On board in a flight to Nairobi and will finally land Kampala in two days; I can’t keep the nuggets that keep flowing through my mind – when I was told of my conference in Uganda; the first thought that came to me was Idi-Amin. Immediately, I discovered how powerful brand association was; rewind to the last holiday I had with my family in Dubai; we were in an Indian Cuisine and we were asked what we wanted to eat. My “bigger than life” daughter responded; “Indomie”; my wife and I could not stop the laughter that followed. The waiter was quite curious and wanted to know what “Indomie” was.
These kinds of scenario confirm the importance of brand association – how important it is for your product or service to dominate your chosen industry. It is important to note that we are all distinctively different and we will excel most in our areas of strength – it really makes no difference joining the crowd because lasting success depends on the ability to link your name to your chosen field. This is what we should strive to obtain when thinking about becoming a successful entrepreneur or becoming a success in a chosen career.
Last month I was invited as a key note speaker in a YBI Conference that hosted the likes of Peterside of Stanbic IBTC and Sulaiman of Accenture. Unaware of the caliber of people in attendance, I chose the topic “Entrepreneurship Success and the Factors that affect it”; in 10 minutes, I spoke on the concept of strength in the famous SWOT analysis and how important for budding entrepreneurs to choose their field based on their strength; though aware of their weakness, should focus all their attention on their strength. By so doing, they will create impact and thus get a Name for themselves which is vital to success.
In backing up this point, I used Fela Kuti as a case study and how the name “Fela” epitomizes great African music. Despite his obvious short comings, which will make an average Nigerian citizen seem like a criminal and subsequently an outcast, Fela is embraced by almost all Nigerians despite their religious views. The uniting point is his strength – the ability to create good music. If we were to do a numeric calculation, we will realize that his weakness far outweighs his strength but the impact of his song far outweigh his weakness.
For you to make an impact, you need to FOCUS everything you have on your strength – emotions, finance, social assets, political assets, influences, etc. The reason why your weakness is perceived more by your customers, boss and any stakeholder you need to please to grow, is because you have not made enough impact on your strength. It does not matter how many ladies Tuface impregnates, selling his CD at 1K will totally “revolutionalize” the Nigerian Music Industry. No matter how bountiful the divorce rate in America is, majority of Evangelical Christians still want to emigrate there. No matter how oppose Nigerian Muslims are towards their Christian counterparts, majority of them send their wards to Catholic schools and private Christian Universities alike.
I am sure it is becoming obvious that you need to focus on your strength till you create an impact and subsequently a Name. When someone calls your name, what does it remind them of? What? Please, take a long time to answer this question because it is vital to your success. Till date, whenever I meet someone who has visited this site and my name is mentioned, they immediately associate it with a Nigerian using the internet positively. They may have forgotten the site but they remember the name with the internet and when I remind them, doors are always opened. Most of my success till date has come from my site – I am not talking in small insignificant measures – I am talking about quantifiable ones.
Yesterday, we rounded off the lowest cost Standardize 35-contact hours Formal Project Management training in the world and I felt so good. For less than 80 US Dollars per participant, we gave a first class delivery and I was proud – from the training environment to the multi-industry experienced facilitators, we present PMI with 25 outstanding graduates. This is not just a personal view but the views of all the stakeholders involved. However, I am not satisfied, though the challenges are steep and the road looks hard to surmount, I am committed to make everyone in Nigeria who calls Project Management, think Dipo; just like my daughter that calls every noodles in the world “Indomie”. What would you want your Name associated with? Have a lovely week!
To see more pics of the just concluded PROJECT MANAGEMENT class. CLICK HERE
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