Business and Entrepreneurship

You don't expect Nigeria to come out of recession by wearing that clothes made in other countries when we have our Nigerian made. You don't expect jobs to be available for everyone when you prefer foreign made goods to Nigerian made. You don't expect farmers to keep farming when you import most of the same raw materials they produce. We even import most of the same food we readily produce. Let the next set of things/items you will use be made in Nigeria and we will be on our way to self reliance economically. Change indeed begins with me. Proudly Nigeria.

In as much as I advise SMEs and prospective entrepreneurs to look for grants to aid their business/productions, there is also a need to caution them from applying for every grants. Before applying for any grants, verify the organization issuing the grants. Many web designers today host many such websites to steal people's business ideas. I know many of us are currently subscribed to some websites alerting us about new grants. For the safety of your idea, don't just go through the link on that website, verify the information on Google or better still on the organization's website itself. Many of them end up selling off your idea for personal gains. One has to be security conscious in a country where patency and royalty are still something strange.

Until Nigeria has integrity of policies, our country cannot change!                                  - Benedict Okorie If we say we are banning the importation of any product into Nigeria. It should also come emphatically with duration, say 5 months, 1 year, 5 years or even 10 years. This should also be independent of political party at the helm of affairs. So if party A makes the policy to ban a product for a number of years and party B defeats party A in the general election, party B should also allow that ban until that number of years as pronounced by party A. That's integrity! Anyone willing to go into local production knows the number of years he/she has before the ban is lifted. You will realized that we would have had market leaders before the ban will be lifted. Another aspect of policy I will like government to look...

Over the years, I have tried applying for grants to start up my company. I noticed that I was never shortlisted even though I have somewhat good business. My friends that have already started, however, do get shortlisted. I also observed that some of the questions usually asked includes 'how much have you spent on the business?' ' upload a picture or video of what you are doing' 'list your major competition' among others. The reason behind these questions is majorly to distinguish between those who having started had gained experience from their involvement and those still assuming. Though with a good business plan, you could also win grants but most winners have started something. It's generally believed that those who have started will invest the grants into their businesses while there is a high tendency that those who haven't started can divert the fund. There is also the aspect of managing the funds, it is believed that those who have started have...