Three Key Routes to Take If You Want to Start a Small Business
- How earlier exchange activities emanated to become small businesses.
- Statistics of small businesses
- Leveraging management/product/ creative platforms for small business enhancements
- Impact of small business on the standard of living and purchasing power
I did not become a small business advocate by accident. I have studied the importance of small business as a fulcrum for economic growth. Having experienced the activities of small businesses as a child, a teenager and now an adult, I believe strongly that the fastest way for the Nigerian government to move people out of poverty is to help them by stimulating their environment for business creation.
My mother was a secretary at the University and was specifically attached to a professor with whom we later got to become family friends. However, after her work, she moved to her superstore as a business owner. Of course, the trajectory of her owning a superstore would likely be a story for another day. She created an enterprise of which her children were a part. We practically took turns working at the store and that was my first stint being an employee.
My father however worked at the state civil service, and he was steadfast and rose to the directorship cadre. My maternal grandfather ran a beverage distribution company and going to his business office gave me an idea of what it was like to be a business manager. I practically had my business training working for my mom and doing an internship at my grandfather’s business space. My maternal grandmothers were largely petty traders, but I heard that my paternal grandfather was a hunter who captured the heart of one of the princesses in the village.
Small businesses are not today’s creation. They have been in existence since the beginning of creation, and they were probably responsible for the civilization that we have come to enjoy today. Small businesses employ the largest number of working populations globally. In Nigeria, small businesses’ contribution to the GDP stood at about 48%, while 84 % of new businesses created, managed about 4o million business enterprises, and employed close to 48% of the working population according to the ILO. Small-scale businesses are important and must be empowered by the Nigerian government.
Nigeria is a trading country. We buy, sell, create, develop, and provide goods and services to meet needs along many spectrums. From trade by barter, to meeting at market days, the Nigerian trading system has moved online, showing our ability in creativity and innovation.
My first shot at enterprise creation occurred during my postgraduate days at the University. I had just received a gift from my uncle, a personal computer, and a digital camera from my eldest brother. Looking at the need to meet my community’s needs for the ongoing visa lottery program and provide an online library, my first digital studio was launched. What made my service unique was that I offered a combined service of photography, internet research and graphic designing for event management. There were already established businesses offering these three services as standalone offerings, however, I was able to offer them from my space in this most convenient way. It took about 3 months before people could understand what I was doing.
Small businesses are a creation of immediate succour, however, when done appropriately, have the likelihood of becoming established businesses. This is what I intend to achieve with aspiring new businesses and those whose ideas are still in their heads. We will help you bring to life what only you can see because we have been there.
I have also discovered three strong routes that you can take to starting a small business and I will share them with you briefly.
- You can start a small business by copying an existing business. That’s simple, right? You can start a small business by mirroring what a big business is doing and rendering that service on a small scale. You can open a grocery store by copying a big one like ShopRite and this is happening daily all over the world.
- You can start a small business through entrepreneurial pursuits i.e., moving resources from a low-yield area to a higher-yield area, just like I did when I opened my digital studio. Entrepreneurs create businesses from both existing and new opportunities in different ways. There were burger sellers before McDonald opened its stores, but the owner saw more than flipping burgers. He understood the market, the people, and the offering. The fast, convenient, and affordable burgers that you can grab on the go. That’s entrepreneurship.
- You can start a small business by supporting existing businesses. Today, the outsourcing market is huge, and you can take advantage of that. Service providers that provide offerings from the spillover needs of big businesses are critical to the function of large businesses and multinationals.
All these have different financial outlays, advantages, disadvantages, and similarities. This will form the basis of my discussion and I will be glad to have your attention.
Interestingly, most management concepts that medium and large multinationals use can be deployed to small businesses. This is why small business owners must strive to acquaint themselves with management concepts and when necessary, use the services of management consultants to help them manage and scale as appropriate. The strategies, tactics and concepts designed by management experts can be used for your grocery store, your POS business, your agricultural produce or even your plumbing works. Business is local.
Unfortunately, most small businesses stay small because of their trade-by-barter mentality. My goal is to help these businesses scale using skills, competencies, and capabilities to achieve these goals. Please take this walk with me. Thank you.
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