I once had someone phone me up (in 2002, my first year in business), requesting that I come down to Falomo on Victoria Island from my Gbagada base, in Lagos (more than 30 minute drive on a good day) saying my services were needed. I got there to find that I was only being mocked! The person was nowhere to be found, after two hours, and her husband kept sending me around in circles, smiling impishly all the while!
She did this twice before I caught on to it, and stopped responding.
That same woman called me up many times afterwards, over the following months, to mock me on phone. She would ask questions like “How is business now?” while intermittently erupting into loud laughter.
What did I do to deserve this treatment? Well, I had one time in the past gone to their company to attend a Visual Basic training (which I paid for!), and during the 3 month period, we’d had discussions that touched on how I left paid employment to become an entrepreneur. And I had told them the big plans I had. That was all!
I have since survived the “jungle” that is the world of entrepreneuring in Nigeria for over a decade – before moving to Benin Republic.
Based on my experiences up till date, I have come to the firm conclusion that the definition of a "Nigerian entrepreneur", will not differ much from that of those in other parts of the world – especially America.
And here’s how I would define an entrepreneur, based on my extensive studies and personal experiences:
"A strong-willed, independent minded individual who ultimately achieves financial success and social recognition, by delivering innovative products/services, and/or developing a new way of doing things, that IMPROVES the lives of others. Most times, such persons will have started out with little or nothing. And in cases when s/he may have started out with a lot, s/he will most likely have lost it all and had to start all over before finding success.
Most times, such a true entrepreneur, would have had to depend on nothing more than his/her idea, and an unquenchable thirst to make it work. This is why entrepreneurs have been described in certain quarters as people who create something new out of nothing – taking risks that threaten their very survival, but overcoming all odds via persistence, to do what most would have considered previously impossible."
But Nigerian Entrepreneurs Often Have to Contend With Additional Obstacles Those in Other Climes Rarely See…
Examples include absence of support systems (e.g. social welfare/security systems) that entitle you to some base income/unemployment benefit as obtains for an American for instance.
They can provide a valuable cushion effect. Entrepreneurs in Nigeria get NO such thing.
You simply have to sort yourself out. Having said that, I believe that obtains across most of the African continent – to be fair.
But I will add that from living here in Benin Republic, I know things are significantly less challenging – especially as it relates to feeding.
Food is dirt cheap here, and if you’re not lazy what you earn from doing a few odd jobs will keep you going. And there is constant power supply, which has a multiplier effect of keeping costs of products and services low, since people do not have to generate their own electricity.
In Nigeria, too many things not in place make living costs very high. Entrepreneurs have to run expensive petrol/diesel powered generators to keep their businesses going.
So people find they often in danger of running out of money. And that make "hustling" imperative!
Imagine the dilemma, then, of the entrepreneur yet to achieve stable income!
Another factor is the prevalence of “malicious detractors” who go out of their way to make you fail.
It’s not a pleasant subject I know. But that does not make it less worthy of discussion.
Especially as I have seen it happen just too often!
The crabs in a bucket analogy applies here.
I have seen people try to pull another down (including yours truly), for reasons as petty as ensuring you do not invalidate their alibis for failing to start their own businesses, by succeeding in your chosen endeavour.
Others are actually people who have been in business before you – who may want you to pay them homage. When you don’t they take offence.
I do not exaggerate here.
I had that kind of experience many times when I was starting up (before I learnt how to protect myself)…
That I survived and am going strong today, I believe, is due to my resilience.
As well as the fact that I had other alternative arrangements put in place that kept me going despite the efforts made by certain persons to sabotage me.
And of course, I always kept an unshakeable faith in the Creator, to protect me.
A good example is the short story I began this article with. But let me assure you that it’s actually one of the milder cases I have personally experienced.
During my talks on this theme, my audiences will be regaled with more shocking accounts…
The true stories I will share will illustrate, in graphic terms, just how potentially traumatizing it can be, to function as an entrepreneur in Nigeria.
Especially when you are new in the game, have no connections and lack funds (as was the case with me!).
Not surprisingly, NONE of the books that I have read on entrepreneurship, written by foreign authors (especially those from developed societies) have ever given this aspect much – if at all any – attention.
Yet it remains a reality that can STOP you from succeeding, even if you have all the competence of a world class entrepreneur.
Even the BBC recently published an article (authored by a Nigerian journalist working for them) about what I’m saying here.
And the example of NEXT newspapers, run by a Pulitzer prize winning Nigerian born journalist, who tried to apply best practice independent journalism in the Nigerian market was mentioned.
He failed. Woefully. But not due to incompetence….!
Instead, he failed because his adopted approach of journalism with integrity, and objectivity, put off those who had funds to advertise in the paper. So they froze him out – influencing others to toe their line of NOT advertising in NEXT newspapers.
So, without money coming in, the NEXT newspaper, despite aspiring to world class standards, died.
[Read the BBC article, for a real life account of what led to the paper’s demise, and how a Nigerian BIG man predicted it!]
Some people shy away from writing things like this because they do not want to raise “dust” or rub readers the wrong way.
I believe that by forewarning persons who plan to do what I am doing, I can give them a better chance of surviving the rough terrain they have to travel to entrepreneurial success in Nigeria.
You see, there are certain people who are unwilling to do what it takes to achieve entrepreneurial success/significance with honesty and integrity.
Yet they will not let others who are ready do so!!
And this is why I believe, strongly too, that a true (read: honest, authentic, non-corner cutting) Entrepreneur in Nigeria, will (apart from doing all that I mentioned in the definition given earlier) must develop a gut-level instinct for self-preservation.
That instinct that will enable him/her successfully evade the many attempts that will be made to frustrate him/her – via the Nigerian Factor.
It was what drove ME to exploit my multipreneurial aptitude to generate multiple income streams – making it difficult for those who tried, to stop me.
And that is what keeps me going today.
I earn income via both active and passive streams, from a growing variety of channels and activities. And I LOVE doing what I do, the way I do it!
RELATED ARTICLES/USEFUL READING
1. BBC News – Letter from Africa: Doing Business in Nigeria
2. Pulitzer winner’s Nigeria newspaper 234NEXT stops printing
