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6 Mistakes Every Entrepreneur Should Avoid

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Becoming a successful entrepreneur in a business terrain such as Nigeria is a venture fraught with peculiar challenges.
Considering the many little details that naturally go into setting up a business and nurturing it to a path of profitability and sustainability, many entrepreneurs can be forgiven for getting lost along the way.
However, ask any successful entrepreneur and you will discover that mistakes are a luxury an entrepreneur cannot afford.
These useful tips from the Research and Development Unit of Yudala – Nigeria’s pioneer online and offline e-commerce outfit –  will guide you from making these costly mistakes that may mar your entrepreneurial journey.

Thinking you can do it all alone
As an entrepreneur, it is understandable to think that no one can sell your idea or product better or more passionately than yourself.
While this mindset may serve you well at the outset, this may significantly hamper your speed or lead to mental and physical fatigue/burnout, especially as you scale up.
Even if your Intelligence Quotient (IQ) rivals that of Albert Einstein, you will benefit from relying on the expertise and input of other knowledgeable hands, employees, consultants or partners. These reliable external influences can help provide the much-needed new perspective or fresh strategy that will help take your business to the next level.
This is also important for entrepreneurs who, out of force of habit, get stuck in a particular way of doing things simply because it works, without realizing that there might be a smarter, more efficient way to achieve better results.

Refusal to take pains before pleasure
This is a flaw that is predominantly rife among the new generation of entrepreneurs. Many have had their sterling entrepreneurial dreams cut short simply because they were not ready to start small and take pains before pleasure.
Entrepreneurship is a difficult, arduous journey; one that certainly requires steely discipline and in most cases, gradual growth.
Sadly, it is common these days to see many budding entrepreneurs embrace a flamboyant lifestyle at the first signs of success. If you choose to buy that expensive car or fly Business Class from the moment you close your first big deal, you may be making a mistake that could truncate your success.
For long-term and sustainable success, every entrepreneur must be ready to take the business through a structured incubation period in order to survive in a highly competitive knowledge-driven economy. This demands not only moral and financial discipline but a determination to make huge sacrifices.

Not allowing technology lead
 The world has gone digital. In fact, we are approaching the Fourth Industrial Revolution, also described as Industry 4.0: an age in which a range of new technologies are expectedly fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds in addition to impacting all disciplines, economies and industries.
This is an age marked by emerging technology breakthroughs in a number of fields, including robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, quantum computing, biotechnology, The Internet of Things, 3D printing and autonomous vehicles.
Whatever the nature of your business, you will be struggling against an overwhelming tide if your business is not technology-driven.
The 21st Century entrepreneur is one that is not only technology-smart but willing to continually find new ways to automate his business.  You definitely cannot keep up with competition if you don’t make the most of technology.
With the growing utility of the smartphone and other tech-gadgets, a number of opportunities have emerged, presenting refreshingly new ways for consuming goods and services. For smart entrepreneurs, these technology-enabled platforms also lower business costs and the barriers to create and sustain wealth.

Allowing sentiments cloud business decisions:
Sentiments or emotions have no place in business. The best and most successful entrepreneurs all have one thing in common: they are renowned for their bloody-mindedness when it comes to taking business decisions. 
The ability to make effective business decisions is one that could spell the difference between brilliant success and dismal failure for every entrepreneur.
This is especially considering the fact that, as a business leader, you are bound to make loads of decisions every day that have a direct impact on your business, employees, customers or the marketplace.
These include hiring or manpower requirements as your success heavily depends on the competence of your employees; expansion plans, operational or financial decisions. Such sensitive decisions are best treated as they ought to: from the perspective of its impact and benefit to the business.

Poor marketing
Even if you operate in a niche market, the peculiarities of contemporary society and fickle attention span of potential consumers means that you must properly market your product, solution or idea for it to get accepted.
Unconsciously, many new entrepreneurs often make this mistake of erroneously believing that their products/ideas are so novel or unique that they can get away with a meagre effort at marketing.
For these ones, it is worth restating that the days of the maxim: “If you build it, they will come,” seems to be long gone. If you desire success as an entrepreneur, then you must admit the fact that your business must effectively invest in marketing. In addition to the word of mouth/free referrals that will come from constantly delivering great service, your business stands a better chance if you work out efficient marketing strategies that will necessarily accommodate content marketing, digital marketing, point-of-sales, promotional marketing, SEO, PR and paid advertising, among others.

Underestimating the importance of customer service
It is easy for entrepreneurs to forget one of the major reasons they remain in business: the customer. This mistake often creeps in when a business begins to acquire more patrons and success seems more within reach.
That is when the tendency to treat customers with levity begins to rear its ugly head, often with dire consequences for the unsuspecting business owner.
With access to the internet on the rise and social media coming to play a more important role in the swift dissemination of news and other information, you will be making a grave mistake underestimating the importance of keeping the least customer happy.
Your business can quickly go from being the darling of your patrons to trending on social media for the wrong reasons. Instructively, the vituperations of a disgruntled customer can erode months of goodwill you have built up.
Also, you must bear in mind that negative news spreads faster than good news. To avoid this pitfall, it is important to ensure that the channels of communication with the customer are kept open.
Feedback is essential and you can ask your customers to provide these through your interactions with them. This way, you can keep your fingers on the pulse of the customer, identify areas of weaknesses and understand the customer’s expectations.


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AXA Mansard Empowers Female SMEs with Financial, Digital Skills

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AXA Mansard, a member of AXA has empowered 200 female Small and Medium Enterprises with financial literacy and digital business skills.

In collaboration with SME 100 Africa, the two-day training, which was held in Lagos, is part of AXA’s lined-up programmes to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day.

Speaking, Olusesan Ogunyooye, Head of Marketing AXA Mansard, said the training was aimed to empower female SME owners with skills to improve business output and position them for the increasing economic opportunities available in an increasingly digital marketplace.

Ogunyooye noted that the move was in line with AXA Mansard’s sustainability agenda, explaining that the company was convinced that support for women through its inclusive protection programmes was pivotal to its purpose of acting for human progress by protecting what matters and its mission of moving from being a payer to a partner.

He further said that focusing on digital skills was important because the company realised the importance of digital skills to the growth of the SME sector in Nigeria and wants to ensure that women were empowered enough to be a consequential part of that growth.

“It’s almost trite to say that SMEs are the engine for economic growth, especially in developing countries like Nigeria, where over 45 million adults are business owners. What needs to be continually discussed is how Nigeria is going to unlock that potential for economic development and how much of that potential will be unlocked by women and for women.”

“For us at AXA Mansard, we are aware that digital will play a major role in unlocking these current opportunities and Nigeria’s economic future. So, to ensure that women are equally represented in unlocking these future potentials, that’s why we have collaborated with SME 100 Africa to support them in developing the required skills”.

“Our choice of digital and financial literacy skills is deliberate. We understand the power of the duo. We understand that helping these SMEs with the skills to attract more customers will be a faster means to empower them.

“We see that they have amazing products and services, but they need to understand how to attract value for themselves by attracting the right customers, and you will agree with me that virtually all customer segments are online in one way or another today.

“So, if we can empower them with digital business skills, we would have helped them with the heavy lifting of trying to find and attract customers”. Ogunyooye explained.

According to him, AXA Mansard believes that for the world to experience progress truly, there must be an equitable distribution of creation and access to opportunities for men and women. This quest for balance informed the SHE for Shield initiative, a women-centred inclusive protection programme of AXA Mansard.

SHE for Shield is a group of initiatives designed for the Nigerian woman. The goal is to see them grow, add value, and help them mitigate risks at every step.

According to the company, research has found that access to health care is one of the most important things to Nigerian women, regardless of their economic segment. They desire to be financially independent, secure, and respected in the community.

 


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IFC Invests in New 4DX Ventures Fund to Support Tech Startups in Africa

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IFC is investing $10.5 million in a new fund by 4DX Ventures, a New York-based venture capital firm focused on supporting early-stage African technology companies across a broad set of sectors, including fintech, e-commerce, edtech, climate tech, and health tech.

IFC’s investment in 4DX Ventures Fund III will come from IFC’s $225 million venture capital platform, which was launched last year to strengthen emerging VC ecosystems and invest in early-stage companies in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Pakistan.

Africa is among the regions least served by venture capital, receiving just 2% of global venture deal volume in the third quarter of 2023. Access to capital on the continent has been further exacerbated by a slowdown in global venture capital investment.

Tech ecosystems are nascent, or even nonexistent, outside of more established markets such as Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa.

“IFC and 4DX Ventures share the commitment to supporting tech entrepreneurs with innovations that will help Africa leapfrog in critical areas such as climate, health care, fintech, e-commerce, and education,” said Walter Baddoo, Co-Founder and General Partner of 4DX Ventures.

“We look forward to partnering with IFC to help promising tech startups build transformative businesses and realize sustainable development impact on the continent.”

4DX’s new fund will invest in companies with tech solutions that can improve productivity, efficiency and competitiveness across Africa. The firm’s first two funds invested in companies such as Egypt-based e-commerce platform MaxAB, an IFC portfolio company; Ghana-based health tech firm mPharma; and Kenya-based B2B e-commerce platform Wasoko, formerly known as Sokowatch.

“By supporting the development of tech ecosystems in emerging markets, IFC’s venture capital platform aims to improve access to key services, boost business competitiveness, and promote job creation through digital transformation,” said Mohamed Gouled, Vice President of Industries at IFC.

“Our investment in venture funds such as 4DX Ventures will help African entrepreneurs access more financing and resources they need to scale tech innovations and bolster sustainable growth across the continent.

In addition to providing capital, IFC will work with 4DX Ventures to implement their environmental and social management system.


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Climate Action Africa Announces CAAF24

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Climate Action Africa (CAA) has announced the inaugural convening of the Climate Action Africa Forum (CAAF24). This international event brings together stakeholders from across the world who drive thought leadership insights on how to encourage collaboration, catalyse actionable solutions, and urge governments, businesses, and individuals to invest in climate-smart initiatives.

The climate-focused event was announced at last week’s Friday international press conference held at the prestigious Transcorp Hilton Abuja. This marks a significant milestone in Africa’s journey towards a sustainable future. A precursor to the upcoming Climate Action Africa Forum scheduled for June 17-19, 2024, at the Landmark Events Centre in Lagos, Nigeria, this press conference brought together leaders, experts, and stakeholders from across the globe. The gathering’s main goal was to discuss the urgent need for sustainable development plans and climate-smart investments in Africa.

Framed by the theme “Green Economies, Brighter Futures: Innovating and Investing in Africa’s Climate-Smart Development,” the international press conference became a vibrant platform for insightful discussions, strategic collaborations, and impactful engagements. It convened an esteemed gathering of leaders, experts, and stakeholders to explore solutions for Africa’s pressing environmental challenges.

The event kicked off with a welcome address by the Executive Director and Co-founder of Climate Action Africa, Grace Mbah, who having announced the commencement of event registration as April 2nd, 2024, made the call for tech-driven solutions and innovations in the fields of emissions reduction, transportation, agriculture, energy, circularity and building and construction to apply to participate in the deal room.

Providing insights to attendees on how innovative approaches and collaborative action is at the heart of CAAF24, she extended an opportunity to like minded organisations who would like to partner by hosting side events and finally, a call for volunteers from across the continent.

“It’s no news that the world stands at a critical juncture, where decisive action is imperative to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change. Against this backdrop, CAAF24 serves as a pivotal platform for key stakeholders to engage in meaningful discourse, and forge collaborative pathways towards a greener, more sustainable future.

The essence of CAAF lies in its commitment to shaping a climate-resilient Africa through co-creation, innovation, and sustainable investment. Through this initiative, we aim to catalyse solutions that enhance the sustainability and prosperity of the continent’s natural resources, people, and economies,” Grace stated.

During the International Press Conference, distinguished speakers and thought leaders emphasised the urgent need for collective action in tackling Africa’s climate challenges.

They delved into critical topics like renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and climate finance, offering practical insights and inspiring initiatives.

Jummai Vandu, representing the National Council on Climate Change, expressed optimism about the initiative’s outcomes. “Today’s discussions,” she said, “underscore the urgency of our collective efforts to combat climate change. The National Council believes working together is key to driving meaningful action and creating a more sustainable future for Africa and beyond.”

With the International Press Conference complete, the stage is set for CAAF24. Stakeholders will converge to translate ideas into action, forge partnerships, and drive progress towards a climate-smart Africa.

Mrs. Taiwo Fashipe, Head of Media for the Presidential CNG Initiative (P-CNGi), echoed similar sentiments, stating: “The theme of this year’s Climate Action Africa Forum aligns with our goals, vision, and mission at the Presidential CNG Initiative.

“We look forward to using this platform to advance interest in and investment in greener and cleaner energy sources like CNG.”

Standing at a crucial juncture in Africa’s quest for sustainable development, CAAF24, convened by Climate Action Africa in partnership with the National Council on Climate Change, Channels Media Group, and Founder Institute, emerges as a beacon.

It brings together the private and public sectors, guiding the continent towards a future marked by resilience, prosperity, and environmental stewardship.

 


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