An Entrepreneur's journey

The moment you finally discovered what you are destined to do is one great defining moment of life. Oh! The excitement of such a great discovery. Then you take time to figure out how to monetize that gift, talent or skill in a way that will bring value to mankind and make your life meaningful.

Then you decided to go entrepreneurial. That image of yourself sitting as the chairman, and chief executive officer of a Fortune 500 company is so intoxicating and electrifying, that you immediately get to work, and began sharing your dream with friends, families and foes. Some encourage your decision, others laugh behind your back, while the rest look on to see how far you will go with your dreams.

Then you suddenly hit a great wall, similar to the wall of old China. Raising Start-Up capital. You crack your brain on how to cross this hurdle until headaches became your normal sensation. You went to your bank and hoped your account officer will able to pull something through, at least for old times’ sake. But when you saw the high-interest charges, you rejected the offer.

Then you turned to a few well to do friends, hoping they will see your great vision and partner with you. Start small, so they say. Maybe they are right, afterwards, the word of God says we should not despise our little beginnings. But starting small is relative. What I regard to be small may be huge for others and vice versa.

Then you heard about the gender desk at BOI and how they support women-owned businesses. With great excitement, off you went. But when you saw the mountain of requirements to obtain the facility, you realized that despite all their noise about building small scale businesses, the BOI facility is not for start-ups, but for established and going concerns.

Then you became discouraged. But when friends began to ask how far now, adrenaline pumped into your blood again. You are not one to give up easily without a fight. Being a creative and determined person, ideas flowed into your mind again. You attempted business plan competitions hoping to win a grant, but nothing came out of that. Then you began to approach small-sized firms in your chosen industry and make presentations about your great idea.

Oh! They loved it. They love it so much and invited you to sign MOUs. You were so excited, at last, you can see a glimpse of light in the dark tunnel. They listened to you talk about your plans to launch, your logistics, and your vision and after weeks of waiting, praying, and hoping; they invited you for further talks that will seal the deal. But you finally realized that they just want to steal your ideas, use and dump you.

They love your ideas but don’t want you on board. They tried to bribe you with a title, a big table, but no stake in the new project. Or they rather pay you off with peanuts in exchange for your ideas. But you saw through their petty offers. Then you began talking to venture capitalists. They seem more reasonable and quite interested in your idea. And at last, the tiny light you saw began to shine a little more brightly.

The entrepreneurial journey in Nigeria, especially for startups is fraught with frustrations and discouragements. Some of the lessons you will learn on this route will never be taught in a business school. It takes only those with the courage to overcome those initial hurdles. An entrepreneur has to see them as tests to weed out those who cannot pay the price to be counted among the great.

The business mindset in Nigeria is another stumbling block. We place little value on intellectual property which is currently rated low in the marketplace. I met a young man early in the year. He creates animated comics from children's stories. I was pretty impressed with his work and asked when he was going to launch. He sighed, and narrated how potential investors wanted to use his creations and rip him off the benefits.

When will it occur to people that to run a successful business, every party must bring something of value to the table? Money cannot stand alone and reproduce itself without a tremendous workable idea. Money runs after ideas is a cliché most of us are familiar with.

I think greater value should be placed on technical know-how, the idea, knowledge and time invested. A word of caution, don’t sign away your rights during negotiation with fund providers. It may backfire in the future and leave you with regrets. Get legal counsel when not sure.