How to become a successful entrepreneur in Nigeria

As you lay your bed so you shall lie on it. Rome wasn’t built in a day. With patience determination you can move mountains. The journey will always be a rough one for  sure but with the right attitude in place you’ll overcome whatever obstacles that comes your way. The entrepreneurship business is all about risk  and success is the objective of its quest.

When I was young I have heard  people saying “there is no shortcut to heaven” but then it was only on a literal sense. The  irony of it is that in everything you do in life, you must follow it every step of the way. If you skip anything no matter how minor it is, it will hinder you from achieving that goal you want to achieve.

Great entrepreneurs who have made it today started very small before they made it to where they are today. No amount of capital is too small to start with. Its how well the capital is utilized that will determine how you’ll grow in the business. If you are successful in the end you’ll become financially stable and most importantly you’ll become your own boss and of course other people’s boss to.

To start the entrepreneurship quest. The first step is to discover yourself. Search yourself what exactly captures your interest. What is that thing that you want to do to achieve your dream in in life. What is that thing that you are very good at that if you work on it it will earn you a living. Sometimes it could be from what people see and admire in you.

It could be that you’re good in one form of handwork like sewing, creating things out containers dumped in the refuse bin. You could be good in painting, creative art etc. There are a thousand and one activities out there. The idea is to select the most suitable one for yourself.

After that, the next thing to do is to familiarize yourself with it. If it requires going through a proper training to improve on your skills, go for it as this will help in improving creativity. Endeavour to take note of every detail as you go about it. Seek for advice from your trainer because he or she is the best person to guide you as they have been through that lane. Let there success story be a motivation to you.

Next thing to do is to carry out a feasibility study of the area which you Wish to establish the business. The fewer  the number of people doing similar business the better. It is better to get a place where no body has started to enjoy the monopoly of being the only person doing that business there. I admire the Igbos in this aspect as they are in the least expected places.  My entrepreneurship lecturer once said if you go to anywhere especially in Nigeria and you don’t find an Ibo man there, then that place is inhabitable for you. They have patience  a lot when it comes to doing business.

The next step is to draft a business plan i.e. documentation of what you plan to do, how you plan to carryout the plan and the expected outcome at the end of the day. How do you plan on financing the business, where to source for the Capital, who are your target audience, how many helping hands you need to employ to assist you in your  work, how to source for raw materials, a sketch of what the end product will be like, what the price of the item will be, your break even analysis, what the profits generated will be used for etc.

After carrying out the above-mentioned steps. You move on to implement your plan by establishing the business. Ensuring that every thing that was planned for as written in your business plan is properly in place so that you can focus on production.

With all these properly in  place, you as an individual should learn to love what you are doing. Even its for profit making let the fun, joy and satisfaction derived in your day to day activity be a motivational inspiration to you to as a way of encouragement to want to do more and to look forward to what the next day has to offer.

Ask your customers of what they think of you, there assessment of your product, accept criticism in good faith and work on improving your products. Try to adapt to change. Change is inevitable. Look for that ingredients that will make your product different from other products in the market. Review your products from time to time to know when the need for improvement arises. Be innovative, be creative. Make research on how you can improve production.

Motivate your employees to work very hard to help you achieve your goal. From time to time reward them through promotion, give them bonuses from time to time, give awards to deserving employees so as to encourage those that are lacking behind. Make them your friends, try to  find out from them reason for there poor performance if there is any and try to render a helping hand.

Carryout your social services consistently as this will guarantee you customers loyalty. Support community development. Contribute as well as take part in activities going on in the community where you are operating. This will make the community to protect you in your endeavours.

Lastly ensuring continuity of the business. Reinvest part of the profits generated, expand where necessary. Do not get discouraged when the going get though. Carry the family along so that there will be somebody who can take over from you when you attain old age or in the event of death the family will have what to survive on which is a legacy every bread winner wants to leave behind for their children.

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