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FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2011
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Building entrepreneurial skills for business
BIGftaira
B egi n s with
Small Kollo Stan ley Opara AVING spent six years each in a financial ron!oUltancy finn, Mr. Sheriff Aj<tIa and Mr. Oyedapo Akanni decided to ~ thei, appointments 1Niill the company to PUI"Sl.lf! their personal business in terests. They 1~'\'Il! coIle~ in the same flJlT1 as at that time. and had similar career cum businem interests. This was M a resull of the kind of training they both got as talt consultants while worIdng in the same compcmy. A}akl and AIwIni had never thought they would be seItImg for \a.'I: consultancy. But they became Interested in the business when they saw the huge opportunities it presented After t\l,.:I years of being their own bmse:s, they both had diffen!flt stories to tell. Ajaia had expanded in leaps and bounds, with seven
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employees on board On the other hand. AXanni had shut shop, and was contemplating changing from that line of business to doing .something else. WhlIe they wen! serving III the same flJlT1, Manni had admired Ajala's passion 10 become an entrepft'neur before age 35. In faa. hts decISion to leave his employer when he did. 1l'35 borne out of his desIre to be like hIS colleague. Ajala. He was not awafl! of the lime. money and other resources Ajala had invested in being an entrepreneur The d iffen!Tlce between theIn is tnal one has done a lot to prepare himself as an entrepreneur for tile chaDenges a~lId.. while the other did not have a fuO underslanding of what he was venturing lnlO and what was expected of him This. no doubt. "las the obvious reason for the opposite stories at the end of the day. An entrepreneur is someone who organises. manages and assuma the risks of a busine5lJ. Entrepreneurship, therefore. represents ideas, innOlliltiOfl. talent. organisational ~Ds and nslt. Entrepreneurs come in all ages. genders, shapes and sizes. In spite or therr vane~', enbepreoeurs have 5OIllE' things in common. They often take risks. and they ate seif-mrten think m~lively. Speaking recentlyal the revil!wof the book. The Entrepreneur, the author. Dr. Ausbeth Ajagu. ~ entn,nneurial study is a
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Useful hihts
- Prepare yo urse lf thro ugh acqui si ti o n of knowled ge - Id e n tify yo ur m ent or -Ta ke t ime to know wh y he/s he is successful -Be lieve in yourself
windows avelIable for enlrepreneun in N"tgeTia and IMt enlrepteneurs should proffer practical solutions to the seeming bottlenecks associated with !heir inability in occesslllg these facilities.
Entrepreneu~ ~ notes. should cnbcaDy exanline \IilIf1Oll$ quaIilies and charaderistics of Sl.lCCESSfuI entrepreneurs. t!5pedaUy in Nigeria., and lake them as caSfl·studies "The study of these entrepreneurs and captaira of Industry's biographIeS \\.i U IruIy torM!lce entrepreneUrs IMI w ccess 1$ not. only dependent on education. as some ol these enlreprmeurs had little or no formal educ:.alion before ~turing Into entrepreneurship in which they have achieved tremendous svccess." AJ.&gu snesses. According to him , finandeI intelligence IS no! sine qua non. ror national development. poverty er.tdication 50 much about ~, much ~nd employment generation. "Regrenabiy, this is not taught in money one makes, but about lertl.!lry institutions. Instead. ov r students are taught to be better h(7,/o/ much money one kttpo; employees only. - he adds and how hard th"t money M)rks for the per.iOfl He He says entrepreneurship pursuit 15 near dbsent in the ~~ tlull there is the net'd country. \\.ttich is due to the scarcity of infOlTlliltion on the all· for practising and future IlTlportant profession '"Consequently, only very few people that enhepreneur$ to know h(l',v h~ve ventured mto entrepreneurship without the prerequisite best to understand and !real in formation life doing weD today whilst others have bCM-ed oul: people at the ....akplace he explains. In striving 10 become With over 13 years o f entrepreneurship experience and a sucoesstul enll'epreneur, resealch into organisational behaviour. Ajagu says there are he sa~ there is the need a lot to learn from intemtbon 1Nith fello..... eniTepTeneUrs in the to acquire requisite skill:s organised p"vate sector. hke in the Manufacturers Association of ' Chtbufldu on h(7,/o/ best to make il1I Nigena. Jmtitute 01 Directm Nigeria. and the Nigeriao-American organisation ameliorate. to the bares!: level. the inddE<nce of fraud. Chamber ol Commerce. among others He explains that would·be entrepreneun and enireprenellrs Qlven its negative effect on busine;s !ruMvaI According to the President. Instll\.lte of Export of Nigeria and a should be equipped wi th pradical secrets of getting to Ule top World Bank Conrullil1lt on Small and Medium EnteTpl'i5es, Prot and auising 5Uccessfully thereafter and happily too. Emmanuel Chibundu, for people desirous of success. to unleash He SIIY5 there are various legal business forms and flJ\<'llTldal and maximise their potential, ;t must be done through lvell articulated and time· lesled principles. Chlbundu, while revlev.ring a book titled. "The Seoel$ of Winners,~ said Ihrough the odyssey of Illcmd journey. HE Din!dor. FCT Agricultural Development Project. Dr Mike tJwa.rie. Programme, Mrs Veronica Ati, said the workshop was aimed at there are winners and losers. He lIdds has said thai effor~ by Nigerian farmen to increMe Pfodudion are enlightening youths lind rura l f.!lrmen on post·harvest processing, lhal !he crucial role of the mmd as a frustrated by high post· harvat losses. storage and packaging. pa.w1ful seal of aU transformation And l)v.:azie madE< the statement on Wednesday at the opening of a She said, ~There ~ no economic development in absolute terms aeatiw thoughts cannot be owrIooked seruitisation workshop for youths in Gwagwa1ada... on post· harvesi stOl1lge without a vlnle lIgficullural secto r and there is no virile post harvest 0\'" underestimaled. olproduce. agricullural sector w.thou l a well developed seed processing and 1nere is the need to develop "He said thai 70 per cent of produce was lost due 10 poor post·harvest storage improvement ptogr<lmme . positive minciset This 15 abwlutely handling a nd that the ...... orkshop WM aim ed a t addressing $Uch losses. "To realise this nob le objective. there is need to have trained nete55a.ry for one to set his goals l.Iwazie said that the losses were due to Inadequa te value addi tion and teclmlcal personnel in aU areas o f post harvest p,oee.ssing and storage and belil1!\."E' they aTe achievable The poor storage infrastructure. mechanism to enlighten the farming popuLace. ~ implication of this fOr the wider socIety is ~In Ifying lo~ress the challenges. the Agncuhure and Rural Development At i said the workshop would no daubl reduce post·harvest WMtil that what others see as stumbling blocks Secretariat in co4leborlltion with NAPEP decided to organise this workshop by farmen and enha nce food security In the FCT. of failure can be changed into steppIng S he ca ll ed on the I)<I.rtidpanls to take full advan tage of the s tones of succes.s through a po!itiV(' . 10 emPO\ver youths on valve addition and storage intervention. ~ he said In her remark!. Secretary. FCT National Poverty Eradication workshop to reduce agricultural waste. m indsel. ~ hil nplalns.
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Spotlight; Small and medhlm.sized business
Farmers frustrated by post-harvest losses
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