I read a story on success.com about a man, John, 53
years old, who lost his job in a company he has
worked for 8 years. He has worked himself up to a
position in middle management with a decent salary
and great benefits. Now, he is out of a job.
Having spent his entire adult life in corporate
positions, he knew he could go job hunting. But this
was the fifth time he’d had a “secure” position shot out
from under him, whether through downsizing,
restructuring or other reorganization. With a wife and
two teenagers to clothe and feed, he was no longer
willing to trust his future to this game of corporate
roulette. It was time to go into business for himself.
Sad story!
Do you want to be like John? Are you waiting until you
are 53, when you have a family to feed and cater for
before you’ll make the decision to start your own
business?
The government and
tertiary institutions
encourages the youths
(even if just by word of
mouth) to go into
entrepreneurship because
everyone knows that there
are limited number of jobs
available for the ever-
growing number of
graduates trooping out of
our tertiary institutions
each year… but it seems
some of us still don’t get
the hang of it.
According to strategicbusinessteam.com, these are
why you should start your own business in Nigeria this
2015:
Nigeria is a country with a population of over 170
million and growing rapidly. This means that
there’s a ready market for products that fulfill a
need or solves a problem.
Nigeria is a rapidly developing country and one of
the fastest growing economies in the world. What
this means is that there is still a lot of untapped
niches and opportunities in virtually every sector.
Nigeria is blessed with both mineral and natural
resources that are under-exploited.
Nigeria is currently facing some critical internal
problems with respect to security and the rest.
But savvy entrepreneurs know that problems are
simply opportunities in disguise. Just bear in mind
that there’s a lot of money to be made from these
problems; if only you will keep an open mind.
Why haven’t you started your own business? If you
answer right, it is usually FEAR. Fear of failure. Fear,
that people will mock you when you don’t succeed.
What you should be afraid of is not getting a job at all;
you should be afraid of being laid off from the job you
have or plan to have; you should fear what the future
holds for you after retirement when you are not able
to keep much savings because your paycheck goes
entirely into catering for your family. There are worse
things you should fear.
Jason Njoku, founder of IROKOtv, said in his own
words “I am a certified failure”. He had tried series of
businesses for over 8 years after graduation from the
university and had failed in all. He finally started
IROKOtv (now worth over $30 million) and now he is
listed in Forbes Young African Millionaires to watch.
So… I am not saying that you will not fail if you try to
start up a business, I am saying that in the midst of
those failures you learn, you improve and if you are
persistent, you must make it eventually and if you are
smart, you will make it BIG.
For a student who wants to start up a business,
university is the best place to start your first business.
If you have an idea, put passion into it and go for it. If
u fail, good. It means that you failed early and you
learn early and gain experience early. You don’t have a
family to take care of, so failure doesn’t affect you
seriously. And who knows? You could create the next
big thing. An undergraduate, Mark Zuckerberg,
founded Facebook in his Harvard dorm room.
There are benefits of starting your own business: you
possess real job security, you enjoy freedom to design
your own life, you live a life of greater impact and you
make more money… Yes… more income, that
increases as your retirement days draw closer.
I don’t have to tell you that you don’t need an MBA to
start a business; you don’t need to be rich or have
huge capital to start up a business.
But you must know this: What you save in cash capital
you will make up for in sweat equity and passion. The
major investment in most self-owned businesses is
investment of one’s self in the form of time, focus and
persistence. You need a burning desire and
determination fuelled by a strong dose of passion!
Have lovely weekend !!
