Entrepreneurship has been my major theme this year especially in my passion projects of speaking and writing. How we deal with our personal finance must also be tackled with entrepreneurial lens; how we invest? Where to save? Which business to venture in? These are questions that have bothered the average working class youths in Nigeria especially with the crash of wonder banks, MLMs and other highly perceived get-rich quick schemes like FOREX.
I have engaged in various failed businesses and misplaced opportunities to rev up my instinctual muscles to distinguish a good investment from a bad one; I believe I am still learning but each time I am propositioned with a business idea, I can tell the end from the beginning by just reviewing the proponent of such idea; what market mix he/she puts in play and his/her willingness to integrate his/her resource(s).
I am most of the time inspired and yet appalled by a particular story in the bible where a man went on a journey and left talents to three different servants based on their ability to handle it. On his return, two of the servants have doubled their talents by trading. Talent used in this context is a symbol for money. This particular text in the bible always draws curiosity on my part; how can someone double his money through trading?
There must be a secret nugget that the contemporary world have not discovered about these successful servants because Fortune’s highest ranked profitable company in the world; Mobil cannot double its capital in three years. This brings the question of the time space the man travelled for or rephrasing it better; what time it took the servant to double their talents. The specific time not mentioned thus validates the authenticity of doubling your money through trade.
This story was supposed to be a parable not an actual event that was recorded in Mathew 25 starting from verse 14. It is on this premise that I engage youths to think through their entrepreneurial state whenever I am called to speak. I ask them a question that will increase awareness of the resources they have and see how they can sustain themselves without depending on external support like joining the work force:
How can you turn twenty thousand naira (N20, 000) to forty thousand naira (N40, 000) in a month?
This is an open-ended venture that may not be feasible to accomplish but it is always interesting that 90% of the audience are willing to believe they can get it done. Sometimes, I wonder if it is the gift that I offer that induces them to believe it can be accomplished or they are just plain naïve. However, I am impressed about how some of them hope to accomplish it.
The paradox of this exercise and the youth’s affirmative response is that, why do we have thousands of youths seeking for jobs if they can double the money they are given? I asked the same “how to double question?” to about ten thousand youth corpers in JOS and the amount of youths responding with strong conviction that it would work out was unbelievable. After perusing through hundreds of response, I could only give the 4GB ipod to only one of the responses: Doyin is a corper serving in Borno State and this is her answer (paraphrased):
We have more than 150 corpers in a village in Borno State. The village does not have kerosene because the indigenes make use of fire wood for cooking. Most corpers especially female prefer cooking their own meal. I know a place in the capital city where they sell a liter of kerosene at 50 Naira. I will buy 15, 000 Naira worth and sell at 100 Naira per liter. The 5000 Naira will cover my transport twice and the container used. I will make sure every corper in the village knows that I am selling kerosene and I am sure of making 60, 000 naira as oppose the 40, 000 Naira.
It is not that I could not rip this idea apart but it was more feasible than what others have written. It is not about the product but the marketing mix that is engaged in making it successful. I always use the 4Ps of marketing to gauge the winner of my gift. I look at the product, price, place and promotion and the right mix to make them successful. Check the analysis out:
The product is kerosene and the place to be sold is a remote village where kerosene is scarce. The price is perfect due to distance and promotion is word-of-mouth simply saving promotional cost. This mix is feasible because the target market – the youth corpers – may find it easier to use kerosene stove than the firewood and it’s not too expensive for them to purchase.
Now, following the model above, POeT Solvers Limited is giving a perfect X-MAS gift to any of the readers of this blog who can enumerate in a categorical manner how you can turn one hundred thousand naira (N100, 000) to two hundred thousand naira (N200, 00) in 45 days. All entries should be entered by clicking HERE and submitted before 10th of December, 2008. Three winners are going to partake of the perfect X-MAS gift below:
Imagine what this gift can do especially for a female; you are going to work in the wee hours of the morning and you start your car only to realize your battery is down, this gift automatically starts the car and eliminating the worries of begging your neighbor for their battery because a battery charger cannot be available at such a time. 30km down the road, you realize your tyres are flat, this same gift pumps up the tyres automatically eliminating your waiting for a “vulcanizer”.
I am sure you are wondering how this specific gift can do all this; well, the function is not over yet. After, you get back from work; there is no electric power supply to watch your favorite “Second Chance” or whatever Mexican soaps they are showing. This gift acts like an inverter that powers your fan, your LCD TV, and other relevant appliances with electricity for more than 8 hours.
This gift is a product of Black and Decker: Americans leading brand in home equipments like lawn mowers and rechargeable lamps. This product has three dominant functions: an inflator for pumping tyres, a battery charger for charging dead batteries and an inverter for powering 400 watts of equipments for up to 8 hours. It has other side functions like LED lights and alternator checks.
This X-MAS perfect gift is called Electromate 400 Jump-Starter with Built-In Air compressor. It is valued at twenty five thousand naira only but POeT Solvers is offering a promotional price of sixteen thousand naira (N16, 000) till 31st of December, 2008. Limited pieces of Electromates are available excluding the three pieces we are giving to the winners of the ticker above. Home service is available for Lagos residents only.
If you are interested in this perfect X-MAS gift for your female friends or yourself, you may click HERE for home service or you may visit our warehouse at 108, Osho Drive, off Kirikiri Road, Olodi Apapa, Lagos State. Thank you.
