Starting a Business in Nigeria is Easy in 2018

Hello World!

I hope you’re having an amazing start to the new year. I also hope you have goals you want to achieve this year. More importantly, I hope one of those goals is to pursue a passion you’re enthusiastic about. And of course, taking that passion and Starting a Business with it.

If you’ve never considered starting a business, my advice is for you to STRONGLY consider it. If you have, great! In fact, I’m specifically taking time to encourage you by writing this post :).

Once upon a time in 2013, I barely had any practical skill as regards starting or running a business. I had just finished my MSc in International Business and had no clue how the theoretics of my Aston Business School degree can be put into practice in a challenging economy such as Nigeria; a country that does not work by the books but by practical street-wisdom.

I can proceed with a plethora of street lessons and episodes from my experiences starting and running my business however, I want to focus on the positives and hopefully encourage someone to pursue a path that may more-likely lead to a fulfilling career. But first, a quick reminisce on some humble achievements within the last 5 years.

Within the last 5 years alongside some really fantastic people, I’ve been able to build and grow over 5 different brands, with 3 of them performing outstandingly well. Do have a look at Print Anything, Brand On Flash, and Novateur. I’ve been a part of the successes of these brands and ensuring they grow. In fact, more recently, Print Anything was selected for the Make-IT accelerator as implemented by the German International Cooperation (GIZ). You can read more about this here.

All of these brands and their relative successes were birthed by simply considering an underlying motivation and passionately living each day chasing my passions.

Before you jump onto the next post or YouTube video, Take a minute with me to imagine what the potential of your passions could be in 20 years from now. At minimal level, you can commit an hour a day to building your own business, and practically have a customer base of 500 contacts within your first year. Take that and multiply by 20 years of dedicated efforts. Thats right, your passion is HUGE!

I believe everyone should start a business. Of course not everyone is built to be entrepreneurial, and nothing is wrong with having a 9 to 5 career however, the experiences you gain starting and running your own business can be highly valuable for a 9 – 5 career, and also be more valuable as a long-term lifetime skill.

In the course of developing my own business, I’ve met several individuals and interviewed over a thousand young professionals who have fantastic ideas and are keen about their passions however, cannot take practical steps to developing their ideas. From my perspective, it seams not a lot is being done to develop an entrepreneurial culture across the Universities in Nigeria hence, I’m obliged to contribute my own quota rather than complain about the system.

In 2018, I really want to encourage more young people to take their passions more seriously and develop a rewarding career for themselves. There are several reasons to start you own business, and I hope to share and help you achieve this with practical steps.

If this excites you, simply get in touch outlining your passions and what you hope to do with it. If you’ve not developed any passions yet, thats fine. You can also get in touch and I will do my best to help.

I really hope 2018 can be positive for more young people, and that I can help in any way possible.

Have a wonder and prosperous 2018!