₦airaland Forum

Hello Everyone,

Our company officially turns 1 in November. As a team of 2, We have been able achieve a lot of traction based on revenue, deliveries completed and the rate of increase of our customer base.

In a week, we would be launching our crowdfunding campaign to raise money to scale our business model and we have a nifty strategy to build our community of supporters that are keen on seeing our company grow and scale our company to be the most efficient shipping/courier company in Nigeria.

To learn more, click the link below

https://startuptalk.hubbonng.com/2018/08/hubbonng-our-very-first-crowdfunding.html

Hello Everyone, It's episode 2 of my Past 12 Series.

Lol.

I really appreciate the love and support that you all showed me when I completely laid the company's challenges bare here a couple of days ago.

We also have had successes and we feel that you can even join us on our journey and play a strong role in building Nigeria's top courier/delivery company.

1. We have had a revenue of close to N500,000 this year alone. Might not seem like a lot. But ask a corper how much he has made in 8 months and then you will understand the progress we are making. We are still a long way away from the goal. But we are much further along in the journey that when we started in 2017.

2. We have completed over 200 deliveries for individuals and businesses over the past 8 months. We have a paying customer base of 25 businesses. And at some point in the year, we did some letter deliveries for a government agency. Trust me, I felt like I was a contractor already. Lol.

3. We have begun to get collaboration requests from Enterprise service companies that want to leverage on our customer base to offer them services ranging from printing and publishing services, enterprise credit facilities as well as animation and graphic design services. This is a potential revenue stream we never planned for which we look to exploit over the next couple of months.

4. We have truly been blessed by God as He has given us support at critical points of our development process through opening doors for us through various means. Mentorship, Training and funding from the Tony Elumelu Foundation, The Next Economy Programme supported by the Enspire Incubator where we have had in-depth business support services, office space and wifi in MAITAMA all for FREE!. I honestly never hexperredit. And finally qualifying for the Y-combinator Startup School where the HubbonNG.com team would be mentored by business leaders from all over the world and if we are lucky we could get some money. That's great to hear right.

I understand that starting a business is perhaps one of the toughest things to do, moreso in Nigeria where some "successful business owners" would tell Youth on social media that it's "because of God" when we ask to know how they were able to build large companies in Nigeria. No tangible response.
We are religious in Nigeria, we understand that the God factor is important definitely, but what did they have to do, what pitfalls do we avoid etc. etc. Many of these answers still remain largely unanswered.

I have been told success is a journey. And it is said that a journey of a thousand miles first begins with a step. HubbonNG is officially a year old and I feel that through careful curating my experiences in "starting and running a business in Nigeria" in a book would be essential for people looking to launch their very first company.

By this time next week, my book "Clueless to CEO" would be live to be purchased through various e-book platforms and I would be willing to print and sell hard-cover copies based on demand from people like you. The book sales would be accompanied with merchandize sales where we would sell items from T-shirts, mugs, notebooks, pens, Lanyards, Flash Drives and other nifty gift items as part of our crowdfunding campaign where we would be looking to raise over 10 million naira to buy delivery infrastructure (bikes, tricycles, trucks) for our company because we have largely been reliant on outsourcing these services to other companies and it presents its own unique challenges.

All our successes have been achieved by a team of 2. Uche Ozoemena and I, who were high school classmates. Amazing right?

We can't begin this process without informing you so that we know what you think and we will begin with this small task for you.

WHICH OF THESE BOOK COVER DESIGNS would most likely persuade you to buy the book for yourself, your spouse, your kids, a sibling or even a PARENT that would benefit from reading the 12 Factors that I consider to be vital in launching your first company.

You can also pre-order the e-copy for N3,000 or the hard cover copy for N7,500. And you will get your copy after 30 days. We can only print when there is volume!

Engage me and let's talk. Head to the comment section straight away!

Or contact me privately on WhatsApp (07015766545) for more information.

Good morning Everyone,

You're welcome to another episode of Funding Friday!

If you have been in this startup game for as long as I have you would know that cash is the lifeblood of ensuring that you keep your idea alive whilst you work to build your customer base.

Funding is the bane of why many ideas in Nigeria and even all around the world either don't come to fruition or don't exist for too long before they fail.

Click the link below to read more

https://startuptalk.hubbonng.com/2018/08/how-can-i-get-funding-for-my-startup.html

the truth is that a lot of young people that start businesses in Nigeria usually go it all on their own and this makes the possibility of success even much more bleak. I want to present to you the opportunities through which young Entrepreneurs can leverage on communities and ecosystems to build their businesses.

One of the most potent ways is to get involved with Incubators

WHAT ARE INCUBATORS?

Click the link below to read more

https://startuptalk.hubbonng.com/2018/08/how-does-incubator-help-you-build-your.html

The truth is that government is not interested in building the economy if not their focus would be centred around creating the enabling environment for business owners. What can business owners do to influence the government positively?

It's funny right, Earlier I had written a post about the benefits of the new 2018 CAMA bill that reduced the barrier of registering a company by young Entrepreneurs but through discussions with small business owners the feeling all around is that, the bill is merely a plastic bill.

To read more, click the link below

https://startuptalk.hubbonng.com/2018/07/what-did-new-2018-cama-bill-lack.html

Entrepreneurship is difficult but we have to remain dedicated to purpose to stay the course when we experience challenges in our business.

We want to hear your thoughts and ideas on how you were able to handle disappointment and tough periods in your business.

For the past couple of months since we closed our first grant (The Tony Elumelu Foundation) raising follow-on seed funding has been a emotionally tiring journey.



It's difficult to know that funders might not be interested in what your passionate about and that's a difficult pill to swallow. What's worse is that I look at the impact that HubbonNG can have on the Youth population that are looking for supplementary income that we can provide for them as part of our delivery partner network and the possibility of us creating that impact for them seems to mere tales by moonlight each passing day.

Click the link below to read more

https://startuptalk.hubbonng.com/2018/07/how-can-i-deal-with-dissappointments-in.html

There is an increasing number of Entrepreneurs in Nigeria especially amongst the youth population. It is important that we understand that we play a strong role as stakeholders in the Nigerian project and we should always look at ways were we can influence government and her policies.
The government have released the beta version of a solution where Entrepreneurs can report or give feedback or certain bottlenecks they have faced with certain MDA's. Because the application is still in the beta phase, it only always complaints to be given about 9 major MDA (government agencies).

Read my two articles for more details.

1.http://startuptalk.hubbonng.com/2018/05/how-to-use-pebec-reporting-app-for.html
2.http://startuptalk.hubbonng.com/2018/05/part-2-how-to-use-pebec-reporting-app.html

Motivational speakers have been met with derision especially here in Nigeria. In a peer Whatsapp group, a couple of mates had a go at Motivational Speaking session where they knew they could donate for the Motivational speaker to pay his rent and perhaps change his wardrobe. I feel as though Motivational Speakers are important in our society especially as an Entrepreneur as their words constantly work as a form of reassurance that I need to constantly work towards my goals.

In my article below, I also share different ways Entrepreneurs can keep themselves constantly motivated and maintain good mental health.

http://startuptalk.hubbonng.com/2018/04/do-you-like-motivational-speakers.html

Dicy issue. As a delivery person. If you paid for an item and had it delivered and it didn't work. The return policy should fall on the client that initiated the delivery. We have had situations where clients call us to pick up items from stores on a promo and the promo ends before our riders get to the store and there is no item available. Who pays the bill for no item?

I know. I am Nigerian and I responded to your question with another question. LOL

A lot of us set new year resolutions and as the year comes to a close, a number of us have achieved those goals whilst many of us haven't. I wrote an article on how I set my goals for 2017 and how I ensured that I achieved those goals. There might be something for you to learn from it.

http://startuptalk.hubbonng.com/2017/12/mondaymotivation-did-you-achieve-set.html

I have met a lot of young people that have amazing business ideas but they term their greatest hindrance to launching that great company to be funding. We have young Entrepreneurs that have started businesses and are a bit confused on when to stop sourcing for funding. Is there a limit of funding that a startup business owner should look for?

I wrote an article that helps to demystify funding for startup businesses. Click the link below to read

http://startuptalk.hubbonng.com/2017/12/fundingsaturdays-how-many-times-should.html

Aspiring Entrepreneurs as well as small and medium sized business owners have approached me on how they can increase their customers. I always urge them to create or improve their business presence online. You can no longer sit in your shop and hope that customers would visit. Even my dad is online now.

Here are 4 ways you can improve your business online.

http://startuptalk.hubbonng.com/2017/12/ecosystemthursdays-how-to-improve-your.html

Hello Everyone,

I have run a blog for a long while now on blogger and it is gradually becoming popular. I am trying to build a brand around it and I need a "good name". I need your help. To give you context on what the blog is about click here!

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/quickies-buying-domain-name.html

Hello Everyone, I am buying a domain name for my blog and I need your help with a choice!

Click below to help!

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/quickies-buying-domain-name.html

I was part of a Senate Roundtable discussion on Youth Unemployment and Development and we shared ideas on how we can remedy the high level of Youth Unemployment in Nigeria.

Read my account of the meeting here

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/businessandthestatetuesdays-senate.html

I was part of a Senate Roundtable discussion on Youth Unemployment and Development and we shared ideas on how we can remedy the high level of Youth Unemployment in Nigeria.

Read my account of the meeting here

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/businessandthestatetuesdays-senate.html

As a 2017 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur, We were introduced to the ideology behind "AFRICAPITALISM" and it is fairly simple in my opinion.

Building African Businesses around solving Africa's Problems.

It is fairly simple especially if you understand that it is only Africans that feel the bane of our "multi-dimensional problems" so we are the ones in the right place to create the solutions.

Click the link below to see ways in which African Companies can begin to galvanize and solve Africa's Problems!

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/givebacksunday-africapitalism-how-to.html

It excites me seeing how the startup ecosystem in Africa is continuously growing. There is a heightened need to not only fund startups but to encourage other young people to get involved, because it's truly a game of numbers, If we have about 100 businesses start, we might have 10 established business. If we have 10,000 businesses launched, we might be lucky to get 100 established businesses. This is how we would grow a thriving economy!

There is an event this evening that would make it easy and understandable to register a business in Nigeria.

Click here to get involved.

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/eventfulfridays-how-to-register.html

I met a lady, Tochi Friday, a multilinguist trained in both French and German at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She has built her business, Smarter Languages Academy with the mindset to reduce language barriers across the world to foster unity and economic growth.

Read her story here

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/yeswednesdays-entrepreneurship-built-on.html

The Ease of Doing Business Documentary Screening occurred today and it covered the successes the Federal Government have made to make it easier to do business in Nigeria as depicted when we moved 25 places from 170th to 145th on the Ease of Doing Business Index. Members of the press and Private Sector stakeholders shared their ideas and challenges in running business in Nigeria in a parley with the Hon. Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah and the Hon. Minister of State, Mrs Aisha Abubakar. The Hon. Ministers responded to the challenges at the event. Click here to see how Federal Government in collaboration with PEBEC has indeed made it easier to do business in Nigeria.

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/highlights-from-ease-of-doing-business.html

The Ease of Doing Business Documentary Screening occurred today and it covered the successes the Federal Government have made to make it easier to do business in Nigeria as depicted when we moved 25 places from 170th to 145th on the Ease of Doing Business Index. Members of the press and Private Sector stakeholders shared their ideas and challenges in running business in Nigeria in a parley with the Hon. Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah and the Hon. Minister of State, Mrs Aisha Abubakar. The Hon. Ministers responded to the challenges at the event. Click here to see how Federal Government in collaboration with PEBEC has indeed made it easier to do business in Nigeria.

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/highlights-from-ease-of-doing-business.html

I remember vividly shaking like a leaf while presenting my poem in front of the whole primary school assembly. Worst Experience ever.

Now I cannot count how many interviews, how many public speeches, how many meetings that I have attended and the ease to which I pass across my message across confidently.

Want some tips on how to overcome your stage fright and speak confidently in public. Click below!

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/mondaymotivation-how-to-speak.html

I remember vividly shaking like a leaf while presenting my poem in front of the whole primary school assembly. Worst Experience ever.

Now I cannot count how many interviews, how many public speeches, how many meetings that I have attended and the ease to which I pass across my message across confidently.

Want some tips on how to overcome your stage fright and speak confidently in public. Click below!

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/mondaymotivation-how-to-speak.html

Have you ever heard that a person is the sum total of the five people that he spends most of his time with.

Ever wondered if you could raise money, a loan from your so called friends for either a project or a business enterprise? Either of two things might happen, they might not consider you trustworthy enough or those friends might not just be able to raise such funds for you. In both cases you need new friends.

In this article, I talked about building startups and how important it is to be in networks like the YALI Network where you can learn and share ideas from people especially with regards to raising funds from your business.

Read more here

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/fundingsaturdays-power-of-networking.html

Are you a business man or a startup Entrepreneur based in Abuja? Dr Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment is inviting you for a documentary screening on the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria. You ought to be there. More details on the event below

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/eventfulfridays-ease-of-doing-business.html

Join Dr Okechukwu Enelamah, Honorable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment for the screening of three mini documentary series: Ease of Doing Business, Diversification and SME's. Learn about the steps the ministry is taking to facilitate business processes for local and international investors.

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/eventfulfridays-ease-of-doing-business.html

I attended an Abuja Stakeholders meeting at the National Export Promotion Council where the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council under the leadership of Dr Jumoke Oduwole, SSA the President on Industry, Trade and Investment/Secretary of PEBEC and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment/Vice Chair of PEBEC as they stated the work they had put in to ensure that it indeed was as a result of their effort to reform certain sectors that lead to the leap on the ease of doing business index of Nigeria from 170 to 145. A whole 25 places. My question to all of you is this, is it truly easier to do business in Nigeria?

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/businessandthestatetuesdays-is-it.html

I attended an Abuja Stakeholders meeting at the National Export Promotion Council where the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council under the leadership of Dr Jumoke Oduwole, SSA the President on Industry, Trade and Investment/Secretary of PEBEC and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment/Vice Chair of PEBEC as they stated the work they had put in to ensure that it indeed was as a result of their effort to reform certain sectors that lead to the leap on the ease of doing business index of Nigeria from 170 to 145. A whole 25 places. My question to all of you is this, is it truly easier to do business in Nigeria?

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/businessandthestatetuesdays-is-it.html

As an African , it's important to note how difficult albeit depressing it is to survive on a normal basis in our communities. Successful African people across all sectors tend to gain and build their confidence through different means. Either through church, mosque or through their support system, through family and friends. Some albeit most, get it through sheer belief in their dream whilst possessing the strong will and passion for their work sees them through.

I definitely build my confidence through a combination of these different channels but it is equally important to assess good reviews from your customers, readers, staff etc so that you would understand that you are doing something right at the very least.

Here's a snapshot of the conversation between one of our blog readers and I. This is Motivation!

https://startuptalkng..com.ng/2017/11/mondaymotivation-new-week-new.html