The Afropreneur

The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme is the most inclusive gathering of African entrepreneurs, where over 54 African countries represented met with business leaders, established entrepreneurs and policymakers to forge partnerships, share insights and fashion Africa-made solutions to accelerate the transformation of Africa and we were there live!

With about a thousand entrepreneurs in attendance with guests and VIPs ranging from the Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbano, to Aliko Dangote, Jason Njoku (Iroko), Shola Akindele (Paystack), Funke Opeke (MainOne), Tara Fela-Durotoye (House of Tara) among others, the atmosphere was electric and very empowering.

The Forum was an avenue to not only network and meet entrepreneurs from across Africa but also to learn lessons that are relevant to our journey as entrepreneurs.

From masterclasses on Finance and branding to plenary sessions that harped on how African entrepreneurs held the keys to the future of Africa.

One profound statement we took home was made by the Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo – Dreams pursued with single mindedness are more powerful than facts. 

Dreams pursued with single mindedness are more powerful than facts. 

The current state of Africa doesn’t matter, what matters in our doggedness in making the change that we so badly want to see.

In this episode, we discuss some key lessons we got from the entrepreneurship forum.

Listen to our conversation below:

 

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In case you missed it, our last episode was on Understanding Market Sizing. Click to catch up on the interesting discussion, you will definitely love it.

– If you are in Lagos, do not miss Startup Grind‘s meetup with Afua Osei (Co-founder, She Leads Africa) on October 28th. Purchase your ticket here

– Are you an entrepreneur, an innovator, or creative? Apply to join 700+ global entrepreneurs for the world’s largest digital accelerator program

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Dear Afropreneur,

The bedrock of a product, service or a business starts with a solid understanding of your target market. Your product is designed specially for this group of people. Their needs form the bedrock of the solution your product/service addresses.

A product cannot be for everybody. It can be for a group of people with similar interests, goals, features, demographics etc. These group of people are your target market.

Target marketing involves breaking a market into segments and then concentrating your marketing efforts on one or a few key segments. These key segments consist of the customers whose needs and desires most closely match your product or service offerings.

Your target market is a group of customers within the serviceable available market. They have to be serviceable and available. 

This does not in any way mean people outside this target market will not use your products. However, it is important to concentrate your marketing efforts on a particular group of people for the best results, appeal and impact. We as humans are more likely to use a product tailored to fit our lifestyle, personality and needs as opposed to something general.

An example is sachet water. To appeal to different people, water is packaged differently, although water is a basic need for survival. Water packaged in sachets may appeal to low to middle income earners. Sachet water is not premium, Kim Kardashian is more likely to drink bottled water instead of sachet water. In getting your targeting right, you need to understand your target market in relation to your business.

Together with Didi Uwemakpan, we discuss and explore how we can effectively utilize the information to improve our business.

Listen to our conversation below:

If You Enjoyed the Show

Please leave a comment below. If you want to hear more from The Afropreneur Podcast including and beyond the podcasts, join the enewsletter mailing list.

In case you missed it, last week we talked about Business Lessons from Game Thrones. Click to catch up on the interesting discussion. You will definitely love it, if you are a Game of Thrones lover and an entrepreneur.

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Dear Entrepreneur,

This week we decided to explore the business lessons from the most unlikely source – Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones, the fantasy series on HBO, is a drama series that is mostly about loyalty and conflict resolution. With such an amazing story line of power, love and wars, it is difficult to ignore the leadership and business lessons embedded in it. So we decided to share some amazing tips with you to help grow your business, increase conversion and earn the loyalty of your customers. If you wield these tips well, you will definitely increase your sales and establish your place as a thought leader.

This may not be the first or last article/podcast you will listen about GOT but it will be worth your time as we have detailed the lessons that will help every entrepreneur grow.

Disclaimer: We tried to ensure there were no spoilers, however we are not promising anything. There may be spoilers. You listen at your own risk but you are a risk taker so we are sure you can handle it 😉

Here are key takeaways from this podcast:

* Be credit worthy.

* Let competition destroy themselves, find your niche and focus your resources on them.

* Be deliberate and grow your influence over time.

* Listen out for feedback but be careful about who you listen to.

* Be known for something.

* Grow your brand.

* Your team matters.

More lessons are embedded in the podcast.

If You Enjoyed the Show

Please leave a comment below. If you want to hear more from The Afropreneur Podcast including and beyond the podcasts, join the enewsletter mailing list.

In case you missed it, we talked about Money vs. Network, click to catch up on the interesting discussion with two key Nigerian artists, Davido and Wizkid as case studies.

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What is most important to the budding entrepreneur, money or network?

I’m sure a lot of people will scream money! What is a business without capital to run it? Especially with the fact that the African Entrepreneurs is the ‘government’ to him/herself. He/She has to provide power, water, pay premium for rent etc

I bet that if we conduct a poll, we will get differing views. [highlight1]Vote below:[/highlight1]

[poll id=”2″]

We think that your Network is very important too! There’s a saying that goes – Your Network determines your Net Worth. 1. Your network can connect you to those people that will fund your business, open doors to new opportunities, give referrals and a whole lot more.

Using two of Nigeria’s top Musicians as example we attempted to explain which is more important to the Entrepreneur.

Listen to our conversation below:

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Entrepreneurs seldom find time to rest and it’s quite understandable because to succeed in this part of the world you need full dedication to your business. The endless obligations and drive to reach our set targets so as to keep the business alive makes us ignore our health. However, rest is important.

The lack of ‘downtime’ can impact negatively on your performance and ultimately your business. How?

Once stress creeps in, optimism drops, you become tired incessantly and your general enthusiasm takes a nose dive. Not to talk of the health issues that may result from this.

Finding the ‘right’ balance can be rather though too because we often don’t trust that others will handle our business with the same dedication, standard and vigour we do.

It is imperative that we, entrepreneurs, find a balance between work and life. It can’t be work, work, work (in Rihanna’s voice). You must find time to take a break from work.

This week we spoke to the delectable Chiamaka Obuekwe, the CEO of Social Prefect Travel and Tours. She tells us her journey to succeeding as a fast rising startup in the Nigerian tourism industry. She shares some insight about the benefit of travel and rest to entrepreneurs zooming in on the great networking opportunity it presents. We enjoyed our time with her and a major takeaway was the advice to our budding entrepreneurs on the importance of rest, tours, vacation and more.

If You Enjoyed the Show

Please leave a comment below. If you want to hear more from The Afropreneur Podcast including and beyond the podcasts, join the enewsletter mailing list.

In case you missed it, last week we discussed Business Model Canvas vs. Business Plan. An interesting topic that focused on weighing the value of each document and their importance.

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Driving home from one of Startup Grind Lagos’s meetup we had a discussion with one of the participating entrepreneurs which evolved into an interesting argument and now, an Afropreneur topic: Business Model Canvas vs Business Plan.

Why do we need business plans?

Why not stick with a Business Model Canvas (BMC)?

When should Business plans be drafted?

Who needs to see the business plan?

So what is the difference between a BMC and a Business Plan? The difference is the level of detail!

A business plan can reach up to 70 pages (I seriously advise against this. Keep it to 35 max.) and a business model canvas can be completed in just 1 or 2 pages!

A business plan and BMC are both road maps to guide you through your business and give you a clear vision and mental representation of your business. We think both are necessary depending on the circumstance. They both prepare you for your industry, your market and future challenges.

We advise entrepreneurs to always write their business plans it take you through a journey of discovery. A discovery based on research and assumptions. While writing business plans you are forced to tinker the idea behind the business, the business model and other factors. This leads to some level of improvement and refinement on the original idea. Often times, investors would ask you for this document as it is a proof that you have thought through the business and if you did not get discouraged after writing it, it means you believe in the idea (It increases the chances of investment especially for entrepreneurs who do not have strong oratory skills to express their ideas).

The Business model canvas requires less time, it gives you the structure of a business plan but with more specific details and flexibility. A BMC is a Business plan summarized in one or two pages. It is easy to read, easier to write and understand. Investors may prefer this document at an elevator pitch as it is very brief yet informative. It is a great guide especially when writing business plans.

So what would we choose between the BMC and Business Plan? This will always depend on the audience. We would prefer to use the BMC to brainstorm through a business model, however, if we were to approach investors then we have to write a business plan.

Resource:

Business Plan

Business Model Canvas

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In case you missed it, last time we discussed something interesting: When should a business evolve? Catch up by clicking the link.

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Entrepreneurs know that to charm the heart of customers you need to go beyond just being a business to giving your business a personality to allow customers view it as almost human. This aids customers relationship with your business. Their decisions begin to evolve around their feelings towards your brand. They begin to develop bonds and emotional attachments with your business and trust me that’s what you want (If you think not, you need to evaluate #GameOfThrones model and see how much success they have attained. They don’t need to pay for marketing… Oops I am digressing. Don’t blame me, blame the GOT fever).

Back to the point. To give your business this personality, your business has be able to possess human traits and one of those vital traits is evolution.

With more disruptive innovations and advancement in technology, it becomes inevitable for a brand to advance processes, products, services, communication etc. For some, it is not necessary to upgrade the product, it may be how it is packaged or how it is made. You just have to be sensitive to your brand and your customers. Your customers tastes are constantly evolving.

The most important thing about evolution is: it has to be done at the RIGHT TIME

How do you know when it’s the right time and what do you do when it’s the right time?

That’s what this podcast is for, so listen to our conversation.

If You Enjoyed the Show

Please leave a comment below. If you want to hear more from The Afropreneur Podcast including and beyond the podcasts, join the enewsletter mailing list.

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Recently, we attended an event and different buzzwords flew over our heads. Words like invention, innovation, disruption and very recently “innovention”. So we thought to talk about it.

Many people have coined words around innovation. Most of these words are to explain and buttress the significance of innovation to the African entrepreneur. We had a conversation on the meaning of these different buzzwords and how they affect us as entrepreneurs.

Disruption and innovation does not occur in a vacuum. They only happen when you identify a need to be solved. They are creative solutions.

We further tried to explain the meanings of the words (Invention, Innovation, Innovention and Disruption) and their differences:

* Invention  is the creation of a new product or process that did not exist previously and is recognized as the product of some unique intuition or genius.

* Innovation moves one step further and requires implementation of the inventive act. Innovation is creating new value and/or capturing value in a new way.

* Innovention is a combination of Invention and Innovation which is already encompassed in the definition of Innovation. (This is just repetitive and we advise you just stick to innovation).

* Disruption is a product/service that causes a radical change in an industry and results in a new market or stream of income.

Key things to note when aiming for innovation:

* It could be radical or disruptive

* Innovation could be a redefinition of how a company operates, a change in Business model

* It could also be continuous improvement of a product or service.

What do you think? Drop your comments below.

In case you missed it, we discussed something controversial last week: Is copying ok in entrepreneurship? Please share  your thoughts and don’t forget to share.

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Dear Afropreneurs,

Last week we discussed some of the lessons we learned at last month’s Startup Grind Lagos meetup and one statement struck us.

A statement by Pradeep Pahalwani – “Do not be afraid to copy and paste in business” (You should purchase the full recording here)

We thought this was quite profound and decided to discuss it this week.

Many successful businesses have been born from copying and many have died as well. Is it morally okay to copy or is copying totally wrong? Is there an unspoken entrepreneurship code that screams: Don’t copy?

Seth Godin permits you to steal his ideas. He says this on TedX “Please don’t steal my car. If you drive away with it, I won’t have it any more, which is a real hassle. Please don’t steal my identity or my reputation either. Neither travels well, and all the time you’re using it, you’re degrading something that belongs to me. But my ideas? Sure, yes, please, by all means, take them.” Read the full article here

So many questions and so many takes on the issue. We have taken a stand but we will not reveal that stand in text. You have to listen to the podcast. However, we can tell you this, if you can do without copying, you are a superhero and we think you should go right ahead and show the world. If you decide to copy, you better be great at it else, why did you even bother?

Find out our stand on the matter.

What do you think? Drop your comments below or send us a message on twitter or Instagram -@theafropreneur (Follow us ;)).

In case you missed it, last week we discussed what we learned from Pradeep Palhawani at Start up Grind Lagos‘ Meetup. Listen and share with other entrepreneurs.

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Startup Grind Lagos celebrated her Female Entrepreneur/Founder month and it was so much fun. Three amazing personalities were hosted. They shared their experiences with the participating entrepreneurs. These personalities were Olatorera Oniru (a passionate African entrepreneur who we have had on our show before. You can listen to that episode here), Abimbola Adebakin and Pradeep Pahalwani.

The meetup was very insightful and engaging. Different topical issues were discussed. Most of the conversations addressed life issues and challenges faced by entrepreneurs. Gender issues were also addressed. You missed, if you were not there. Ensure you never miss another meetup. You can signify your interest by sending us an email.

Back to the matter, Pradeep anchored the Learning curve session and he did so beautifully. Since we cannot share everything with you for free, we decided to share a tip of the iceberg with you.

We learned a lot but we will be focusing on some of the statements made by Pradeep a.k.a Otunba. Pradeep is a serial entrepreneur with successful businesses in Lagos. He enjoys sharing his experiences with those that are smart enough to listen.

Two statements he made caught our attention:

* Build your business to sell

* Don’t be afraid to copy, if you can execute the idea well.

The full audio recording from the Meetup is also available for sale. This includes the whole of Pradeep’s learning curve session. It also includes the fireside chat with Olatorera Oniru (CEO, Dressmeoutlet) and Abimbola Adebakin (CEO, Advantage Health Africa). Purchase full audio here

We would love to hear from you. Share your thoughts in the comment section or drop a comment on our Facebook or Twitter.

In case you missed it, catch up on our last conversation about Multitasking.

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