INTRODUCTION TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP: 13 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW Being a Presentation by Chude Jideonwo, Managing Partner of the Red Media Group, at the AGDC/LASG Business Program, on 13 April 2013, Lagos, Nigeria.

FIRST THINGS FIRST Not everyone is made to be an entrepreneur or can be an entrepreneur.

 help others build great businesses  be entrepreneurial while remaining in a system that supports them  spend considerable time building their capacity to be entrepreneurs Some are born to:

No one says you can’t be fulfilled or add value to society if you don’t own your own business or organisation

That being said, if you decide to be an entrepreneur, a few things you need to know:

 Cash  Character  Change

CASH  Creating a value that drives demand: For any entrepreneur, even the best business opportunities can fail. Ask yourself: ‘ am I creating a business idea/value that drives demand? ’ If people are liking your photos on Facebook, are they ready to pay for the product? Business is not just about what you want to do, but what can find a market. Passion is all well and good, but you must find where it connects to Need. Remem 1

CASH  It’s all about Cash flow: Business is essentially inflow over outflow. If it is not producing revenue and enough revenue to cover expenses, then we might not be able to call it a business. 2

CASH  Other people’s money/ other peoples resources : people are the most important when it comes to business. The first human resource you have is yourself. Do you have the vision, the personality, and the temperament to build your own business? The kind of person you are will attract people to you whether you pay them or you don’t. But it will be impossible to realise a business vision without people. If you are new, then you will need other people’s money and other people’s resources. You need to understand how to make people do things for you, because they believe in you. 3

CASH  Value for money : Even slush venture capital funds don’t mean you shouldn’t know how to squeeze out all the juice. Learn to get maximum value for minimum cash. 4

CHARACTER  Discipline : Yes you answer to no one but yourself, but that is in fact what makes it most difficult. Without anyone standing over your head and directing you, you must subdue your desires for the greater good of your business. 5

CHARACTER  You run your own race: An entrepreneur should know that he runs his own race. The only factor that should determine the action for moving into a business is your finances, clientele/market and your own vision. 6

CHARACTER  Save: The ability to keep aside either as a fall back plan or.. 7

CHARACTER  Don’t take no for an answer : In life you will face rejection. Rejection should be expected in life, more so in business. You should not allow yourself be treated down. You have no one but yourself. Every successful person faced a phase of rejection no matter the stage they are in life. The word impossible should be erased from the vocabulary of a potential entrepreneur. And the word “realistic” should be in capital letters in their mental dictionary. 8

CHARACTER  Focus : Remember MTN and the aeroplane promo; Iyanya and 3million caller tunes – understanding your market, zero in on it, forget the naysayers and critics. 9

CHARACTER  Mean what you say : You need to build a relationship of trust with your customers. All business centres on customers. But beyond that, you must have integrity with, investors, supporters, contractors etc. People should see you and your business as one they can count on. 11X11X11X11X

CHARACTER  Growth: Any growth is a process and it takes time. Not the ‘Turn by Turn Plc’ we believe in here where if you don’t succeed, people say ‘It is not your time’ – this means you shouldn’t get ahead of yourself, things get built over time. XI

CHANGE  Nigeria fights excellence and innovation: It is what it. We want to change our country, but for now it is one that fights the above, You can’t add ‘Nigerian factor’ to a business plan but you will deal with it. Before you decide to extend yourself ‘setting new standards’ find out why others failed. XII

CHANGE  Adapt or die: An entrepreneur’s primary duties include staying ahead of the times. The only thing constant in life is change. You can find yourself competition with ex-staff tomorrow; you could be a newspaper publisher competing with a blog. The HR space is changing – as young people have more opportunities. Access to funding too has changed. You must understand, and live dynamism, or you will fail, especially in a knowledge economy. XIII

CONCLUSION  The entrepreneur is an opportunist. His job is in finding opportunities and exploiting them.  A former boss used to tell me “Everybody is trying to use everybody else, but just know you are using them as much as they are using you” - might sound mercenary, but it is actually a wise saying that directs you to stop whining and look ahead of you.  An entrepreneur needs to have his feet firmly on the ground and his eyes focused firmly at the stars.  Build the ability to see the world as it is, as well as capacity to envision the world as it can be.

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