Afrikan Heroes

My life has changed tremendously over the past 30 days.

That is because I discovered a tremendous success secret that I will be sharing with you in this write-up.

This secret is not sexy.

It is not dressed in bright clothing with all the makeup.

But it is very effective.

If you apply it to your life, I can guarantee you that your life is going to change big time!

So, what is this success secret?

Instead of just spelling it out for you, I want you to think of the very successful people below:

– King Sunny Ade

– Christiano Ronaldo

– Leonardo Dicaprio

– Bill Gates

– Arnold Schwarzenegger

– James Cameron

– Sade Adu

– Lagbaja

– Michael Jordan

I could list more but let me stop here.

I believe you should know at least 4 of the people on this list.

What is the ONE thing that is common to these people apart from the fact that they are successful?

Think!
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.
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If you think deeply, you will see that the ONE thing that is common to all of them is the fact that they all had a true north that they FOCUSED on sharpening until they became very successful.

If you don’t understand, I will break it down for you.

– King Sunny Ade’s focused on sharpening his guitar playing skills until he became world class.

– Christiano Ronaldo worked hard at developing his football skills until he became the world best!

– Arnold Schwarzenegger focused on his bodybuilding skills and worked at it until he became the world best.

Then, he did the same thing in the movie industry.

And even moved from there to dominate the very tough U.S politics arena, you see?

– Lagbaja focused on becoming a master saxophonist at world class level.

– And Michael Jordan revealed how he was focused and obsessed with practicing and becoming the best at basketball.

All these point to ONE thing.

And that truth is the fact that…

Mediocre people NEVER win.

There is no way you are ever going to become any successful by being mediocre.

E.g. If you want to become a big money maker with affiliate marketing for instance and you are doing it halfheartedly, I hate to break it to you but you will never become big.

The only way to win at anything IS BY GOING ALL IN.

That is what all those people listed above did.

Going all in requires a lot of sacrifice and that is why many people don’t do it.

And they end up living average lives.

The way to do apply this wisdom is to figure out the core skills or activities in your business or career that will change the playing field for you if you master it.

For King Sunny Ade, that was becoming a master guitarist.

For Lagbaja or late Femi Kuti, that was becoming a master saxophonist.

For Christiano Ronaldo, that was becoming a master goal scorer.

Example, let’s say you are an affiliate marketer.

If you go all in and become a master at getting massive traffic and converting it, your bank account will soon blow up.

You will become a major money maker and leave other struggling mediocre where you met them. For another person, maybe you need to become very good at copywriting and email marketing.

Success expert, Tony Robbins, will always say – “If you want to become successful, find what successful people are doing and model it”.

One of the things they do is what I have just shared with you in this write-up.

I have made up my mind to move to another level this year by going all in.

Nothing BIG will happen if you keep playing the mediocre game.

I hope this message sinks in and I hope you do the same in your life.

PS: There is no free lunch anywhere. Only hardwork.

Toyin Omotoso – Contributor

Toyin Omotoso is a successful business consultant based in Lagos. He’s the founder and CEO of Seven Star Systems. Aside business, he is a passionate writer and one of the best online business developers and and affiliate marketers in Nigeria. He brings his wealth of knowledge and expertise for the development of African Startups in Afrikan Heroes.

Saving your hard-earned money in banks in Nigeria may be worrisome given the numerous charges and surcharges. However, the Central Bank of Nigeria has put in place several policies to protect your interests as a customer of banks in Nigeria.

Below are some of these policies.

Banks Have No Right to Convert Funds In Your Dormant Account Into Their Income.

Under no circumstances can money deposit banks convert funds in your dormant account into their income, no matter the length of time the account has gone into dormancy. This is according to the CBN Guidelines which form part of its circular FPR/DIR/CIR/GEN/05/013 of October 7, 2015 to all financial institutions. The Guidelines state that these funds in dormant accounts would continue to be treated as funds belonging to the account holders until they are withdrawn by the account holders. The Guidelines also makes it mandatory for banks to keep records of all the dormant accounts, notwithstanding the number of years the accounts have gone into dormancy. Where you want the accounts to be reactivated, your banks are obliged to do just so. Again, you are not to be charged for the reactivation of the dormant accounts.

Not Everybody Can Have Access to Your BVN

By the Central Bank’s Circular on the Regulatory Framework for BVN Watchlist for Nigerian Financial System, not everybody has access to your Bank Verification Number (BVN). Persons who are permitted to have such access include your banks, Other Financial Institutions such as Insurance Companies, Mobile Money Operators, Payment Service Providers, Law Enforcement Agencies. Once the employees of these institutions have contact with your BVN, they are obliged to keep any information they have obtained in the process confidential. Where you desire to change any information related to your BVN, you are only permitted to do so, in the case of your name, for a maximum of 2 times, and in the case of your date of your birth, only once in a life time.

You Shall Be Refunded Full Proceeds of A Failed Transaction Within 24 Hours

Where you are carrying out certain transactions online through electronic funds transfer or POS in Nigeria and the transaction fails, the Central Bank’s Circular on the Regulation of Instant (Inter-Bank) Electronic Funds Transfer Services in Nigeria has directed the entity that received the proceeds of the failed transaction to refund your account with the proceeds of the failed transaction. Where such proceeds of the failed transactions are not refunded within 24 hours of the transaction, you are then entitled to the sum of N10, 000 for every such transaction you made. All you need to do is to ensure you provide the details of the beneficiary of the transaction. The CBN expects that all such issues would be treated within a three working day period.

There Is A Limit To How Much You Would Be Charged For Every Withdrawal Or Deposit You Make

By the CBN’s Circular on Nationwide Implementation of the Cash-Less Policy, only 3% processing fees is required for withdrawals of N500,000 and above for individual account holders, and 3% processing fees for withdrawals of N3,000,000 and above for corporate bodies. No such fees are required where you are making lodgement of funds into your accounts. The scheme applies particularly to Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Abia, Anambra, Rivers States and the FCT

There Is Also A Limit To How Much You Are Charged For Every Transaction On Your Account.

Each time you are charged for certain bank transactions you make, you must be sure the charges are right. By the Central Bank’s Guide To Charges by Banks and Other Financial Institutions in Nigeria, there are limits to how much you can be charged for every transaction you make. By this Guide, reactivation of closed accounts, obtaining one-time soft token for online transaction, issuance of mandatory monthly statement of accounts, withdrawal from your bank’s ATM attract no charges.

Credit or debit card’s issuance, replacement, renewal attract the sum of N1000 respectively, irrespective of whether the card is regular or premium, whereas withdrawal from other bank’s ATM attracts N65 only after the third withdrawal in a month. Card maintenance fee is N50 monthly for Naira debit/credit card and N20 per annum for foreign currency denominated debit/credit cards. Where you are using electronic funds transfer, only a service fee of N50 is required for transactions below and above N10, 000. To procure a hard ware token, a maximum charge of N3,500 is expected of the billing bank, while the cost of paying bills through an online channel is 0.75% of transaction value but no more than N1,200 in any case.

When Your Money is Trapped In ATMs, Banks Are Obliged To Return It To You.

If you have had the experience of ATMs dispensing lesser amount of money than you had requested or the ATM did not dispense any money at all but the bank still went ahead to debit your account, you may not have to worry. The Central Bank of Nigeria, through its Circular, BPS/DIR/CIR/01/008 of June 16, 2014 has directed banks to return all money in their possession as a result of the ATMs non-dispensing or partial dispensing error.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

1. It is going to Be Way Too Tougher than the Previous One.

The new passport contains polycarbonate materials which make it almost unbreakable. Polycarbonate is 250 times more resistant to impact, and is durable, impact resistant, and has a long lifespan, cutting down on the cost of replacement. 

• Every Process for Procuring It Is Going To Be Strictly Online.

Both the payment for the passport and the application system would be strictly online. To be specific, an Electronic Document Management System has been introduced to track the progress of the processing of the application, similar to online ecommerce shops. The system would alert you when the passport is ready and where to go and pick it up.

1. To Begin the Process of Application for the Passport, You Must Get Your National Identity Number Ready.

If you have not procured your National Identity Number (NIN) yet, then it is time you went and got one. This is because you cannot start the process of registration without having your National Identity Number on standby. Consider starting a process of getting one by clicking here.

• Contrary to Popular Opinion, You Can Pay As Low As N25, 000 ($130) to Get One.

Depending on what you want, you can pay as low as N25, 000 to get one, although government officials can get as low as N15, 000. The schedule of payment and the category of persons who are qualified to pay are as follows:

5-year Standard Passport N25, 000.00 (Foreign: $130.00)

64 Page 5-year Standard Passport N35, 000.00 (Foreign: $150.00)

64 Page 10-year Standard Passport for adults only (18 years and above)

N70, 000.00 (Foreign: $230.00)

32 Page 5-year Official Passport15, 000.00 (Foreign/A)

• Those below the Age of Ten Cannot obtain the 10-year Validity Passport.

You are below the age of 18 as of the 29th of April, 2019? You may get the 5-year validity passport but not the 10-year validity passport. This is in compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s specifications, and due to expected change in your physical appearance.

• The new Passport is available in these categories

32 page 5-year validity (Adults and Minors)

64 page 5-year validity (Adults and Minors)

64 page 10-year validity (Adults (18+) only)

Official Fees of the New Passport

• Any data on the old passport will be the same on the New Passport.

You may apply for the new Nigerian Passport on or after April 29, 2019 by clicking here, and following the steps.

For more information, click here

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Interested in investing in commercial papers in Nigeria’s largest brewer? The Nigerian Breweries Plc. on Thursday started a quest to raise N15 billion through issuance of new commercial papers (CPs). This forms part of the company’s N100 billion Commercial Papers programme.

Terms of the Offer

The offers are going to be of two types: one would be 90-day commercial papers and the other 182-day CPs.  The 90-day CPs attract effective discount yields of 11.590 per cent and 11.2680 per cent respectively while the 182-day CPs carry 14.430 per cent and 13.4614 per cent respectively.

The issuances have been rated Aa by Agusto and AA by Global Credit Rating (GCR).
The 90-day CPs are going to fully mature on Monday July 22, 2019 while the 182-day CPs will mature on Tuesday, October 22, 2019.

The offers opened last Thursday and will close on Thursday, April 18, 2019. The settlement date is Tuesday, April 23, 2019.

This new fund raising coming on barely some days after the decision of the board of Nigerian Breweries to pay out the entire net profit of N19.4 billion recorded in 2018 as cash dividend to shareholders for the business year, despite drop in the performance of the company.
Shareholders will receive final dividend of N14.6 billion in addition to N4.8 billion earlier paid by the company. A breakdown showed that shareholders will receive a final dividend per share of N1.83 in addition to interim dividend of 60 kobo, bringing total dividend per share for the year to N2.43.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Uber is groaning under the pains of operational cost, such that their cars keep accepting hailing requests but they are never really turning in profits for the company. A disclosure made in the SEC filing before Uber’s Initial Public Offering due in May shows that the ridesharing company is expressing fears that it expects operating expenses to “increase significantly in the foreseeable future” and that “may not achieve profitability.” In 2018 alone, Uber lost $3.03 billion from operations, even with its 91 million monthly active users. Here are a few things we learned from Uber’s filing with America’s Securities and Exchange Commission for its Initial Public Offering, which would take place later in May.

Every Country Seems to Be Finding Saudi Arabia’s Cash Irresistible

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund owns 5.2% of the Uber’s stocks. The Investment Fund also owns shares in Softbank’s Vision Fund, which owns 16% of Uber.

Losses, Losses and More Losses

In its filing, Uber said it turned in a profit of $997 million in 2018, largely from divesting parts of its business in places like Southeast Asia and Russia. Excluding those gains, among other items, Uber lost $1.8 billion for the year. In 2017 alone, it netted a loss totalling $4 billion. 2018 saw its revenue rise 42 percent to $11.3 billion from a year earlier. But revenue in 2017 had more than doubled from 2016. 

Uber Looks For the Most Profitable Routes to Stay In Business

Uber revealed in the prospectus that it is heavily dependent on just five cities for nearly a quarter of its total bookings: Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, London and São Paulo, Brazil.
Its number of monthly users, who turn to Uber for not only rides but also services like food delivery, was 91 million in 2018, up 34 percent from a year earlier. But user growth, which had risen 51 percent in 2017, also slowed.

Uber Drivers May Soon Become Employees of the Company  

The company said in its prospectus that the possibility it may someday be forced to recognize its drivers as employees was an existential threat to its business. “Any such reclassification would require us to fundamentally change our business model,” Uber said.

Uber Drivers May Soon Be Entitled To Stock Options

The company said in its filing that it intended to award cash bonuses to more than 1.1 million drivers in the United States. The bonuses range from as little as $100 up to $10,000, based on how many trips the driver has completed. Drivers will be able to use the bonuses to purchase Uber stock at its I.P.O. price.

The Biggest Winners From Uber’s Public Offering Will Be Its Founders And Early Investors, Who Own Large Parts Of Company Stock.

According to the prospectus, the biggest shareholders are SoftBank, which owns 16 percent of Uber; the venture capital firm Benchmark, which owns 11 percent; Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which owns 5 percent; Alphabet, which owns 5 percent; and Mr. Kalanick, who owns 9 percent.

Companies That Discount More Win?

Uber is currently being faced with stiff and aggressive discounting competition from rivals, such as Taxify, Lyft, Ola, Careem, Didi, Taxify and Yandex.Taxi, and of course, the public transport system  which have dragged down its plans to attract and retain riders. The revenue made by the Estonia-headquatered Taxify (Bolt) alone in 2017 increased six times compared to 2016, totalling €18 million, although the company still reported a net loss of €11 million. In fact, the sum total of the rides made by Taxify in 2018 is an estimated €1 billion euros, both as a result of geographic expansion as well as technological developments, compared to Uber’s 2018 $11.3 billion revenue, which was up around 42 percent over 2017, but below the 106 percent growth the prior year, even though it has more riders than Taxify.

IPO is a Means to an End, Not the End Itself

Uber’s listing on the Stock Exchange appears a clever way of continuing with the neck-to-neck competition in the ride-sharing industry. A smaller Lyft, with merely a self-acclaimed 39% market share just got itself listed recently. Expectations soared and the stock price rose in excitement, reaching a staggering $72 before falling, 15% down to $61 per share, barely a month after the first public offering. Indeed, fear is high with the threat from self-driving vehicles, seen as potentially lowering costs but which could also disrupt its business model. Listing on the Stock Exchange is not a permanent healing for the decade old company as the real work begins after that. Uber is expected to begin a series of investor presentations, called a roadshow, which will start in the week of April 29, after making the public offering.

Uber Is Gearing to Be the Largest Initial Public Offering since Chinese’s E-Commerce Company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd

For the IPO, Uber plans to sell around $10 billion worth of stock at a valuation of between $90 billion and $100 billion. By doing so, Uber is gearing to be the largest initial public offering since Chinese’s e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd first raised $25 billion in 2014 from similar offering.

Fighting with Customers is a Lose-Win Game

One advantage Uber appears to be banking on would be the fact that it is still the largest player in many of the markets in which it operates. However, 
Uber’s CEO Khosrowshahi will be tasked with convincing investors that he has successfully changed the culture and business practices after a series of embarrassing scandals over the last two years.
Those have included sexual harassment allegations, a massive data breach that was concealed from regulators, use of illicit software to evade authorities and allegations of bribery overseas.

Another hurdle the company hopes to cross would be to finally confront the monster of a #DeleteUber campaign which surged on social media in 2017 after a public relations crisis, which Uber said in its filing meant hundreds of thousands of consumers stopped using its platform within days.
Uber said its market share fell in most regions last year, although the rate of decline has slowed. 

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

You probably would be thinking that the funds in your account are at their all-time low, given the wave of acquisitions and legal cases by and against some banks in Nigeria. As a business owner, the stage is set. What happens when your bank ceases to exist and funds in your accounts begin a sinking journey?

The Managing Director/Chief Executive, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, seems to have an answer. The corporation has disclosed that the sum of N258.767 billion has been earmarked in its 2019 fiscal year for reimbursement of depositors in the unlikely event of closure of licenced banks. He made this disclosure while addressing the House of Representatives Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters when he appeared before it to defend the corporation’s 2019 budget estimates last Thursday.  Of the total amount, a provision of N109.686 billion has been made for depositors of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), while N149.081 billion has been set aside for depositors of Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) and Micro Finance Banks (MFBs).

Is The NDIC Backed By Law To Protect Your Funds In Nigerian Banks?

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation insures your funds in any banks in Nigeria from suddenly disappearing when the license of any bank is suddenly withdrawn, or to put more bluntly, the bank ceases to exist. To this effect, the Head, Communication and Public Affairs, NDIC, Mr. Mohammed Kudu Ibrahim,  further disclosed that a total of N140 billion was provided for Deposit Money Banks while the sum of N300 million was set aside for microfinance and PMBs with respect to the issue of NDIC’s mandate of providing financial assistance to eligible licenced and insured banks.

Can NDIC Insure All Funds In Nigerian Banks?

Section 15 of the NDIC Act, 2006 requires all licensed banks and other financial institutions such as credit and loans companies receiving deposits from the public to insure all such deposits against liabilities. This means that every deposit made in an insured Nigerian bank is an insured deposit. The only funds not insured are the deposits of bank staff and the directors of the concerned banks (possibly to exert them to exercise some care in the management of funds at their disposal); Federal Government Treasury Bills; Bonds and notes; investment in stocks, commercial papers, mutual funds, annuities, debentures. Consequently, individuals engaged in these types of transactions would have to take out different insurance covers to protect these investments. 

The recent roles played by the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, when it saved about N949.6 billion depositors’ funds in failed Skye Bank are still fresh in mind.

Funds May Be Lost Forever After All

Your deposits in ailing banks in Nigeria may be lost completely where the bank or the financial institution in question persistently suffers from absolute lack of funds or fails to write off its bad debts, in which case the Corporation may terminate the insurance cover, and after a further period of one year, the funds in the concerned banks would no longer be insured. However, there is no insurance for deposits made in Development Finance Institutions such as Bank of Industry, Federal Mortgage Bank, Nigeria Agricultural, Cooperative and Rural Development Bank and Urban Development Bank; Discount Houses; Finance Companies; Investment Firms; Unit Trusts/Mutual Funds; Insurance Companies; Pension Fund; Administrators (PFAs).

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Barely seven years old, Jumia is the first ever African tech start-up company to sell its shares on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Now, filing the necessary documents at the US Securities and Exchange Commission is not a big deal (any public company can do that as long as it fulfils the necessary legal requirements). The point is that Jumia not only got the ceremonial listing, but went ahead to rake in a whopping $200m, with its shares value rising to an astronomical 75% from its starting price, meaning that Jumia at market cap of $3.9 billion,  is now worth more than GTBank, Nigeria’s largest bank by market cap. Here are a few points to take away from this:

Why in the US?

Doesn’t it look like some big hypocrisy that Jumia would be listing on the New York Stock Exchange while it is not even a public company in Nigeria? The fact still remains that, according to Jumia’s IPO prospectus filed in December 2018, the e-commerce company has garnered losses up to $974 million. To be qualified to list in Nigeria, a company must be registered as a public limited company with no restrictions on the transfer of fully paid shares; have a minimum of three (3) years’ operating track record; have a pre-tax profit from continuing operation of not less than N300million cumulatively for the last three (3) fiscal years and a minimum of N100 million in two (2) of these years. Hence, listing in Nigeria soon may not be immediately on the horizon for Jumia Nigeria Ltd. 

E-commerce is Not Yet Profitable in Nigeria?

To start with, Konga gave up the ghost  earlier than expected and got swallowed up by Zinox Group, a deal that was quoted in some quarters to be worth $32.4 million, which was grossly a sad event  for an e-commerce company that was once valued at $383 million by Naspers. Even Jumia, which prides its recent feat as the first of its kind in Africa is listed at NYSE as an African tech start-up, yet it belongs to three French Brothers and is headquartered in Berlin Germany. More still, if the company eventually makes profit in a final sigh of relief, it is doing so not as a wholly ecommerce company but as a listed company with lots of easily accessible public funds. How soon ecommerce in Nigeria starts making profit would really be important for the surging investors in the industry.

Are Nigerian Investors Afraid of the Ecommerce Bubble?

From disclosures made in the Prospectus to the Initial Public Offering, it does not appear that Nigerian investors are seriously considering investing significantly in the Ecommerce business. As a matter of fact, about 60.5% of Jumia’s shareholding before going on its first public offering consisted of European nationalities, while South Africa takes a staggering 29.7% of the shareholding at the said time.  Even before Konga was acquired by Zinox Group, Kinnevik (Swedish) and Naspers             (South African owner of Multi-Choice, M-Net, OLX) had a combined shareholding of 89.4%. Perhaps the fear would lie in the humongous losses sustained by these companies. It’s neither a case of Konga (which recently diverted attention to Reality TV shows) nor Jumia, which has since sought solace in the far away United States, even OLX, a popular classifieds platform for used goods, DealDey, an online discounts platform and Careers24 supported by Naspers, an online jobs marketplace have either  reduced their operations  or shut down indefinitely.

Whether a new generation of ecommerce boom will happen soon in Nigeria, would depend on the continuing trust from the consumers and expansion on the margins of profits from it.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a business writer and lawyer based in Lagos, Nigeria, with proven skills in business writing, analytical reasoning, business development, business law, efficient researching, regulatory compliance, Corporate and business legal issues, Intellectual property law, corporate tax issues. He possesses deep industry knowledge of businesses and how businesses are run, governed and assessed in Nigeria and around the world, especially as it concerns small, medium or large-scale businesses and business owners. He was a Selected Writer, Chimamanda N. Adichie’s Farafina Creative Writing Workshop in 2013 and the 2015 First Prize Winner, Sub-Saharan Africa Entrepreneurship Essay Competition organised by African Liberty Organization for Development, Network For A Free Society, and The Nation Newspaper, Nigeria, for university students across Africa.

I have been DEVOURING Dangote’s  INTERVIEWS for the past 2 days.

Everything!

I have burned through 3GB worth of data while at it.

And right now all I can say is – ‘’WOW!’’.

That man is an ABSOLUTE beast.

Damn!

Here is what I found out about how he thinks.

First, he finds an UNTAPPED portion of the economy.

Then he goes in with ONE GOAL: To be Number one. He starts with Nigeria and makes room for expansion to other African countries.

And he usually goes for the hardest part of the pile; that is how he DOMINATES. He takes the part that everyone doesn’t want. He pioneers it, and by the time he is done – you can’t beat him because he has DOMINANCE as a result of being the first.

This might sound a little too obvious, and as I write this I am struggling to really explain this but let me try doing it with this illustration.

Take the oil industry for instance.

He bought two oil blocs from shell.

The easy thing in that industry is to just mine the oil and sell it. That is what everyone is doing. If he goes that route he’d still make a lot of money.

But he doesn’t go for money. He goes for absolute DOMINANCE!

This is why he went for REFINERIES. 2.8 Billion dollars’ worth of project. He wants to be the FIRST guy to refine oil here.

20 years from now, he would be at the top and because he is at the top anyone who enters will be swallowed.

When an interviewer asked him about it; ‘’they say you are heavily monopolistic. Is this true?’’

And his answer was simple. ‘’The government wanted people to invest in making cement here in Nigeria; we went in and started producing cement large amount of cement. Others were busy importing’’.

The easy thing is to import. He doesn’t go for easy. He goes for Kingship. Complete dominance.

Alone he has taken Nigeria to a self-sufficient level in cement production where it is EASIER to buy from him than to import. And like that, he wipes off the competition.

He leverages government policies A LOT. Policies open for anyone to leverage.

His game plan is WHATEVER industry he enters, to produce such CRAZY amount of WHATEVER he is producing such that the importation of that item is COMPLETELY wiped off and you ONLY have to buy from him.

Which is a simple obvious plan. Simple, yet genius in its simplicity.

Nigeria is an ‘’import intensive’’ nation. Right?

So what he does is to pick one thing we import, produce a large amount of it. And when he eliminates the need to import that thing, he becomes the sole seller.

And he has an abundance mentality too. ‘’Why will I be monopolistic, the opportunities here are not even enough for only me to take up’’.

Go on YouTube. Start watching all of Dangote’s interviews . Thank me later

Nnamani Czar A. Nonso – Contributor

Czar is a professional sales copy-writer, and a successful one at that matter. He finds great joy in writing, doing businesses and helping companies both locally and international to market and sell their brands online.  He’s also a professional business consultant and coach.

The concept of entrepreneurship creates some kind of confusion in the mind of many, especially startup entrepreneurs. It is usually common in this part of the world for people to find ambiguous, otherwise self-explanatory concepts even when such individuals are themselves the definitions of the terms at hand.

In a lay man’s knowledge, an entrepreneur is simply an individual who understands a need and tries to meet such a need by creating an expectant service, for which in return he or she acquires a form of financial compensation in return for the rendered services. Thus, an entrepreneur is a person who provides certain unique services in order to fill a want or need. In other words, an entrepreneur provides a valuable service.

People often wonder who an entrepreneur is whereas it requires no miracle to identify an entrepreneur in a large continent like Africa, with its numerous entrepreneurial opportunities such as animal production e.g., fish farming, snail farming, poultry, and even he emerging IT industry etc. However, many do not realize that a food seller, mechanic, tailor, provision shop owner, farmer, blogger, sachet water maker and seller, soap maker, restaurant owner, timber shade owner, barber, hairdresser, stylist, a chemist owner, a cloth seller and dry cleaners are all entrepreneurs rendering various services to teeming customers. So, who is an entrepreneur?

There are, however, some traits that distinguish an entrepreneur and stand him or her out. Here are some basic characteristics of an entrepreneur:

SERVICE PROVIDER

 Clearly, the primary function of an entrepreneur is the provision of services to the society or clients. An entrepreneur is thus distinguished by the kind of service he or she provides, service is at the core of entrepreneurship. In fact, there is no entrepreneurship where there is no need or service provision. This is the hallmark of entrepreneurship.

A RESEARCHER

An entrepreneur beyond the provision of services is a researcher. For the establishment of a successful business, the entrepreneur undertakes critical researches or market surveys in order to identify an area and the requirement for the provision of the desired services. This also includes a market survey that cuts across the overall implications involved in setting up a particular service provision outlet.

FUNDER/FUND RAISER

Often, an entrepreneur is also the funder of his or her business with or without any angel investors. Most businesses cannot be run without appropriate funding or capital and it is the responsibility of the entrepreneur to raise funds in order to be able actualise his dreams of service provision in his chosen area of interest. Take for example, how do you start fish farming when you have no resources to procure fingerlings and to also set up a fish pond? Or to even provide the feeds and vaccination that sustain the fishes?

A VISIONARY AND GOAL ACHIEVER

There is no entrepreneur without a vision of his or her business; in fact, the business is largely sustained by the quality of vision of the entrepreneur and the kind of goals he or she sets for him or herself. Thus, the success of a business depends to a certain extent on the vision of the owner of the business, because it is what would eventually lead to the expansion or extinction of the business. An entrepreneur is a very focused and determined individual with exceptional ideas to change the game by providing exceptional quality services.     

A FEARLESS RISK TAKER

And finally, an entrepreneur is a risk taker and an adventurer who dares the unknown terrain in order to create change and value. Every entrepreneur understands the exigency of risk taking in business, just as life itself is said to be a risk. As humans we keep exploring different realities and opportunities until we find the right path that leads us to our desired goals and aspirations. Such is the fate of an entrepreneur!

An entrepreneur is a risk taker willing to give his all for the actualization of his or her dreams. He is a hard worker who never relents in pursuing his goals and seeing to its actualization.