Most people desire to work for themselves. Yes, say goodbye to those obnoxious bosses and have the title- Entrepreneur. And for the millions of the unemployed Nigerians, self employment is the best route out of their situation. Whatever your reason for wanting to start your business, I am guessing you wouldn’t want the business to fail. And that is what this write-up is about—starting a failure proof business in Nigeria.

First, you need to understand that starting a successful business is not hard. But it requires preparation, hard work, persistence and a positive attitude.

The following are not some abstract ideas learned from books (and I have read quite a lot of them), they are lessons learned in the trenches of the market place. So, let’s start.

1.) Choose the right business. Let us start by understanding that there is no good or bad business.

However, some businesses are more likely to succeed at a particular time, in a particular place if established by a particular kind of person. Figuring which business to be in is one of the most important things you can do to ensure the success of your new venture. There are some common denominators that must characterize your business idea. The most important ones can be summed-up this way: PASSION + MARKETABILITY = BUSINESS SUCCESS.

2.) Do a business that allows you to do what you love.

3.) Choose a marketable business. You must pick a product or service people are ready to pay for. It doesn’t need to be groundbreaking or overly innovative but, it must be something people are ready to pay good money for.

4.) Cut your coat according to your cloth. One e-zine article puts it best when it says “There is little point in searching for capital-intensive or knowledge based business ideas if you have slim/no prospects of raising the necessary capital or if your educational background is unsuitable.

5.) Assess the viability of the business idea: this is one of the most important tasks you will perform in the start-up phase. Unfortunately, it is the most ignored function. There is really no need to learn from your mistakes if you don’t make any in the first place. Doing feasibility study will help you avoid spending your resources on a business venture with slim/no chance of success in the market place.

6.) Most books on entrepreneurship will tell you to take risk. Well, this is all fine and good if you live in a western country with social security and relatively easy access to capital. But if you are in Nigeria or any other developing country for that matter, you have got to avoid taking unnecessary risk because if it falls in your face, you are O.Y.O (on your own). Of course there is no way you can divorce entrepreneurship from risk taking. But you can mitigate your risk exposure by taking only calculated risk. And that is what a viability assessment does for you.

There are a lot of good materials out there on assessing the viability of your business ideas. You may also utilize resources available on our website to help you. But, please, do feasibility study.

7.) Start small: despite everything said above, the fact still remains that there is no way to know for sure whether your business is going to work. That is why it is better to start in a small scale. This gives you the opportunity and flexibility to learn and adjust to the market reality with marginal vulnerability. That may mean opening a smaller shop than you aspire to operate, just to see how customers respond. As you start your operation, opportunities will appear and your business model will change.

8.) Avoid unnecessary expenses. If you want your new business to succeed, then you have to take this axiom to heart: don’t spend a dime on anything unless you absolutely have to. Because most of the businesses you see around or read about have secretaries, fancy offices and a lot of employees, you believe that is the only way to run a business. That I can tell you is not true. With only a few exceptions, most businesses can be started from your home. Even if you need an external office, first, explore the possibility of sharing and, where this is not feasible, get the best deal available.

9.) Explore all alternatives. For instance if you are in distribution business, you might consider using motorcycles and dispatch riders for deliveries instead of pickup vans (Of course this depends on what you distribute). You can acquire ten motorcycles for less than half the cost of a van and, if you are in a place like Lagos with its hectic traffic, motorcycle becomes even more attractive.

Source: www.nigeriapia.com

Very insightful.