Few days ago, I found a paper in my file documents. It contained all the media brands that partnered with me when I convened the maiden edition of YES! Festival as an undergraduate in 2017. Guess what?
Out of the 12 media brands, only one is still existing till today. So, if they tell you that 9 out of every 10 startups fail, don’t doubt it.
I went to a university that has the largest number of student businesses, brands and startups in Africa. Although, there is no official statistics to prove this, it is almost unarguable.
Almost every student of OAU was/is either a co-founder, or has/had a business, brand or side-hustle.
More than ever, there is a geometric increase in the number of studentpreneurs across African tertiary institutions.
No doubt, few of these businesses have turned out to be successful, while many failed even before the founders graduated.
Whether these businesses were just trial-and-error businesses or wannabe businesses, the fact remains, BUSINESSES DON’T JUST FAIL.
Success in business is no respecter of B.Sc. You either follow business principles or your business becomes a guinea pig. Irrespective of your current level, before you say Jack Robinson, you are already a graduate.
There are many graduates carrying around the portfolios and business cards of a failed business. I get am before, no be property. This should not happen to you. Why do most student businesses die on campus?
- No Long-term plan
When you don’t have a long-term plan for your business after school, you are likely to drift away and flow along with every shinning opportunity that comes your way.
The frustration in the labour market alone is fierce enough to make your forfeit the business you nurtured all through your campus days.
Don’t just have a plan in your head. WRITE IT DOWN where you will be seeing it every day with your korokoro eyes. Only those without a goal will wander like a goat.
2. Award Maniac
I am not an award freak; neither am I desperate for plaques. I never received an award or got nominated for the “Entrepreneur of the Year” all through my days on campus.
Some people protested against it. I saw how several WhatsApp CEOs canvassed for votes and won these awards. Most of those businesses today have become history.
Believe it or not, awards are one of the distractions for studentpreneurs. If you need an award to stay motivated, you are on the losing side already.
3. No collaboration
I am one of the few African entrepreneurs who believe more in collaboration than competition.
If you are just starting your business, you need more of partnerships. You need to leverage on businesses that have gone ahead of you.
My greatest secret in business is COLLABORATION. I partner with big and small businesses.
I partner with private and government organizations. Wait first…Who are you to compete as a student business? Na pikin wey don sabi run dey participate for inter-house sport.
4. Square peg in a round hole
The way you run your business on campus is different from the way you will run a business in ‘real life’. I rebranded my business when I was approaching my final year on campus.
I knew that many things needed to be upgraded, changed and re-strategized. I had to separate myself from my business as much as possible.
Your friends and fellowship members may patronize you because they like you, but the African market does not forgive your inability and unseriousness to meet up with the standard demand.
The market will never lower its standard to accept your mediocrity. You have to work hard to be like the ‘big fishes’ out there.
If you still want to sell zobo and chin-chin after graduation, you must package your business well to meet the market standard.
5. The reality of loneliness
I have a bad news for you. When you graduate, “every man for himself” becomes the new slogan. Maybe you were lucky to have roommates and friends who encouraged you and cheered you all the way.
After graduation, you will realize that ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS A LONELY JOURNEY.
When you look back and can’t find anyone to encourage you, would you still continue? Building a business is like living like an orphan: you will cry, pat yourself and move on.
6. You limited yourself to your WhatsApp status
One of the reasons I was called a noisemaker on campus was because I was in over 350 WhatsApp groups and I also had over 1100 WhatsApp contacts. You can imagine the wide audience I covered.
But the truth is, for my type of business, it was a wrong audience. My business was only popular, but not profitable.
One truth we cannot deny is that serious businesses and brands don’t operate on WhatsApp status. Your WhatsApp status is for your families and friends who most times may never patronize you or even refer you to others.
WhatsApp noisemaking may work for you in the short term, but never in the long term. WhatsApp is too lousy and restrictive.
7. Your ignorant friends and families
In the multitude of ignorant families and friends, there is confusion. Most of the free advice from your families and friends are only mere assumptions and deadly suggestions.
Yes! You father may have a successful bakery, but you cannot apply his strategies to you fashion business. Ko le werk!
8. You never had a mentor
Elon Musk, Bill Gates and many other successful business owners in all their mightiness, still have business mentors, yet ‘ordinary’ you that just started business wants to do it alone.
It is better to use your business capital to drink Orijin and eat Nkwobi, than to run a business without a mentor. Is it that serious? Yes!
9. Read good business books
During our final exams, some of my classmates said that they were done with books. One of them said, “I won’t even read a signboard, not to talk of a book.”
Well, I have read more and had more sleepless nights ever since I wrote my final exams than all my 5 years at OAU.
Building a business is like going back to school. There is still A LOT to learn.
Building a business is like driving a car in Lagos: nobody will give you free space. You have to be at your best every time, while competing with several expert drivers.
10. You could not penetrate the Jagabans
In every industry, there are Jagabans. These are the people you will be competing with when you graduate. Some of them are pioneers in your field. Some of them have more resources and customer base already.
If you can’t beat them, you just have to join them. The only way to get a seat in the throne of these Jagabans is to know what they do not know and BE AN AUTHORITY in it.
Creatively position yourself as an Èrùjèjè and they will give you audience. There is something that Indomie noodles know that Dangote noodles didn’t know.
11. You chose a competitive location
Don’t position your small business where your market leaders are located. If majority of the market leaders in your industry have their businesses based in Lagos. Don’t be stupid. Move to Ibadan.
There are some businesses that you can never outshine in Lagos. It is better to be a king somewhere else than to be an underdog.
There are many tertiary institutions in Ile-Ife, but OAU outshines them all. There are many camps along Lagos-Ibadan expressway, but Redemption Camp outshines them all.
There are many business teachers on Twitter, but Chioma Ifeanyi-Eze dominates on Facebook. There are many event planners with massive followers on Instagram, but Asy Darlyn rules on YouTube.
Who born you well to compete with Seun Risky or BestBrain on OAU Campus? When we go to the zoo, it is the lion we want to see. To hell with other animals. You don’t put a peacock in the same location with a broiler, else na jealousy and low self-esteem go kill the broiler.
12. Financial handicap
As a student business, your priority is how to grow your business, but when you graduate, your priority becomes how to scale your business.
You need money! You need funds! Your dreams may forever stare at your face if you don’t have money to actualize it. Even Dangote still dey find money.
Please note, that your business failed on campus does not make you a failure. It does not mean that you cannot start all over again and build a successful business.
That you decided to quit business and follow another path does not make you a failure.
Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. On campus, we don’t only discover what we want to do, we also discover what we do not want to do.
© Kingsley Ndimele
Your Reliable Consultant