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    It was Isaac Newton that rightly stated that “if you want to see higher, stand on the shoulders of giants.” This aphorism is true, especially in the business world. At one point, successful and wealthy entrepreneurs have traced their successes to mentors and role models. 
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Being an entrepreneur in Nigeria is three times harder compared to other climes. Problems associated with infrastructural deficiency to unstable policies and poorly educated workforce, make doing business in Nigeria a struggle. However, despite the seeming drawbacks, Nigeria is a big market, and the number of powerful entrepreneurs and successful business people it has produced attest to its blessings. To boast further, the richest black man and the richest woman are Nigerians. Nigeria is no doubt the home of leading businessmen and women on the continent of Africa, and there are a lot of business secrets young entrepreneurs can learn from them. The life and business of iconic businesspeople in Nigeria has a lot to teach young entrepreneurs. In this article, I select five successful business people who shared the secrets to their success in the business world.
  • “Build Your Business On Strong Vision And Values” – Dr Ibukun Awosika
The entrepreneurial magnate and former Chairman First Bank Nigeria Limited, Mrs Ibukun Awosika in a speech during the 254th anniversary of Red Star Express Plc held October in Lagos, identified strict adherence to vision and core values to be the secret to attaining sustainable business growth. According to Awosika, successful businesses thrive on values and visions. When businesses are built on visions and values, they become sustainable. She stated that business owners should occasionally visit the company’s values and visions to ensure that they are still on track.  According to her, the business’s ethics should not be compromised either, if a high level of integrity is to be achieved. Awosika who has thousands of people in her employ had this to say:  “You must understand that you are not indispensable to your business because you are not God. You are not the most important person in your business, the guys who work for you are as important as well. You must learn to respect them and the value they bring into your business. You can’t pay them peanuts and pay yourself all the money”.
  • “Entrepreneurship Is A Long-term Journey” – Tony Elumelu 
Tony Elumelu is one of the biggest names in the banking and business sectors in Nigeria. He is an economist by training, a visionary entrepreneur and a philanthropist. He’s the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa, Transcorp and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation. Tony Elumelu serves as a mentor and financer of thousands of businesses across Africa. His advice has always been anchored on long-term growth, when it comes to business. For those who believe entrepreneurship is a short-term and instant gratification endeavour, according to Elumelu, entrepreneurship, is a long term journey. Therefore, only those who have a long-term vision for their business will succeed. In his words, entrepreneurs should: “Stop seeing it [entrepreneurship] as a short term journey. Great entrepreneurs or companies didn’t build their businesses overnight. It’s a long term journey. So dare to dream, implement your dream and stay focused.”
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  • “A Successful Business Is Anchored On Strong Financial Management” – Cosmas Maduka 
Cosmas Maduka is a household name when it comes to doing business in Nigeria. He is a Nigerian businessman and philanthropist, the Founder, President and Chairman of the Coscharis Group. Maduka is known for his strict rules and discipline. A no-nonsense businessman, Maduka is not among those who flagrantly display their wealth despite being celebrated by Forbes as one of the richest men in Africa. Also as a devout Christian, Maduka over decades has gone across the world sharing the gospel and has occasionally taught people how to do business as a Christian. Maduka has attributed his success to strong financial management. According to him,  “… one of the secrets of the kingdom that Jesus brought is about management. The difference between a garden and a bush is that you organise the garden… If a young man comes to me today and says he wants to enter the ministry and what he should study between geology and financial management, I will tell him to go and study financial management because you don’t learn God in school… The first discipline you learn is how to manage resources because resources are not plenty in supply.”
  • “Learn The Art Of Negotiation” – Jim Ovia
When Jim applied for a banking license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 1990, the standing rule was that applicants must have 20 years of banking experience to qualify for a license. Jim had only 10 years of banking experience at that time. He was, however, able to convince the  CBN team to grant the license by informing them that his 10 years of experience were in top-rated banks (subsidiaries of American banks), known for their high-quality training and structure and that he was eminently qualified to run a bank. He made a compelling argument and negotiated well. He was granted the license.
  • “Have A Business Configuration” – Leo Stanley Ekeh
Popularly known as Leo Stan Ekeh, he is known to have spearheaded the creation of the following companies: Technology Distribution Limited, Task Systems Limited, Zinox Technologies, Buyright Africa Dotcom Limited, Task Direct Limited, ITEC Solutions. Task Systems was his first startup,  It is the first company in Nigeria to venture into desktop publishing and computer graphics. Leo is known as tech-savvy despite being in his sixties, something very unusual in Nigeria. From the look of things, Leo must have known what he wanted from a very young age. One of the secrets he has often shared with young entrepreneurs is having a business configuration. Having a business configuration simply means what makes up the entrepreneur. It includes his business mentality and worldview. To him,  “… the configuration of successful entrepreneurship should cover the following; Common sense, 40% common sense, knowledge of the business 40% and spirituality 20%”. Featured image source: Nairametrics
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This article was first published on 23rd March 2022 and updated on March 25th, 2022 at 1:05 pm

nnaemeka-emmanuel

Nnaemeka is an academic scholar with a degree in History and International Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also a creative writer, content creator, storyteller, and social analyst.

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