants to keep America at the cutting edge of global ICT and innovation. He followed it up with a private dinner with a group of Silicon Valley chief executives, among them Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook, and the late Steve Jobs of Apple.

    The closed-door meeting with 12 Silicon Valley gaffers was held at the home of John Doerr, a partner at the major Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The meeting also had in attendance Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Twitter’s Dick Costolo.  That meeting helped to get Americans back to work. The direct fallout was a rash of new jobs in innovation, research and ICT. Obama may not be popular with the GOP but he has mobilised Silicon Valley to invest more in research, development and innovation to create jobs for American youths. The growing number of ICT start-ups in the US and a new generation of knowledge millionaires and billionaires out of America underscore the utility of such a meeting and government partnership with the ICT mandarins.

    Since capitalism toppled communism, American leadership has never hidden its intent to keep Uncle Sam as the technology role model for the rest of the world. Asian countries and leaders have long borrowed from the American template. They, too, are working hard to win the future. In 2010, India raked $49.7 billion from software export with domestic software revenue standing at $14 billion for the same period. India has been creating new markets. This is aside sales from hardware. That’s a country that wants to win the future. Every year, the government of India strengthens its synergy with the private sector to help it innovate, create and build new products.

    In Nigeria what do we do? We play politics. Our leaders are themselves bereft of ideas such that even when they get to power, they don’t use it to win the future. They use it to ruin it. Globally, that’s how the world sees us. They see Nigeria as a trading outpost, in fact, as a night market where all sorts are sold for peanuts. This is why at this moment of dwindling receipts from crude oil, I salute the vision, exertions and tenacity of one Nigerian who has been working hard to build and win the future, at least for the sake of Nigerian youths. The Chairman of Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh, who turned 60 yesterday, February 22, has as far back as the 80’s inclined himself to bridge the yawning digital divide between Nigeria and the developed world. He assembled a crop of young, intelligent Nigerians to build an integrated ICT conglomerate from a small computer solution office.

    Today, the Zinox range has become to Nigeria what Acer is to Taiwan, Mercer to South Africa, Lenovo to China and HP to US.  I recall Ekeh’s keynote titled “Building a True Indigenous Institution in Africa –the Zinox Experience” which he delivered at the 13th annual Africa Business Conference of the Africa Business Club in Harvard Business School on February 18, 2011. It centred on how Nigeria can win her future. Also salutary was the fact that the audience was not just a small crowd of Africans, it was a mix of Africans, Americans, Asians and the rest of the world.

    The audience was wowed to learn that in spite of the leadership travails that afflict Nigeria, the country still boasts oases of hope. Ekeh who said he would love to be remembered as the man who “computerised Nigeria and altered positively the destiny of many Africans through Digital Knowledge Democracy” advised African leaders to invest in technology, innovation and research as the surest way to guarantee the future of their citizens.

    As President Muhammadu Buhari begins to re-invent Nigeria economically, he would do well to partner with the likes of Ekeh and the crowd of Nigerian players in the ICT sector. They are the ones to create the jobs and get Nigerians back to work. Ekeh, the economist, risk manager and computer nerd has also answered the question: economists, especially Nigerian economists, make good entrepreneurs.

    The beauty of the Nigerian narrative is that the nation is never in short supply of men and women of knowledge and peerless cognitive intelligence. We have seen young Nigerians triumph on the global stage in medicine, sport, ICT and other aspects of human endeavour. At home, we have witnessed the successful entrepreneurial stories of persons who grew start-ups to conglomerates. It tells us that the solution to the challenges that stalk the nation lies within. The likes of Ekeh and a horde of others have demonstrated that in spite of the perennial low-rating of Nigeria on the ease-of-doing business index, Nigerians have the capacity to push through the brick walls of entrepreneurial encumbrance. This is reassuring and something worthy of acclamation.

    • Daramola , an economist, writes from Lagos.
  • A letter to the Entrepreneur

    A letter to the Entrepreneur

    A lot of questions usually comes to my mind each time I find myself in the midst of entrepreneurs; Why are some entrepreneurs extraordinary and why are some just ordinary? Why do some entrepreneurs have visible results to show for their efforts and some have nothing to show? Why are some entrepreneurs rich while some are poor? Why do some entrepreneurs become global players even though they started locally while others who started at a similar time with similar resources remain local champions? Why are some brands built to last while some fizzle out after a while? Why some entrepreneurs are able to attract huge foreign investments while some struggle to attract small local investments despite their technical/operational expertise? What happened to brands like Okin Biscuits? What happened to Awe soap? What happened to brands like 2 minutes noodles? Where did they miss it? Why did these brands fizzle out?  I mentioned these brands because they were hot in demand while I was growing up but all of a sudden they just disappeared into thin air for reasons I do not know.

     

    Having observed winning and lasting entrepreneurs for a while, I found out that they have some similar traits in common, the first being their ability conceive a great vision and see it come to fruition regardless of their current circumstance. The greatest asset any entrepreneur could have is the ability to dream beyond his current realities. Vision is the ability to see things they way it could be and not necessarily the way it is at present. Few years ago, what we had was VHS but someone conceived the idea of CD players, someone conceived the idea of LCD Screens and monitors rather than the old big screens that we used to have, Someone thought we could have wireless microphones rather than the wired ones that was available then which doesn’t give the person using it mobility. Every other day I get to meet with different kind of entrepreneurs. Some have a great vision and you can see it in the way they run their organizations, unfortunately some don’t and it is also evident in the way they conduct their businesses. I have seen entrepreneurs who have no vision at all; they aren’t driven, they have no sense of direction. For these sets of entrepreneurs, all they want to do is to make money and just survive. If your only reason for being in business is to make money then you have no business being in business. I have seen entrepreneurs who cannot tell you the exact problem that their organization is

    attract huge foreign investments while some struggle to attract small local investments despite their technical/operational expertise? What happened to brands like Okin Biscuits? What happened to Awe soap? What happened to brands like 2 minutes noodles? Where did they miss it? Why did these brands fizzle out?  I mentioned these brands because they were hot in demand while I was growing up but all of a sudden they just disappeared into thin air for reasons I do not know.

    Having observed winning and lasting entrepreneurs for a while, I found out that they have some similar traits in common, the first being their ability conceive a great vision and see it come to fruition regardless of their current circumstance. The greatest asset any entrepreneur could have is the ability to dream beyond his current realities. Vision is the ability to see things they way it could be and not necessarily the way it is at present. Few years ago, what we had was VHS but someone conceived the idea of CD players, someone conceived the idea of LCD Screens and monitors rather than the old big screens that we used to have, Someone thought we could have wireevery entrepreneur needs money to stay in business but the money to be made shouldn’t be the principal driving force (of course money is needed to pay bills and stay in business) rather it should be the problem to be solved and the good to be done. The bad thing about not having a vision as an entrepreneur is that you are not likely to build a great organization and you are also not likely to assemble a great team (as any potential team member would usually ask where your organization is heading). I see a lot of people who come into entrepreneurship simple because they want to survive, it is true that the Nigerian terrain is harsh as there is no form of social security and you just have to survive but let me ask you, how long do you intend to just survive? When would you start thinking of building a great organization? It’s great that you are making some cash here and there butif you are not careful about building a sustainable organization and you put all your energy on survival you would never build something great.

    In a tough environment like Nigeria where most young people spend bulk of their energy on trying to figure out what they will eat and how they will pay their bills, if you are not careful and vision driven you would get caught in what I call the survival web – a zone where all you think and care about is how to pay your bills. You need to ask yourself some critical questions; what is your vision as an entrepreneur? What problems are you solving that qualify you to be called an entrepreneur? Where will your business be in five years? The way you currently run your business, will it survive in China if you run it that same way? Can it survive in Paris if you run it that same way? Can it survive in Silicon Valley with the way it is currently run? Can your business attract some of the brightest young talents? With the way you are running your business will you still be in business in the next five years? Would you patronize your own business if you aren’t the owner? With the current group of people you are hanging out with as an entrepreneur, can you develop the capacity to solve bigger problems? Would these set of people enable you to attract the right resources? These are questions you need to attend toif you are going to expand your influence as an entrepreneur.

     

     

  • ‘How I attained success as an entrepreneur’

    Climbing the ladder of success in a troubled economy like ours can be herculean. Notwithstanding, the determination to succeed is vital, says Chief Executive Officer Business Impact, Samson Olatunde. DANIEL ESSIET writes

    Chief Executive,Business Impact Limited ,Samson Olatunde,  has an amazing story as an internet entrepreneur.  He  holds a B.Sc in Business Administration from Ogun State  University.

    Spurred by the fear of failure, and the desire to life from his parents the financial burden, Olatunde, as a young undergraduate in his 20s, opted to be enterprising – teaching tutorial classes in computer, and earning an income. It was not surprising, therefore, that not long after, he  made his first million as an undergraduate student.

    “As an undergraduate in my early 20s, I desired so much to be independent financially. I wanted to assuage my parents’ financial burdens. So I set out to explore. I started computer tutorials for fellow students and I began to rake in some cash.

    “Sometime later, I heard about an Internet business seminar put together by the Success Attitude Development Centre (SADC). I was able to borrow N25, 000 from my friends which I used to pay for the seminar.

    So, I journeyed from my University campus to attend this seminar—and that was the beginning of a financial revolution for me. I delved into information marketing; began selling e-books, and earned N4 million in a space of four months.”

    After he graduated, he did youth service in his own company. His internet firm is, perhaps, something that is attached to all  lives. He  is an stunning example of courage as an internet entrepreneur. He started his company with less than N10,000 and  claims it was only passion and the ability to dream big that saw him achieve so much with almost nil venture capital.

    Today, his companies together  have recorded a  huge turnover. Though  technically sound  he can’t read codes like other tech entrepreneurs but he  writes cheques for programmers.

    Samson is the epitome of the new 21st century entrepreneur – having started 8his first business, an impressive success, he learnt alot of skills to help supplement his income and support his family.

    He said there were openings for young people to make money from creating online platforms.These include onlineE-commerce shopping,online Ticketing,online portal for Tutorial/ classes,online foodAnd online service platforms.

    To this end, he promoting annually a digital marketing summit. The summit aims to help organisations use online digital platforms to make moneyHe has been featured in various national televisions. He  has gone on from strength to strength, speaking  at internet marketing summits for web entrepreneurs. His  mission is to help online entrepreneurs understand Internet marketing such as  search engine optimisation, social media marketing, email marketing, freelancing, blogging etc.

    His  keen eye for identifying and capitalising on growing industry trends has helped the company  stay afloat during this age of ever evolving technological capabilities.

    He  focuses on consulting and delivering cutting edge solutions to Nigerians.

    Whether a company needs iPhone or Android apps, eCommerce solutions, or even long-term partnership for IT projects, his company can deliver quality, cost-efficient services with minimal turnaround time.

    As of now, he  is  dedicated to helping Nigerians manage the global convergence of software, mobile applications, Web applications, big data and cloud services. And his company deliver  solutions without putting a hole in one’s pocket, too.

  • A letter to the entrepreneur

    A letter to the entrepreneur

    A lot of questions usually comes to my mind each time I find myself in the midst of entrepreneurs; Why are some entrepreneurs extraordinary and why are some just ordinary? Why do some entrepreneurs have visible results to show for their efforts and some have nothing to show? Why are some entrepreneurs rich while some are poor? Why do some entrepreneurs become global players even though they started locally while others who started at a similar time with similar resources remain local champions? Why are some brands built to last while some fizzle out after a while? Why some entrepreneurs are able to attract huge foreign investments while some struggle to attract small local investments despite their technical/operational expertise? What happened to brands like Okin Biscuits? What happened to Awe soap? What happened to brands like two minutes noodles? Where did they miss it? Why did these brands fizzle out?  I mentioned these brands because they were hot in demand while I was growing up but all of a sudden they just disappeared into thin air for reasons I do not know.

    Having observed winning and lasting entrepreneurs for a while, I found out that they have some similar traits in common, the first being their ability conceive a great vision and see it come to fruition regardless of their current circumstance. The greatest asset any entrepreneur could have is the ability to dream beyond his current realities. Vision is the ability to see things they way it could be and not necessarily the way it is at present.

    Few years ago, what we had was VHS but someone conceived the idea of CD players, someone conceived the idea of LCD Screens and monitors rather than the old big screens that we used to have, Someone thought we could have wireless microphones rather than the wired ones that was available then which doesn’t give the person using it mobility. Every other day I get to meet with different kind of entrepreneurs. Some have a great vision and you can see it in the way they run their organisations, unfortunately some don’t and it is also evident in the way they conduct their businesses. I have seen entrepreneurs who have no vision at all; they aren’t driven, they have no sense of direction. For these sets of entrepreneurs, all they want to do is to make money and just survive. If your only reason for being in business is to make money then you have no business being in business. I have seen entrepreneurs who cannot tell you the exact problem that their organisation is solving, for them they just know that they are in business and provided they can make money then…

    Please don’t get me wrong, every entrepreneur needs money to stay in business but the money to be made shouldn’t be the principal driving force (of course money is needed to pay bills and stay in business) rather it should be the problem to be solved and the good to be done.

    The bad thing about not having a vision as an entrepreneur is that you are not likely to build a great organisation and you are also not likely to assemble a great team (as any potential team member would usually ask where your organisation is heading). I see a lot of people who come into entrepreneurship simple because they want to survive, it is true that the Nigerian terrain is harsh as there is no form of social security and you just have to survive but let me ask you, how long do you intend to just survive? When would you start thinking of building a great organisation? It’s great that you are making some cash here and there but if you are not careful about building a sustainable organisation and you put all your energy on survival you would never build something great.

    In a tough environment like Nigeria where most young people spend bulk of their energy on trying to figure out what they will eat and how they will pay their bills, if you are not careful and vision driven you would get caught in what I call the survival web – a zone where all you think and care about is how to pay your bills.

    You need to ask yourself some critical questions; what is your vision as an entrepreneur? What problems are you solving that qualify you to be called an entrepreneur? Where will your business be in five years? The way you currently run your business, will it survive in China if you run it that same way? Can it survive in Paris if you run it that same way? Can it survive in Silicon Valley with the way it is currently run? Can your business attract some of the brightest young talents? With the way you are running your business will you still be in business in the next five years? Would you patronise your own business if you aren’t the owner? With the current group of people you are hanging out with as an entrepreneur, can you develop the capacity to solve bigger problems? Would these set of people enable you to attract the right resources? These are questions you need to attend to if you are going to expand your influence as an entrepreneur.

     

  • Entrepreneur creates big business on local problems

    Entrepreneur creates big business on local problems

    One of the biggest challenges women entrepreneurs face in today’s increasingly crowded digital landscape is how to be distinctive, memorable, and stand out from the crowd. Founding Director iBez, iBez Nigeria, Ommo Clark  has become the case study example of tech entrepreneurship. She  is genuinely a real game-changer in that she looks to make a real difference in people’s everyday lives by looking at challenges and turning them into solutions and new business opportunities. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    In Nigeria, there is no shortage of talented female entrepreneurs. Women  such as  Ommo Clark, software designer and Founding Director iBez, Nigeria, have been inspiring and leading change in the communication business. She  has become the case study example of tech entrepreneurship. She is one talented Nigerians who has   made breakthroughs, pushed boundaries and held positions of power in the world of technology.

    Her  company,iBez, a technology company  develops software applications and online platforms specifically tailored to people and businesses in emerging and underserved markets and also provides software development consulting services.  Ommo Clark is a qualified IT Consultant with many years of experience working for a string of well-known investment banks and software companies both in the UK and Nigeria. Ommo is an alumnae of London Guildhall University UK with BA (Hons) Business Admin, and from Brunel University UK with MSc Information Systems. She also worked briefly in International Development. She was engaged as an Application Support Consultant with Real Asset Management UK (a Software House) for a number of years before joining the Investment Bank, Lehman Brothers UK; here she worked in the Mortgage Capital Division as a Team Leader tasked with leading the web development and support teams in online mortgage origination, products development and application support services.

    She left Lehman Brothers after four years to work with Icelandic Investment Bank, Kaupthing, Singer and Friedlander based in the UK as an IT Project Manager and led the software development team in developing various banking applications before returning to Nigeria where she worked with Soft Solutions Ltd, Nigeria as Head of Project Delivery and Support, and an International Development firm as Chief Operating Officer. One of the first things that struck her in her first few months back in Nigeria was that there were many every day challenges Nigerians were facing that could be easily solved using technology solutions.

    She said: “ I saw many gaps in the Nigerian software development industry that needed to be filled and also many everyday challenges people were going through that can be resolved using technology solutions.” Having gained enormous critical and analytical skill sets she was determined  to  come up with an elite solution to a problem or innovate something.  She started with very little capital. She had to work with her little personal resources and it really affected the speed at which she was  developing  projects around and grow. She did, however, have a vision and innovative ideas that helped to thrust the company into the forefront of the computer industry. As a technology entrepreneur, she believes technology provides a solution to every business, social challenge or need. After doing some research, she came up with internet based solutions.   Today, the business has reached six digits in turnover. She said:  “ We know we have the capacity to do and achieve a lot more. It has been a long hard road.” She  has been in business full-time for about three years  and  in the software development industry for about 15 years. Ommo has taken her company to the pinnacle of success with her excellent leadership and sheer hard work. iBez is also on the verge of launching a number of web-based applications namely – Handy Jacks, which is a web portal for finding certified and vetted tradespeople (artisans) on demand; Lets-Share, which is a web portal for advertising and finding spare bedrooms to rent in a house or flat share; My Office Manager, which is a cloud based office management application specifically designed for entrepreneurs, micro and small businesses to manage their back office operations; Lagos Rocks, which is an e-commerce site to buy sterling silver jewellery and Essentially Lingerie, which is an e-commerce site to buy lingerie.

    What is  helping her is  selling software technologies most people use every day. Today, her products allow small players with big ideas to confront big businesses.  She faced several challenges at the early stage but she overcame all one by one with hard work, determination, patience and never-give up attitude.  She related: “When I started off I had absolutely no idea about how to run or manage a business. I thought that because I am technically skilled and experienced at what I did the work and money would just flow in but they did not. I had to learn how to structure a business properly and develop some marketing and sales skills. I am still not an expert but I try. You have to understand that there is a difference between entrepreneurship and running a business.“When  she  started ,she  was  working   mostly  alone,  often overseeing  all the aspects of the business. These included having telephone conversations with clients, negotiating on projects and budgets, time management, technical development, finance, marketing, preparing contract agreements, etc.  But she has built a small team of software enthusiasts, geeks, strategists, analysts, designers, developers and project managers, all focused on building exceptional software applications. She is very proud of her accomplishments. “I started with nothing – just a dream and an idea and today I have a business that is on its way to changing the world. Just last week, I was invited to participate in a Global Women Entrepreneurship Institute (GWEI) in Atlanta, USA organised by Georgia Institute of Technology. It is amazing to have been one of16 women entrepreneurial leaders from five  African countries – Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya and Zambia selected to attend this Entrepreneurship Leadership development Programme that was designed to showcase talented African women entrepreneurs in Africa, encourage collaboration with Atlanta based businesses, forge trusted relationships and put them on the global map.”

     

    In ten years time, she wants to have a chain of technology / e-commerce platforms and products that help people and businesses in emerging and underserved communities overcome everyday challenges and improve livelihoods.

     

  • An entrepreneur’s success story

    An entrepreneur’s success story

    Starting a business is a challenging endeavour and achieving success under any circumstance is a great accomplishment. Alhaji Kabir Bawa, overcame some obstacles to establish his thriving food business, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    Alhaji Kabir Bawa is the founder and Chief Executive Officer, Afro Foods and Spices Nigeria, a food processing company.

    Bawa’s path to becoming an entrepreneur has been an interesting one. His education and training provided him all it takes to  launch a  career in the civil service.

    He  holds   a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management Studies from Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto (UDUS) and   a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria. Besides, a graduate certificate module in International Financial Services of University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom as  well as  combined Masters Degree of Arts (MA) in Globalisation, International Development and Transition Emerging.

    Bawa started his career as an accountant with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) where he spent 12 years. All the years, he tried to make a career out of civil service but he just couldn’t. He was struggling to stay while his heart was seeking exploits in  self employment.

    He  was suffering from a  family  trait. His grandfather was an astute trader and a business man and so was his late father. He said: “I grew up in a family business of construction and general trading.This had positive impact on me.”  So in 2006, he resigned to establish Afro Dimension Company Limited, a building and civil engineering company, which was  into real estate and manufacturing.

    In no time, the company  became one of the biggest concrete manufacturing companies in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Though a  firm believer that “food is at the centre of our whole society”, his   diversifying into food processing   was as a result of the frustration, he went through in the hands of Customs/Quarantine officials of the United Kingdom. He said: “Each time I carry food stuffs to family and friends who live in the United Kingdom they get  confiscated at the Heathrow airport because of lack of effective labelling and packaging. The last straw was when I carried Ogbono in black nylon bags for my doctor friend  and was asked at the airport what it was and I stood there helpless telling the white man it was Ogbono and he was looking at me. What language is this guy talking? I was perplexed how on earth I would not know Ogbono was not English.

    “Eventually, the  foodstuff was  confiscated at the airport. After  that  experience, he   decided to do something to save himself and other Nigerians from further embarrassments in the hands of Quarantine officers across the world.

    For five years, he  began  to research into what makes Indian and Chinese food get global attention and the result led to the setting up of Afro Foods and Spices.

    Today, his   company  is involved in processing a wide range of products, including cowpea, bean flour, fonio, ginger, garlic, whole wheat meal, yam flour (Elubo), brown beans, peeled beans among  others, using modern processing equipment.  The products he said just got into the markets a couple of months ago after going through rigours checks and procedures by National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and are certified fit and offered registration numbers. His vision is to revolutionise the market by offering them affordable and nutritious food options made from local products. He  started with  his savings and support  from the   Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YouWin). He  has   put quite a lot of resources into the business. His passion for food and a desire to ‘disrupt’ the food industry  will see him turn a humble idea into national  food business. For him,  the   potential in the food industry is unlimited.  This is because people will never stop eating. He continues to see opportunities everywhere.

    His  mission to make  the  company  a multi billion naira food processing company engaging about 10,000 farmers and providing employment to about 3000 skilled Nigerians in the long run. He wants to see Afro foods not only in the kitchen shelves of every household in Nigeria but in Wal-Mart in the United States, on the shelves of Tesco, Sainsbury and ASDA in the United Kingdom.

    Bawa and his   company are a real inspiration, because they are testimony to the power of perseverance, tenacity, confidence in a great business idea, and a desire to build a powerful brand that can make a difference in the marketplace.Most of the product ideas in Afro came about as a result of observation and acquiring knowledge through asking questions and processing answers. Example is the introduction Afro peeled beans.

    He  said: “One day I called my wife from the office and told her I was craving for moin-moin and I knew I couldn’t get it when I needed it because the socking and washing takes time and effort. “When I came back home, I asked if the moin-moin was ready but lol and behold the beans was still undergoing washing. I stood in the kitchen watching the processes and in the end sympathise with all moin-moin and bean cake lovers. “At that stage I came with up with the idea of providing ready for use peeled beans.”

  • The young entrepreneur who is hungry for success

    The young entrepreneur who is hungry for success

    This is a story of a woman, who against all odds, has become a success. She shows the power of grit and determination to succeed in business, despite the many hurdles encountered. She is building  a highly respected foodstuff business, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Lagos-based Wandy Foods Limited, Ms. Gbonju Awojuyigbe,  is  one of Nigeria’s entrepreneurial success stories. However, her entrepreneurial journey was not an easy one, but she remains an inspirational example of triumph over adversity.  The 1992 law graduate from the Nigerian Law School, an alumnus of Fate Foundation and a 2005 Fate Foundation Alumnus Award winner, first worked with First African Trust Bank before fully going into business, leaving the banking industry for food processing business. As a woman, she wanted to show that she could be a successful business person, hence, she  left the bank in 1997. In January 1998, she  started  with plantain flour  business with N5000.

    But before she left banking, she had shown interest in production and the attraction defined what she wanted to do.

    Her late grandmother advised her to try plantain flour production, which was one of the options she had before her.  The reason behind the plantain flour was because of its health benefits. She first started with rice flour and later added plantain flour, bean flour and chili pepper.

    Her first set of customers were  her colleagues, who were buying everything she produced and their patronage encouraged her to supply supermarkets.

    Eventually, she  bought a warehouse in Maryland but when the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)  came for inspection, they said it was too small. So with some help, she got another place at the Technology Incubation Centre (TIC), Lagos under the National Board for Technology Incubation.

    She is involved in the processing of plantain flour, ground rice, bean flour, chili pepper, whole wheat flour, pounded yam flour and pure natural honey. Her products are all over the place.

    To boost her skills, she underwent  various  training in  food  processing  techniques at  the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, Success Digest  and London South Bank University.  She is one of the first to package plantain  flour in Lagos.  The experience was pretty interesting. “People wanted to get it, they wanted to test it, wanted to try it and see what it could do,” she said.

    To produce the flour, the plantain is peeled, dried and ground. The flour is almost tasteless because the  green, unripe plantain are being used.

    A sense of achievement with taste of success propelled her to undertake the production of ground rice, bean flour candy on a trial  basis.  The experience gave her  the confidence  to move   ahead   towards   her   goal   of   establishing a   full-fledged value – added  enterprise and since then it has been forward ever. She has taken  up  various types  of  products,  using traditional   recipes   and   innovative   ideas aimed at  getting special  commercial clientele. While quality  processed  products  are  in  high demand  in  market,  her strategy  was to have diversified  quality and  value- added products.  She  has been very busy  with her food processing business, growing  her production capacity and employee base since she started the business.  She recalled that she started with  one employee, but today, she has  10 persons working with her,  processing raw ingredients into finished food products.

    Her value statement concentrates on utilising the local agricultural capacity for finished  products , and creating food sources, which can be preserved long enough to be transported to viable markets, especially given the limited logistics available in the country.

    She learned packaging and production techniques that will benefit her business for years to come in her industry.  In addition, she  is  exploring  partnership  in processing finished products.

    Not only is she providing the  much needed employment, she is creating means to getting fresh  produce to market.  She is accomplishing all of these by applying the skills and knowledge she learnt to create a value chain and market delivery system to Lagos  and other markets, making agribusiness more viable, profitable and sustainable.

    According to her, starting a business is not easy under the nation’s present circumstances. She painted a fairly bleak picture of the current situation, but was optimistic about the future.

    Startups, she said, have to keep even more balls in the air including power outages, funding and the like. Roads from the farms are bad, resulting in long delivery times. Credit, according to her, is a huge problem. Despite this, she is passionate about agriculture and wants to make it big in the sector.

    The Lagos State government offered her and  five  other  entrepreneurs  hectares of land at a reasonable price to grow food crops.  Huge investments are also needed. However, success would make her one of the largest food producers in a few years. Her passion to become a food producer of high scale is her driving force.

    Realising that she may not be able to compete for long in the local market, Awojuyigbe  has  taken the bold step  to  prepare her products for the export market.  The company was looking to diversify and was already operating a small honey   processing unit.

    Her story is an inspiration to many, demonstrating that entrepreneurs are high on imagination even if low on resources. At present, her firm does not have the capabilities to execute large  scale  expansion. But she finds it essential to map the needed capabilities in terms of assets, processes and knowledge.

     

  • Entrepreneur overcomes illness to find success

    Entrepreneur overcomes illness to find success

    Some start-up entrepreneurs overcame obstacles before achieving success. One of them survived an illness and rejection to achieve success, marketing investment and financial information that are changing lives.  DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    One of the strongest reasons why the nation may have a secured economic future is the growing number of  young entrepreneurs applying their creative energy to  solving  business  challenges despite  facing  incredible  personal  odds.

    Chief Executive, Multiple Vineyard Empowerment Club, Josephson Peter,  is one young  Nigerian,  who   defied incredible personal odds — including a serious disease to start his  business. At a very early age in life he has had to come across hurdles in business, struggling with serious health problems for several years before relocating to Lagos. from Enugu, in Enugu State

    He had to cry himself to sleep, begging God to make him well.  He even promised God that if he was cured, he would help those in need. Later, his health improved. But instead of being merely grateful to God, he began thinking of how to create a life he wanted for himself.  He saw the possibility of achieving his dream by moving to Lagos from Enugu.

    The move was not as rosy as expected. When he came to Lagos in 1996, he was rejected by those he thought would accommodate him. Although, he confessed that he didn’t tell them before moving to Lagos, this probably explained the rejection.  But luck smiled on him, he met a young man about his age on  the  bus  to Lagos, whose address he decided to trace. Luckily, he got  him at Ojodu-Berger, Ikeja and lied  that he couldn’t locate his uncle, whom he had come to see. The friend begged  his uncle to accommodate him, but three days later he was also rejected.

    Homeless and dejected, Peter  decided to look for a church to stay. He got to a church and related his experience and reluctantly the church  allowed to stay .  But two weeks later, he was again asked to leave. Initially, he was depressed, terrified and  helpless.   But  he  was determined  to stay on.  He  found an abandoned car on the  same street where the  church was located, moved into the abandoned  vehicle and lived  there for eight months.

    Along the line, he met a young man, who was a member of the church and was working around the place. The fellow helped him to get a job in a company and secured a small  apartment meant for the security man inside the company’s  compound for him. He lived together with his friend for two years and within the period, they became inseparable.

    They then decided to set up a business and rented a house outside the company. However, his  friend opted out, went ahead to set up the business alone and returned the money Peter contributed as share capital.

    For Peter, it was “sink or swim and sinking was not an option for him.

    What kept him going was the determination to prove to others that he could make it selling financial information such as how to make money through equity financing. multi-level marketing and cooperative investments. Yet, there were many obstacles on his way. But he did not allow  them  to  kill his  dream.

    After much prayers and increasing faith in God , he began to  experience  a breakthrough. He was able to rent his own house and his church pastor later welcomed him back.  Few years later, he launched an online financial information media outfit, aimed at helping people grow their finance and investments through ebooks and other online training materials.

    Today, he focuses on the success of others, and helps people make a living doing what they love. His business ventures, which  include real estate, multi-level marketing, equity financing are money spinners for him. He also engages in public  speaking by delivering motivational speeches to adults and youths.

    Peter epitomises the self-made entrepreneur. He openly shares his background with his audience because his personal story reinforces the theme that common people can find uncommon success if they turn their perceived weakness into strength.  For  him, being an entrepreneur is one of the greatest highs, but it comes with a lot of stress and a lot of worries. He attributed his business success to his ability to let go of his internal fears, taking control of his situation.  For him,  going through abandonment was the reason for being self-reliant, self motivated, goal oriented and results driven.

    To him, one  should  start a business with a small amount of money and turn it into a million-naira venture. After all, every business has to start from somewhere. For him, investing in businesses is about picking businesses one  believes have the potential to grow.

    While, there will continue to be many failures, Peter sees bigger  returns coming to investors in early-stage companies. His strategy is  to diversify by investing small amounts in multiple businesses.  Through  his  Multiple Vineyard Empowerment Club, small  investors  are  encouraged to invest in businesses directly through the platform.  He believes in  the  concept of having many people provide finance in small quantities to fund start up and existing companies. Multiple Vineyard Club is designed for business people and intending entrepreneurs .The club teaches its members  the  easiest method of creating a profitable business from the very beginning and expose them to investment opportunity and profitable businesses, which they can start with little or no capital.