As Africa’s most-populous country turns 56, many Nigerians may not be in the mood for celebration – preoccupied as they are with the ongoing recession.

For Nigerian businesses, 2016 has indeed been a challenging year. The oil-dependent nation is presently in an economic downturn, largely because of the drop in oil prices.

As a consequence, the prices of goods and services have gone up and for many businesses profits are thin.

But some fresh, young entrepreneurs are bucking the trend.

“Whatever direction the economy goes, there are always opportunities,” says Obinna Onunkwo, one of the Nigerians who is changing the face of the property scene.


He and his business partner Laide Agboola – who are both under 40 – have just completed the development of a $25m (£19.2m), 7,700-sq-metre retail centre in Lagos.

Nigeria’s retail sector has seen significant growth over the past five years and savvy investors like Mr Onunkwo tapped in early.

They managed to convince investors that the Maryland Mall in Ikeja was a bankable project.


After five months of pitching to investors last year, they were able to raise funds.

Mr Onunkwo believes the key to their success was that they ensured any loans they took were in the local currency, the naira, and not dollar loans.

A good decision as the naira has weakened significantly over the past year.



ELEAZU UGOCHUKWU .A:


Co-Founder of 105Africa.net- an Online Newspaper and Chief Marketing Officer at Qlicksoft Tech Services an IT solution company in Nigeria.

Ugochukwu have succeeded in growing 105Africa.net from a $120 website to $11,432 worth platform within the space of 8months.

He has proven that initial capital has nothing to do with the growth of a business if indeed the owner wants to grow it.

read more here : http://www.105africa.net/young-nigerians-beating-recession/

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