I wrote this as a response to another thread, then many Nairalanders loved it and suggested I share it with everyone. I asked a question before on Nairaland on how someone living abroad can own a business in Nigeria and got very useful tips. Here's a summary:

1. Businesses are established not only for financial profits (cash) but also for economic profits (non-cash), which may be to provide employment ur sister, or to make name, etc. establish which one is more important to you.
2. If you live outside Nigeria never hire a family member or relative to run your business.
3. Don't hire anyone who come to you advertising him/herself or begging for jobs
4. Hire people through a thorough interview process like a real company does. They'll respect the job more.
5. Do not pay salaries. Share the risks by paying only commissions (usually 10% on sales, or about 40% on profits.
6. Commission on sales is more motivating for hard-working people
7. U can also pay a base + commission. Anyone who cannot live on commission is not business-minded. Afterall the owner lives on profit only
8. Have a Bank account with a Microfinance bank (they help small businesses more) not a commercial bank
9. Every dime made must be paid into the bank (and withdrawn if needed)to build cash-flows in case you need loan some day. they should take pictures of bank slips and receipts of purchases and BBM u immediately the transaction is done.
10. Use BBM to stay connected and on top of business. BBM can transmit instant pictures of events & real-time chats as if you are there.
11. Be ruthless, professional, and out rightly non-sense with Nigerians. A lot of fraudulent crappy people out there.
12. You may take a bank loan to share the risk with a local bank, and let part of the loan be management TA (technical assistance), so the bank can provide their own manager to run the bakery professionally as a partner.
13. Another option is to rent out the bakery to a baker who pays you a flat fee every month, just like you will rent out a house you built to a tenant.
14. Every receipt must have the seller's or buyer's phone number on it (not hand-written). make random calls each month to audit or confirm transactions. If they know you call sellers and buyers, they will shape up.
15. Be patient! A business setup in January is not supposed to be making profit by now o!. It usually takes about a year or more to make profits.
16. On marketing use established re-sellers who buy in bulk and pay cash- Supermarkets, bread sellers, restaurants, shops, etc. Don't sell directly to people yet.
17. Please, please, please, hire a lady as a manager, preferably an educated married lady with kids. That's the only thing that works in Nigeria. They may be slow, but at least they won't loot your funds.

18. Ok having said all this. Please fire family members now if they are not performing. Give them money to start their life somewhere.

chaircover: Good one Big Heart & And to add to that

1.Before I employ you, I must know you dele dele, where you live, where your parents live, where you worship and so on.

2.Never tell them when you are coming. I call my staff just before I board my flight and give them a whole heap of instructions and update my BBM DM with things like “looking forward to going to Manchester for the weekend” I love night flights because I will get to the shop minutes before opening time and catch you if you arrive at work late.

3.This may not go down well with some people but I do the unthinkable, for example if I if you come late or don’t turn up for work and I catch you, I will get someone to close the shop & make them realise that they are dispensable. When they realise that they have more to loose than me, they kind of get the message and sit up tight

4.I am not afraid to arrest you if you give me dodgy accounting and I make it clear that I will “forget” them at the police station and return back to the UK

5.I also don’t play with their wages. They get paid above market rates and a day before the end of the month. I believe that if you treat staff fairly their conscience will prick them but most importantly God too sees all. If they work on a public holiday, I give them a day off of their choice to make up.

6.I also let my staff feel as part of the biz and I ask them their opinions and give them a free hand to arrange stock and make some decisions. On good sale months I give them like a bonus so that they feel part of the biz and not just a worker ant.

7.When I send stock to Nigeria, I also make sure that I send them a little gift no matter how small.

8.I send mystery shoppers to my shop and they never know who is who so they have no choice but to treat all my customers well.

9.Stock checks are done when they least expect and for example I may say to them to take me a BBM picture of a particular item on the shelf so I cross check the number against my spreadsheet.

10.I use the nearest bank to the shop . . 30 seconds walk LOL. I don’t care if they pay in only N1000 . . and I get an immediate alert by Email on my Blackberry.

11. am also not a nose in the air madam. I sweep, clean, mop, dust etc and attend to my customers when I am around and so my staff have no choice but to learn from me.

12.Firm but Fair has always worked for me.

. . . and yes thank God for BBM . . . very useful piece of technology

You are a Genius..Wow! You should be teaching Nig-Bus101 at Unilag!..