The Nation Newspaper

Tag: entrepreneurs

  • Firm to support entrepreneurs to tackle poverty

    Acumen, an international non-profit investment organisation is poised to support Nigerian entrepreneurs working to help end poverty.

    Its West Africa Director, Meghan Curra, said this while addressing a forum of entrepreneurship empowerment organisations, put together by Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), to meet representatives of Skoll Foundation and Acumen in Lagos.

    According to her, Acumen raises charitable donations to invest in companies, leaders, and ideas who tackle poverty in developing countries. The fund, she explained, operates like a venture capital fund for the poor, supported by a global community of philanthropists willing to take a bet on a new approach.

    The fund, she continued, invests in companies leading innovations in renewable energy and agriculture among others, adding this has allowed Acumen to impact the lives of 232 million people since 2001 across 99 companies with $108 million of investments.

    She said Acumen Fund was created in 2001 to offer new approaches to social impact investing, acting as an intermediary between philanthropic organisations and social enterprises.

    The Regional Chapter Manager, West Africa, ANDE, Olatunji Ajani, said ANDE is a global network of organisations that propel entrepreneurship in emerging markets.

    According to him, ANDE members provide critical financial, educational, and business support services to small and growing businesses (SGBs) based on the conviction that they  will create jobs, stimulate long-term economic growth, and produce environmental and social benefits.

    Associate Director, Acumen West Africa, Oluwatoyin Emmanuel-Olubake, highlighted the group’s interest in companies that create sustainable solutions in local ecosystem.

    Acumen in the last 15 years has invested over $110 million in breakthrough innovations with 102 countries serving low-income customers within 13 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the U.S. with a major focus on post-seed to scale opportunities especially in the agriculture and renewable energy space.

     

  • Entrepreneurs get funding from Microsoft

    Fifty-four winners have emerged from the Accelerate LABS programme, an initiative of The Future Project supported by Microsoft Nigeria. The winners were announced during the Grand Demo Day held at the City Mall, Lagos.

    The event provides an opportunity for entrepreneurs to learn, network, and pitch innovative ideas to investors so as to scale for impact.

    Speaking at the event, Project Lead of The Future Project, Bukonla Adebakin said: “Our quest to identify, spotlight, and support the most innovative entrepreneurs with impactful ideas has taken us to all the corners of the country including Abuja, Edo, Enugu, Kaduna, Bauchi and now, Lagos. Getting the best young minds across the country to showcase their ideas have been a fascinating experience as well as an eye-opening one as we have seen them accomplish mind-blowing feats”.

    Divided into three streams, participants went through a 12-week incubation process covering taught sessions, mentorship, research and development. The initiative is blended in structure through Online and In-Class training, supporting different sectors of the economy ranging from technology, fashion, education, agriculture, transportation, and others to stimulate development.

    “The initiative doesn’t just up-skill young people looking for an alternative to the conventional career route, but it also gives them tools and opportunities to put those skills to excellent use. Winners from Accelerate LABS Stream 1 have gone ahead to  access funds from our partner organizations. They represent a new generation of businesses, scion of the pilot phase of the program launched a year ago,” she added.

    Speaking to participants and guests at the event, Olusola Amusan, Citizenship Lead, Microsoft Nigeria stated that the project has successfully trained over 2,212 participants across Nigeria, thereby “boosting employment opportunities, working to eradicate poverty, promote quality enterprise education, and contributing positively to national GDP”.

  • Building business hubs’ capacities to give entrepreneurs head start

    The Network of Incubators and Innovators in Nigeria is building business hubs’ capacities to explore opportunities and create new entrepreneurs. It is holding a capacity building training for aspiring and existing hub managers to spot and manage ideas from young entrepreneurs determined to transform the economy. DANIEL ESSIET writes.

    Business hubs have mushroomed in the past five years partly because of governments’ measures to support small enterprises. They provide office space and facilities at a low rent, combined with networking opportunities and advice to new ventures through the tricky early stages. Some are privately run for a profit, some are managed by universities and others are run by local authorities, or charities.

    Founder NINe, Bankole Oloruntoba, said there are opportunities for business hubs with unemployed youths looking for avenues to polish their entrepreneurial skills, or learn more about marketing or business models.

    Oloruntoba is brimming with confidence having seen the organisation’s entrepreneurship programme aimed at creating new businesses yielding results.

    The organisation has completed an intensive entrepreneurship and business training course in Abuja to accelerate the development of a hub management system that will help create new young entrepreneurs and increase the number of profitable enterprises. As he reflects on the training programme, he is happy NINe is building entrepreneurial capacities women and men and providing them with basic entrepreneurship skills management.

    For him, Nigeria is on the cusp of a major development transformation. Micro and small businesses are expected to play a strong role in its transformation and become a spring board for developing a vibrant private sector. To this end, hub managers need to be empowered through skills training to offer business advisory services.

    To ensure the full implementation and sustainability of the programme, they needed to be e trained as trainers and business advisors.

    Oloruntoba said hubs should offer a valuable mix of low-cost office space, networking opportunities and business advice to support startups.

    According to him, technology business, entrepreneurship, and startups have another great year ahead.

    He  explained  that  business hubs should be well  organised  to enable   developers, designers, marketers, and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups

    According to him, Nigeria is now home to one of the fastest growing tech industries and a burgeoning startup scene.

    He added that diversity and inclusiveness have emerged as important priorities over the last few years for organisations across the startup community.

    Oloruntoba, also, a Hub Incubator Manager, Enspire Incubator, noted that the Abuja Tech Ecosystem has created structured community entrepreneurs to get the much needed support.

    Nearly all organisations, he explained, have made conscious adjustments to ensure their groups and events are as open and accessible as possible, with a focus on continuing to improve this. This mindfulness by event organisers, he continued, has begun to alter the startup community into one that is becoming noticeably more diverse and inclusive.

    Oloruntoba stressed the need for the government to examine the policies that limit the growth of entrepreneurial small companies, as well as those that could spur it.

    According to him, the economy needs innovation leaders, who can think more broadly and creatively about supporting and mentoring entrepreneurs, and providing creative financing to beneficial growth opportunities.

    The mission of the network, he explained, is to encourage and support young entrepreneurship and venture-led development.

    International Development Consultant, Amsterdam Area, Netherlands, Rizwaan Khambata noted that there are hubs for entrepreneurship around the world, adding that countries  are using  hubs  to harness the momentum in the social innovation sector and developing an ecosystem that is supporting entrepreneurs with incubators, mentoring, and financing.

    Through hubs, he added that entrepreneurs have long been able to tap into a range of grants and related programmes to help with early development activities.

    Despite its challenges, he noted that Nigeria is a burgeoning space for social enterprises and the country has been so successful in cultivating entrepreneurship.

    For Nigerian entrepreneurs seeking new opportunities, Khambata was of the opinion that the country is full of markets with great promise. Yet the complexities of economic infrastructure, politics, and trade logistics can be overwhelming.

    According to him, the economy is in need of social entrepreneurs to create ventures that can become social innovation hubs.

    Through NINe, he expressed readiness to work with Nigerians to build social entrepreneurship skills, implement and test plans and innovations, design monitoring and evaluation schemes and provide mentorship.

    Co-Founder, Ledoradoo, Valentin Ribeiro emphasised the importance of fostering entrepreneurship, moving beyond policies to create ecosystems for entrepreneurs to succeed.

    He observed that   entrepreneurs can be empowered to become effective drivers of economic growth and create lots of wealth and lots of jobs.

    He went on to identify entrepreneurs as tenacious, passionate risk-takers, who were at the same time risk-minimisers with obsessive attention to detail, irrational optimism and the ability to improvise.

    As startups, he said they face many challenges including access to finance and hiring adequate staff, but one of the biggest is convincing customers to pay more for quality products.

    According to him, lack of a well-developed ecosystem, including mentoring, risk culture, human resources and burden on the entrepreneur in the developing world.

    He stressed the need to focus on boosting  entrepreneurial growth; expanding access to markets; providing better access to finance; improving human capacity; building support networks and  creating an entrepreneurial culture.

    Although there are still many barriers for small companies, he observed that there is much optimism that the sector will flourish.

    Many potential investors, according to him, are looking closely at entrepreneurs, but are not yet ready to commit themselves because of the perception that there are not enough investment-ready companies.

     

  • Building business hubs’ capacities to give entrepreneurs head start

    The Network of Incubators and Innovators in Nigeria is building business hubs’ capacities to explore opportunities and create new entrepreneurs. It is holding a capacity building training for aspiring and existing hub managers to spot and manage ideas from young entrepreneurs determined to transform the economy. DANIEL ESSIET writes.

    Business hubs have mushroomed in the past five years partly because of governments’ measures to support small enterprises. They provide office space and facilities at a low rent, combined with networking opportunities and advice to new ventures through the tricky early stages. Some are privately run for a profit, some are managed by universities and others are run by local authorities, or charities.

    Founder NINe, Bankole Oloruntoba, said there are opportunities for business hubs with unemployed youths looking for avenues to polish their entrepreneurial skills, or learn more about marketing or business models.

    Oloruntoba is brimming with confidence having seen the organisation’s entrepreneurship programme aimed at creating new businesses yielding results.

    The organisation has completed an intensive entrepreneurship and business training course in Abuja to accelerate the development of a hub management system that will help create new young entrepreneurs and increase the number of profitable enterprises. As he reflects on the training programme, he is happy NINe is building entrepreneurial capacities women and men and providing them with basic entrepreneurship skills management.

    For him, Nigeria is on the cusp of a major development transformation. Micro and small businesses are expected to play a strong role in its transformation and become a spring board for developing a vibrant private sector. To this end, hub managers need to be empowered through skills training to offer business advisory services.

    To ensure the full implementation and sustainability of the programme, they needed to be e trained as trainers and business advisors.

    Oloruntoba said hubs should offer a valuable mix of low-cost office space, networking opportunities and business advice to support startups.

    According to him, technology business, entrepreneurship, and startups have another great year ahead.

    He  explained  that  business hubs should be well  organised  to enable   developers, designers, marketers, and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups

    According to him, Nigeria is now home to one of the fastest growing tech industries and a burgeoning startup scene.

    He added that diversity and inclusiveness have emerged as important priorities over the last few years for organisations across the startup community.

    Oloruntoba, also, a Hub Incubator Manager, Enspire Incubator, noted that the Abuja Tech Ecosystem has created structured community entrepreneurs to get the much needed support.

    Nearly all organisations, he explained, have made conscious adjustments to ensure their groups and events are as open and accessible as possible, with a focus on continuing to improve this. This mindfulness by event organisers, he continued, has begun to alter the startup community into one that is becoming noticeably more diverse and inclusive.

    Oloruntoba stressed the need for the government to examine the policies that limit the growth of entrepreneurial small companies, as well as those that could spur it.

    According to him, the economy needs innovation leaders, who can think more broadly and creatively about supporting and mentoring entrepreneurs, and providing creative financing to beneficial growth opportunities.

    The mission of the network, he explained, is to encourage and support young entrepreneurship and venture-led development.

    International Development Consultant, Amsterdam Area, Netherlands, Rizwaan Khambata noted that there are hubs for entrepreneurship around the world, adding that countries  are using  hubs  to harness the momentum in the social innovation sector and developing an ecosystem that is supporting entrepreneurs with incubators, mentoring, and financing.

    Through hubs, he added that entrepreneurs have long been able to tap into a range of grants and related programmes to help with early development activities.

    Despite its challenges, he noted that Nigeria is a burgeoning space for social enterprises and the country has been so successful in cultivating entrepreneurship.

    For Nigerian entrepreneurs seeking new opportunities, Khambata was of the opinion that the country is full of markets with great promise. Yet the complexities of economic infrastructure, politics, and trade logistics can be overwhelming.

    According to him, the economy is in need of social entrepreneurs to create ventures that can become social innovation hubs.

    Through NINe, he expressed readiness to work with Nigerians to build social entrepreneurship skills, implement and test plans and innovations, design monitoring and evaluation schemes and provide mentorship.

    Co-Founder, Ledoradoo, Valentin Ribeiro emphasised the importance of fostering entrepreneurship, moving beyond policies to create ecosystems for entrepreneurs to succeed.

    He observed that   entrepreneurs can be empowered to become effective drivers of economic growth and create lots of wealth and lots of jobs.

    He went on to identify entrepreneurs as tenacious, passionate risk-takers, who were at the same time risk-minimisers with obsessive attention to detail, irrational optimism and the ability to improvise.

    As startups, he said they face many challenges including access to finance and hiring adequate staff, but one of the biggest is convincing customers to pay more for quality products.

    According to him, lack of a well-developed ecosystem, including mentoring, risk culture, human resources and burden on the entrepreneur in the developing world.

    He stressed the need to focus on boosting  entrepreneurial growth; expanding access to markets; providing better access to finance; improving human capacity; building support networks and  creating an entrepreneurial culture.

    Although there are still many barriers for small companies, he observed that there is much optimism that the sector will flourish.

    Many potential investors, according to him, are looking closely at entrepreneurs, but are not yet ready to commit themselves because of the perception that there are not enough investment-ready companies.

  • Helping entrepreneurs to expand their businesses

    Nigeria’s ecosystem offers-plenty of opportunities for young start-ups to flourish. However, many die because they cannot raise funds. To help startups, Rising Tide Africa, an empowerment outfit, organised a deal-making session to guide startups on the right way to attract investors. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    The Lagos entrepreneurial ecosystem ranks as number one in the country. This is because it has the largest concentration of the richest Venture Capitalists (VCs), angel investors and angel groups. Also, there are many start-up accelerators and incubators in niche markets – FinTech, HealthTech and  AgTech.    Many startups in the state have become successful. The last thing to worry about when starting a tech business is the availability of investment sources.

    Despite this, many start-ups cannot make persuasive pitches to attract investors. This has given business empowerment groups concern.

    One group that has risen to the task of preparing start-ups to pitch  for funds is Rising Tide Africa (RTA). The  group, which largely comprises women business angels, held a deal-making session in Lagos for start-ups seeking funding.  However, only a fraction of companies that applied for the event after screening got selected.

    The event opened with a keynote address by co-founder, Dr Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien, who said RTA believes it will bring about positive change by investing in exciting start-ups. She  added that the group promotes sustainable economic development.

    Co founder Yemi Keri said RTA Nigeria chapter exists in the deal-making landscape for start-ups to connect with the right investors. According to her, the forum is organised with the goal of creating new ways for start-ups, scale-ups and high-growth businesses to access finance.

    RTA Nigeria Secretary-General Ms. Ivana Osagie said the group seeks investment opportunities that have the potential to yield strong financial returns and significant social impact.

    Osagie, who is also Notore Seeds Chief Executive Officer, noted that the group has a number of investors to raise the quality of investor-startup interaction.

    She said six startups and scale-ups were selected to make presentations during the event. They included Fibre.ng, KleosAfrica, WhyBlueSky, DokiLink, Smoodypod Group International Corporation and Beyond Credit.

    The forum offered an excellent opportunity for networking with high net worth individuals, co-investment fund managers, bank executives, stock exchange executives and VCs.

    An ex-Morgan Stanley investment bank analyst and entrepreneur, Obinna Okwodu, launched Fibre.ng.  a real estate booking start-up in Lagos, which gives tenants the option to pay monthly.

    Fibre.ng, opens renting in Lagos up to many, who until now, have not  been able to place 24 months’ rent on the table.

    Speaking about fibre.ng, Fibre Lifestyle Technologies Limited, Chief Executive, said the   real estate booking platform ameliorate the hassle and challenges faced when renting apartments in Lagos.

    However, in exchange for the convenience, tenants have to pay an amount on top of the monthly rent, which pushes their monthly rental expenses slightly over the market-related rental for properties. This convenience fee goes to Fibre.ng for its service.

    He said: “We work with landlords to make it possible for professionals in Lagos to live in the city and pay monthly, as opposed to having to pay two years rent upfront plus service charge, agency fees, legal fees, caution deposit, among others, just to find a place to live.”

    Currently, the platform only covers premium residential areas of Lagos, but Okwodu plans to expand to the rest of the state. He said the homes are sourced according to demand. After users make requests on the website, Fibre goes looking for apartments that best match their given criteria. Tenants then get locked into one-year contract and they have to pay 25per cent  of the annual fee upfront – that’s basically three month’s rent – to get the keys; they then spread what’s left of the rent over the next 11 months.

    KleosAfrica Lead Consultant, Glory Enyinnaya, stated that it is an online platform that connects business owners in need of strategic consulting, financial modeling and managerial accounting expertise with business school students and freelance consultants with cogent consulting experience.

    According to her, KleosAfrica allows MBA students and graduates worldwide to take on side projects that help businesses. While they will be paid for their services, the major value for them is the opportunity to contribute to the development of the African continent.

    Founder WhyBlueSky, Agata Wilam said her organisation built the platform with curiosity-kindling lessons, which boost students’ motivation to learn. Her words: “We help teachers without expert knowledge to deliver lessons on science, health, entrepreneurship or art. Lessons are designed with academics and researchers,  experts and entrepreneurs, using tailor-made experiments, role-playing games and others.”

    According to her, the platform engages more than 7000 teachers and has reached more than 70.000 kids.

    Wilam has worked with children and education her entire life and she is passionate to be part of the future of education.

    Co-founder and CEO, Beyond Credit, Jude Njugo said the social enterprise is a technology driven financial services company that provides insurance backed loans, business support and savings services to low scale businesses.

    He said their approach include supporting entrepreneurs with financial education training, Insurance backed loans, apart from providing a platform for savings and support groups.

    Chief Executive, DokiLink, Niyi Osamiluyi said the online professional network of doctor was created in a bid to reduce medical Tourism by connecting with professional doctors to patients.

    Osamiluyi, a medical doctor, said the electronic platform already has more than 11,000 verified Nigerian doctors, who have been sharing medical cases, getting second opinions from colleagues and accessing medical news and information. This leads to a greater awareness among doctors of the treatment options available locally.

    Chief Executive, Smoodypod Group International Corporation and British-trained architect and industrialist, Prince Tricare, said the organisation needs funding to tackle food waste. He introduced Smoody fruit juice into Nigerian market.

    At his factory tucked in a rather quiet street in Opebi, Ikeja, Lagos, Tricare has since been rolling out premium Smoody drinks made from a blend of mango, banana, orange and ginger, which he initially sold in bottles at equally premium price to high-end hotels and restaurants. He revealed that the product was well received, with the market assured. But his business sense dictated to him that it should be made available for mass consumption to be enjoyed by all.

    He pointed out that another major opportunity exists with local manufacturing. “The cost of fruit is really cheap here, however, we need close to three tons of fruits for a week’s production for now,” he said. The attendees pitched investors in a short fast pitch session in the hope of finding investment capital. The business angels’ offered fresh ideas, real-world strategies, and practical hands on tools for start-ups to launch new ideas and grow existing ventures to the next level.

    Aside presentations by start-ups, the event offered important insights into the start-up ecosystem. The programme was learning space for entrepreneurs to increase their understanding of the investment strategies of angel investors, due-diligence check-lists of investors, and ways to access co-investment funds.

  • Group trains women entrepreneurs on credit access

    A non-profit, female organisation ImpactHER, has trained African women entrepreneurs on how to access finance from corporate organisations.

    The training, which held in Maroko, Lagos, was attended by over 100 business women.

    ImpactHER Founder, Efe Ukala, explained that the foundation was created to help bridge the financing gap between female African entrepreneurs and financial institutions.  “It is to help prepare African female entrepreneurs to access institutional capital to fund and grow their businesses,” she said.

    Fidelity Bank Regional Bank Head, Victoria Island, Mrs. Chinwe Iloghalu, used the opportunity to introduce to them some special products available to female-led businesses, and advised them on practical ways through which they can access debt financing from banks and other financial institutions.

    In her presentation, one of the facilitators and Regional Head, Africa Venture Capital, International Finance Corporation, World Bank, Wale Ayeni, said there were a lot  of funding opportunities which the participants could tap from to take their businesses to the next level.

    Nuts About Cakes Founder,  Mrs. Olanike Majekodunmi, spoke on  tips to building best-in-class businesses, among others.

    The conference was organised with support from Google Digital Skills for Africa, and Haptics.

     

     

  • Entrepreneur’s recycled tyre furniture for 20 schools

    A computer scientist, Olamide Ayeni-Babajide, who has found her calling transforming waste into furniture, is working to provide furniture for 20 schools in Lagos State.

    This project follows the success of her donation of 18 attached chairs made of used car tyres to Oke Odo High School in Lagos State Education District I in February.

    The founder of Pearl Recycling and multiple award winner for her social enterprise projects said she was moved to gift the furniture after discovering the school had a need.

    “We presented 18 chairs to a public school in Lagos because we noticed the pupils were sitting on tyres and we used the same tyres to make classrooms chairs for them. That is what we do basically, converting waste to useful, and letting people see it,” she said.

    She told The Nation that the surprise and curiosity that greeted the donation inspired her to embark on the new venture.

    “We noticed that when we presented the chairs, even the teachers were interested in learning. It just about sensitising, so that is where we are trying to go now.  Every school that we are giving, we would train 40 of their pupils so that the students will in turn train others. We cannot train everybody because this also requires funds and capital. We are going to touch every district in the state,” she said.

    Mide, as she is popularly called, however, lamented that many children did not get quality education, calling for improved funding from government and supervision from parents to help children reach their potential.

    She said: “I went to a school in California and I wept. I saw what they had and what we have here. The kind of education we are giving our kids compared to the kind of education they receive over there, we cannot compete. We are setting our kids up to fail already because even our education is archaic; the standard is terrible. There you see schools with robotics; the students are already working on robots. It is not what we do here.

    “They (children) should dream and it is also the work of parents to make their kids dream.  Most of our parents do not have vision neither would the child have. Sometimes the first motivation a child would get is from the parents because they leave from home to school.  When they see how their parents are doing things they will also get motivated.  We also donot set up our children for success.”

    “Mide is a 2017 U.S TECHWOMEN Fellow.  She was also one of the 1,000 young entrepreneurs funded by the Tony Elumelu Foundation in 2016 and a winner of the WIMBIZ 2016 Impact Competition.

  • Firm unveils initiative for entrepreneurs

    The Chancellor of E-Boot Camp Limited, Mr. Lai Omotola, has predicted that Nigeria could rise “to become the world’s fifth largest economy by 2038, that is, two decades from now, if the entrepreneurial spirit could be liberated in the country.

    He made this known while unveiling his firm’s training programme tagged ‘Think Entrepreneurship,’ which is aimed at building an army of one million entrepreneurs. When achieved, it will radically transform the country’s economy in the next decade. The training is scheduled to hold in Lagos, on Friday.

    “This is the target of the think entrepreneurship training programme we are introducing. We target to get one million people to commence entrepreneurship and in the next decade and produce businesses that are in billions turnover,” he said.

    Omotola further explained that with the training, E-Boot hopes to demystify entrepreneurship and also make it friendly. He said the firm is convinced that if it can positively change the mindset of the Nigerian entrepreneurs, then it can build the most robust economy.

    “With the potentials we have in our country, if we are able to liberate the entrepreneurial spirit in this country, then in the next two decades, Nigeria should be the world’s fifth largest economy in the world,” he hopes.

    Omotola noted that big economies all over the world have always been propelled by the private sector, which is led by entrepreneurs because they are the ones that build economies and not government. What the government does, he said, is to create policies that will be pro-business and not anti business.

    E-Boot, he revealed, initiated the programme after due consideration and in-depth study of Nigeria’s socio-economic situation, which showed that the solution “to our problems does not depend 100 percent on the person that becomes the president in 2019.”

  • TBWF business summit for entrepreneurs begins

    Thriving Business Women Fellowship (TBWF), the empowerment outreach of the Victorious Praying Women Ministry, said it has concluded arrangements to hold the 2018 edition of its annual business summit for startups and aspiring women entrepreneurs.

    The Team Lead for the Business Summit 2018, Dr. Bukola Adewakun, said this year’s edition, which is the 10th in the series, has Opportunity as its theme.

    The summit, she explained, is a platform for seasoned business women to share their experiences, successes, challenges and everything they went through in business with other existing and aspiring women entrepreneurs.

    She said the summit was an offshoot of TBWF’s programme originally tagged “Inspirational Tuesdays” where it invites successful entrepreneurs to share their ‘grass to grace’ exploits with other business women so as to motivate and encourage them.

    Adewakun, who spoke in her Lagos office at the week, said the programme, which started 10 years, has developed into a proper business summit with Pastor Mayokun Oreofe, as Convener.

    She said the Inspirational Tuesdays was a platform “where we gather successful business people to share their stories and experiences, talk about their challenges and how they were able to overcome them so that other women will learn from them.”

    She added that this year’s summit will hold all through the month of June, in four cities of Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan and Abeokuta. She said the summit will take place every Tuesday in Lagos at Victory Place, No 15, Nurudeen Olowopopo Road, by Marwa Gardens Traffic Light, CBD Area, Alausa Ikeja.

    Other summit venues are Ibadan, which holds every Thursday at Victory House, Old Bodija Estate; Abuja, every Thursday at Bible Guest House, Wuze Zone 5; Abeokuta, Amazing Grace Hall, Kuforuji Olubi Estate. She said admission to the summit is free.

    Adewakun, who assured that this year’s edition will be “fabulous and loaded,” said seven top-notch speakers have been lined up for the summit across the four centres.

  • Elumelu: Entrepreneurs need govt to grow

    Tony Elumelu Foundation founder Mr Tony Elumelu has advised African governments to provide key infrastructure for entrepreneurs to thrive. He spoke to reporters at the World Bank/International Money Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings in Washington D.C, United States, on the business opportunities in Africa and how technology can be deployed in harnessing them. COLLINS NWEZE was there.

    What are the challenges      facing African entrepreneurs and how do you prepare young people to create businesses in a digital economy?

    The truth is that the population of Africa presents opportunities. We have 60 per cent of our population at the age of 30 and we have 65 per cent of our economy in the informal sector. But these present quite interesting opportunities for digital economy. In my interactions with young Africans, I have seen people, who are determined, energetic, hungry to succeed and make a difference, and are extremely intelligent, but the environment a times, makes it difficult for them to succeed. You can’t talk about digital economy in Africa without fixing critical infrastructure. Digital connectivity is a major issue in Africa and you can’t fix it if you don’t have reliable access to electricity. So, if we want to truly address the issue of digital economy in Africa, these challenges must be fixed.

    Second is the issue of governance. Governments need to understand that if we prioritise the young ones and make the operating environment conducive, they will do well, and we will be able to solve some of the problems in the continent. So, regulation is very important, incentivising investors and even entrepreneurs, are all factors that will help us address the digital issues.

    For the entrepreneurs in Africa, I will say let’s not look at the challenges, but the opportunities. There are lots of opportunities in the continent and we need to look at these opportunities, despite the challenges that we face. Let’s fix policy issues, let’s fix regulatory issues and investors will come to Africa. And as these investors come to Africa, we will help address the issue of unemployment, poverty and help get more involved in economic activities.

    At the Tony Elumelu Foundation, this is the fourth year of the programme that we put in place. My experience is that many young Africans want to be in the digital technology space. In terms of representation of interest, the first is education, which is about 30 per cent, the next is ICT and these young entrepreneurs want to succeed. Also, we need to put in place tech hubs for them. If we have tech-ups, it will go a long way in helping us to galvanise the space. The TEF is happy to support these young Africans, but we need more collaboration by all – governments; creating the right environment, development partners continuing to support and those who are endowed should also support them in a manner that creates the right results for our continent.

    What should someone who wants to be an entrepreneur study in the university?

    Let’s look at what we do at the TEF. Every year we try to support 1,000 African entrepreneurs, we say to them that the programme is sector agnostic and it is not important whether you are educated or not. We want you to follow your passion, because ideas that come from your passion to a large extent succeeds. And we have seen medical doctors express interest in fashion, we have seen computer scientists express interest in ICT. What we are seeing to some extent addresses the new way forward. It is more of skill development and what you instinctively can wake up at night and want to do and what you do without feeling that you are inconveniencing yourself or being stressed. Any and every area can lead to success.

    So, my advice to people and even my children is to follow your passion. If you are already in the university, finish whatever you are studying, but after that, follow your passion because passion is important. People, who have made great strides in life are those who followed their passion and anything you do, do it very well. Oprah Winfrey became a billionaire just by talking, organising people and having fun. So, to me, it doesn’t matter what you do because passion makes you keep improving at anything you do. If you are not passionate about a cause, you can’t make progress. If Oprah Winfrey regarded the talk show as something to get by and make a living, she wouldn’t have refined and made the kind of improvements she made. I’m sure my grandmother sang more than some artistes today. That Beyonce would want to go on stage and the whole world would stand still, she’s passionate about what she does, and she keeps improving.

    Tell us more about the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme?

    What we are doing is private sector-driven and our own contribution to the development of our country. We don’t carry government along by way of information, but like I said in the session earlier, we can’t keep depending and relying on the government to do the quota that we can do. Since we started, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has supported young Nigerians. Every year, we have 50 per cent of the 1000 we select from Nigeria. Not by design, but somehow due to the energy and entrepreneurial spirit of our people. This is the fourth year; this means that we have 2,000. TEFentrepreneurs cut across Nigeria in every state; people that I don’t know.

    I am happy that Nigeria is well represented in the programme and that they are doing well. It’s only a matter of time before we begin to feel the impact of what they are doing. The International Red Cross has come in; they are now committed to support 200 people – 100 from the Niger Delta and another 100 from the North-eastern part of Nigeria. So, that increases the participation of Nigeria from 500 to 700. The UNDP is also committed to support another 40.  Collectively, we are making progress. This is how the private sector and development partners can play their role.

    You attended a session on de-risking the environment to encourage inflow of funds. The major issue is de-risking the SMEs and getting banks to release funds for seed capital, why are banks not providing the support?

    Firstly, I used to be a bank CEO and today, I am an investor in a bank and I continue to have interest in that sector. Secondly, I don’t speak for the banking sector. But it is so easy to blame banks about lending to SMEs, but if banks go under, the same public will say the banks were reckless, that’s the dilemma. Nobody will say this bank went under because it tried to support SMEs. SME is a difficult sector to fund, but those who have managed to develop the skills to support that segment are doing so. I speak from personal conviction that we need to support the SMEs and that is why the Tony Elumelu Foundation has put aside $100 million to support entrepreneurs. And I just spoke about the fact that 2,000 of them are from Nigeria and if I didn’t say it today, you wouldn’t have known that I was with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and not just the IFC, but also the CEO of International Development Association (IDA) talking about how to support entrepreneurs in Nigeria and other African countries.

    We spent hours theorising about risk mitigation, risk guarantee so that they can come into the sector. I do hope that all these efforts will yield the desired results to make sure that money gets to the SMEs. The government has a role to support this initiative with incentives and policies that will make SMEs grow because if SMEs grow, they will attract more capital funding, but if SMEs die, nobody will want to invest in SMEs. One thing about SMEs is that they don’t have enough collateral to provide banks and if they go under, what will banks hold on to? We need to see more successful SMEs. All of us need to work together to make them succeed.

     

     

     

     

    Why do you think it’s hard for African countries to invest in human capital development?

    I think it’s about alignment of interest, I think it’s about understanding. We need leaders, who are focused on results who want to make a difference, who understand how the system works. Just like the question earlier about the challenges, some people will look at it from a different perspective, but for me, internet connectivity is a major issue also, electricity; you can’t fix connectivity without electricity. Leaders, who understand these things can connect the dots and then know what to tackle and do it in a transparent fashion. For me, poverty does not have any region or colour. It affects everybody. So, we need to fix issues so that our continent can make progress. Like you said, it’s something anyone should be able to understand.

    You said Africa should stop going cap in hand and that Africa must develop Africa, how is that playing out?

    In my closing remarks, I said African private sector leaders should invest in Africa, mobilise resources that we have a lot of resources. I also called on development partners, I said please don’t relent, keep engaging in areas of advocacy and channel more resources to Africa.

     

     

     

     

    How do we get funds to build infrastructure in the face of rising debt risk?

    The key thing is that are we getting funds for consumption purpose or are the funds for investment purposes? Can we use the returns on investment to offset the debt? People who take loan for consumption purposes almost go bankrupt in life and it applies to countries too. If Nigeria as a country wants to borrow, debt to GDP is okay but there are other indices people look at not only debt to GDP. If those indices are okay, no problem. Then they look at your revenue and the sources of revenue. Is the revenue in local currency or foreign currency and enough to be able to offset your liabilities? Leaders must borrow for sectors that are productive and you must honour your obligation to attract more borrowing because you need capital and you must be credit worthy to attract it and have the discipline to meet obligations and the purposes for which you are borrowing is fulfilled and not that the funds are diverted.