11
Nov 2019
Remi is the boss. With his vision, he started his company and hired the right people or so he thought. Within a year, his company was already noted for its innovativeness and originality. He was seen as persistent and passionate towards achieving his goals and company objectives. However, in the last year, he has had a very high staff turnover. As is the practice of the organization, they conduct exit interviews for each employee leaving and one of the questions they ask is their reason for leaving. The answer has always been the same – the hostile environment –......
Read More
Growing Your Business Within A Healthy And Thriving Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. For a business, it is the network of organizations – including suppliers, distributors, customers, competitors, government agencies, and so on – involved in the delivery of specific product or service via cooperation and collaboration. No business is an island and for your business to thrive, you need to know when to create networks that will help in achieving its objectives. You can create a healthy ecosystem that benefits people in your network per time. To build a healthy business ecosystem: Be open to working with others....
Read More
Market Place Credibility
IT&T and HubIT opened shop the same day. They offered the same products and services and drew the same number of clientele, that was 5 years ago. Today, IT&T’s clientele is depleting while HubIT’s is increasing. Dayo, the MD of IT&T is at a loss on what to do and couldn’t really pinpoint the reason why clients were leaving his firm. He paid a visit to his adviser. “Credibility is the quality of being trusted and believed in. I have been following you closely for some time and I have discovered that you have created a culture of untrustworthiness...
Read More
Partnerships And Collaborations
Businesses grow in levels and stages. At some point or the other, they might be a need for some form of collaboration or partnership to attain a new level or even to break into some new field of expansion. A partnership is a legal form of business operation between two or more individuals who agree to share management and profit. Collaboration is almost like a partnership, however, it is not binding, legal or contractual. It could just be cooperation. It is important that businesses know and understand their capabilities and how to maximize their opportunities. Businesses that leverage on...
Read More
Cashflow Activities
The popular saying “Cash is king” is so very true, especially for businesses. There is no activity you wish to carry out that does not involve cash, whether in raw currency or debt. The more cash a company has, the easier it is for them to meet their obligations. While a company needs to keep a healthy amount of cash, it is not advisable for it to keep too much in its raw form. The cash activities of a company are typically divided into 3 – Operating Activities, Investing Activities and Financing Activities. Operating Activities: These are the day-to-day...
Read More
My Start-Up Story: ShoeSpeed
I have always had a love for shoes dating as far back as 21 years ago. As a little boy living with 9 other siblings as well as cousins, half-brothers and half-sisters, I was quite restless growing up and my mum decided and ensured that I polished everyone’s school sandals which used to be about 20 pairs in total. That was a blessing in disguise because it helped me to realize my love for shoemaking quite early. I also had issues with my late father because I became a Christian in a family that is known for Islam. My...
Read More
The Hungry Entrepreneur
Tobias is at the top of his game. He is into medical equipment and his company has been the first to come up with a device that açcurately detects cancer. The good thing with the device is that it tells what type and stage of cancer it is. Even though it was 10 years in the making, technology made it easier and faster for him to achieve the desired result. Orders flooded in from around the world and his pocket is lined. He feels fulfilled and wants to put his feet up, retire and start enjoying the wealth he...
Read More
Costing Your Offerings For Profit
Business is a means of exchange of value. As long as you have value to offer, people will come to you and you will get money in exchange for your product or service. Businesses are not liquid because they do not have any value to exchange. Profit is expressed in two forms – Margin and Mark Up. Margin This is when profit is expressed as a percentage of sales/turnover. Here, you take into consideration all the costs (overhead, salaries, transportation and electricity costs, time, creativity, etc) incurred in producing that product or service then you add a margin to...
Read More
My Start-Up Story – Tetrarch Nigeria Limited
I started working in 2002 and was fortunate to work for a good person who knew the architectural profession. I worked with him for over nine years and learnt as much as possible. He was someone who believed in training so he sent us on training as much as possible. Where he could not afford training for all the staff, he sends one person who would come back and train the rest of the staff members. I left paid employment because I got bored. I had learnt different aspects of the business and even though I cannot say I...
Read More
Closing Sales
Bayo was frustrated. He has done all he knew to do. He got advice, followed it and even went the extra mile. His advertising agency was still not landing the kind of deals he wanted. He was becoming frustrated as the days went by and he didn’t know what to do about it. He finally went to see his mentor. “Sir, I don’t know what I am doing wrong” Bayo said as he turned his drink round and round on the table mat. “I write to them telling them of what we can do for them and how we...
Read More