THE NEW FACE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP –WHAT EVERY NIGERIAN MUST KNOW!

It had been generally agreed in all economies of the world that entrepreneurship is a major key for unlocking the doors of economic growth and development. It is a potent tool for driving the objectives of industrial development, self reliance and employment generation.

In our nation today, more than ever before the significance of entrepreneurship as the long term imperative to overcoming the myriads of economic challenges facing the nation has been often emphasized by business development experts. Although the various successive administrations in Nigeria have implemented several economic programmes and policies aimed at stimulating entrepreneurship development but these programmes and policies could not achieve significant results because we have failed to understand the dynamic nature of the concept of entrepreneurship.

What we have always done here and still doing today is following the basic principles of entrepreneurship as it was in the first century. We have always believed that entrepreneurship is all about developing a novel and great idea that hasn’t been done before, or picking up something that has been done before and making it better.

So, the biggest challenge that has been driving people away from the path of entrepreneurship has been their inability to develop a great or novel idea that they can market profitably. This is indeed a very big challenge which most policy makers in this part of the world have not been able to recognize and deal with.

There is no doubt that Nigerians are very hard working people but many of them are actually applying their strength doing things that do not actually bring them satisfaction. That is why we have many people who are actually enduring their jobs instead of enjoying what they do. What they are doing do not bring them real satisfaction so, they keep on struggling with the job whereas deep in their heart there is still that craving for something better which they could not fathom how they can achieve it.

THE KEY ELEMENTS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

According to Smriti Chand, entrepreneurship is a process, a journey, not the destination; a means, not an end. All the successful entrepreneurs that you can think of today; either in Nigeria or outside, everyone of them went through this process.

The entrepreneurial process involve first, generating a profitable idea, organizing all the resources (human and material) to establish the business and the running of the business effectively and efficiently.

The process of idea generation has always remained a nightmare for many business owners. In fact, the wrong choice of a business idea contributes to over 75% of most business failures. A business built on a bad idea is similar to a house built on a faulty foundation. Most successful entrepreneurs at the beginning committed substantial resources (time, energy and money) into researching great ideas which they eventually pursue.

There are many people out there who have enough capital to invest but are still skeptical because they are yet to ascertain the best kind of investment to make. For such people, buying of franchise used to be an appealing option to them but with the financial crises of recent times, the capital requirements for buying franchises have made the option not so appealing.

Another unique attribute of entrepreneurs is that, they often look into people’s problems and challenges to see how they can turn them into business. Thus, the crises rocking our economy today and the emerging developments in information and communication technologies is fast changing the face of entrepreneurship, creating new opportunities for potential entrepreneurs to identify and follow their passions.

A NEW APPROACH TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

Creating your own business from scratch could be very expensive and risky.

ü  You will need adequate money to start (CAPITAL)

ü  You may need to rent a shop

ü  You may need to acquire some skill/special training

ü  You may need some inventories

ü  Etc

That has always been the problem in our environment but according to Mark Caine, “The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.”

The face of today’s entrepreneurship is aptly captured in this Chinese Proverbs, ““If you want 1 year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people.” The business of growing people is what is called Networking Business. Robert T. Kiyosaki – the author of the book Rich Dad Poor Dad observed that, “The richest people in the world build networks; everyone else is trained to look for work.”

David Bach explained the process of this new face of entrepreneurship in this way: "In Network Business, you don't need to create a business plan or create a product, you only need to find a reputable company, one that you trust, that offers a product or service you believe in and can get passionate about."

Here are some of the key advantages of Networking Business:

1.      Low cost of entry – this is the only approach to entrepreneurship where you can start a multi-million naira business with a very minimal capital.

2.      Life Transforming Education – According to Jim Rohn, the only way of achieving personal development is by going to work for what we will become and not what we will earn. This is also corroborated by Robert Kiyosaki who observed that the knowledge one gains from networking business is nothing short of life transforming. Today, no other industry is creating millionaires on a consistent basis as networking business is doing.

3.      Leverage And Residual Income – Networking business helps you to build streams of income that is recession proof and that could continue to flow in, even when you can no longer continue working. Several research findings have shown that over 82% of women who earn six figures or more do it through Network Marketing.

4.      Flexibility – it is a business that you can do at your convenient time; either on part time or full time basis.

WHAT THE EXPERTS AND SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS NEW APPROACH TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

1.      Paul Zane Pilzer, “Of all the entrepreneurial opportunities available today, one of the most important is direct selling, also called network marketing.”

2.      Jim Rohn, “Network marketing is the big wave of the future. It’s taking the place of franchising, which now requires too much capital for the average person.”

3.      Brian Tracy, “The future of network marketing is unlimited. There’s no end in sight. It will to continue to grow, because better people are getting into it. They are raising the entire standard of MLM to the point where soon, it will be one of the most respected business methods in the world.”

4.      Les Brown, “Network Marketing has produced more MILLIONAIRES than ANY other industry in the history of the world.”

5.      Tony Robbins, “What’s beautiful about network marketing is you get all the benefits of being a business owner, without all the headaches, and without the same level of risk. And so I think network marketing’s amazing!”

SOME OF THE MISCONCEPTIONS THAT PEOPLE HOLD ABOUT NETWORKING BUSINESS INCLUDE:

ü  Network Marketing is all about HAWKING DRUGS:

ü  They See it as pyramid scheme

ü  Network marketing is a get-rich quick scheme.

ü  I don’t have enough friends and neighbors to sign under me.

That is why you need information. This is the era of information so, seek to know more about the opportunities that are hidden in networking business.

There are Business Development orgaisations in our country today, like PROJECTRISE that you can contact for more information about Networking Business and how to identify or recognize the best ones that you can sign up with. They can help you to evaluate your peculiar needs, passion and skill level and advise you accordingly.

To know more about some of the opportunities in networking business you can contact me on:

TELEPHONE:            08052833097, 09097917225

WHATSAPP:              08033291724

E-MAIL:                       thinkingminds@ymail.com

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