nuclearboy:

One absolutely sharp person asked (in the Bible) who would go to war or build a house without first counting the cost so that he wouldn't get to a point and be unable to continue.

Naija is tough only for those who don't have the solution in them, either due to fear or ignorance. Let me explain -- Take any business and imagine that you have a national market of 140 Million people. What proportion of that do you need to do well? When I started my ice-block biz (building machines AND ALSO selling ice a few years ago), I made up my mind to [1] produce the most efficient dependable machines around. I applied my university degree into a field populated mainly by semi-literate technicians and not only caught up with them but left them behind eons ago. They build beautiful useless furniture because people are visually affected. I build ugly machines which remind you to get to work and make money. [2] produce the hardest, coldest ice around. Same thing. All I need now is a quarter to half the time they need to get ice whose quality many find difficult to believe.

The truth is that such takes a lot: absolute dedication, bloody hard work and 100% deafness and dumbness. I remember people would laugh at this Computer Science degree holder cos he was wet, dirty and even learning (then) how to weld. No longer do they snigger. Rather, many gape when they observe whats on ground. It took 2 and a half years but lets remember William (Bill) Gates was once considered a dropout (I can't remember anyone using that as a title for him anymore). Naijas will make fun of you at the start then praise you at the end. From "Lazy idiot -is that what his mates are doing, . . . . TO I KNEW THE GUY IS BRILLIANT AND THAT HE HAD A PLAN ALL ALONG". 1 percent of 1 percent of Nigerians each giving any of us 10 Naira daily adds up to a reasonable measure of comfort which scarcely any can boast of. Plus its all on your own time! You decide when, how and where. And have a right to continue expanding till you become Dangote or go easy.

A day will come when someone (or group of such) will look at Lagos, ask the govt to allow them build a 6 lane bridge from Isolo to Lekki and erect toll gates to collect toll for 20 years. I suspect Lagos will agree. Another will Build a power station for himself then start to sell and expand till he/she generates and sells say 1, 000 MVA. Others will see and follow suit and thus will Naija develop.

Waiting for the government is a waste of time. America was built to todays standards by private enterprise. Thats why you'll find dozens of types of bread on supermart shelves - because of competition each striving for a target audience/market share. Here, its just Agege bread.

Conquer yourselves and then the environment - The same book that asked my question above also tells us we were given the right to GO, SUBDUE THE EARTH AND ETC ETC ETC,

@ Poster
Frustrations Of A Business Owner In Nigeria.
Nuclearboy, YES Nigeria has great potential 4 business. YES Nigeria is tough place to do business. YES You need dedication & hardwork, All these are well said , Still without the GOVERNMENT stepping in, we will not go far, IT WILL ALWAYS BE A STRUGGLE(FRUSTRATION), A couple of years ago the GOV. RECAPITALISE the BANKS & We all know what benefit that brought to our economy, that is the type of step in that we are talking about. Steps 2words the right direction to ease the frustration.

This sounds so disappointing that one has to take extra caution when dealing with one in 9ja.
But then i knew it's been the trend or better said the culture of Nigerian bzness partners/associates.
Pray to Baba God before, during and even after bzness engagement,

it will get better sooooooooooooooooooon

To do business in an enviroment like nigeria is always a risk due to the well known factors on the ground.
Doing business will always come with it's risk in any sector. The key is how to manage those risk.
What control and checks are in place.


@onyx20
I'm with u 100%, In the west business owners get their hands dirty. Unlike the naija counterparts with their fat belly sitting in their airconed office.
U will always find an asian shop keeper at the back of his shop till selling. u try to pay him 1pence less and he will let u know khaki no be leather.

ibkn , my broda. d thing tire me o

could u imagine that i gave a lawyer a job, to upgrade my company's share capital from the original 1m to 5m. i told him it's very urgent. so he said i should pay him 180k. I told him d board approved 140k. he said ok. So i paid him 140k and promised to give him another 40k when he finishes. he promised to finish d job in 3 weeks. as at today, the job is over 12 weeks and not even through. in fact when i called him last week, he said my documents are missing at CAC abuja. I have asked him to return the original documents of my company which he collected, but he said no. I have asked him to return my money, he began to speak grammar on top. The worst case is that this idiot is my relation! everyone who could talk to him, has spoken to him, but he's claiming right. Now what do i do?

Some scenarios!

1) The documents may be missing, either from his angle or at CAC.
2) He may have used some of the money to start the process, because I can tell you that not all the money that the lawyers charge enters their pockets. Some has to go to "make some crooked ways straight" (please this is my quote).

Using relations to do such jobs is always a bad idea. That i can tell you from personal experience!

@ stagger

i know, but if he knows wat he's doing, he should have monitored the movement of the file. it couldnt have taken him 12 weeks to know that its missing. the guy is simply heading for destruction!

stagger:



Using relations to do such jobs is always a bad idea. That i can tell you from personal experience!

Oh, I learnt that from my pop's experience. Most of the time it turns messy and ugly. Not only do U lose money, U might also lose some loved ones in the process.
All my business ventures have been with colleagues (no relations abeg). So if U want make we comot pant fight for road like agberos, Omo, I dey ready ooooo. As long as U pay me my money.

I have to ask U tho " Why did U pay this lawyer in full even before he delivered?

Uche2,
Cos it was very urgent.
cos i didnt want him to say it was money that made him not to finish d job in 3 weeks
cos we are related, i tot i could trust him
cos i didnt want to spend d money myself
cos cos cos many coses.

Okay, I get ur point. I hope U learn from this mistake.

I dont know how else to U can go about this but by appealing to his sense of responsibility. He holds all the aces now and all U can do is plead and beg him to do the job he has been paid to do. That sounds ridiculous , I know, but thats Naija for U.

Guys! People!!
Just like damola1 has said, look at the market.
When we quite complaining we open the doors to brighter ideas.

Look at it this way. Its all a game. You win some, you learn from some.
But really, as a business man, u know there are odds; different businesses with different challenges and different environment with its unique peculiarity. Its a good thing we have discovered a few of Naija's. Lets use it to our advantage.

Don't forget that Nigeria has one of the largest markets for whatever business you are into.
Against all odds; when you fall, pick up the pieces and rise again. Its the rising that matters.

Focus is the key to success in any business.Jumping from one business to the other will not enjance mastery.So advise you look for a business of your choice,plan it well and master it.That is just it.There is always reward in mastery.

@nuclearboy

I think your post is the most spot-on I've read so far (to me). One of the biggest problems we have in Nigeria is that we forget that private enterprise should drive everything else,  including governments. How can the government provide electricity in Nigeria when they haven't seen a successful private owned power generating company in Nigeria? The only way to see Nigeria as a business man is through the lens of the population. All the challenges are really the hidden business opportunities. If I start a business in Nigeria today, I would  apportion a lion share of my start-up capital to sustainable electricity (eg solar) even if I'm only able to power essential things like computers, close circuit cameras in every office and the compound, , and fans; I can do without fridges and air conditioners initially. A strict enforcement of employment policies, eg hire and fire trigger (how I hire and fire employees). What we have in Nigeria are scenarios whereby people invest 80-90% of total capital in merchandise or goods, and then 10-20% in recurrent expenditure. They then rely on "good people" or "Christians" or "devout moslems" or relations to run the most critical aspects of the business. In business, your most trusted employees are your cameras and computers ( which report directly to you). As a start up, you should only expose your strategic capital to basically yourself only at the initial stage. You can relax that later. I witnessed a new start up (a branch start up) sometime ago in the States. In the first month of the start up, the bosses came from far flung parts  of the US to physically inspect events on the ground. These bosses, some of them in their late seventies and early eighties were STANDING AND WORKING round a huge warehouse between 10pm in the night and 5am in the morning. They were also on cell phones constantly talking to other branches and coordinating everything. This was a new branch. They could have designated some managers to do that. They didn't. They had to do it physically themselves.  I'm afraid we Nigerians are not learning a lot from "oyibo" people. For me, I only see a SEA OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES in Nigeria.
That is why most foreign owned companies and some smart Nigerian companies are having a field day today in Nigeria.

You are felt men. I think upcoming genuine ideas like urs should consider relocation men. Otherwise, get employed into whats available and keeping pushing it.

frustrations facing the Nigerian business is just one of the major thongs i believe make us unique as a Nigeria Cos every adversity carries within it the seed of opportunity.You can always survive if you do not give up your goal so many self made millionaires have their own painful story to tell too, Abbi

I can feel an relate to the same feelings to the majority of posts EXCLUSIVELY an i mean EXCLUSIVELY for this topic
who here can refer me to a reliable nigerian consultant an i mean reliable an how can he/she go about
boosting a future investment opportunity? as well who knows how many "nairas" it takes to have a registration licence for small time businesses

This thread opened many wounds I thought the salt dried em up. I cannot agree with the folks r saying that corruption is everywhere as if it is enough defense. Yes, corruption is everywher but the problem with Nigeria is that the system encourages and promotes corruption in systematic way. I am not talking here about the well known problems like power, unskilled employees … etc, I am talking about life system.

I wonder if there is any one in the room tried to run a business in a simple legal way, not to smuggle not to bribe, pays tax, …, etc and how his business ended up?!!

I mean the system of life here is too corrupted to be handled with honesty. If you want to run your business you HAVE TO do it in twisted way, you pay your share in corruption and get it back by corrupted illegal ways.

I do not know if there is any one here tried to manufacture or assemble anything even on medium scale. You cannot imagine the complicated process that is made only for the governmental workers to get benefited by corruption, put in your mind that we are talking about five figures and up, at least 200,000 with every paper. No way to finish your required documents unless you surrender to the corrupted system to pay, hoping you will get it back from the people out there with no mercy to poor ones.

If you are importer your problem is less, you just need to lie about the real value of your goods and bribe the customs and others then you can bring whatever you want in your container and the more you import on high scale the more you have influence in the port and the market. All of us know the list of banned goods from importation but you still find it on wide scale, the only difference is that with much higher price.

It is a vicious circle, corruption ________ no real investment ________ no significant jobs ________ unemployment ________ hunger __________ high rate of crimes _____ corruption

That is why only in nija you can find someone gets too much rich in few years 2 or 3 years while it is impossible in any place else under the sun, take Jimuh Ibrahim as example, and when you ask them how they did it, they will start this nonsense about struggle and God's blessings. God doesn't bless anyone in corrupted way!

A beg it is too much to swallow

For those of you abroad thinking that Nigeria is a place to start business. You must be joking. Most nigerians are not out to work, they are out to steal. That is the reason why I cannot expand my business in Nigeria everytime i try to Staff issue is a nightmare. And they say there are no Job. They are not really looking for work all the want is to steal.

To protect my customers i rather not grow the business. The best place to put your money in naija is real estate, even if they steal from you , you know it is not all gone, your house will still be standing for years to come.

I believe I posted a comment yesterday but I do not see it, I believe I deserve an explanation from the moderator to cancel it

Thanx for the moderator

Commencement is something that makes you starts a new .Keep moving forward,don't look back and you will reach there.

For Naija , you no go reach anywhere. na true i talk, except you are corrupt

it is amazing how it had become so apparent that nigerians are just self lovers . no one care about others . we all just want to be certisfied and

dont even care about others. how about giving something dat worth 2million niara to someone hope to get it back but it became story. we all can

say yes fall and rise up again. waht about the wound incured from the fall? if god dont intervein in nija matter dat country will be , and

another solution dat am thinking of this days is dat if we can all start from ourself and try to see others first . that is if those others see wat u see

and not trample on u. then naija can make a difference. in america , these peolpe know the result of things when they are commited but in naija the

criminal will win if he go to police first or if he know someone higher thn who u know . well may god help us and yes lets keep trying ." like martin

luther king i have a dream too that 1 day nigeria will be a country know for hher honest citizens and not people judged by history " [i][/i]

am so with what is going on in our nation nigeria so sad with what is g

the situation is quite frustrating. for a country with such potential to squander it all.
we have already been labelled a failed state according to an index published last week.

i cant help but wonder how it came to this as i visited last year.
i would like to save money to invest but i cant even get proper structure with the laws and the regulations!!

you wouldnt believe how many people are on the sidelines just waiting for some sort of light at the end of the tunnel before they come in,

wish you all the best

I disagree to an extent that Nigeria is a failed state. The west evaluation about nigeria can sometimes be over the top.
The main problem in nigeria is this mindset of rat race way of doing business. We do not look at the bigger picture.
everybody is out for himself and hell to everything else. Obviously the Govt has to play its part, but what of the people.
How many people are ready to make scarifice to uphold what is right.

Lets all start by saying No to bribe, No to fast forwarding business procedures, No to Tax avoiding, No to corrupting the corrupted,
No to electing politicians with bad track records.
If the iranians can say No to the Islamic fundamentalist, Ukrainians said No to rigged elections. The germans moved on from the
WW2,

what excuse have we got?

No Doubt we experience challenges
in Business, probably viewed as more
difficult in Nigeria because of lots of
factors largely grouped as 'The Nigerian Factor'

But, daily there are men and women
who go out each day to do business
and overcome these challenges,
they return home at night knowing
they have conquered for that day.

That should be our approach to
doing business any where - more so
here - in Nigeria

@yommyuk

you started with disagreement with our complaints, however you concluded the same. You called for changing everything, which you r right, but then you will be in another country or another life 

How can one fight against corruption without losing so much i mean to the extent to lose his business or even his life. it must start from a group of people not just individuals, whatever they are NGOs or activists or whatever, to call for exposing the corruption and fight for any one contributes the campaign. one day i was thinking to vedio the customs people and put it on youtube to expose them as i became desperate . i may be dreaming but at least dreaming for good

@Bomany

Look at it this way. with all the katakata people are facing in Nigeria, a lot of people are still prospering.
I often go to nigeria to do business. I deal with smart people who know how to work the system
However sometimes I come to the conclusion that things should be a lot easier if majority of the business people
play their own part in reviving the economy.

However does this qualify us as a failed stated. A failed state where there is a
shattered social and political structure. In my opinion we have not yet reached that stage.

The reason I can agree that Naija is a failed stated is because if you listen to the young ones and their dreams, you will see clearly where Naija is going. The state of that country is not in things you see, it is in the minds of the people. I asked my cousin's son who is 11 years old what will he contribute for Naija in the future. He said if he has the opportunity to be in a public office he will chop all the money.
These chop and quench situation is still the future of naija.

For those of you that want to start business. Be warned naija is not the place, they will ruin you. Money reveal the true nature of people. Everytime I jump on the plane to Naija on my todo list there is always someone to fire. they just don't think,

I don't agree that nigeria is a failed state in any way. You see, the problem of nigeria is nigerians. nigeria is only a name but it is nigerians that give life to the name nigeria. For us to move up, we must first quit this attitude of blaming the government for everything. complaining stops you from properly evaluating the situation and finding solution to these problems. America as we know it today was not driven by government reforms, an unbiased review of their history will show that, rather the individuals decided to make something out of themselves. I continue to maintain that there are few better countries do business than nigeria once you know how to work the system. You don't have high taxes like britain, 50% or so many adverse laws to contend with or consumers who are ready to drag you to court at the slightest excuse. Corruption, exists every where in their own ways but the basic problem with nigerians is laziness. Every problem you see in nigeria is an opportunity to make money from providing the solution. Do it and you will continue to make money or why do you think all these foreign companies are running here. For more information on making money visit my blog.