Mentorship helps young businesses avoid common pitfalls – Ajibewa

In this interview with EDIDIONG IKPOTO, a business coach and founder and CEO of Win or Win Consults, Temi Ajibewa speaks on the common challenges faced by young, up-and-coming entrepreneurs

As a business coach, in what areas do you identify the most promising business opportunities considering the state of the Nigerian economy?

There is no hard and fast rule to this. It depends on the individual’s skill sets, strengths and the opportunities available to them. However, I would recommend that four things should guide you in choosing a business opportunity or one that you consider promising.

The first one is, any product or service that is used daily is a promising business opportunity. I am talking about things that people use daily. We eat daily, we transport daily, we bathe daily, we dress up daily; fashion, food, transportation, health. Business in those areas would be a good opportunity.

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But again, it would depend on if you have the skill sets, and the required structure and system to carry it out or to thrive on it. That is the first criterion you want to consider.

The next one you want to consider is if it is digital. Digital means that you do not necessarily need to have physical products to sell. So, if you can sell your services online, or blend people ordering for your services online with your physical product, that is a good blend. Perhaps you are a graphic designer, you are a web designer, a digital marketer, you are a social media manager, a coach or a consultant and you can deliver your services online, digital business opportunity is a great opportunity for one to explore. That is the second criterion.

The third one is the scalability of your services. Right now, most businesses will pass the first two tests, but they will fail the scalability test. Scalability means — can the business still be profitable? And can it still be deliverable?

How much of a role would you say mentorship plays in business success?

Mentorship plays a huge role because mentors give you the psychological permission to be more, to do more. They show you what is possible. Mentors are people who have done what you want to do. They are people who have lived in your future. A Chinese proverb says that if you want to go fast in life, go alone. If you want to go far in life, go with people. However, I say if you want to go far and fast, go with people who have been where you want to go. Mentorship is important because mentors will show you what is possible, how they did it, and it will help you to avoid the mistakes that they have made, or seen other people make. They shorten the process for you.

What would you say is the biggest impediment or challenge inhibiting young people from exploring business entrepreneurship opportunities in Nigeria?

I am going to answer this question in two areas. What is stopping them primarily would be access to resources, and not just money as capital but access to even ideas. Most young people are clueless. And why? Because they don’t study, they don’t read. They are not imaginative, they are just lazy. Lazy to read, study and attend seminars. When you say one conference is happening and it is paid for, they shut down from it. When it is even free, you beg them to attend. So, they are not open to ideas. And then there is a lack of mentorship, nobody is really showing us.

The challenges include a lack of ideas, lack of cash, capital, infrastructure, there is no power, and no good internet. They form the challenge that inhibits young people from exploring business opportunities.

The other side of this question I want to answer is that entrepreneurship is not what anyone should even rush into. But it is unfortunate that because of lack of employment, young people find themselves just becoming CEOs at a very young age. I began my business officially when I was 19 years old. I had a business registered with CAC, I began with a laundry business, and I did fashion items, a cyber cafe.  I did all sorts but under normal circumstances, I had no business starting a business that early without having gone through a proper job where I would have been orientated into organisational skills, social skills, work ethics, and so on. These days, I always encourage young people to please stay on a job for at least three years. Learn on the job, grow yourself, serve your boss and just be a good person. Develop your social skills with your colleagues, get people to mentor you on the job. All those things are very important for young people.

There have been various calls by many quarters of society for women to be allowed greater participation in entrepreneurship. Is it a question of inequality or lack of motivation on the part of many women in society today?

I would say it is a mix of both because at this time, women are not presented the same opportunities as their male counterparts, even when they show that they are fully capable of doing the job.

Even when they show all the potential and everything but you know, we live in a heavily patriarchal society. And at the risk of sounding as though I am not pro-women, I think most men just want to care for women around them, and they end up choking these women. They want to preserve them, care for them, provide and they end up not creating an enabling environment for the women to thrive.

So yes, it is a mix of inequality that men met out against women. And some will even tell you that they are sorry and they cannot give you the job because in a few months now, you ask for maternity leave, unlike a man who will not ask for such. Women are also forced to stay back at home after having children because the organisation does not have adequate resources to take care of the children.

So, women have to stay at home, and nurse the children for a year or two. Then lack of motivation sets in and they don’t feel inspired anymore.

Many Nigerian startups struggle with regard to securing funding for takeoff, in what ways do you think they can sail through this challenge?

It is unfortunate, we just need to bootstrap most time. Work on a job to raise money, leverage on trust that you that people have for you, leverage with family members to raise funds. And then as your business grows, maintain an official bank account, so they can approach your bank later on for a loan.

But in the meantime, try to bootstrap, do it on your own to grow. I work with a lot of businesses. And I see that one thing that also stops them from accessing funds is that they have not been keeping their books, So, they mix their private money with their personal money. They don’t keep clean records, they cannot track their daily sales, their profits, their expenses, the whole thing is mixed together, it is not stable and defined.

This can be a total put-off to banks or whoever wants to give you facility. So, keep your records clean, work on your business plan very well, your business plan is a living document. So, don’t just write it once and dump it, always update it with new data that you are gathering. That is exactly how I recommend that you fund your startup. You can also write to angel investors, pitch your ideas to angel investors, do your homework, and honestly, you can be lucky enough to get it.