Stakeholders Counsel on Key Issues for Survival of Startups in The Country

Stakeholders in the business and investment sub-sector of the economy have counselled young enterpreneurs on key issues to address for the survival of their ventures.

This is just as they implored the federal government and the nations universities to change their curriculum in order to adapt to new global realities for enterpreneurs in the country to catch up.

Messrs Tim Akano, the Chief Executive Officer of New Horizons Nigeria and Adekunbi Ademiluyi, who represented John Obaro, CEO of System Specs Holdings, spoke on the theme, ‘The Game Changers’ at this years Worldstage Economic Summit held in Lagos.

According to the duo, young enterpreneurs needed to conquer fear of the unknown to succeed in new ventures, just as they counsellex enterpreneurs to adapt local initiatives to be able to stand up to challenges.

According to Akano, the need to develop the spirit of persevearance, solve the skill gap problem were crucial to success in the economic environment.

This is just as he urged young entrepreneurs to identify a particular problem they wanted to solve in their venture and equip themselves with enough knowledge, adding that primary motivation to make money should not be the goal of young enterpreneurs .

”They must be driven by a passion to solve a problem and pursue breaking opportunities avalaible in the environment to achieve their goal”, Akano said.

The young enterpreneurs, he said, must also vet the right team and staff without which the venture would fail from the starting point.

While the need to go into such vebtyre prayerfull is also key.

In her own contribution, Adekunbi Ademiluyi of System Spec advised young enterpreneurs to first understand their passion such that when they face issues, they would focus on their goal without being distracted or discouraged.

She said the ideal thing was about asking the right questions and listening to consumers of their products, so as to get what they wanted and offer such product or services.

“Start-ups have to conceptualize ideas, create value proposition and start small”, Ademiluyi said.

She posited further that young enterpreneurs have to understand their traction and properly define breakthrough period and embark on customer satisfaction.

For Ademiluyi, for a new start up to survive, enterpreneurs must cut their life style “and create some level of comfort”.

In all these, she contended that a good business plan, character and team were important, adding, “your idea has to resonate and be sellable, as not all viable ideas are sellable” .

Ademiluyi called on the government to improve on the country’s educational system, update curriculum of universities and provide amenities like alternative power supply for the country to move up the ladder.