Intelligent business/technology writers needed for full time employment.

Interested candidates must be passionate about entrepreneurship and journalism, have writing working experience or have published works (online/print) or actively runs a blog.

Email CV and cover letter to info@enterprise54.com

If there's a company already doing what you do then understudy them thoroughly. If there isn't study what's nearest to the service. Before you launch, be sure to drum publicity for it and make it a highly anticipated launch.

Many, today, know and celebrate iROKO tv CEO Jason Njoku but are unaware of his company’s success secrets. One of them is publicity. While most entrepreneurs struggle to find million naira investments, Jason got eight million dollars from Tiger Global just because Sarah Lacy wrote a story on iROKO on TechCrunch. The American investors read the story, they loved it and invited him over for a meeting. He didn’t even have to pitch; they just handed him money. Till date, Jason remains arguably Nigeria’s most vocal technology founder, garnering god-like adoration and followership and contributing marketing value to his company.
Wakanow.com is a Nigeria-based travel booking company founded in 2008 that has disrupted country’s travel booking space. It amazingly changed the once brick and mortar agent industry into a profitable web-based service industry. After an initial two-year struggle, the startup, like iROKO, received an unsolicited five million dollar funding after Tiger Global execs saw a feature of the little known startup on CNBC
Aside attracting investments, rightly crafted and targeted publicity can also jump sales. It’s the reason companies spend millions on advertising and marketing budget. Sadly, small business owners underestimate this fact to their peril. Most startups do not have a PR budget. Entrepreneurs launch a great product or service, labour hard everyday to run operations but make no effort to inform large audiences of prospective customers about their offering. The few that do, try to handle publicity personally forgetting it requires specialists, and most often get poor results and wasting advertising and marketing spend. It is important companies tell their stories and communicate it effectively. It is crucial to the survival of their business that their products are publicly known and understood.
A small business owner reached out to us at Enterprise54 after he had invested hundreds of thousands on online ads with no result to show for it. A quick market segmentation analysis by our team showed his customers where mostly upward and mobile middleclass men. Sadly, two-thirds of his adverts had been placed on popular media platforms followed primarily by middleclass women. He was unknowingly targeting the wrong market. The story isn’t much different from many other small business owners.
So what’s the way out?
1) Realise publicity is important.
2) Identify your target customers. What’s their gender, age range, social class, income and consumer behaviour? Where’s their residence?
3) Identify the media platforms your market demography goes to. Then identify the particular reporter or producer who covers their interest. For example, who is the financial reporter that covers the business stories my C-suite exec target market like to read? In a clime like Nigeria, being friends with these media persons is a valuable asset in getting your story covered.
4) Develop story angles and pitch to the right media contact.
5) All of these can be a handful for most small business founders so you can also hire a PR consultant that’s familiar with the special needs of the SME sector.
According to Daniel J. Boorstin, “Some were born great, some achieved greatness and some hired public relations officers.”

By Adegoke Oyeniyi, founder of www.enterprise54.com, a news and magazine website that covers entrepreneurship across Africa. The company’s PR arm helps small businesses tell their story and has serviced companies such as Jumia, Konga, House of Tara and Vconnect. You can reach him at goke@enterprise54.com

Every business is a project and project management courses would greatly benefit business owners - any type of business at all!

African Entrepreneurs needs to take their place on the global stage in 2015

ENTERPRISE54 – With more Nigerians embracing the entrepreneurial culture - most with adequate knowledge and strategy, others with a pocket full of hope – some experts say perhaps businesses should be ran like long term projects with adequate planning to stem the malaise of failing businesses.

“Failing fast and cheap is not a strategy,” reads an article on Forbes “but a result of lazy thinking. There is nothing noble about failure and no reason we need to embrace it.” So why venture into business with just a pocket of hope when skills that could guarantee business success can be acquired?

According to the first female MD/CEO of Siemens Nigeria Ltd, Onyeche Tifase, since businesses share the same characteristics with projects, ramping up project management skills could be of great value to business owners in the longer term.

Explaining the nexus between project management and business recently on the Mara Mentor Talk Show, Mrs Tifase said: “businesses could be classified as projects, thus by acquiring requisite skills and planning with industry-specific knowledge, entrepreneurs can overcome the challenges of building sustainable businesses in Nigeria.”

She also commented on leadership in business with focus on young entrepreneurs. Admonishing young Nigerian entrepreneurs, Mrs Tifase who is also a mentor on Africa’s largest entrepreneurship community, Mara Mentor, said “entrepreneurs should always seek to add value to customers and employees.”

“Leadership style is what differentiates between a business thriving, sinking, or soaring,” she added, highlighting various leadership styles and the implication of effective implementation on profit, work culture, organisational and individual goals.

The newly appointed MD/CEO of Siemens Nigeria also encouraged young entrepreneurs to be meticulous in assessing market trends and competitors, identifying a unique value proposition with direct focus on customer education and communication of brand values, even before starting out.

Visit [url]enterprise54[/url] for the latest entrepreneurship stories.
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ENTERPRISE54 – We have heard that 2015 is the year for entrepreneurs and small businesses. While James Caan, a serial entrepreneur and investor summed it up as the year to shine, Tony Elumelu, CON, a Nigerian entrepreneur and philanthropist in his article, “The Rise of Africapitalism” predicts that 2015 will be the year where African entrepreneurs will take their place on global stage.

Do you share in this high doze of optimism? What is your prediction for 2015?

If you are still taking stock for the year 2014, this might also be a good time to look in the mirror and do some serious personal and organizational reflection.

I spent ample time chronicling stories of entrepreneurs this past week and I found two issues dominating the conversations with them – the need for mentorship and an enabling business environment.

For the wanna-be entrepreneurs, before you quit your job and run after the dream that has been tugging at you since kindergarten, it might be worth considering other possible ways to position yourself in the booming entrepreneurial space—dip one foot in to test the water as suppose to diving in with your whole body, one entrepreneur advised.

When I asked them what their major challenge was in running a business– funding is not what jumped on the list—surprisingly so. Most of the young entrepreneurs said that funding is the least challenge. As a matter of fact, one shared how he had all the money he needed to run his business but a few wrong decisions left him cashless and broke. This would have been avoided if he had the right mentors or network.

Mentorship is the key that opens key doors. Seek a mentor, one advised. Don’t underestimate the power of business mentorship. Until you find a right mentor, keep searching.

An enabling business environment would include- stable power supply, good road network, favorable policies etc. These of course, are currently limited in supply.

But—not to shut down on the optimism, as we all position ourselves to leverage on the opportunities 2015 will bring to the business eco-system—here is raising a glass to all entrepreneurs bootstrapping their ideas to the next level.

Visit [url]enterprise54[/url] for the latest and freshest entrepreneurship stories.

morning people!!! have you visited [url]enterprise54[/url] today?

Yes! Indeed we need many more people like this to empower entrepreneurs and enhance job creation.

ENTERPRISE54 – Africapitalism economic philosopher Tony Elumelu just put his money where his mouth is. The pro-local investment preacher at his posh Heirs Place today announced the launch of a $100 million entrepreneurship programme to create 10,000 businesses across Africa and in the process generate 1,000,000 jobs with at least $10 billion in annual revenue contributed to the continent’s economy.

The 1,000 start-ups selected for the first series of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program (TEEP) will participate in a comprehensive programme designed to equip them to build successful value adding businesses. The programme includes seed capital funding, a customized 12-week business skills training course, mentorship, an entrepreneurship ‘boot camp,’ participation in the annual Elumelu Entrepreneurship Forum, and membership in the TEEP Alumni Network.

An official statement reads: “The African startups that successfully complete the 12-week programme with the support of their mentors and attend the two-day bootcamp and the Elumelu Entrepreneurship Forum will be awarded a non-returnable investment for further development of their business idea.”

Amount of the grant was however not disclosed. Hopefully, it would be at least $5,000. Tony Elumelu Foundation for the past two years has been giving $5,000 grants to Nigerian startups via the Lagos-based Co-Creation Hub.

TEF’s official statement further read: “TEEP startups will be continuously monitored on both a portfolio and individual basis as we evaluate the startups for follow-on funding and beyond. The qualifying startups that have progressed their business plans sufficiently will each qualify for a second stage seed capital investment of $5,000 that will be provided as returnable capital.”

This second financial provision would be returned meaning it’s probably a loan or debt finance and not a grant.

For more details about the program, including eligibility and the application and selection processes, click [url]here[/url].

Application launches January 2015.

Since his first retirement from UBA board as Chairman, the financial guru has been preaching Africapitalism – a rallying call for African moneybags to invest in the local economy. In an interview with him last year I asked how well his economic philosophy has gained ground. The renowned philanthropist said he’s been speaking to friends, colleagues and African leaders to convince them to participate in the financial contribution to Africa’s development and added that the mental shift has begun. It is heartening to see he is doing exactly what he preaches, on a grand scale for that matter.
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Visit [url]enterprise54[/url] for the freshest and major entrepreneurship stories across Africa.

Hi, please I need the list of the 2013 Youwin winners. atiloladavid1@gmail.com

You are welcome!

@TheLight001, you obviously have not visited the site still lol. If you have, you would know that one of the criterias is being a Nigerian NOT a Lagosian because Fashola isn't even the main brain behind this (Mrs Ibukun Awosika is), Lagos state government is just a partner. Maybe I should spare you the details of this particular opportunity since you said the money is just 10% of your startup cost but, my point is, visit the site for many more opportunities like this and that are quite rewarding in terms of sponsorship, mentorship and huge capital investment but you must note that nobody will release their hard earned money if they aren't convinced it is worth it which is the reason these opportunities usually come in form of pitch competitions! Have a good day and spread the good news of [url]enterprise54[/url]

@TheLight001, you obviously haven't heard about or being following [url]enterprise54[/url]. About 2days ago, we posted an article on nairaland about Fashola and other individuals who are giving out 100k to 1,100 startups with good business ideas. You can still view it on the site though so you can know how to apply. Follow @enterprise_54 and visit [url]enterprise54[/url] for more of such news and for the freshest and latest entrepreneurship stories across Africa.

Are you a an entrepreneur, business man or woman? you need to follow these steps to succeed at what you do.

Follow these steps and you wont find it difficult starting your business and becoming your own boss!

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ENTERPRISE54 - If you plan to be successful as an African entrepreneur, there are a few things you need to put on your blacklist right now. Our business climate has been described as harsh and the importance of doing business in a deliberate manner cannot be over emphasized.

While there is no guarantee for success in business, the least you can do is to stack the odds in your favor, right? Take note of the following things that you must desist from doing:

1. Do not be envious of the success of others
Especially in Nigeria, people dive into a perceived lucrative business simply because they’ve seen a bold pioneer succeed at it. It simply distracts you from your own primary focus and sidetracks your progress. In the extreme, you may be derailed from your unique selling point and lose your niche in business. Rather, identify your passion and determine your skill set then let the success stories around you inspire and challenge you to do more! If Alibaba had followed the crowd 20 years ago, he wouldn’t be Nigeria’s king of comedy today.

2. Do not make excuses
When you goof, own it up! Don’t explain your bad business decisions away, rather accept your mistake and identify the root cause of it. Add it to your list of valuable business lessons and move on. When you make excuses for your mistakes, you will repeat those mistakes.

3. Do not stop learning
Whatever you do. Your age, qualifications, or achievements should never stop you from learning more. There is always something new to learn out there, whether from other entrepreneurs’ successes and failures or from an advanced class. Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) is a wonderful NGO platform for emerging Nigerian women entrepreneurs to learn and network. Young Africa Leaders Initiative is a US-backed group available to emerging African business leaders to develop. Coursera, iVersity and African Management Initiative (AMI) offer free online courses that are immensely valuable to entrepreneurs! There are just so many opportunities for learning.

4. Do not focus on moneymaking
While the aim of every business is to make profit, your focus must be on creating great value for customers through your products or services. This in turn attracts customer loyalty, free word of mouth marketing and a constant flowing revenue. Customer is king! Short-circuiting your paying customers and focusing on their pockets is a misguided perception that only leads to unclever strategies.

5. Do not stop when you fail
Most statistics state that eight out of every 10 new businesses fail. If your business fails for whatever reason, you should chalk it up to a normal part of growth, pick the lessons, and keep going. When you incorporate the lessons learned from your failure into your next attempt, you reduce your subsequent chances of failure.

This is by no means a comprehensive list. You are welcome to add in the comment box to those things entrepreneur gunning for success should not be caught doing.
Visit [url]enterprise54[/url] for more stories!

ENTERPRISE54 – You desperately want to have your own business, but can’t start?
You’re watching businesses springing up around you everyday and you’re itching to have a go too
You can’t wait to send in your resignation letter, only you’re still brainstorming for THE IDEA
You have weighed the pros and cons of several business ideas, but the cons are keeping you at bay

Well, I can’t claim to have answers for you but I can help by pointing you in the right direction to look. One thing I have learned and learned well is that, to receive anything of value (whether money or repute or other), you must first provide value. Yeah, no free lunch. This is the underlying basis of business; people always pay when you give them value.

So the pertinent question is, ‘What is it that you can do to add value to people right now?’ It may not immediately be profit-yielding, but what is it? You see, not everyone can start a business just like that, maybe you need to start out with a non-profiting venture?

Once identified, please run with it. Start adding your brand of value to people’s lives within your sphere of influence. Start dishing out from your area of giftedness to people that need it. Once you start drawing from the well, new waters will gush from the source…

It is a tested and proven principle that ‘Value always comes back to you’. It may not come back to you in the form that it went out (you may not even want it that way), but it will come. Just as the form of its return is not fixed, so also its turnaround time is relative.

That said, there are a few active steps you can take, to brainstorm your business idea:

1. Look for patterns in previous and present work experience – identify the tasks or responsibilities that you do consistently and have become very good at. Think of how you can personally consult for needy clients based on your knowledge and skills. Look for individuals and organizations that will appreciate your expertise and package yourself as a freelancer or consultant.

2. Identify your passion – this cannot be over-emphasized because it is the bedrock of a successful business venture. The passion is what fuels you when all else is at a low ebb, and yes, those low moments always come in business. If you build your business round your passion, it will stand the test of time

3.Surf the web! Spend some quality time online searching for people with similar ideas to yours. It is a good sign if there are people already offering the product or service that you have in mind – it means the business model has been tried and trusted. Then, you just need to introduce your own creative twist so your business idea can be relevant and unique.

4. Look at the marketability of your ideas – what will people be willing to pay you for and how regularly? Try to create a layer of products or service at different levels – small products so clients can try you out and then larger investment type products. You may also consider breaking the ice with some FOC (free-of-charge) consultations or some other service.

Go ahead and look deep inside you. The business idea is in there somewhere, find it and start being your own boss!
Visit enterprise54 for more stories!
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Well, regarding spiritual fathers everyone is guilty. Its either your pastor, reverend, imam, alfa, jazzman bla bla bla. Freedom of religion, lol...

Nice one. Spread the good news and visit [url]enterprise54[/url] for more stories.

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ENTERPRISE54 – To become a successful entrepreneur is not a day’s job. Successful business men all have a driving force and this motivation is what keeps them going in the face seemingly insurmountable challenges.

Many of you young entrepreneurs might not have met Africa’s richest man Alhaji Aliko Dangote, but if you can connect with some of his quotes you can grasp the scope of how he thinks, his motivation. These five quotes are words by the man himself and I hope you will find inspiration from them. To all Africa’s young entrepreneurs, regardless of the type of enterprise you are trying to build, applying these words gleaned from experience to your daily activities and your business would be immensely beneficial.

“I enjoy myself a lot but I derive more joy in working. I believe in hard work and one of my business success secrets is hard work. It’s hard to see a youth that will go to bed by 2am and wake up by 5am. I don’t rest until I achieve something.”

Africa’s richest man sleeps 3hours a day!!! Are you oversleeping? Do you love your business?

“I built a conglomerate and emerged the richest black man in the world in 2008 but it didn’t happen overnight. It took me thirty years to get to where I am today. Youths of today aspire to be like me but they want to achieve it overnight. It’s not going to work. To build a successful business, you must start small and dream big. In the journey of entrepreneurship, tenacity of purpose is supreme.”

The tenacity of purpose is supreme. The harder you work the luckier you get.

“After my death, I want to be remembered as Africa’s greatest industrialist.”

Here is a question to every entrepreneur: “What do you want to be remembered for?” Is your enterprise driven by a vision of stomach infrastructure and sustainability or a larger-than-life purpose?

“If you don’t have ambition, you shouldn’t be alive”.

Strong words akin to Jack Ma’s quote: “If you’re still poor at 35, you deserve it!”

Also Read: [url]Meet The Nigerian Who is Now Better at Business Than Steve Jobs[/url]http://enterprise54.com/meet-the-nigerian-whos-now-better-at-business-than-steve-jobs/

“Every morning when I wake up, I make up my mind to solve as many problems, before retiring home.”

First, Dangote boosted local cement production, plummeted cement importation and reduced cement congestion at Nigerian ports. Now, he just slashed cement cost by 50 percent! Are you seeking to just enrich yourself without thinking of how to solve the market’s problems? If your answer is in the affirmative, you need to learn from Africa’s biggest industrialist. He knows better!

Africa has several inspiring businesspersons that have achieved admirable success against all odds. I would like to know those entrepreneurs that inspire you.

Go to [url]enterprise54.com[/url] for more

Very funny. It can be annoying what our politicians promise citizens. This however is a welcome development.

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ENTERPRISE54 – Attention all aspiring entrepreneurs! As part of events to mark its 25th anniversary, The Chair Center Group has partnered the Lagos State Government to host Ignite Ideas Contest which is aimed at granting N100,000 interest-free loans to 1,100 entrepreneurs for the realization of their business ideas.

Celebrated entrepreneur and founder of The Chair Group, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika will be giving 100 great business ideas a seed debt capital of N100,000 while the remaining 1000 ideas will receive N100,000 seed debt capital from the state government, both, via First Bank Micro Finance Bank.

Interested persons should click here[url][/url]http://enterprise54.com/ and apply by December 20th 2014 after which a screening process would be carried out and selected applicants would be contacted.

The N100,000 loan will be interest free for a 24 month tenure. After the first 6 months, monthly repayments of N5, 000 only will be expected for 18 months until the capital is fully repaid.

I believe this is a viable model as it requires recipients to be accountable and build financial discipline – a key requirement to business success that is largely lacking in our society. The first six months also gives the entrepreneur time to make mistakes, learn and build a viable business model before starting to make repayment. Mrs Ibukun Awosika also disclosed, after the 2-year period, entrepreneurs with health financials and good debt repayment would have access to robust loans from First Bank itself based on their credit data. But what happens to businesses that unfortunately default on loan repayment? Would a collateral of theirs be confiscated? Would collateral be required at all to access these loans? That, we’re not clear about. There are no indications from the organizers whether or not the loan is collateral-free.

REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLICANTS ARE:

Applicants must be of Nigeria nationality

Applicants must not be below 18 years of Age. Failure to verify age will result in the application being declined.

Applications must articulate a specific business problem to solve or opportunity to address. The ideas must be original, address a clear market gap.

Applicants must be clear on the benefits from the prize money and the viability of idea must be established.

Employees of The Chair Centre Group, Digital Jewels Limited, AGDC etc and their families are not eligible to apply.

ENTERPRISE54 - GO! in partnership with Enterprise54 is organizing "Companies, Not Code" - a periodical business development workshop to inform and empower tech entrepreneurs on the business essentials of running and growing startups.

We have noticed the absence of open platforms targeted at developing the business intelligence of Nigerian technology entrepreneurs. What’s largely obtainable are coding programs and pitching competitions resulting in startup founders with funding but poor bookkeeping and accountability practice, great coding skills but poor understanding of management, marketing, execution etc. A classic business case in this regard is Celestine Ezeokoye of the Tiketmobile fiasco.

As a social enterprise, we have taken it upon ourselves to make this contribution to the ecosystem and it is hoped that this approach would help create balance in the capabilities of the budding Nigerian technology entrepreneur.

This first edition will hold at the Co-creation Hub, Yaba, Lagos.

SPEAKERS
Oluseun Onigbinde is a Cofounder and Lead Partner of BudgIT. He is graduate of Electrical/Electronics Engineering from the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria and has worked with First Bank Nigeria Plc and Access Bank Plc. He is a 2012 Ashoka Fellow, Knight Foundation Fellow and an aspiring writer with a soon-to-be-published collection of short stories. He recently had Executive Education at Stanford University.

Bernard O'bien is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder of Harbor Incubator. He is a graduate of Physics from the University of Lagos and a famished seeker of tech knowledge. By December, he will be relocating to Silicon Valley on another expedition, to understudy technology finance.

Mark Essien is the Founder of Hotels.ng and the indigenous poster boy for tech worklife balance!

A founder of one of the leading ecommerce companies in Nigeria is also expected! We're keeping a tight lip for now.
Date: Wednesday November 19, 2014
Venue: 6th floor CcHub, Yaba.
Time: 4-6pm

Attendance is free. Interested participants should register [url]here[/url]https://www.eventbrite.com/e/companies-not-coding-tickets-14316975459.

Entries have now opened for the second stream of #SurulereStartups – where 10 young people running businesses 1 – 3 years old will be selected for an 8-week televised boot camp. 3 winning businesses will win access to over $150,000 in cash, media inventory and business incubation.


“#SurulereStartups is the first stream of the #StartupsAfrica project, which is a community-based enterprise programme that kicked off in April 2014,” said Remi Ogunkayo, an alumnus of the programme and Project Manager. “Here, young born-and-bred Nigerian entrepreneurs will be trained, mentored and supported to ensure they survive and grow. Our mandate is to help start-ups across African communities with training, access to funding and ancillary services.”

The first edition of #SurulereStartups held from April – June 2014 and involved 10 young entrepreneurs from in and around Surulere (Lagos, Nigeria) trained and mentored on Financing, Access to Markets, People Management, Business Planning and Marketing, amongst others.

The second edition takes that model and aggressively expands it, with a network of mentors and business coaches working actively with 10 entrepreneurs over an 8-week period. The 10 businesses must demonstrate a high-growth potential to be selected.

The boot camp will end with the participants presenting 5-year business strategies to a judging panel of respected business leaders. The top 3 entrepreneurs will get access to $15,000 in cash, $100,000 in media inventory (TV, radio, print and online) and $40,000 in business incubation including user/market testing, office space, connectivity, marketing support and administration. This package will include one-year access to funds, mentors and networks.

Click link to find out more on this http://enterprise54.com/150000-in-cash-and-support-up-for-grabs-for-entrepreneurs-in-around-surulere/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

On Saturday September 20th 10 female entrepreneurs from across the continent and diaspora competed for more than $30,000 in cash and prizes at the She Leads Africa Entrepreneur Showcase.

Each finalist had 5 minutes to pitch their businesses and then received questions from the esteemed panel of judges including Hakeem Belo-Osagie (Chairman of Etisalat Nigeria), Ngozi Edozien (CEO of InVivo Partners) Omoyemi Akerele (Founder of Lagos Fashion and Design Week) and Audu Maikori (CEO of Chocolate City Group). Alhaji Aliko Dangote also attended the event and judged several of entrepreneur presentations encouraging the finalists to pursue local manufacturing and develop new industries in Nigeria.

More than 300 people filled the venue as dozens of angel investors and representatives from venture capital companies including Cardinal Stone, Kuramo Capital, Travant Capital, and Metis Capital Partners attended the event looking for investment deals with the next hottest startups.

When determining the winners the judges looked for an idea that had already been tested in the market, ability to scale across markets, a strong management team, clear understanding of the potential risks and challenges and a plan to mitigate them.

The winners of the competition were:


First place: Cherae Robinson is the founder of Tastemakers Africa, the world’s only mobile app dedicated to buying upscale, curated experiences on the African continent. (Diaspora)

Click the link to continue http://enterprise54.com/female-entrepreneur-clinches-gt-banks-10000-she-leads-africa-prize/

Things just keep getting better for Android developers in Nigeria. Just three months after Google finally permitted local developers in Nigeria and Egypt to publish premium apps on its PlayStore, the Lagos arm of its Google Developer Groups (GDGs) is partnering with Mobile Monday to organize a monetization workshop aimed at teaching Android developers how to make more money of their works on the PlayStore.

The event, scheduled to take place 5pm to 8pm at the Lagos-based Co-Creation Hub on the 29th of this month, is titled “Android | UI/UX | The UI Challenge“ would host experienced developers including Google Play Team member Tzvika Barenholz and two members of the Konga mobile app development team Zainab and Ikenna.


Also, there would be a user interface Challenge – an avenue for developers to showcase their design skills on CSS3. The winner of the challenge goes home with a brand new Moto 360 smartwatch said to be worth around $300.

The event is free, but prospective attendees
Click link to continue http://enterprise54.com/google-wants-to-teach-android-app-developers-in-nigeria-how-to-make-more-money/

Foodstantly.com is another very interesting online business shooting out of Africa. Founded only nine months ago, the startup helps Nigerian consumers receive food orders instantly from partnered vendors on its growing online marketplace. Foodstantly definitely isn’t the pioneering entrant in this market; Rocket Internet’s Hellofood currently dominates the multi-player meal delivery space. But here’s the interesting part. Aside the ready to eat service, Foodstantly also helps connect farmers to food stuff demands under its ready to cook product segment. An immensely rich potential business model that helps small-scale agriculture producers solve one of their major problems.

Growing up in the coal city of Nigeria Port Harcourt, Uche Ariolu witnessed farmers complain of massive produce wastage due to market inaccessibility and poor distribution. Being a farmer in remote areas of Nigeria can be disheartening; difficulty in reaching markets and lack of finance to build storage bans contribute as high as 50 percent of harvest loss of perishable goods like tomatoes. So the inquisitive young man dreamt of possible solutions.


Uche Ariolu would be pitching at Microsoft-sponsored DEMO Africa 2014, the first and largest gathering of African angel investors. Nigeria has over 160 million peoples with over 80 percent purchasing their food directly from local markets. The market volume and potential for Foodstantly is awesome and he just might go home with some investments after the much-anticipated angel gathering.

We spoke with Uche and this is what he had to say.

Click link to read the interview http://enterprise54.com/no-need-to-visit-the-market-this-innovative-startup-will-deliver-meals-and-farm-produce-to-you/

TTGIL: Entrepreneur should always take action as only action generates result.

Thank you.

Glad that you like it. Visit our site, www.enterprise54.com for more informative posts on entrepreneurship in Africa.

Last week I was at the residence of the British Deputy High Commission in Ikoyi. Entrepreneur Country held a lovely dinner and round table event to promote the digital economy in Nigeria. To say titans were at the table is an understatement. Although I can’t name the folk who where there, leaders from banking to telecoms to private equity to tech giants were represented. Although I came late (big product push due soon) the small ~20 group didn’t hold it against me (I think). As usual, I was the youngest person in the room. I don’t usually attend these things but I was intrigued. It’s not every day you get to dine with the Deputy High Commissioner.

There was the usual chorus of ‘Nigerians are so entrepreneurial’, ‘our future is technology’, ‘the future is the youth’, ‘the next big tech company can come from Nigeria’ – blah blah blah. I found a few kindred spirits but largely disagreed with ALL their other assertions. Why?

Nigerian technology is starving. And the boys are not happy.

There is no innovation without capital. Yes, you can create some nifty technology at a small scale. But try creating that into a company without capital. In the West, it’s tough. In Nigeria it’s nigh on impossible. It just doesn’t really happen. Yes there are examples. Outliners. But the internet industries we see today globally from Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon, Netflix, Tencent, Alibaba, Rakuten et al were built up over many years with cold hard cash. Bucket loads of the stuff. Billions of dollars of ventured capital. Same in the US. Same in India. Same in Russia. Same in China. Same story. Different language. I don’t understand why people think it will be any different in Africa. History is a great teacher. Africa – let’s begin to learn.

Click link to continue http://enterprise54.com/how-nigerian-musicians-make-their-millions-jason-njoku/

The smell of money is one of the greatest motivators any man can have. Money makes the world a carousel.

For entrepreneurs, money is more than just the carousel maker. It’s the whole universe itself. A perpetual fear of the lack of it invades an entrepreneur’s mind. Business always needs money.

spend


But there is always a point where you lose money, you don’t make money or clients refuse to pay you. So we call on Robinson Crusoe to give us a few tips on survival.

Conserve the little you have. Your limited resources are vital at this point. Conserve cash.

Have a regular source of income, no matter how tiny. Something to keep you from begging on the streets.

Click link to continue http://enterprise54.com/a-survivors-guide-to-lack-of-money/