Access to capital is arguably the biggest threat to entrepreneurs around the world. And every year, thousands of passionate people give up on their business ideas, projects.
“How will I start my business”
“I don’t have the capital”
"Nobody is willing to give me the capital”
These common reasons keep coming up and hinder people from starting or growing their businesses.
But is lack of capital truly the “dream killer” like we claim it is?
The Problem is, many entrepreneurs who need capital don't know where to look for it. Which is why the real problem is lack of awareness not lack of capital.
No matter how long it takes to get capital, what we fail to realize is that the big break may never come by just sitting with folded arms.
Today, Scooper profiles 4 successful Nigerian entrepreneurs who started their businesses by taking huge steps even when they had no capital.
1. NNAMDI EZEIGBO
Nnamdi Ezeigbo is the founder and CEO of Slot Systems Limited.
He studied Computer & Electronics Engineering at the Lagos State University (LASU), between the years 1996 to 2001. After completing his youth service year, Nnamdi Ezeigbo tried to no avail to secure a job with a company in Nigeria. With no promising signs of any potential employment, he went on to work as an apprentice learning how to repair computers.
From there, he independently started fixing computers, his customer base grew, and he began to sell computers. As his business grew, a lot of customers started to demand slot stores in areas close to them and to ask if they sold mobile phones. With a keen eye to spot opportunity when it presents itself, Nnamdi Ezeigbo immediately expanded his business to also cover the sale of mobile phones.
That was how the Slot brand name began to grow, becoming the most reputable mobile phone retailer in the whole country
2. JASON NJOKU
Jason is the co-founder of IrokoTV, a mobile entertainment and internet TV platform that’s particularly popular for African ‘Nollywood’ movies.
Basically, everybody hears of Iroko TV because of the remarkable growth of the business. Iroko TV has over the years attracted $40million in investment funding from foreign investors.
This might sound huge as a business like Iroko TV has become a household name, but the struggle to get to where they are now was not a walk in the park.
After failed attempts at previous businesses in the UK, Jason returned to Nigeria in 2010 to build relationships with local movie producers and purchase content rights for his new startup, IrokoTV.
Cash was tight, and starting this business would have been impossible without the £90,000 contribution of Jason’s friend and business partner, Sebastian Gotter.
In summary, by using a combination of business partnerships and venture capital, Jason has been able to successfully raise significant amounts of capital to grow a company that was described by Forbes Magazine as “the Netflix of Africa.”
3. SEUN OSEWA
Seun is a Programmer, Webmaster and the founder of Nigeria and Africa’s largest online forum, Nairaland
Seun Osewa has been interested in the internet business since he has known what the internet is and how to use it. He enrolled as a student at the University Of Ile Ife to study electrical engineering in 1998 but he dropped out of the school to pursue his programming dream.
In the year 2003, he started his internet career, when he attempted to start a web hosting business. After 3 months he could only boast of one customer, and he ran out of capital and the business packed up.
That didn’t stop him, he was encouraged to get certifications and a regular job. Eventually, he decided to start a web forum, because it was the only idea that required no additional capital.
He created 3 forums in November 2003 (one for higher institution students, one for IT discussions, and one to cover the emerging GSM industry; the Mobile Nigeria Forum at MobileNigeria.com).
In a month one of the forums – Mobile Nigeria, had about 300 members, but the growth potential didn’t satisfy him. He decided to start Nairaland, which has grown to be what it is today.
4. LINDA IKEJI
Linda Ikeji is one of the most successful bloggers in Nigeria.
To support her family and get herself through school, she had part-time jobs as a waitress, model and writer.
In 2006, she started blogging as a hobby, which at that time, the internet was not as pronounced in Nigeria and she had to make her posts at a cybercafe.
She became an active blogger in 2007 using a blogger sub-domain and began to grow her traffic. The blog has today grown to be one of the top in Nigeria with millions of daily views, and attracting advertisers.
She didn’t need capital to kick start in the business, all she had was determination and ways to build her network to improve her business.
Looking at the success stories of these entrepreneurs, you can see that they all had determination in common. Theirs can be termed zero to hero, proving that the first thing needed in the entrepreneurship journey is not money, but action, perseverance, passion and the will to make it.
Procrastinating will definitely not bring that business idea you have in mind to reality, it will rather kill it and someone else will pick it up.
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Amazing
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