as a disruptive thinker and innovator

THE

ENTREPRENEUR AS A

DISRUPTIVE THINKER

AND INNOVATOR

Nwali Tochukwu Friday

SECRETS BEHIND THE SUCCESS OR FAILURE

OF SOME BUSINESSES

THE ENTREPRENEUR AS A DISRUPTIVE THINKER AND INNOVATOR

Secrets behind the Success or Failure of Some Businesses

Copyright © 2019 by Tochukwu Nwali

ISBN 978-978-

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means or otherwise without the prior permission of the author.

Published/Printed by: CreEx Publishers, No. 3 Mercy Day Close, L. C. H. E., Oke-Afa, Isolo - Lagos. Tel. +234(0)8033032663, 08092894106e-mail: [email protected]

Cover Design by: G. Osa Ewere

All Enquiries to:All Enquiries to: TD TRAVEL & LOGISTICS. Email: [email protected]: www.flytdtravel.comHead Office: 1ST Floor, Suite 16, God's Glory Plaza, Lagos, Nigeria. Tel: Tel: +234-8056-227-336USA: 970 Springfield Ave. Irvington, 2nd Floor, Opp Bus Terminal New Jersey NJ 07111. Tel: +1732-925-8630

Printed in Nigeria

ii

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.flytdtravel.com/

DEDICATION

To GOD, the Creator of ALL things, and to my best

friend, sister, elegant and charming wife, Mrs.

Nwali Paschaline Chibuzor.

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My profound apprecia�on goes to a number of people

and ins�tu�ons for their unalloyed support and

professional guidance that I drew from to make this first

work a reality.

First, I would like to appreciate Dr. Mike A. Ohiorenoya, the Senior Pastor of Covenanters Vintage Church, Lagos, Nigeria, who hosted the Entrepreneurship Training Programme that re-awakened my long-�me dream of pu�ng down my life experiences in book form. I would also like to acknowledge the encouragement of Pastor G. Osa Ewere, who guided and inspired me to do this first business and entrepreneurship work. I am most grateful to Dr. Emmanuel Johnson who was the guest speaker at the aforemen�oned Entrepreneur-ship Programme on "How to Start a Business and How Start-ups can Overcome Challenges".I must also not forget to express my profound gra�tude to my business mentors, Mr. Steve Miller and Mr. David Olsen. Both of them are volunteer business and entrepreneurship mentors and coach from SCORE

v

ASSOCIATION of America. Their wealth of knowledge and experiences was very useful in my first step of taking our company, TD TRAVEL AND LOGISTICS across Atlan�c Ocean into the State of New Jersey NJ, USA. I am grateful to the many corporate execu�ve and management staff who shared their knowledge and �me with me, among whom are: Richard Charles Nicholas Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO Facebook, Michael Kdarkwa, Asanka Restaurant, USA, ALIKO DANGOTE,, founder ALIKO DANGOTE GROUP, chairman AY HOTELS, Yesufu Abubukare Omen, Globacom giant owner, Mike Adenuga, Gustave Kayalo, PFS Investment Inc, USA, Ms. Zakkiya Williams, TD Travel and Logis�cs Corpora�on, USA Trade partner, MD Venus, Geun Ho, COPACI company, CEO Khalil Fawaz M., Allart Dewinter, Vipli�, Md Kola Olawunmi, Aflred Peterson Cop, Mrs Rhima Pa�ent, Pat Elo, Chief Philips,founder Peacock Travels, chairman, Food Rabih, Bank of America, AnumKhan, PNC Bank,Franco Mejia, Max Mader, University of Zurich, Switzerland among others.

vi

CONTENTS

Dedica�on iii Acknowledgement v

INTRODUCTION 9

Chapter One

Build a Business that is Anchored on Rela�onship 17

Chapter TwoThe Entrepreneur as a Disrup�ve Generator of Crea�ve Ideas 27

Chapter ThreeThe Connec�on between Small Businesses and Entrepreneurship 34

Chapter FourLearn to Think like an Entrepreneur 38

Chapter FiveAfrican Historical Tradi�onal Entrepreneurship Methodology 44

vii

Chapter SixBarriers to the Growth of Entrepreneurship in Nigeria 53

Chapter SevenCharacteris�cs and A�ributes of Entrepreneurs 58

Chapter EightMyths and Reali�es of an Entrepreneur 62

Chapter NineWhy Entrepreneurs Fail 65

Chapter TenEntrepreneurship as an Evolving Ideology...The Silicon Valley Model: Africa in Perspec�ve 72

Chapter ElevenCommon Entrepreneurial Behaviour 79

Chapter TwelveSecrets of Business Success: Excellent Customer Service - bedrock of Business 82

Chapter ThirteenWhat Inspires You? 97

viii

he voice is rather faint but I can hear it loud and Tclear. Yes, deep inside my sub-conscious mind I

have tried to figure out the spiritual and physical

implica�on of that voice for the benefit of my

immediate community and humanity. That very faint

inner voice and the unspoken word is idea yet to find

expression. An idea has the power and capability to

change the status quo of my immediate community and

invariably, the world at large. That is the spirit and view

of an 'entrepreneur' who is yearning to disrupt an

exis�ng old order and create a new order.

Someone may ask, are you dreaming? Do you dream

about star�ng your own business? You're not alone.

Millions of Nigerians and people from other parts of the

world share the same dream. Yet not everyone has the

9

INTRODUCTION

tenacity to get dirty. But if you wouldn't mind reading

this book, you have taken the right steps of turning your

dream into reality.

You can't become a doer without first having been a

dreamer. Dreams are the stuff entrepreneurs are made

of. Think about Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Oprah

Winfrey, Walt Disney, Aliko Dangote and Mike Adenuga,

both of Nigeria. What do they have in common? They all

started with nothing but a dream, and built Business

Empires. “If you can dream it, you can do it”-Walt Disney

I recall vividly as a young and very ambi�ous

undergraduate student at the Lagos State University,

Lagos, Nigeria, where I was pursuing my first Bachelor's

degree in English and Literature, how one day I

stumbled on a paper publica�on on professional

avia�on programs. This caught my a�en�on. I

immediately visited the college and got enrolled in one

of her programs: Air Transporta�on. I ran my degree

program and my professional course simultaneously,

even though I was at risk of not having enough money

to finance both programs to comple�on This situa�on .

notwithstanding, I refused to give up. I held on un�l

10


help came from the Almighty GOD through fellow

human beings. But what happened was that I was

determined and focused, not minding what may come

my way. And it paid off as I ended up finishing the two

programs and built my avia�on professional career

from travel agent to airline opera�ons. And today, my

lovely wife, Mrs. Nwali Pachaline Chibuzor and I have

created and built our own businesses in travel, logis�cs,

shipping, auto spare parts and laundry services in

Nigeria, USA and Canada. And we have been crea�ng

jobs and expanding our businesses.

There was a great opportunity presented to me by the

American Volunteer Associa�on, created by the

government of that great na�on with sole aim of

mentoring Small Business owners, Start-ups and

Entrepreneurs. That associa�on is called SCORE

Associa�on. I was privileged to have been invited for a

business coaching by two re�red veterans in business

and entrepreneurship who have experiences in

different enterprises. Mentors Voluntary Associa�on

called SCORE Associa�on for a free Training and

Mentorship Program as small business owners in the

United States.

11

INTRODUCTION

It was such a great privilege to sit in an execu�ve room

of PNC Bank located in East Brunswick, New Jersey, with

two Veterans, Mr. Steve Miller and Mr. David Olsen.

Both are volunteer mentors and re�red entrepreneurs

who coached me on the 'dos and don'ts' of opera�ng as

a small business owner.

As a local guy born in a rural community called Imogo-

Igbudu in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State,

Nigeria, I had just accomplished the small feat of

incorpora�ng and se�ng up our branch office in East

Coast, Irvington, New Jersey, USA. By comparison, my

experience in running businesses in my na�ve country

Nigeria, is, to say the least, horrible. The business

climate is very harsh, government policies coupled with

so many duplica�ons make the economic environment

quite unstable. But the good news about doing business

in Nigeria is that there is quick and be�er return on

investment, and the profit margins are higher

compared to other countries. This is due to the large

popula�on which makes the market huge. So as an

entrepreneur or an investor, this is where some of the

characteris�cs and a�ributes of an entrepreneur is

tested.

12


Please take a look at some of the postula�ons of the

inventors of the French word 'Entrepreneur' and situate

it within our own local context and environment.

However, it is very important to accord due respect to

the pioneers of the domain, Can�llon, Say and

Schumpeter. The contribu�on of economists such as

Knight, Hayek, Penrose, Kirzner and Casson. Thus, two

separate categories of entrepreneurs are emerging

now: (a) applica�on based and (b) the theore�cal -

based field of entrepreneurs.

Hereunder is the great French Economist that first

coined the word “Entrepreneur”.

(I) Jean-Bap�ste Say, a French economist who first

coined the word entrepreneur in about 1800, said:

“The entrepreneur shi�s economic resources out

of an area of lower produc�vity into an area of

higher produc�vity and greater yield.” Entrepre-

neurship is the special collec�on of skills possessed

by an entrepreneur. They include a propensity to

take risks over and above the normal, and a desire

to create wealth. Entrepreneurs are people who

find ways round business difficul�es; they

13

INTRODUCTION

persevere with a business plan at �mes when

others run for the shelter of full-�me employment

elsewhere.

(ii) Schumpeter: Being an entrepreneur himself,

Schumpeter viewed an entrepreneur as an

innovator and a change agent. So he is more or

less focused on the modern entrepreneurship

a�ributes.

It will interest you to note that so many other

authors and research fellows have different views

of the entrepreneur.

(iii) Author's Defini�on: An entrepreneur is someone

with extraordinary quality, mind-set, drive and

desire to break limita�ons, in order to establish a

new way of doing things.

The system and structure need to be broken down, re-

modeled and re-structured to be able to have an all-

inclusive economic structure that captures all

economic indices and social structural layers of a

complex na�on that we are.

14


In this book, my job is to simplify those complex

business secrets so you can have the opportunity to

learn the ni�y-gri�y and apply them to unlock your

poten�al, whether as a small business or enterprise

owner, entrepreneur or any form of business you are

engaged in: be it produc�on, manufacturing, service

delivery, retail or wholesale, marke�ng, employee,

customer service agent, or you play in the hospitality

industry, fashion and design, or you work as a front desk

officer, cabin crew or automobile engineer.

There will be �mes when you will have to make very

disrup�ve decisions, and at some other �mes, weird

and very absurd. But you have to follow your natural

ins�nct, inner voice and convic�on. What you need is

complete focus and faith in what you do, and this will

somehow connect to your new venture.

Steve jobs, the late CEO of APPLE and one of the

greatest entrepreneurs and technology inventors of

our �me once said in a speech delivered to gradua�ng

students of Stanford University in USA on June 12,

2005, �tled Why You Should Stay Hungry and Foolish,

“Some�mes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't

15

INTRODUCTION

lose faith in GOD”. “Again Steve Jobs said; “You can't

connect the dots by looking forward; you can only

connect them by looking backwards. You have to trust

that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You

have to trust in something - your guts, des�ny, life,

karma, whatever”.

By all means, you must keep focused and find the

connec�on to the achievement of your desired goals,

which will stand the test of �me.

16


BUILD A BUSINESS THAT IS ANCHORED ON RELATIONSHIP

ela�onship is the bedrock of every small Rbusiness owner, trader, enterprise and

entrepreneur. In the 1970s, when leaders of

businesses saw that it was ideal and indeed advisable to

become 'customer empha�c' rather than 'product

empha�c', this needful percep�veness led to the birth

of Customer Rela�onship Management (CRM). The

famous writer and management consultant Peter

Drucker wrote; 'The true business of every company is

to make and keep customers'. In the past, every

transac�on was on paper and dependent on goodwill,

which created a hindrance in retaining customers.

People used to work hard to entertain customers by

presen�ng new products with astonishing services.

They were ready to work over�me to gain more and

more customers in order to increase business. This too

CHAPTER

1

17

resulted in customer sa�sfac�on and loyalty up to an

extent, but on the long run, there was no proper

bonding between the two en��es to carry on with

future transac�ons smoothly. That is s�ll very much

the case in today's business transac�ons and other

economic ac�vi�es.

In the past, business was quite easy as it was merely a

one-on-one transac�on without any specific process.

However, with the passage of �me and due to the

coming in of complexi�es in communica�on, this mode

of business found itself in troubled waters. The

emergence of new strategies and technologies in the

global marketplace and a high degree of compe��on in

business necessitated a change in approach to

'proac�ve' rather than 'reac�ve'.

Customer Rela�onship Management was formerly

based on three major principles:

. Shielding exis�ng customers,

. Growing new customers and

. Enhancing asset value of all customers.

18


Now, a new system has finally emerged consis�ng of

company-full informa�on that is depicted sophis�cally

with the aim of increasing business profit and

ameliora�ng customer sa�sfac�on and loyalty, while at

the same �me reducing business cost and investment.

It is important to note that lack of Excellent Customer

Service delivery or inability to retain loyal customers

contributed majorly to the failure of some companies

and enterprises with big dreams and visions, including

manufacturing companies and service delivery

organiza�ons. Therefore, the importance of customer

rela�onship to small and big businesses cannot be over-

emphasized.

It will also interest you to know that organiza�ons

expend a lot of resources yearly to ensure that their

front-line staff are trained and re-trained on Excellent

Customer Rela�onship. However, what you find is that

a�er the trainings, no proper tracking mechanism is put

in place by the management to ensure total compliance

with the updated knowledge by the workers while

a�ending to customers.

19


Moreover, this tendency does not apply only to a

par�cular sector or geographical loca�on. It is a global

trend and we must begin to place a lot of emphasis on

the need to change this culture of 'if he/she likes, let

him buy, if not, let him go elsewhere'. It is destruc�ve

and will gradually destroy any business.

Personally, I had a private sector-oriented background. I

spent a good part of my working life in serving people;

rising from the posi�on of a front desk officer to

management level in the avia�on industry, par�cularly

in the area of airport opera�ons.

Here, one is always scru�nized, monitored and

mentored. In fact, you are o�en put on the spot, with

intense pressure from the travelling public who require

one form of service or another. So, you are under

pressure most of the �me a�ending to the travel needs

of customers or passengers as the case may be. It

therefore becomes impera�ve that you adopt the best

form of approach in resolving the issue(s) presented by

the customer in front of you, while taking into

cognizance the fact that you have limited amount of

20


�me to carry out every opera�on at the airport. It is

your ability to manage such crises situa�ons as delayed

flight, flight cancella�on, technical hitches or natural

disasters that reveals your ability to handle human

beings with their complexi�es. Do not forget that every

customer wants to leave with a pleasant memory of

his/her encounter with you or your staff. But when you

are passionate and have developed the ability to

respond appropriately to a customer's needs at

whatever �me, and addressed his/her challenges, that

customer becomes a loyal and a life-�me customer that

will spread the good news of your good customer

services.

In my own case, I try to absorb the pressure, which

makes me different from my colleagues, who on their

part, avoid such trouble moments. Do you know what

really gives me joy and a sense of fulfillment? It is when I

succeed in resolving those issues brought before me. I

go home happy when my customers are happy. But

when I am unable to put smiles on their faces, I always

have that feeling of emp�ness gnawing at my heart: a

feeling of non-accomplishment.

21


This is the mode of opera�on of an entrepreneur.

He/she goes a�er the problem and never gives up un�l

he/she finds a solu�on to the problem in ques�on. And

when solu�ons are found to the myriad of problems

confron�ng the immediate environment or the larger

society, the gold mining begins. Such is the spirit of an

entrepreneur. He is resilient; he never gives up, very

dogged and presses on against all odds. When he hits

the rock, he cracks the rock and unlocks the hidden

treasure embedded in it. This is a Biblical principle that

entrepreneurs should cul�vate in order to overcome

obstacles that show up when they step out to embark

on a new venture as an entrepreneur.

Something you need to know is that you can never

determine your worth by working for others. The only

way to do this is when you establish your own business

and run it. You will be amazed that your value and your

worth are ines�mable. It is by running your own

business that you will be able to measure your success

or failure in life. This is a wonderful experience, and I

had the rare privilege of learning through prac�cal

customer service. I am very grateful to God for exposing

me to this aspect of life and for giving me the

22


opportunity to serve in that capacity. You must

understand that human beings are very complex

creatures. And you must endeavour to listen and

understand each and every one you come across in

your line of business or work, before you are able to

offer any help whatsoever.

As customer service agents, we have one common

purpose and passion that binds us together, which is

how best to give our poten�al and esteemed customers

the best services that will sustain their loyalty for life.

However, if you move around shops, banks, airports,

restaurants, hotels etc., you will be shocked at the poor

quality of Customer Service that has been put in place

by the owners of those ventures. From the recep�on,

you are greeted with the dull and una�rac�ve long

faces and sour mood of the front desk staff.

Truth be told, if we want to have an establishment that

cherishes and sees her customers as the ones who pay

our salaries, and that without them, the company will

fold up, then we must do a complete overhaul of the

exis�ng systems and adopt interna�onal best prac�ces

23


when it comes to Customer Service Rela�onship. This is

the key that will grow your small business to become a

household name both locally and interna�onally.

Therefore, the need to retain exis�ng customers by

ensuring repeated foo�all, while at the same �me

seeking for new ones, cannot be over-emphasized.

We live in an era of globaliza�on. What this means is

that the world is becoming like a community with

people of diverse colours, religious beliefs, cultural

backgrounds, civilized and un-civilized, but are

connected and inter-connected through technological

pla�orms.

One common buzz phrase we hear nowadays is how the

world is ge�ng smaller and becoming more like a global

village. This is one concept you find expressed a great

deal in the social media world, as a way to get us to think

about the way we communicate with each other. The

problem is that this theory may not hold much water as

some would like to have you think.

According to Jacob Goldenberg and Moshe Levy, the

opposite might in fact be closer to the truth. They came

24


to this conclusion a�er studying the messaging habit of

some 100,000 Facebook users by zip code and

suggested that the volume of e-mail traffic, as a

func�on of geographical distance, follows an inverse

power law.

Their conclusion was that, contrary to reducing the

importance of geographical loca�on, all our different

forms of electronic communica�on might have in fact

increased it. This, according to them, is probably

because people exchange more communica�ons with

people with whom they have personal interac�ons.

If this is true, why have we gone so wrong in thinking

that the world is ge�ng smaller? One source of

confusion, argue Goldenberg and Levy, is the famous

six-degrees-of-separa�on experiments originally

performed by Stanley Milgram with le�ers, and later by

Steve Strogatz and Duncan Wa�s using e-mail. These

seem to indicate that a “small world” effect is at work in

social networks.

But Goldenberg and Levy point out that most of

25


Milgram's le�ers were lost; only a dozen or so reached

their des�na�ons. And in the case of Strogatz and

Wa�s's experiment, only 384 out of 24,163 e-mail

chains were completed. This suggests that there may

be more barriers to communica�on than we thought.

What I am not sure of is whether or not the changing of

our concept of the world becoming a global village

should be based solely on such a small sampling of

people on a social media pla�orm as Facebook.

26


THE ENTREPRENEUR AS A DISRUPTIVE GENERATOR OF CREATIVE IDEAS

The Economist Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) stated

that the role of the entrepreneur in the economy is

"crea�ve destruc�on”– launching innova�ons that

simultaneously destroy old industries while ushering in

new industries and approaches. For Schumpeter, the

changes and "dynamic disequilibrium brought on by

the innova�ng entrepreneur ... [are] the 'norm' of a

healthy economy.”

What does it mean to be Entrepreneurial? It is not just

about star�ng a business, or spinning out a company

from research. It is a mind-set, a dream that keeps the

dreamer awake in mid nights. That intui�on ques�ons

and thinks on how to unravel the myth surrounding a

business idea. How do I disrupt an exis�ng monopoly

en�ty? How do I simplify and change obsolete

established order?

CHAPTER

2

27

Entrepreneurs just think and do things differently. You

can be entrepreneurial even if you are working for

someone else, with the buzzword "entrepreneurial"

highligh�ng the desire of employers to have adaptable,

flexible employees who can think for themselves.

Being entrepreneurial can mean knowing your industry

inside out, and being able to exploit that knowledge to

create new opportuni�es. Being entrepreneurial can

mean sharing ideas freely, and celebra�ng so-called

failures as learning and growing experiences. Being

entrepreneurial can mean simply thinking outside of

the box and expec�ng the unexpected. The Garage

Group has a great list of other ways one can be

entrepreneurial.

Entrepreneurial thinking can manifest itself in many

ways, whether it is the hard core serial entrepreneur

who has developed a range of business ideas, or the

social entrepreneur using technology to empower

women in India, or ar�sts using their work to raise

awareness of soc ia l in jus�ce or inequal i ty.

Entrepreneurial thinking enables people to be flexible,

adaptable, and see opportuni�es.

28


The University of Nebraska has a great post called

“Learn to Think like an Entrepreneur”, which gives some

great examples of how students and researchers can

use entrepreneurial thinking in their research:

1. Think ahead and forecast - Where do you want to be

in 5-20 years? Entrepreneurs are good at thinking in

the present, but also try to have a vision of the future.

2. Working across disciplines - Think about the broader

picture and the impact of your research. Entrepreneurs

see opportuni�es in not-so-obvious places, and are

o�en able to find a way to exploit them.

3. Development of transferrable skills - Think about

the skills you have and how they can be applied to

different situa�ons. Entrepreneurs o�en must have a

range of transferrable skills, being the developer,

marketer, salesman and accountant for their idea.

4. Networking people - Growing a network is important

for both entrepreneurs and students or researchers.

Mee�ng people from other walks of life allows you to

have a broader perspec�ve and allows you to connect

with others who may be able to help you or be helped

by you in the future.

5. Mentorship - Mentors will help an entrepreneur or

29


student to visualize a goal or pathway, giving advice and

guiding the mentee on a path that is beneficial.

6 . Absolute Control of your own Des�ny -

Entrepreneurs are generally agile and adaptable,

working around issues and finding new ways where

necessary. Researchers and students need to have the

same flexibility, working towards a goal, but being able

to adapt to changing circumstances.

So, being entrepreneurial doesn't mean you have to

start a business. It simply means being innova�ve,

crea�ve, resourceful and adaptable. This will help in

any aspect of a career path, whether you want to work

for yourself or someone else, in industry or academia.

Nigeria is the most populous na�on in the whole of

black Africa. This popula�on presents itself as a huge

m a r ke t fo r a ny e nt re p re n e u r i n a ny fi e l d ,

Manufacturing, Service Delivery, Entertainment,

Telecommunica�ons, IT, Agricultural produc�on, Oil &

Gas etc.

Now, we cannot discuss or write a book on business or

entrepreneurship in Nigeria or Africa without talking

about the indomitable and richest black entrepreneur

30


of our �me, according the Forbes, Aliko Dangote: the

President /CEO of Dangote Group. Aliko Dangote is

changing the narra�ve of bad and corrupt myths

created by our poli�cal class, which says that un�l you

hold a poli�cal office, you cannot be a wealthy or

successful person. He has created wealth from

industries set up across the African Con�nent and

beyond. Dangote is blazing the trail and se�ng an

example for genera�ons of millionaires who are being

inspired by his ingenuity and prowess in the area of

cement, sugar, salt, pasta, beverages and real estate,

with new projects underway in the oil and gas,

telecommunica�ons, fer�lizer plants and steel sectors

of the economy. He has that intui�ve and disrup�ve

ins�nct that can change the world business established

order. Here is a man with a large heart, but the spirit and

quali�es of an entrepreneur, which he possesses in

abundance, make him restless and cause him sleepless

nights longing for more like the fabled “Oliver Twist”.

Oh for sure, he lost profit many �mes, yes, he is a risk

taker, he makes great sacrifices... But that is the spirit of

a farmer who plants and waits pa�ently for the �me of

harvest. That is the spirit. He is sure harvest will surely

come one day and that the sower will reap 100 folds.

31


Here is something he said when a team of business

execu�ves from Lagos Business School (LBS) visited him

in his office in Lagos, Nigeria in 2017. According to him:

“The na�on's growing popula�on should have been a

blessing if the youth energy was harnessed to drive

growth; but regre�ed that poverty increases with the

popula�on. The more poverty you have in a society

without educa�on, the more criminals you breed…”

Moreover, he said: “It is surprising that poverty grows in

this country as popula�on grows, especially in the

North where you have low income families bearing

scores of children they cannot cater for”.

Now, let us consider the Chairman of Globacom,

Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga Jr. He is a

Nigerian business tycoon, and the second richest

person in Nigeria. His company Globacom, is Nigeria's

second largest telecom operator which also has a

presence in Ghana and Benin Republic. Mike Adenuga

also owns stakes in Equitorial Trust Bank and the oil

explora�on firm, Conoil, just to men�on a few. Here is

another great disruptor in our �me and age, and clearly

32


a typical example of an entrepreneur. He is a risk taker

and is bold in his decisions.

We can see why ‘Richard Can�llion’(1680–1734)

considered the entrepreneur to be a risk taker who

de l iberate ly a l locates resources to exp lo i t

opportuni�es in order to maximize the financial return.

Can�llon emphasized the wil l ingness of the

entrepreneur to assume risk and to deal with

uncertainty. Thus, he draws a�en�on to the func�on of

the entrepreneur, and dis�nguishes clearly between

the func�on of the entrepreneur and the owner who

provides the money. Alfred Marshall viewed the

entrepreneur as a mul�-tasking capitalist. He observed

that in the equilibrium of a completely compe��ve

market, there was no spot for "entrepreneurs" as

economic ac�vity creators.

33


THE CONNECTION BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESSES AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ow, take a look at the industrial revolu�on and Nfind a link between the past and the present.

Although we have a flawed founda�on as a

na�on, this is not an acceptable excuse to be le� behind

the rest of the world in terms of innova�ons and

technological development. The hard truth we have

refused to accept is that the world is evolving, so we

should not be sta�c in our policies and governance. We

need to redefine who we are, what we would like to be

in the next 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years, clearly ar�culated in

our economic master plans. And all government

policies and plans of ac�ons must be based on that

policy document. Such policy document will help the

private sector, local and interna�onal investors,

entrepreneurs and business owners to put plan curves

around our already exis�ng na�onal economic policies.

CHAPTER

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34

But taking on the giant requires that you to express your

ideas in mental or spiritual form. You have to wake up

and choose what drives you and work on your head

office, which is your conscious mind. Therefore, for

proper and deeper understanding of the points that are

to be derived, there is need to differen�ate between

entrepreneurship and small business owners.

The term "entrepreneur" is o�en conflated with the

term “small business” or used interchangeably with

this term. While most entrepreneurial ventures start

out as a small business, not all small businesses are

entrepreneurial in the strict sense of the word. Many

small businesses are sole proprietor opera�ons

consis�ng solely of the owner, or they have a small

number of employees, and many of these small

businesses offer an exis�ng product, process or service,

and they do not aim at growth. In contrast,

entrepreneurial ventures offer an innova�ve product,

process or service, and the entrepreneur typically aims

to scale up the company by adding employees, seeking

interna�onal sales, and so on, a process which is

financed by venture capital and angel investments.

Successful entrepreneurs have the ability to lead a

35


business in a posi�ve direc�on through proper

planning, adapt to changing environments and with a

clear understanding of their own strengths and

weaknesses.

To the entrepreneurial novice, being an entrepreneur

or a small business owner is interchangeable. However,

they are not the same. Sure, they are both self-

employed and need to make money (regardless of how

they spend it). But the difference is in the following

factors:

· Entrepreneurs are eager to change the status

quo. They are looking to change things, develop

things, and create more energy. Small business

owners are o�en happy with how things are;

content to carry on without thinking outside the

box.

· Entrepreneurs are disrup�ve thinkers; they

invent things and are o�en technically minded.

Small business owners, on the other hand are

more likely to do something others are doing,

such as opening a shop.

· Entrepreneurs are o�en looking for the next big

thing, ready to move on once their company is

36



good enough. Small business owners are o�en

more sen�mental, and see their business as part

of the community and part of the family.

· Entrepreneurs will do things more o�en than

not because of passion or opportunity rather

than strictly profit or a means of making a living.

· Entrepreneurs want to change the world. Small

business owners want to make a living, and

o�en serve their local community first and

foremost.

37

LEARN TO THINK LIKE AN ENTREPRENEUR

f someone were to ask you to describe an Ientrepreneur, you would probably think of

someone in a suit, making high-stake deals, or a

tech guru in Computer Village in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria,

developing the latest app and ge�ng it out on the

street. Or maybe you stayed closer to home and

thought about students of the University of Nigeria,

Nsukka, Nigeria, who founded the wildly successful

solar power panel start-up...

You probably didn't think of a scien�st in a lab coat,

someone wri�ng a grant proposal, or a lecturer working

with undergraduates. That's because we tend to think

of academics as solitary thinkers who are tucked away

at the bench or in the library, working long hours on a

small part of a problem. This imaginary academic

CHAPTER

4

38

discovers informa�on that other people apply to

solving real-world problems.

You may think that you have to choose to be one or the

other, when you can take some of the posi�ve

characteris�cs of the entrepreneur and apply them to

being a graduate student. Successful entrepreneurs

find a market niche, they are agile in how they present

themselves, they are resourceful when approaching

new problems, and are innova�ve in solving problems

that others couldn't iden�fy. An entrepreneurial mind-

set will help you as you embark on your career

—whether you want to work in a non-profit, in industry,

or in academia.

Think Ahead. While an entrepreneur is good at taking

ac�on in response to immediate issues, he's also great

at thinking in terms of long-term pay-off. Entrepreneurs

look to grow their careers and widen their influence

over �me. As a graduate student, think about what

you'd like to be doing in ten or twenty years. Iden�fy the

problem you want to solve, and posi�on yourself to

study and find a solu�on for those problems.

39


Work across Disciplines. In graduate school, you've

learned to iden�fy problems and study them closely.

Think about the big picture too. Seeing the big picture

and how your work fits into it takes a special skill. This

type of thinking is increasingly in demand in the

academia and beyond. For example, the Na�onal

Science Founda�on asks grant applicants to consider

the broader impact of their research. They want

scien�sts to make interdisciplinary connec�ons with

their work that will benefit society. Similarly, the

Na�onal Endowment for the Humani�es asks scholars

to propose projects that “are of value to humani�es

scholars, general audiences, or both.” The knowledge

you create has the poten�al to influence how other

fields conduct research. Your research may have a

variety of applica�ons. No ma�er your discipline, an

entrepreneurial approach to your work will help you

discover how your research makes a difference, or how

your research offers new insights into old problems.

Develop transferable Skills. The skills you develop as a

graduate student can help you succeed in your future

career, whatever you choose to do with your degree.

We call these skills transferable skills, because a skill

40


developed in one area has a number of applica�ons, or

can be applied in other areas.

Iden�fy the skills you possess and think about their

applica�ons. For example, if you're good at managing a

research project, you have project management skills.

These project management skills are valuable in

industry and other non-academic undertakings. Next,

figure out abili�es you want to develop for your future

career. Be resourceful about how you develop those

skills now as a graduate student.

Make Connec�ons. Take advantage of the opportunity

to meet people from across the University community

and beyond. You never know when you'll make

connec�ons between your own work and someone

else's or learn about different ways your skills can be

applied to a variety of jobs.

There are a few ways to make connec�ons and meet

new people. If you're interested in poli�cs, working on a

campaign for a couple of hours a month will introduce

41


you to others who share your passion. You will also have

the opportunity to develop new skills.

An informa�onal interview is another great way to

make connec�ons with people who have careers you're

interested in. Ask mentors if they know anyone in your

target field, or see if there are alumni who you could

interview. You can ask interviewees how they got into

their fields of endeavour and what they recommend for

you and others just star�ng in their careers. Not only

will you have the wisdom of your interviewee to draw

on, but you will also have a new contact in the field.

Find Mentors: Good mentors both during and a�er

graduate school can help you think about your career in

new ways. Career paths are rarely straight, and it's

important to remember that one experience builds on

another. A mentor can ‘help you see where you are and

where you’re headed. And when you need the

perspec�ve of someone who's “been there, or has

done that,” a mentor can recommend other

possibili�es you might not have considered.

42


Be an Agent. By thinking ahead, developing

competencies, making connec�ons with people

outside of your field, and taking charge of your career

now in graduate school, you're determining your

course, not the other way around. Entrepreneurs adapt

to their circumstances and they're agile when it comes

to finding solu�ons—whether to a problem that their

project takes on, or finding the next step for their

careers.

43


AFRICAN HISTORICAL TRADITIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP METHODOLOGY

lease read below and take a cri�cal look at the Psimilari�es and dissimilari�es between ethnic

entrepreneurship in Nigeria, Africa, the USA

and the rest of the world, in order for us to actually find

out what our limita�ons are and proffer solu�ons to

those limita�ons as wri�en by “Nnamdi EBO, August,

25, 2013 Ethnic Entrepreneurship in Nigeria & USA -

Historical Perspec�ve”.

Tradi�on is an inherited pa�ern of thought or ac�on. It

refers to a specific prac�ce of long standing. It is also an

established custom or tradi�on – a custom that for a

long �me has been an important feature of some

cultural group, tribe, ethnic group, society, na�on etc.

Tradi�onal means: when a prac�ce consists of a

method or procedure which is derived from tradi�on.

CHAPTER

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44

This brings us to tradi�onal business idea, (idea being

the content of cogni�on) and thought process which

flows from customary ideas steeped in the previous way

or method of doing something; doing business in the

tradi�onal way.

Before the advent of the white man in the mangrove

forests and woodlands of Southern Nigeria and the

savanna of Northern Nigeria, the indigenous African

peoples had been engaged in business – the African

way. We had the trans-Saharan trade between the

various empires that do�ed the areas known as West

and North Africa.

th th th th The Songhai (15 -16 century); Kanem-Bornu (9 -19

th th century); Mali (13 -14 century); Ghana (circa 700-

th th1240) and the Benin empire (16 -18 century) – all

traded with and amongst themselves, genera�ng

revenue/income and maintaining their dominions and

spheres of influence. They all had their own

entrepreneurial ideas and mind-set; were crea�ve, had

sources of capital and business plans – which they

guarded jealously. These concepts were rooted and

45


steeped in their own ways of doing business. Africa had

entrepreneurs during those periods.

The Mali Empire was strategically located near the gold

mines and the agriculturally rich interior floodplain of

the Niger River. Gao, a town in Eastern Mali – lies on the

River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara and is

the capital of the Gao Region. Gao is one of the oldest

trading centres in West Africa and today trades

primarily in bu�er, hides, wool, and livestock. It was

served by the trans-Saharan road connec�ons and is

the terminus for commercial river traffic from Mop�

and Koulikoro in the South-West. Previously known as th

Kawkaw, Gao was founded as a fishing village in the 7

century AD, and became the capital of the Songhai th

Empire in the 11 century. The town grew under

Songhai rule, but its importance as a trading centre was

reduced when it was annexed by the rulers of the Mali

Empire in 1325, and then further diminished by

Moroccan control in 1591.

Timbuktu is a city in Central Mali on the Southern edge

of the Sahara, just north of the great bend of the River

46


Niger. It is connected with the Niger by canals and is

served by the small river port of Kabara. The city is a

regional trade centre for salt and other basic commodi�es.

Its manufactured goods included co�on tex�les, leather

goods, and po�ery. Timbuktu was formerly a great

commercial entrepôt and an interna�onal centre. It was an

important terminus of trans-Saharan caravans and a

distribu�on point for trade along the upper Niger. All

these trades were conducted by the early entrepreneurs

who employed tradi�onal business ideas to innovate and

manufacture goods.

Later, Timbuktu was conquered by the powerful

Songhai Empire. In 1468, the city reached its zenith as a

commercial centre. It had a popula�on of about 40,000 th

in the early 16 century. Merchants (i.e. entrepreneurs)

from North African ci�es traded salt and cloth for gold

and for black African slaves (a sad reminder) in the

markets of Timbuktu. The Songhai, a fishing and trading

people who originated in the Dendi region of north-

western Nigeria gradually extended their domina�on th

upstream in the 8 century AD and by 800 had

established themselves at Gao, which soon became a

flourishing market town.

47


Nigeria was tradi�onally an agricultural country,

providing the bulk of its own food needs and expor�ng a

variety of agricultural goods, notably palm oil,

cacao/cocoa, rubber, and groundnuts (peanuts). At this

�me, the place called Nigeria had entrepreneurs who

had the entrepreneurial mind-set prevalent at the �me.

They seized opportuni�es and were innova�ve and

developed business plans using ideas which they

sourced from travelers (i.e. scourers), i�nerant

tradesmen and consumers of agricultural and

manufactured products who benefited from ac�vi�es

like animal husbandry (ranching), poultry farming,

mixed farming, strip cropping, truck farming,

arboriculture, local manufacturing etc. They also looked

to exis�ng goods and distribu�on channels - how they

were operated and they generated their own ideas on

how best to harness exis�ng resources in order to

produce and distribute with be�er yielding methods,

using tradi�onal marke�ng, merchandising, marke�ng

mix etc.

New business ideas and innova�on were generated to

improve storage facili�es, preserva�on of perishables

(i.e. tomatoes, vegetables, etc.) and milking of goats

48


and cows for distribu�on and sales. These tradi�onal

business ideas were used in managing the enterprises,

and were maintained for more than a hundred years.

Some entrepreneurs excelled (including the rulers) –

i.e. kings or Emirs, Obas, Obis, Obongs etc. – who were

at the forefront of entrepreneurship. These rulers were

astute entrepreneurs and their exper�se and long

experience in tradi�onal business methods enabled

them to effect important nego�a�ons and transac�ons

with the white colonialists (Europeans), when

eventually they showed up unannounced and uninvited

to Nigeria as we now know it.

The peoples of Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba, Benin etc. all had th th

their own entrepreneurs (13 -19 century), who were

exposed to entrepreneurship opportuni�es outside

t h e i r n a� ve a re a s . T h e H a u s a s h a d a st u te

entrepreneurs who managed workers with skills in

tanning, dyeing, weaving, and metal works which were

highly developed. The Hausas have long been famous

for wide-ranging i�nerant trading, and wealthy

merchants shared the highest social posi�ons with the

poli�cally powerful and the highly educated. In Hausa

land, entrepreneurial success in Islam is not merely

49


measured by the end result but also by the way and

means of achieving them.

Business ac�vity is part of ibadah or “good deed”.

Entrepreneurship was and is always an integral part of

the Islamic religion. Islamic entrepreneurship is treated

fully in theories and concepts of entrepreneurship

under the nature of entrepreneurship.

Since ancient �mes, the Ibos have traded cra� goods

and agricultural products. Tradi�onally, the Igbo have

excelled at metal work, weaving, and woodcarving. The

finished products were traded on as business ventures

a n d e n t e r p r i s e s w i t h a l l t h e t ra p p i n g s o f

entrepreneurship – African entrepreneurship. The Ibos

also specialized in buying and selling goods and have

perfected their entrepreneurial exper�se in inventory

control, management and distribu�on – which up �ll

today, has remained their prevalent way of

entrepreneurship.

The Yorubas are predominantly town dwellers who

prac�ced small-scale, domes�c agriculture and are well

50


known as traders and cra�s people. Since the 13th

century, Yoruba ar�sts have been producing

masterpieces of woodcarving and bronze cas�ng. Like

the Ibos, the finished products were traded on as

business ventures and enterprises. The Portuguese, the

first Europeans to traverse the coast of western Africa,

were a�racted to Benin City in 1486. The Oba

established trading contacts with the Portuguese and

ini�ally sold them some war cap�ves, which the

Portuguese sold as slaves (another sad reminder) to the

Akan of Asante (present day Ghana) in exchange for

gold. Later, Benin's trade with Europeans in the 16th

and 17th centuries was in palm oil, ivory, pepper, and

tex�les. Dutch traders who came to Benin City in the

17th century spoke about the astute entrepreneurs

they met in Benin kingdom.

th stWith the advent of modern entrepreneurship (20 -21

century), these people have now adapted – to the

extent that some of the entrepreneurs have dabbled

into import-export, shipping, warehousing, freigh�ng,

food processing, financial services, banking, packaging,

canning, outsourcing, haulage, logis�cs, assembling,

manufacturing and interna�onal entrepreneurship –

51


with one of them, Alhaji Aliko Dangote displacing Oprah

Winfrey (a U.S. syndicated TV host) to become the

richest billionaire of African descent (richest black man)

in the world, with Mike Adenuga trailing behind – both

Nigerians.

52


BARRIERS TO THE GROWTH OF ENTREPRENEURSHIPIN NIGERIA

t is difficult to believe that centuries a�er, we are yet Ito realize the mental dysfunc�on created by the

con�nued heat generated by environmental

pollu�on from the power genera�ng sets, the

manufacturing plants from industrial companies

situated at different residen�al areas, lack of

environmental planning, small business owners whose

source of power is their small size power generator,

popularly known in Nigeria as “I be�er pass my

neighbour”. This disorder goes on in the cosmopolitan

city of Lagos and other rising ci�es in Nigeria.

We live in an environment saturated with all kinds of

abnormal human degrada�on. You go to bed in the heat

and wake up the next morning soaked with sweat due

to the hot environment. This state of despair and

CHAPTER

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53

disillusionment is the daily experience of average

Nigerian ci�zens.

But do our leaders, past or present have similar ugly

experiences that average ci�zens go through while

struggling for survival? Absolutely NO!

We go out in search of our daily bread with disillusion-

ment wearing on our faces and return home a�er the

struggle for survival only to meet the charged

atmosphere again. This is frustra�ng and many who

cannot handle the depressing situa�on end up

commi�ng suicide. Thank GOD for the Sanctuary of

GOD that is common in every street where believers

can go and seek divine providence. This is the picture of

the life style of the typical average Nigerian.

The situa�on is far worse in our villages where there is

absolutely nothing to write home about. I grew up in

one of such villages where there are no basic social

ameni�es like electricity, hospitals, pipe borne water,

schools, etc. People trek long distances and for hours to

a�end elementary school in another community

because there are no func�onal elementary schools in

54


their immediate communi�es, especially in the riverine

areas where people have to travel on water by wooden

boats.

The disorderliness in our socie�es discourage the

thought of venturing into entrepreneurial ac�vi�es.

These factors led many and s�ll leading many among

our vibrant youth to join the band wagon “poli�cs”

which is the fastest and easiest way to become rich and

influen�al in Nigeria. Some become inac�ve and idle,

while others give in to drunkenness, drugs and

criminality. What we see in our socie�es today are “day

dreamers and wishful thinkers“. 'If wishes were horses,

beggars would ride', as the saying goes. In fact,

produc�vity, crea�vity, innova�on, talent and

entrepreneurial spirit have been relegated to the

background while parochialism is being promoted and

rewarded.

No, we cannot con�nue like this! We've got to take the

bull by the horn. So, let us roll our sleeves and go to

work, get our hands dirty as we confront the fears, the

giants, powers, pessimism and failures.

55

BARRIERS TO THE GROWTH OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN NIGERIA

But how do you re-awaken the lion and resilience spirit

in a man that has been trauma�zed, afflicted and

disillusioned by those who ought to lead them out of

darkness into light? We have destroyed our society by

our poverty mentality of acquiring products from the

western world instead of crea�ng and inven�ng and re-

inven�ng our own world as Africans. The Europeans

import raw materials from Africa, then develop and

create products that we gladly import into different

countries in Africa. The task before us is to look beyond

the bleak and dark clouds, and awaken the sleeping

lion, the entrepreneurship spirit, disrup�ve and

innova�ve ideas that can rule the world if awaken from

the slumber to face the giants as David did to Goliath.

But are we ready to pay price for that to be achieved?

A book wri�en by Kim Woo Chong, Chairman of the

Daewoo Corpora�on: “Every Street is paved with

Gold” comes to mind. He saw the possibility and

opportunity of making money everywhere. Daewoo

Corpora�on is involved in so many diverse areas of

business, from manufacturing of electronics, cars, and

refrigerators to ship building construc�on. Great

entrepreneurs take the bull by the horns and invest in a

56


long term produc�ve venture and wait like a farmer for

maturity before they start to reap the fruits of their

investment.

Many �mes, when you ask Chinese and Indians who are

doing business in Nigeria, especially Lagos about how

they are coping in Nigeria business environment, their

answer is always that there business opportuni�es

everywhere in Nigeria. One told me to go to Oshodi,

Lagos, and take a look at the mammoth crowd. That is

business. If you can think about the need of the market

and provide it, you are already wealthy by solving those

problems.

57

BARRIERS TO THE GROWTH OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN NIGERIA

CHARACTERISTICS AND ATTRIBUTES OF ENTREPRENEURS

Louis Jacques Filion, HEC, University of Montreal

Business School define entrepreneurs by their

behaviour, which he termed behaviourist. He

concluded by outlining the following characteris�cs

and a�ributes of entrepreneurs:

· Innovators

· Leaders �· Moderate risk-takers

· Independent

· Creators

· Energe�c

· Tenacious

· Original

· Op�mis�c

· Result-oriented

· Flexible

CHAPTER

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58

· Resourceful

· Need for achievement

· Self-awareness

· Self-confidence

· Long-term involvement

· Tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty

· Ini�a�ve

· Learning

· Use of resources

· Sensi�vity to others

· Aggressive

· Tendency to trust people

· Money as a measure of performance

However, the above men�oned characteris�cs and

a�ributes should not be confused with some 'poli�cal

entrepreneurs' who emerge as a result of flawed and

skewed poli�cal system that allocate over-bloated

contracts to their cronies for economic gain. These in

turn suddenly become super rich without any trace of

wealth crea�on and innova�ve ac�vi�es that resulted

in that wealth. This is a common reality in the disorderly

economic system in most African countries.

59


The African environmental planning and structure are

cra�ed to fail, or put more subtly, are designed in such a

way as to favour a few poli�cal opportunists. The

system is ro�en and the opportunists called African

leaders are feeding fat on the disorganized and

disoriented society of the black race, especially our

dear country, Nigeria.

Da�ng back to the �me of the medieval guilds in Germany,

a cra�sperson required special permission to operate as an

entrepreneur. This was the small proof of competence

(Kleiner Befähigungsnachweis), which restricted training

of appren�ces to cra�speople who held a Meister

cer�ficate. This ins�tu�on was introduced in 1908 a�er a

period of so-called freedom of trade (Gewerbefreiheit,

introduced in 1871) in the German Reich. However, proof

of competence was not required to start a business. In

1935 and in 1953, greater proof of competence was

re introduced (Großer Befähigungsnachweis

Kuhlenbeck), which required cra�speople to obtain a

Meister appren�ce-training cer�ficate before being

permi�ed to set up a new business.

Entrepreneur is a loanword from French. First used in

60


1723, today the term entrepreneur implies quali�es of

leadership, ini�a�ve and innova�on in new venture

design. Economist Robert Reich has called team-building,

leadership, and management ability essen�al quali�es

for the entrepreneur. Historically, the study of

entrepreneurship dates back to the work, in the late 17th

and early 18th centuries, of Richard Can�llon and Adam

Smith, which was founda�onal to classical economics.

Entrepreneurship is the process by which an individual

(or team) iden�fies a business opportunity and acquires

and deploys the necessary resources required for its

exploita�on. The exploita�on of entrepreneurial

opportuni�es may include ac�ons such as developing a

business plan, hiring the human resources, acquiring

financial and material resources, providing leadership,

and being responsible for the venture's success or failure.

"Entrepreneurial spirit is characterized by innova�on

and risk-taking." While entrepreneurship is o�en

associated with new, small, for-profit start-ups.

Entrepreneurial behaviour can be seen in small,

medium and large-sized firms, new and established

firms and in for-profit and not-for-profit organiza�ons.

61


MYTHS AND REALITIES OF AN ENTREPRENEUR

here is a myth which states that as an Tentrepreneur, you don't need to work for long

hours due to the fact that you have absolute

control of your �me. In reality however, on average,

entrepreneurs work longer hours than employees do,

but will likely enjoy it more because they're building

something of their own.

Secondly, there is a myth that says product/service is

unique and so there is no compe��on. That is also a

wrong no�on. The reality is that there is always

compe��on. It may be in a different form or manner. But

it exists and you need to recognize it and deal with it.

Thirdly, there is a myth that implies that business

CHAPTER

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62

owners can deduct everything, so they won't pay taxes.

No. Entrepreneurs do have deduc�ons from business

expenses from gross income, but they s�ll have to pay

taxes on their net income.

Fourthly, there is a myth that says as business owner,

you won't have a boss. But the reality is that you indeed

do have a boss. In fact you have many bosses to contend

with: your clients, customers, etc.

Fi�h, there is also another impression that business

owners get to do what they want to. The reality,

however, is that you will some�mes do what you enjoy

but a large percentage of �me will be spent on tasks you

find difficult and boring.

Sixth, money has been and remains the ancient

mythical commodity that has kept so many poten�al

business owners, start-ups and entrepreneurs from

daring to a�empt to put their business ideas to the test.

While it is true that you some�mes need to spend

money to make money, the amount of money you need

to spend is where things get murkier.

63

MYTHS AND REALITIES OF AN ENTREPRENEUR

The highway of new ventures is li�ered with the

remnants of businesses that started with tons of seed

money but ran out with li�le to show for it. A good

example of this is the tale of the Air Nigeria and All

States Trust Bank etc. They started with a huge amount

of hype, with millions of Naira sank into the companies.

Just couple of years later, the companies had used up

most of the money and forced to close shop.

Contrast that with Instagram, which started with just

two employees, a drama�cally smaller amount of

money, and went on to be acquired by Facebook for one

billion dollars. What is more important than how much

money you start with is how you manage what you

have. As marke�ng specialist, Guy Kawasaki said, If you

look at the truly great start-ups that have come out of

Silicon Valley, they've been hyper frugal. Cisco, Google

in the early days, Yahoo! in the early days, Microso�,

the list goes on and on…

Doing more with less and being careful to take on

investors when it makes sense allows you to grow and

mature at a more sustainable rate.

64


WHY ENTREPRENEURS FAIL

ccording to the Bureau of Labour Sta�s�cs, Aa�er two years of business, the majority of the

start-ups succeed; a�er five years, about half

fail and half succeed. What is the cause of the failure of

those half start-ups that make them end up closing

shops?

1. Lack of proper planning and hard work: A good

idea is a great start, but it takes hard work,

research, planning and successful implemen-

ta�on strategies to turn your idea into a

business.

2. Flawed Characteris�c traits needed to make a

successful business: Some people have good

business ideas but not all of them have the

minimum requirements needed to build their

businesses from the scratch to a sustainable

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65

level. Although some of the factors needed to

build successful businesses are inborn, others

can be learned, and s�ll others are external and

harder to control. The more of these factors you

have on your side, the greater your chances of

success. Some of these factors are Educa�onal

or work experience in your chosen industry,

strong work ethics, effec�ve �me management

skills, ability to mul�task, willingness to ask for

help and advice, persistent, decisive and

suppor�ve family, etc.

3. No wri�en down Business Plan Basics: Have

you ever asked yourself why you need a business

plan? Some entrepreneurs think a business plan

is only used to get financing. In reality, there are

many more uses for a business plan. A well-

wri�en business plan captures the following

objec�ves: gives you an objec�ve view of your

business idea so you can enhance its strengths

and shore up its weaknesses. Communicates

your ideas to the rest of the team, becomes the

founda�on for future planning as your business

grows.

66


4. Inability to Define a Market need: A good

business idea fills a need that exists in the

market. You may have come up with your

business idea because you, your friends or your

family saw a need for a product or service you

couldn't find. Maybe the product or service

exists, but you think you can do it be�er. But

when you fail to map out the market, iden�fy

problem and put up superior strategy on how to

resolve the problem, the end will be disaster!

5. Inability to Assess and Examine Your Personal

Background: If you are not honest enough to do

a proper self-evalua�on and self-assessment,

you are crea�ng room for failure. If you don't

have a firm business idea in mind, assessing your

life and work experience can help you come up

with one. If you have a business idea, review

your past experiences to see how well they

support your concept.

6. Do I have the passion to sell this idea to others?

You need to be able to convince customers,

investors and poten�al partners that your

business idea is worthwhile.

67


7. Lack of Knowledge of the Key Players:

Entrepreneurs o�en fail because they are unable

to separate friends from foes. They cannot

iden�fy Emo�onal Intelligence Quo�ent (EIQ)

from fluff or bluff. They cannot find a good part-

�me accountant and they have no idea on how

to assess the skills and experience of a legal

counsel. They also fail because they cannot

recognize smart loyal co-founders and employees

or how to op�mize their contribu�ons. They fail

because they cannot separate dumb angel

investors from disciplined ones. There's a lot to

know, and many entrepreneurs just don't know

enough about the players.

8. Inability to find enough (of the Right Kind of)

Funding: Entrepreneurs o�en fail because they

cannot raise the right kind of funding at the right

�me at the right valua�on. They use too much of

their own money and way too much money from

friends and family – which becomes a distrac�on

every �me a friend or family member asks about

how the company – and their investment – is

doing. Entrepreneurs fail because they do not

68


know how to value their company or phase

investments along �melines designed to

op�mize valua�ons. They fail to appreciate how

much money it takes to meet milestones,

neither do they know how to respect their

i n v e s t o r s w h o d e s e r v e p r o f e s s i o n a l

communica�ons on a regular basis – especially if

they plan to keep asking them for money.

9. Horrible So� Skills: Entrepreneurs o�en fail

because they're not housebroken, because they

speak their minds no ma�er how inappropriate

or inopportune the situa�on may be. Some

entrepreneurs are famously outspoken and

controversial – we know who they are – but they

generally became that way a�er their first hit

start-up. If an entrepreneur cannot listen, is

insecure, short-tempered and intolerant of

opposing opinions, he or she will fail. The worst

entrepreneurs are the ones who cannot accept

responsibility for anyone and spend their days

and nights looking for someone – anyone – to

blame for their mistakes.

10. Bad Partners: Entrepreneurs o�en fail because

they hang out with the wrong people. “Wrong”

69


here is a broad term. It includes colleagues who

agree with everything the entrepreneur says,

“good guys” that others endorse but are

unfamiliar to the entrepreneur, channel

partners who use the entrepreneur to channel

their own sales, legal counsel that rack up

unnecessary fees and gurus that know just about

everything about anything. Good entrepreneurs

have a purpose-filter through which they pass

their �me: is this partner really worth my �me?

Entrepreneurs who fail do not have this filter.

11. Ineffec�ve Sales: Entrepreneurs o�en fail

because they cannot sell to the right clients at

the right �me for the right price. Start-up sales

are obviously fundamentally different from the

sales that established companies enjoy on an

almost automa�c pace. Good entrepreneurs

understand all forms and flavours of lighthouse

sales processes, logo hun�ng, how to buy the

right early customers. Entrepreneurs who fail

shortchange sales in favour of compe�ng

ac�vi�es, especially Research & Development.

70


12. Market Invisibility: Entrepreneurs o�en fail

because their companies are invisible to the

world because they cannot bear to spend money

on marke�ng and PR. This is a huge mistake that

some entrepreneurs make when the money gets

�ght. Polishing products and services un�l they

shine brightly in the sunshine is a waste of

money. Smart entrepreneurs get the word out

early and o�en via all available media, especially

digital media: if they cannot find you, they

cannot buy you. By Steve Andriole.

Therefore, as an entrepreneur, you need to

constantly evaluate your business strategies and

create a feedback mechanism from your

customers who purchase your products or

services.

71


ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS AN EVOLVING IDEOLOGY – THE SILICON VALLEY MODEL:

AFRICA IN PERSPECTIVE

he evolu�onal movement was borne out of the Tdesire of one man to change the status quo. He

wanted to create a world driven by superior

ideas that will be technology-driven. That man was

Frederick Terman who wanted an industrial park from

Palo Alto in San Jose Valley. This later metamorphosed

into a technology park for the en�re world. The term

ethnic entrepreneurship refers to self-employed,

business owners who belong to racial or ethnic minority

groups in the United States and Europe. A long tradi�on

of academic research explores the experiences and

strategies of ethnic entrepreneurs as they strive to

integrate economically into mainstream US or

European society. Classic cases include Jewish

merchants and trades people in large U.S. ci�es in the

19th and early 20th centuries as well as Chinese and

CHAPTER

10

72

Japanese small business owners, who owned

restaurants, farms, shops, etc., on the West Coast.

In the 2010s, ethnic entrepreneurship had been studied

in the case of Cuban business owners in Miami, Indian

motel owners of the U. S. and Chinese business owners

in chinatowns across the United States. While

entrepreneurship offers these groups many

opportuni�es for economic advancement and self-

employment, business ownership in the United States

remain unevenly distributed along racial/ethnic lines.

Despi te numerous success stor ies of As ian

entrepreneurs, a recent sta�s�cal analysis of U.S.

census data shows that whites are more likely than

Asians, African-Americans, and La�nos to be self-

employed in high pres�ge, lucra�ve industries.

Africa Entrepreneurs Require Mind-set Shi� Among

Small Business Owners…

In order to have an all-encompassing entrepreneurship

deep penetra�on, there is a need for radical

transforma�on that will require a mindset shi�

amongst Africa's small business owners. African

73

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS AN EVOLVING IDEOLOGY...AFRICA IN PERSPECTIVE

countries have Silicon movements and entrepreneurs

Hubs. In South Africa - Silicon Cape, Kenya - iHub-

centered Silicon Savannah movement, ‘Ethiopia’s

burgeoning tex�le industry’, Nigeria's ubiquitous

Nollywood film industry; there are also visible signs of

the growing profile of African entrepreneurs. It is

interes�ng and entrepreneurial ac�vi�es are on the raise

in the African con�nent. There are new incubators and

private ini�a�ves like Genera�on Entreprise and

InChallenge which are training promising young

entrepreneurs. Nigerian billionaire Tony Elumelu

declares that “value crea�on through entrepreneurship

is Africa's unique path forward — dis�nct from

emerging markets like China with its state-run

enterprises, or Korea with its 'Chaebol' conglomerates,

or India with its large family-run businesses“.

However, I would at this point iden�fy and state the

obvious and put it in proper perspec�ve that majority of

Africa's entrepreneurs – old and new – run micro-

enterprises which ‘don’t grow beyond the informal

sector into produc�ve formal firms’. These firms are a

social safety net to keep people alive, but rarely ever an

engine of sustained growth or employment.

74


Sparking an entrepreneur-led boom in Africa will

require a mind-set transforma�on of these “small

dreamers”. It will need, first, a be�er understanding of

their mo�va�ons. Many African entrepreneurs

embrace business as an escape from desperate

circumstances. Far away from the roman�c Silicon

Valley ideals of changing the world, these entrepreneurs

simply want to survive and avoid going back to the

poverty they came from. What may seem like a lack in

ambi�on is in fact rooted in a pervasive fear of failure.

A�er all, failure for a Silicon Valley technologist might

mean a few months temping while securing a new job;

failure for an Ethiopian small business owner could

mean a hungry family with no suppor�ng government

safety net.

It will also require a be�er understanding of how this

loss aversion mind-set influences a firm's prospects.

Many “small dreamers” are highly reluctant to delegate

responsibili�es or even partner with other firms,

preferring instead to keep a close watch over all the

details themselves. They will o�en point to staff

unreliability and share anecdotes of unscrupulous

75


behaviour from previous business partners. In many

cases, they don't even trust family members to help

manage their businesses. Instead of inves�ng for

expansion, they prefer to treat their enterprises as

small cash cows and retain full control. The problem of

course is that the status quo o�en cannot last. Many of

these firms fall vic�m to economic travails, and go out

of business in due course. More tragically, they fail to

fulfill their poten�al in contribu�ng to sustainable

macroeconomic and employment growth.

The proponents of Africa's booming entrepre-

neurialism – governments, incubators and investors

should pay more a�en�on to the “small dreamer”

phenomenon. They must focus on:

· Crea�ng be�er safety nets. Programs should be

launched that enable failed entrepreneurs to get

back onto the ladder, by providing access to

finance and business support. Voca�onal

training schemes can ease the path into salaried

jobs, and mentorship/advisory roles may also

allow failed entrepreneurs to earn a living while

ge�ng back on their feet. Ul�mately, the best

safety net in an entrepreneurial ecosystem is

76


o�en a breakout success that plays a 'mother

ship' role, like Google in Silicon Valley. Such firms

provide a pla�orm for entrepreneurs to launch

new ventures, but can also employ them in

related fields if their businesses fail.

· Educa�ng Entrepreneurs to think bigger. Many

African entrepreneurs could benefit from free

online educa�on on how to formalize and grow

their businesses. It is also important to promote

a societal image that celebrates entrepreneurs

who have become breakout successes. This

should be done in an informa�ve way that

teaches young entrepreneurs what decisions

they will likely face as they seek to expand, and

not in a manner that merely glorifies celebri�es.

· Building Employer-Employee Trust. New

mechanisms are required to promote trust

between entrepreneurs and their poten�al

partners and employees. Policy ini�a�ves

focusing on IP protec�on and improved legal

enforcement will go a long way towards

achieving this, but o�en there are also so�er

cultural considera�ons. Programs and small

business associa�ons that increase informa�on

77


flow between entrepreneurs in a sensi�ve

manner may help assuage their fears of being

cheated.

By addressing the “small dreamer” phenomenon,

Africa's entrepreneurial revolu�on stands a be�er

chance at harnessing the poten�al of the youth and

crea�ng a demographic dividend in the coming decade.

By Bryan Mezue.

78


COMMON ENTREPRENEURIAL BEHAVIOURS

he entrepreneur is commonly seen as an Tinnovator — a designer of new ideas and

business Venture. Management skills and

strong team building abili�es are o�en perceived as

essen�al leadership a�ributes for successful

entrepreneurs. Poli�cal economist Robert Reich

considers leadership, management ability, and team-

building to be essen�al quali�es of an entrepreneur.

Uncertainty, Percep�on and Risk-taking

Theorists Frank Knight and Peter Drucker defined

entrepreneurship in terms of risk-taking. The

entrepreneur is willing to put his or her career and

financial security on the line and take risks in the name

CHAPTER

11

79

of an idea, spending �me as well as capital on an

uncertain venture. However, entrepreneurs o�en do

not believe that they have taken an enormous amount

of risks because they do not perceive the level of

uncertainty to be as high as other people do. Knight

classified three types of uncertainty:

Ÿ Risk, which is measurable sta�s�cally (such as the

probability of drawing a red colour ball from a jar

containing 5 red balls and 5 white balls).

Ÿ Ambiguity, which is hard to measure sta�s�cally

(such as the probability of drawing a red ball from a

jar containing 5 red balls but an unknown number of

white balls).

Ÿ True Uncertainty Knigh�anor uncertainty, which is

impossible to es�mate or predict sta�s�cally (such

as the probability of drawing a red ball from a jar

whose contents are en�rely unknown)…

Malala Yousafazi, a Nobel Prize winner, peace ac�vist,

named one of Forbes 30 and a social entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship is o�en associated with true

uncertainty, par�cularly when it involves the crea�on

of a novel good or service, for a market that did not

previously exist, rather than when a venture creates an

80


incremental improvement to an exis�ng product or

service. A 2014 study at ETH Zürich found that

compared with typical managers, entrepreneurs

showed higher decision-making efficiency, and a

stronger ac�va�on in regions of front polar cortex (FPC)

previously associated with explora�ve choice

Strategies

Strategies that entrepreneurs may use include:

Innova�on

· of new products, services or processes

· Con�nuous process improvement (CPI)

· Explora�on

· Use of technology

· Use of business intelligence

· Using a frugal approach

· Development of future products and services

· Op�mized talent management

81

COMMON ENTREPRENEURIAL BEHAVIOUR

SECRET OF BUSINESS SUCCESS: EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE

- BED ROCK OF BUSINESS

Author's Defini�on: Customer Service is the passionate

appeal and approach or manner adopted by an

organiza�on or individual to constantly relate to their

poten�al or loyal customers in order to exceed their

customer's expecta�ons'. It is the best form of

rendering service(s) or offering products to the general

public with a sa�sfactory note. Neglect it at your own

peril! Therefore, no ma�er how great your new

discovered idea, you need human beings who are the

ul�mate deciders of your precious idea that will leads to

a successful business venture. We are living in a

dynamic world and you need to catch up with the pace

and trends of this present century.

Provide customers with amazing service…

Many companies fail to reach their poten�al because

they're so focused on the sale that they forget to

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82

provide “ .” a phenomenal customer service experience

Customer service isn't just about handling complaints.

It also involves loyalty programs, incen�ves for referrals

and other customer-focused ac�vi�es.

It's been said that “Sales without service is like pu�ng

money into a pocket with a hole in it,” and I

wholeheartedly agree. If you aren't inves�ng in this key

area of growth, it's �me to allocate more resources to

this cri�cal need. You may find it helpful to spend a day

working with your customer service team to see where

issues arise, or you can poll employees working in this

department on the biggest challenges they encounter.

However you approach the issue, take ac�on on your

findings. Don't just say you need to provide be�er

service. Just do it. Follow through, and be sure you're

measuring the impact of your ac�ons. If you don't see a

measurable improvement in the key performance

indicators you've associated with your service metrics,

keep itera�ng your process un�l you come across the

winning combina�on.

83

SECRETS OF BUSINESS SUCCESS: EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE...

No ma�er who you are or what you're trying to do as an

entrepreneur, you can find success by emula�ng the

techniques entrepreneurs before you have used and

personalizing them for your own business. Are you

ready to take ac�on?

Prac�cal Methods to Sustain Excellent Customer

Service

1. Build Business to retain Customer Loyalty

Richard Branson wrote, that in his many years of

business experience, he has found that “unhappy

customers who have a problem handled quickly and

effec�vely end up being more loyal than if they never

had a problem at all”.

Building your business to retain customer loyalty is the

bread and bu�er of your business. For instance, I recall

as owner of Travel Management Company ( ), also TMC

known as , we make use of TD TRAVEL & LOGISTCS

many adver�sing mediums, but the efficacy of building

a formidable and sustainable excellent customer

rela�onship made our company - TD TRAVEL &

LOGISTICS, enjoys a reasonable percentage share of

84


the travel market locally and globally. For over 15 years

of doing the business of Travel Management™, we can

say authorita�vely that when you give your customers

unequalled service and you are always there to solve

their problems whenever they arise, they will market

your products or services to others. But ignore their

complaints at your own peril; your business will head

for rocks.

2. is the best tool and most effec�ve form Referral

of marke�ng. It has proved to be the best way you can

be networked to poten�al customers who will be loyal

to your business.

When you show concern about what ma�ers to your

customer, that is Business to Customer Loyalty, and you

can bet on it, you've just acquired a customer for life.

3. Create Las�ng

First Impression. Image

of service with a smile

that lasts longer… It is

an established fact that

first impression lasts

85


longer in our memory. For example, if a poten�al

customer comes to your shop, office or warehouse for

the very first �me and was given a warm welcome by

the customer agent or recep�onist, that excellent

recep�on s�cks to his/her mind. And if careful a�en�on

is given to his/her need and met in a nice and friendly

manner, he/she will come back again and again.

You must get to personally know your customers and

recognize their individual needs. Above all, make

certain that what you are offering really is something

that your customer can value. That is the key to good

customer service - the shiny kind of customer service

that exceeds your customers' expecta�ons and

outshines your compe�tors'. And most important, your

ability to recognize people and call their names a�er

your first mee�ng impacts posi�vely on their memory.

Consumers o�en must encounter an experience to not

only be a sa�sfied customer but a loyal customer.

Customer service is a part of that experience. Please

read the below illustra�on and pay a�en�on to

prac�cal experience of a market place interac�on.4. Create an Effec�ve Complaint Channel:

86


Excellent customer service is vital to businesses today.

It's a component that is o�en missing, unfortunately.

How do you provide great customer service? Always

make your customer a priority. Greet them in a friendly

manner, whether that is via telephone, email or in

person. Let them know you are there to help and that

you will take care of them, not only before the sale but

a�er as well. A�er all, in a thriving business customers

are not op�onal. It's a requirement for businesses to

survive.

Customer service is one of the most important aspects

of any transac�on. It begins the moment customers

walk in through your door and con�nues un�l their last

interac�on, some�mes well a�er a sale has been

completed. From a warm gree�ng to resolving a

challenge, service plays a vital role in affec�ng how

clients and customers view a company or brand.

A bad experience with a representa�ve can ruin a

customer's percep�on of the company, regardless of

the quality of their product. On the other hand, if

customers have challenges with their products and the

resolu�on goes above and beyond the expected, those

customers may walk away with a more favorable view

87


than if they had simply bought their products without

any incident. Every part of a transac�on is affected by

customer service. Customers take note of everything,

from the way employees' stand, to the way they handle

money. An employee, who slouches, avoids eye

contact and slaps change on the counter will make a

las�ng nega�ve impression compared to one who

stays a�en�ve, makes an effort to be personable and

friendly, and takes the �me to treat customers like

guests rather than the other end of a transac�on. The

quality of customer service can easily sway a customer

to become a loyal part of repeat business or to provide

a terrible review on mul�ple social media outlets.

Customer service doesn't apply only to the point-of-

sale employees. Companies with the most successful

customer service prac�ces ensure that execu�ves and

entry-level employees alike know the importance of

trea�ng every customer with personalized, individual

a�en�on. Of course, not every company can use the

same tricks to impress customers. No ma�er the

industry, all employees can tailor their customer service

to their clients and make a las�ng impression. An auto

mechanic could take his or her service to the next level

88


by taking extra care in cleaning a customer's vehicle as

well as providing a personal touch when interac�ng

with the customer directly. A salesperson in a hardware

store could share pointers learned from personal

experience while assis�ng a customer with a purchase,

and in the end, might recommend resources for further

informa�on rather than simply comple�ng a sale.

5. Develop Customer Survey Mechanism: Acumen

Research Group surveyed more than 1,000 Canadian

retail, banking and Telco customers to determine what

made them behave loyally and what made them leave

long-term rela�onships; 43 percent of respondents

abandoned a provider to which they declared

themselves loyal because of a nega�ve experience with

a staff, and 30 percent of respondents reported that

having the feeling they are not treated as valued

customers by the staff has been the main reason for

taking their business elsewhere.

6. Be Courageous and a Risk Taker: None of the

entrepreneurs I've studied have become successful

solely of their own. They've all built a team of loyal,

crea�ve, and skilled people.

89


Fellow entrepreneurs, you have to take bold and risky

steps. One of the world renowned genius entrepreneur

par excellence, Richard Charles Nicholas Branson

wrote in his autobiography of the decision to start an

airline: "My interest in life comes from se�ng myself

huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying

to rise above them ... from the perspec�ve of wan�ng

to live life to the full, I felt that I had to a�empt it.”

Branson's first successful entry into the airline industry

was during a trip to Puerto Rico. His flight was

cancelled, so he decided to charter his own plane the

rest of the way and offer a ride to the rest of the

stranded passengers for a small fee in order to cover the

cost.

In 1993, took what many saw as being one of Branson

his riskiest business exploits by entering into the railway

business. Virgin Trains won the franchises for the

former Intercity West and Cross-Country sectors of

Bri�sh Rail.

Virgin acquired European short-haul airline, Euro -

Belgian Airlines in 1996 and renamed it Virgin Express.

In 2006, the airline was merged with SN Brussels

90


Airlines forming Brussels Airlines. It also started a

na�onal airline based in Nigeria, called Virgin Nigeria.

Another airline, Virgin America, began flying out of San

Francisco Interna�onal Airport in August 2007.

The Creator of the Universe, created everything out of

nothing. I urge you to take a cri�cal look at your

environment. Please pause and think about it for a

moment. What is the most essen�al commodity that

human beings cannot do without? Do your market

survey and come up with something that breaks the

established protocols of the world of business. Write

your own business plan with a superior customer

appeal than the established ones.

Transforma�on involves itera�on, innova�on and

disrup�on. To get to the top and stay there,

organiza�ons must do the same things be�er, do new

things that unlock new value, and embrace new things

that make the old things obsolete.

Excellent customer experiences do not happen

overnight. Most don't happen in just two years. But

they do happen, and far more than 1% will start

reaching the top. Change is required, however, in

91


perspec�ve, processes, culture, collabora�on,

empathy, employee experiences and innova�on. It

takes the en�re organiza�on working together for the

customer, the brand and fellow employees. And that is

why it's s�ll so lonely at the top.

7. The Customer is the most Vital Asset: Customer

service is an integral part of our job and should not be

seen as an external extension of it. A company's most

vital asset is its customers. Without them, we would not

and could not be in business. When you sa�sfy your

customers, they not only help you grow by con�nuing

to do business with you, but they will also recommend

you to friends and associates.

The prac�ce of customer service should be as present

on the showroom floor as it is in any other sales

func�ons and per�nent in the overall company

environment.

Know who the boss is. You are in business to service the

needs of customers, and you can only do that if you

know what it is your customers want. When you truly

listen to your customers, they let you know what they

want and how you can provide them good service.

92


Never forget that the customer pays your salary and

makes your job possible.

8. Be a Good Listener: Take the �me to iden�fy

customer needs by asking ques�ons and concentra�ng

on what the customer is actually saying. Pay a�en�on

to their words, their tone of voice, body language, and

most importantly, how they feel. Beware of making

assump�ons - thinking you intui�vely know what the

customer wants. Do you know what three things are

most important to your customer? Effec�ve listening

and undivided a�en�on are par�cularly important on

the showroom floor where there is a great danger of

preoccupa�on - looking around to see who else you

could be selling to.

9. Iden�fy and An�cipate Needs: Customers don't buy

products or services. They buy good feelings and

solu�ons to problems. Most customer needs are

emo�onal rather than logical. The more you know your

customers, the be�er you become at an�cipa�ng their

needs. Communicate regularly so that you are aware of

problems or upcoming needs.

93


10. Make Customers Feel important and appreciated:

Treat them as individuals. Always use their names and

find ways to compliment them, but be sincere. People

value sincerity. It creates good feeling and trust. Think

about ways to generate good feelings about doing

business with you. Customers are very sensi�ve and

know whether or not you really care about them.

Thank them every �me you get a chance to do so.

11 Body Language Is Key. : On the showroom floor

be sure that your body language conveys sincerity. Your

words and ac�ons must be congruent. 12 Understanding Is Crucial. : Help customers

understand your systems. Your organiza�on may have

the world's best systems for ge�ng things done, but if

customers don't understand them, they can get

confused, impa�ent and angry. Take �me to explain

how your systems work and how they simplify

transac�ons. Be careful that your systems don't reduce

the human element of your organiza�on.

13 Appreciate the Power of "Yes. ”: Always look for

ways to help your customers. When they have a request

(as long as it is reasonable) tell them that you can do it.

94


Figure out how a�erward. Look for ways to make doing

business with you easy. Always do what you say you are

going to do.

14. Know How to Apologize: When something goes

wrong, apologize. It's easy and customers like it. The

customer may not always be right, but the customer

must always win. Deal with problems immediately and

let customers know what you have done. Make it

simple for customers to complain. Value their

complaints. As much as we dislike it, it gives us an

opportunity to improve. Even if customers are having a

bad day, go out of your way to make them feel

comfortable.

15. Give More Than Expected Since the future of :

all companies lies in keeping customers happy, think of

ways to elevate you above the compe��on. Considerthe following:

What can you give customers that they cannot get

elsewhere? What can you do to follow-up and thank

people even when they don't buy? What can you give

customers that are totally unexpected?

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16. Treat Employees Well: Employees are your

internal customers and need a regular dose of

apprecia�on. Thank them and find ways to let them

know how important they are. Treat your employees

with respect and chances are they will have a higher

regard for customers. Apprecia�on stems from the top.

Trea�ng customers and employees well is equally

important.

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WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

Can you imagine yourself in this situa�on, what's going

to be your reac�on? “They don come with their

religious proclivity”!

The jetliner had begun to taxi towards the runway.

Idahosa's new Mercedes was reported to have sped

towards the tarmac and screeched to a halt in front of

the plane. Benson Idahosa came out and waved at the

pilot, and subsequently got audience with him and the

passengers on board.

“Excuse me friends, I have two of God's special servants

in my car. They must go to Lagos today on this plane.

Two of you will get off now so God's servants can board.

God bless you,” Idahosa was quoted to have said.

One man was said to have tapped his assistant and both

gave up their seats for TL and Daisy Osborn.

CHAPTER

13

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Idahosa reportedly stopped the first man in the aisle of

the plane. He asked him:

'Young man, what is your name and what do you do?'

“My name is Aliko Dangote and this is my assistant.

I am a trader, a businessman,” the young man was

quoted to have told Idahosa. “The world will get up for you. My God will bless you!

God will take you and your business beyond Africa and

bless you beyond measure,” Idahosa said to Dangote,

and walked out of the plane “waving, with tears in his

eyes”.

Start to develop these traits below and check back

a�er one year and the success story of your life will be

heard the world over.

1. Cul�vate the art of Listening More Than Speaking: In

a 2014 interview with Forbes Magazine, Richard

Branson named listening as one of his three most

important leadership principles. He says, “Listening

enables us to learn from each other, from the

marketplace, and from the mistake that must be made

in order to get anywhere that is original and disrup�ve.”

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2. Be ready to Embrace ailure: F While you will never be

a success if you are totally reckless, you do need to take

risks along the way, and accept that there will be

failures, as well as successes. Nearly every successful

entrepreneur has encountered failure in varying

degrees in the course of their life's journey.

Even though is no longer with us, he Steve Jobs

certainly le� behind a legacy at Apple. However, many

people have forgo�en that at one point the Apple

board, who disagreed with his decisions, ousted him as

CEO. It was only a�er he spent �me developing NeXT

and Pixar, that he made a triumphant return to Apple.

Steve Jobs did not lose heart when he was dumped

from the successful company that he built. It merely

gave him the impetus to embrace that failure and move

further forward. 3. They're extremely curious.

Naveen Jain, Founder and CEO

of Inome, sums up the essence

of this trait in his post, The Most

Precious Resource on the Planet:

Big Dreamers. He states, “You

should always remind yourself

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WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

that the day before something is a breakthrough, it's

just a crazy idea.”

Thomas Edison would never have come up with his

inven�ons, including the phonograph, the mo�on

picture camera, and the long-las�ng, prac�cal electric

light bulb, if he had not been curious. Curiosity is a

fundamental trait of successful people. Entrepreneurs

do not make it through life by being indifferent towards

things happening around them. They are always

looking for the next way to make something be�er.

4. They Admit What They Don't Know

A common misconcep�on about successfu l

entrepreneurs is that they're o�en arrogant and

believe they know everything. You're likely to find that

most genuinely successful, self-made entrepreneurs

are not anywhere near arrogant. It is the vocal minority

that gets a l l the a�en�on. Most successful

entrepreneurs are the first to admit that they do not

know it all. The more they learn, the more they discover

what they don't know. To truly succeed, you have to

learn from your experiences in life. You need to keep an

open mind and be prepared to handle cri�cisms the

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right way, as evidenced on Crea�ve Live.To quote Richard Branson again, “Learning and

leadership go together. Too much credit goes to me for

what we have achieved at Virgin, but the successes

happen from working and learning with some of the

world's most inspiring and inspired people.” Business

managers and owners find that they have enormous

demands on their �me. There is a real danger that you

can burn out if you a�empt to micromanage your

business.

Truly successful entrepreneurs can see a mul�tude of

opportuni�es for their businesses to take. More

importantly, they can also see that it would not be

beneficial (or possible) for them to pursue every

opportunity that comes their way. They need to be

selec�ve and concentrate their focus on only those

ideas with the greatest poten�al.

Steve Jobs was a master at saying 'no'. When he

returned to Apple in 1997, the company had a range of

350 products. Jobs reduced this number to 10 products

in a two-year period. He was able to give Apple a real

focus, a process they con�nue to this day. Feature creep

within technology companies is another example of

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WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

people not knowing when to say no. How many people

actually use all of the components on a Swiss Army

Knife? Most people use the knife to cut with, but unless

they are stuck in a hairy situa�on, they are unlikely to

use the specialist tool in other scenarios.

5. They Know the Importance of BalanceTruly successful entrepreneurs know that there is much

more to life than just running

their business. They spend

qual ity �me with their

family. They take breaks and

vaca�ons.

In some cases, this is an example of their learning from

their past mistakes. You hear about entrepreneurs

working horrendous hours, and many that do, end up

experiencing eventual health problems.

Warren Buffe� was asked in a mee�ng with MBA

students in 2012 for some of the reasons for his

success. Two of the reasons he cited were picking the

right spouse, and staying in Nebraska rather than

moving to New York City (with a quieter, less stressful

lifestyle).

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Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, has an

innova�ve view on this. “There's no such thing as work-

life balance. There's work, and there's life, and there's

no balance,” she said in a Maker’s video interview. She

recognizes the difficul�es women, in par�cular, have

juggling family responsibili�es with a high power job.

6. They Know How to Build a Good Team: Team

Work…

If you intend to be a successful entrepreneur, you will

very quickly discover that you cannot do everything by

yourself. It is a physical

impossibility, and you

would certainly burn

out. Also, any human

being, no ma�er how

intelligent, educated

and experienced they

are, is unlikely to have the full skill set needed to run a

successful company by them. That is also why I'm a

huge advocate of valida�ng your business ideas before

diving too deeply into spending your precious

resources on them. None of the entrepreneurs I've

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WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

studied have become successful solely of their own

accord. They've all built a team of loyal, crea�ve, and

skilled people. To be a successful leader, you need to

know how to delegate. You need to be able to allow

others to become involved and make decisions in their

areas of responsibility.

as a disruptive thinker and innovator

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