Nigeria leads the African continent in population, and probably in
sheer numbers of entrepreneurs as well, but does it lead the continent in
innovative dreams? Put more succinctly, has it the capacity to carve a niche
for her-self in the world of innovation? Dreams power innovation, and
innovation is key to all of our futures, but who’s dreaming on Nigeria’s
behalf? Lately, we’ve heard a lot about President Goodluck Jonathan’s
birth child; the YOU WIN program, which is part of his “Transformation Agenda,”
which, can be summed to mean “building a moderately prosperous society and
realize national rejuvenation.” But this is a sweeping nation-building dream,
not the sort of dream that we would expect most Nigerian entrepreneurs to be
dreaming about. So, where are those innovation dreams coming from and
what are they like?
We live in a time when many of the great entrepreneurs are
associated with dramatic dreams. Google’s Larry Page and Eric Schmidt are
investors in Planetary Resources, devoted to Asteroid mining. Richard Branson,
who is also a Planetary Resources investor, is already selling tickets for
space-travel on Virgin Galactic’s commercial spacecraft that sees a potential
space tourist parting with a princely sum of two hundred thousand dollars - an
equivalent of almost thirty-two million Naira. He’s competing with the dreams
of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Musk, who is also
seeking to disrupt the conventional automobile industry with his dreams for the
Tesla electric vehicle, has had his companies (and their associated dreams)
characterized by entrepreneur Peter Theil, with whom he co-founded PayPal, as:
“… executing against a vision measured not in years but in decades.”
The same could well be said of Bill Gates, who has left mere
connectivity behind in his quest to eradicate major human diseases. He
currently sits at the fore front of eradicating polio in Nigeria and other
nations, such Pakistan, India etc., where the disease has defied total
annihilation. What all of these entrepreneurs have in common is that they
are dreaming big — much bigger than the rest of us. So what about Nigeria?
Is it possible to name ten Nigerian entrepreneurs who you think
dream dreams big enough to be likely to build the future? Can you name
five? It would be a struggle, so the question now remains; can Nigerians take
cue from these role models to kick start their entrepreneurship drive? The
Federal Government and the National Assembly has advised that the economy be
patterned towards developing entrepreneurs to tackle the growing unemployment
rate, and that berthed the” You Win program.” But the Nigerian youths are still
“feet-dragging,” to take up the opportunities offered, while 90% of those who
have applied for the scheme had their business ideas turned down by the panel,
because it lacks originality, inadequate knowledge and capacity to carryout the
proposed business, and/or does not conform to the economic plan of the nation.
The reason for the stall is not far fetched, because the countless
would-be entrepreneurs are still looking for that light-bulb moment to begin
their quest for fulfilling work, to take on an independent agenda, and the
potentially life-changing financial outcome that the start-up promises. To
inspire the idealess here are the top five sources of start-up ideas:
A. Don’t
Hide the Pain – You might have experienced a pain at a point in your life and
wanted to solve it. By far the most popular source of ideas among successful
entrepreneurs was a frustration that they experienced in their personal life.
Ever wonder how much your own problems might be worth?
B. Befriend
a Talent – If you’re interested in starting a company, look at those around
you, specifically at your workplace or school. Others have cautioned against
starting companies with business school friends as a strategy for eventual
success, but the data care to differ. Most successful companies began as a
result of two or more talents forming an alliance. Close proximity of
like-minded individuals seems to be a key catalyst for surfacing new ideas. See
the Facebook, Twitter and GTB stories.
C. Skill
or Passion – Have a special skill or passion, and I turned it into a business. Spend
an hour conducting written personal skills and passion inventory, and your next
idea might be staring back at you. Be intensely self-aware and looked for
innovative ways to turn your work experience and hobbies into full-fledged
businesses.
D. Look
for that Customer Need – If you have been working in an industry for a long time,
try and chronicle that recurring customer need. If you think your years slaving
away at a corporate job will amount to nothing, think again? If you use the
experience to think hard about your customer’s unmet needs, you might be on the
road to riches. Most successful entrepreneurs have previously worked in or
around an industry for many years before starting a company directly related to
that industry.
E. Research,
Research and More Research – Research on many ideas as possible and eventually
narrowed it down to one. Savvy individuals are leveraging new sources of
information, such as Quora and Hacker News, to conduct “top-down” research and
use a data-driven process of elimination to arrive at a single business idea.
Many were also very sophisticated in tracking proven business models and
companies, with the goal of identifying breakout hits and applying them to new
geographies.
So what does this mean for your inner entrepreneur-spirit looking to
hit it big? If you’re stuck pining to start, stop. Instead, extract start-up
ideas from the fertile sources around you, and begin conducting small
experiments to validate your hypotheses. Keep your head down and your momentum
up, and with a little luck, you might just be onto the next big thing.
Follow me on twitter @IykeDexter
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