Participants at a recent MTN Nigeria’s Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme, YEDP, brainstormed for 48 hours, on business plans and strategy.
A set of twins who want to be agri-tech entrepreneurs – Moses Taiwo Ajireloja and Joseph Kehinde Ajireloja – were among the set of budding young entrepreneurs looking forward to becoming the next millionaires in the country.
The judges had a hard time with the participants but here are five tips learnt from the event about business success and making money in Nigeria.
1. Create the idea you love and can go to battle for: Find a space in what you are good in and champion it! Start with an idea that you can fight for with your ‘chest’!
2. Train yourself: Get some business management skills training so you can understand the rudiments of business, competition and how to make returns. It’s essential!
3. Get a mentor: Don’t laugh at it, till you understand what the judges mean. A success story can inspire you and a mentor can be instrumental in showing you their mistakes and how they created their successes. Learn from the past.
4. Create a plan: Devise a business plan that is actionable. Make projections, and don’t be shy about the future.
5. Go for it! Do everything you can to achieve what your mind has birthed. Be smart. Think fast, think far and surround yourself with people that have the same hunger as you do.