Its Time To Find Our Entrepreneurial Feet In Nigeria -By Micheal A Adeniyi

Paul E. Michael

Today entrepreneurship has gained a lot of respect, with people from diverse backgrounds breaking into the big picture. What has changed in the last 20 years is the belief that anybody can do business, provided he/she has the right idea. Till two decades back, school education was followed by a university degree and then a job with which the person stayed for the rest of his productive life but for how long can we continue with this unproductive system?

What is NYSC after Studies! Government should Just Pay graduates the stipends of service at once to startup a business as an entrepreneur instead of the N-power system that will continue to plung the nation into salary scaling system which haven’t been favouring us at all, Nigeria have started to borrow to pay workers salary since 2014, what a bad omen to our economy!. In Nigeria of today businesses seems to be meant only for people belonging to business families who would take forward the merchandise of their forefathers, and diversify it a bit. More and more people have developed the gut to explore their ideas and take the risk of venturing into a business avenue nevertheless but most of this people are lacking enough capital, entrepreneurs are the major source of Job creations in Developed Nations of the world.

What needs a change is the economic and social fabric of the country revolutionising the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In recent times, new versions of entrepreneurship have emerged aided by the transformative power of technology.

New policies towards encouraging micro or small businesses such as making loans easier for entrepreneur will totally change the face of entrepreneurship in Nigeria However, the slowing down of reform in recent years means we still need to cover a lot of distance when it comes to making Nigeria absolutely business friendly by offering right tax incentives, participation in Government contracts, availability of risk capital etc. The Electricity and Exchange rates crisis of our time have seen many old institutions and markets crumble, also there is a rise of new ideas and newer ways of doing things, well little thanks to the Federal Governments Aso-Demo programme targeted to boost entrepreneurship, but that is just by the way. This backfall has also in a way forced companies to do more with less, with reduced access to capital, innovation became the key. The realisation that too much investment in real estate or equity markets is not a good idea enabled newer ideas to emerge in Nigeria. With the Nigerian middle class becoming a voracious consumer of digital products, Nigeria has becoming one of the largest base of technology start-ups in the world. The growth of start-ups could be mainly accounted to the factors like large domestic market, increased M&A activity and access to capital through investor funding.

Nigeria start-ups are also growing following their unique solutions and business model. With young entrepreneurs dominating the market, most of the start-ups have gained a foothold following a strong consumer-centric approach with more vibrancy in the entrepreneurial ecosystem but start-ups today should have access to multiple sources of funding from venture capitalists, private equities, angel investors, banks and financial institutions as well as incubators. With start-ups getting high on the ecosystem, there must be a significant maturity observed in terms of funding. There must be a turnabout from when financing was debt-oriented, the participation of venture should grow in Nigeria. Today, segments such as travel, matrimonial services, jobs, games, mobile payments, etc., are getting capital infusion but in a infinitesimal way. The relaxed norms and introduction of new reforms by the Nigerian government will further encouraged the investors to park their money in Nigeria. This will fill the big lacuna in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Nigeria, which earlier discouraged many budding start-ups, the investors will now gained confidence on Nigeria caliber and will be ready to take the risk. While IT-related ventures continue to rule, start-ups in sectors like clean tech and renewable energy, retail, healthcare and education will see increased funding activity. Gone are the days when Nigerian businesses flourished under the shadow of international brands and names. With more mature ecosystem and ample opportunities, Nigerians today are not only launching their own brands but also marketing them in the international market under own brand names. With owning patents of many products, Nigerian entrepreneurship set sail to conquer not just the domestic but international market as well.
It is time to boost entrepreneur in Nigeria.

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