Business
Media Mogul says Nigerian Entrepreneurs Must Take Risks
What are some of the challenges you faced when starting up?
The transition from paid employment to self-employment is one of the most difficult decisions one can make. It is one of the most uncertain leaps anybody can take.
One of the profound experiences that I had in entrepreneurship was when I started publishing BottomLINE. The first edition that was printed took 50 per cent of my capital but when the product came out it was a disaster because it didn’t come in the right quality I wanted. And so at that point in time, I faced a major decision on whether this is really what I wanted to continue doing giving that the very first edition was nothing to write home about. I pondered whether I should just go back to paid employment where my job was still waiting for me; because my boss assured me that if whatever I was doing did not work that I should feel free to come back to my job.
That was my most difficult experience in small business. But again it turned out to be one of the most beneficial. I realized I didn’t want to go back to paid employment as a failure. So, I took it upon myself to go back and produce one more edition. And I staked my all, and I learnt everything in humility.
The next publication that came out was one of the beautiful editions of BottomLINE and when it came out, I told myself that I most continue in this business and never look back. Turning failure to success has been one of my most profound experiences in entrepreneurship.
How has the journey been?
Making a transition from paid employment to self-employment has been in one breath, challenging and in the other breath, exciting. There are things that am doing today that have enabled me to build some kind of brand for myself and if I was in one company I probably would have limited opportunities to impact people. But I am excited that with the benefit of what I have learnt over the years, what I am doing and with the media exposure I have had, I find a platform to impact people through what I do.
What is the big idea behind the Fidelity SME Forum?
It is a very laudable idea of Fidelity Bank to have a platform that encourages wealth creation and job creation. They called me in, to come and anchor it on airwaves. The whole idea is to stem the high rate of unemployment. The established businesses are not enough to gainfully employ the high number of graduates produced from our universities. And the bank shares in the belief that one solution to this is to encourage entrepreneurship, and small businesses to be set up and to survive, so that they can absorb a number of these graduates.
