While I was at the panel of the 2019 annual conference of the Institute of Strategic Management of Nigeria (ISMN), I was asked to address how integrity can assure the growth of entreprneurs in Nigeria.

I first clarified the fact that no entrepreneur can grow or expand without integrity. Nobody will want to do business with you without integrity.

It takes integrity to write a business plan to secure a fund (equity, debt or grant) and you appropriate the fund as detailed in your business plan.

It takes integrity not to compromise your quality or measure.

It takes integrity to secure a loan and you don’t divert the fund.

It takes integrity to collect money from your customer and you deliver as expected.

I made it crystal clear that integrity is a veritable tool needed for every entrepreneurs to succeed. You as an entrepreneur need to build creativity and track record that people that vouch for and be willing to do business with you either as an investor, customer or supplier.

Although, I didn’t mention this on the platform yesterday, but it takes integrity for you to maintain and retain your employees. A business that has integrity issues with the employee will be unstable because of the high rate of employee turnover.

On the other hand, I was able to then bring it to the system at large. I made it clear that as much as the entreprneurs have high integrity to deliver as promised, we need the ecosystem to also have integrity in dealing with entrepreneurs.

It takes integrity for a bank to tell you that your loan is 15% interest rate per annum all inclusive and you were not hidden charged.

It takes integrity for government to promise entrepreneurs power, infrastructure, transport and other enabling environment to operate a successful business and they deliver as promised.

No matter how high an entreprneurs seems to be rated in doing business, if the system is not holistically operated with integrity the aspired success may not be guaranteed.

Above all, if we truly want to make entrepreneurship a weapon to achieve the envisioned Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017-2020) in Nigeria, which was proposed in the document to ensure efficiency of the public and private sector, the government must operate with high level of integrity.

You can’t be telling us that you want us to be efficient and I have to keep using a power source that was supposed to be alternative source of energy to be my main source of running my Factory.

You can’t be telling us that you want the private sector to be efficient and you are not concern about my productivity and profitability.

You can’t telling us in a strategic document called ERGP -2020 that you want the public and private sector to be efficient and you ain’t bother to know if truly I am securing fund at a rate that is higher that my Internal Ate of Return (IRR).

So many things I do have to say, but no much time, but on this platform I want to appreciate the national planning committee of the ISMN for giving me this platform to share my view of the above and I hope the communique that will come after all will be giving attention by the government.

We will keep lending our voices in our own little way, until the situation is being addressed holistically.

Thank you and do have a blessed weekend.

Yours

Tope AMUJO

Founder, amuGOLD HELPERS FOUNDATION