A little giddy on the plane from Jos to Lagos, I couldn’t help the image of the previous night’s events; speaking to ten thousand youths at the same place for more than an hour was more than I bargained for. Don’t get me wrong, I love speaking to young men especially about entrepreneurship but speaking to ten thousand of them from the thirty six states of Nigeria was a challenge I was happy to overcome.
Every moment during the conference, I felt like an Obama in Grant Park, giving deliberate hope to anxious youth corpers seeking expression for their talents, dreams and aspirations. Hope is really an important thing because it actual energizes the soul and distill resilient fears; the fear of being jobless after their youth service year. My solution to this pending challenge is entrepreneurship!
Why entrepreneurship? The bible may have been my motivation for “state-trotting” and I look forward to a globe-trotting affair but the prophesy in John 13 is a sure indication of what may befall the earth; there will be a great alienation of the righteous from participating in any economic activities except they join the fraternity labelled 666. The ones in charge of this fraternity are great and excellent entrepreneurs in the image of a beast,
Apart from this spiritual underpinning, there is the common sustainable streak; there are more births than death. The population is increasing more and more with limited resources to go round. In recent times in Nigeria, more than fifty thousand youths were recorded to be seeking for an advertised vacancy with only ten spaces available. There is more; the lack of these jobs also increases crime rate, encourages corruption, breed s despair in the human spirit and worst of all, solidify the oppressive mind set.
This is definitely becoming a global issue; with most of the capital markets round the world crashing. The bible says it this way; without the foundation, there is no righteous living that can be accomplished. How can the capital market strive with a troubled spot market? The spot market fuels the capital market; if the spot market is not fixed, say good- bye to the capital market.
This brings me to an important diversion; the difference between trade, investment and business. Trade involves buying and selling of asset, investment involves buying an asset for regular and frequent payment while business involves bringing people together to build a brand for the purpose of profit making. Though these three elements are very important, it is the latter that physically sustains a people in these contemporary times.
Procuring a house for the purpose of selling at a later date is simply trading while procuring a house for the purpose of renting is investment. The last one is procuring a house for the purpose of bringing people together to build a brand for profit making is business. Though people misappropriate these words by using one for the other, it is important to understand the mix.
I would not dwell on this topic much but I would use it to “operationalize” my answer to the common questions that has surrounded the investment on the “POeT keke” Project. People have asked me: why the tricycle? The demand for transportation is very obvious in a high population like Nigeria which reduces promotional and inventory cost. The most important part of the business is the ability to easily liquefy the products.
Cash flow is the most important element of any business practice; you can trade in tricycle or you could simply invest through leasing or renting. The best part is that you could easily build a business out of it without much capital. We were able to make 61% return on the capital invested this year and I have seen other channels where we can easily maximize. My greatest joy is seeing youths owning their own tricycles and improving their economic sphere of influence.
Back to topic, every time I speak about entrepreneurship to youths, I call it my entrepreneurial trails where I attempt to provoke the thoughts of youths towards entrepreneurship and allow them see the possibilities involved in engaging in it. I enjoy answering their questions and I actually learn from them. There is one particular question that threw me off balance asked by a corper from Borno state in my recent talk:
“Sir, I like to know if it is good for me to start a business that I don’t have passion for mainly for the profit in order to raise money for a business I have passion for.”
This question seems easy on a surface reflection but taking a deep thought towards it brings various routes to answering it. I definitely gave her an answer but I want to review various perspectives to this question. I have decided to throw it open to my readers to share their thoughts on this question. I will be given gifts to those who I believe bring a unique incisive answer to this answer.
I will like to appreciate those who have sent me their filled form to support the “keke POeT†project. I will mail you personally and let you know if you are in or out. Like I said; it’s not about the money. We are looking for people of wisdom, experience and influence to support our cause (this is subject to our reference frame). Thank you for taking the effort to send the filled form no matter the outcome. THANK YOU ONCE MORE!
