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What they'll never tell you about starting up a business – By Kelechi K. Acholonu, MSc, PGD, BSc

Entrepreneurship means different things to different people. First, are you in an environment of possibilities? Is there an ecosystem of entrepreneurial activity?

Do you have the mindset to start a business that can exploit the voids/gaps in your market?

Borrowing to fund your business is not bad. There are different sources of borrowing. It's however essential that you are sure of your business objectives before accessing any credit facility.

Everyone borrows - from government to individuals. What most people are not aware of is that short-

term loans (maturity date of less than a year) are more likely to put your business under strain - especially if you can't breakeven in less than a year.

To avoid the risk of defaulting in loans from lending facilities, it is better for businesses to go for long-term loans (maturity date of more than a year), secure funding from Government e.g. SMEDAN, and the Survival Fund Initiative, non-governmental organizations, or get funding from family.

Given that Nigeria has a large "consumer" economy, the most successful SMEs are usually "retail-oriented" and "scalable". That means they can target a large market segment and scale-up their product/service offerings faster than B2B (business to business) companies that are more interested in corporate clients. For example, social media influencers, supermarkets, social networking sites, online platforms like Netflix, marketplace e-commerce platforms like Jumia and Amazon, tailors, food suppliers, etc., all have a large consumer-base. Such businesses will always have thousands of buyers. The capacity or flexibility to change the size or scale of your business, your product-range (and by extension your market & customers) makes your business scalable.

So, what is holding you back? The fear of failure? Funding? Pride? The Environment? OR too much flow of information?

If it's information that is holding you back, then it's necessary to gather accurate intelligence. Don't be too shy to ask about the requirements of starting a business - everything is not on Google.

Be wary of excess information from online search engines. What is required is the gathering of intelligence not random information.

So, focus on your strong areas, acquire the relevant "intel or intelligence", hone your skills and start your business.

Photo credit: Enrique Hoyos (Pexels)

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