BOOSTING PATRONAGE AS A YOUNG BUSINESS OR START-UP

The primary reason why people go into businesses is to make profit and that is apart from impacting in the society, touching lives and contributing to the economy and national development like some already made entrepreneurs and 'big' business owners would tell you. That patronage which would yield profit is what start-ups and young businesses need to succeed.

I went on a 'dig and discover' mission to get some of the factors that have been proven over the years to be instrumental in boosting patronage to your business or start-up as a young entrepreneur and some of them are what I shared below.   

LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA: Most start-ups success in recent times have been attributed to the extensive and efficient use of social media. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc These platforms has been exploited by several businesses with massive success recorded. With Facebook's over 1billion subscribers and Twitter's over 500million users, where else would be the best place for marketing or advertising your products, services and ideas online. As a start-up, all you have to do is learn the basics or the rudiments of these social networks (ie if you are not currently on or using them properly), create an online following and viola! Your business is out there. Many business have taken surveys asking about where their clients got to learn about them and Social networks account for a greater percentage of their(client) answers.

STRATEGIC MARKETING: If this is in place, prospective clients would see every reason to transact with your business venture owing to their knowledge of it. Strategic marketing here involves but are not limited to internet advertising (e.g Web ads), fliers, posters, word-of-mouth (where necessary) and even use of social media platforms. You as a start-up or young business could also take advantage of events like Symposiums, conferences, seminars, business events, fares etc depending on the type of business you are into, not only to create awareness of your product or service but also to market them.

BRANDING: Giving your business a name, identity or even a logo is not just a great idea but would help both your current and prospective clients identify with your business or start-up. Most people would rather go for a product that has this beautiful logo or even well designed letter-headed papers than one that is just there, with little or no aesthetics.
Special care must be taken while branding because most young businesses make the mistake of investing heavily into branding thereby wasting resources that could have been channeled elsewhere to generate returns and sometimes even running into debts in the process.

ESTABLISHING PARTNERSHIPS OR NETWORKS: I am yet to see that business or start-up which succeeded on its own without help from others or external sources. There could be cases when funds would be sought or where certain hands would be needed to grow the business. Partnership here could be in the form of Venture Capitalists, business angels, friends and even family members etc.
Also, building a healthy network is also considered a  positive step towards propelling your venture into that desired position. Meet, greet and acquaint yourself with other business owners.

RISK TAKING: Your ability to take risks(calculated) would propel your venture into unprecedented heights. Experts advise that sometimes, it is advisable to take a leap of faith and stand behind your product or service. Playing it safe by sounding, acting or even looking like every other business would not only lead to stagnation but could also be risky for your venture. Be bold and take risks, but ensure they are calculated ones.

The aforementioned points and others that could be found on several business materials or resources are just what you need to take your venture up the ladder and probably get a Forbes listing someday.

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Twitter: @victorikeji

THAT GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR

'As long as monetary value and political power are based on capitalistic economics that require exploitation to create the fiction known as profit, there will always be a disparity or gap, between the exploited and the exploiting.'  ~Johnathon Lipscomb

I came across this statement in one of my several online sojourns in search of information and 'new knowledge', precisely in a discussion on ted.com and the first thing that crossed my mind was our dear own Nigeria, its pseudo-capitalistic economy and the disparity between the rich(exploiting) and the poor(exploited). Only 1% of the population could be classified as rich or say 1.5% for the purpose of argument and this minute percentage is made of up solely the political elite and maybe the Dangote's, Adenuga's or Otedola's and some other masters of industries. A friend of mine would argue that there is nothing like the middle class population in Nigeria because of a gap that is so wide and obvious. He would say 'In Nigeria, you are either rich or poor, there is nothing like you belong to the middle class.' According to a 2012 World Bank report, Nigeria's poverty rate was put at 62.6% in a population estimated at 160million. When you take a look at government and private institutions and even some individual businesses, there seems to be a very big gap between the highest paid individuals and the lowest paid employee. Most government institutions, firms and even private businesses operates using the (9,1) Management Grid Theory in which there is maximum concern for production, output, targets etc and minimum concern for employee welfare and this is usually evident in the peanuts most employees take home as salary. I am not saying that there shouldn't be a gap in the first place but there should be equalisation of income levels as seen in China and several other industrialised nations that are trying everything possible to reduce this disparity between the rich and poor.

Some people have argued that a proper democratic system of government would atleast reduce this problem but we have had several democratic governments come and go and yet the gap still lingers. What these governments do is seize power disguised as a democratic election, amass wealth that would last up to their 5th generation and also for their family members, relatives and even in-laws. They employ the same Management Theory as stated above and then leave office or instill their protege for continuity and the cycle continues, the rich gets richer and the poor remain poorer. Democracy is not a solution to this problem especially in a country where money can buy political power, as it does in Nigeria. This gap could be attributed to the continuous rise in crime and other social vices in the society as most apprehended culprits would always attribute their involvement to poverty or the need to feed. (Well, these ones are different from those who point accusing fingers on the Devil).

The solution to this wealth gap lies in the proper distribution of all resources in the society and this can be done through formulation and implementation of workable policies. When this is done, the disproportionately richer people would feel happier and even safer, the disproportionately poorer people on the other hand would stop complaining or even contemplating crime because they have enough of their own and the country on its own would record little or no social vices and undesirable features of life as every single one of its population is happy.

Life indeed feels better when people are happy.

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Twitter: @victorikeji

OF PARTISAN POLITICS, GRANDFATHERS IN POWER AND EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

 By Ikeji, Victor C.

It was Simon Kolawole -The journalist- who said "The Old PDP and The New PDP are just a committee of friends probably fighting over who took the large chunk of meat from the table while they were eating.". He went further to state that "we shouldn't take sides when these people are fighting because they are all the same, fighting for their own share of the National cake and not concerned about me and you". 

This brought to my mind the issue of partisan politics here in Nigeria whereby everyone is concerned about winning primaries for their parties and going on to win the election against other parties after which they start siphoning off funds to pay of debts incurred during election campaigns or settling their political 'Godfathers' who fought tooth and nail to place them in that position. It doesn't just stop there as they would now go on to fill their own pockets and that of family members, relatives and even in-laws leaving the problem that is supposed to be solved unattended to. Surprisingly, after appointing and putting their cohorts into different positions and implementing policies that would make it seem like they are actually trying to solve the problem, they continue ripping the country of its resources and funds. As if that is not enough, they come back for a second term with the same 'nutella coated' promises they used during the elections in their first term or sometimes slightly modifying it so as to have us (who does nothing but take sides during their battles with other parties) to vote for them.

We seem to be carried away with the style of politics being carried out by these 'over-experienced', self-glorifying, 'recycled' buffoons which is why you have young and intelligent minds carrying the tag 'Political analyst' on TV discussing or sometimes even taking sides with these parties who have done nothing but loot the Nation's treasury and stripped it of its resources. The sometimes biased media had even turned these 'old thieves' into celebrities as it is uncommon to always find 'the XYZ led faction or ABC led faction' on the cover of Dailies and News headlines on Television. The younger generation now enjoys discussing politics and holding debates about 'their' parties. A young man once said while we were discussing governance 'Take a look at my party and the strategies they've put in place plus the Candidates they would be bringing forth come 2015 and you'd see that there is hope for this country.' This individual is only concerned about selling the Idea that 'his' party is the best and should be voted in come 2015 probably because of what he stands to gain afterwards.

We are a Nation under siege by these Grandfathers who have nothing to offer but employ some of their old and outdated tricks to stay in power. It is said that you can't use the same technique which have not solved a problem over and over and expect a positive result. This is applicable to the Nigerian situation whereby some people have been in power for so long, yet nothing seem to have changed and they are still being recycled with every election. The former Vice president of World bank -Oby Ezekwesili while speaking at an event was asked by a young adult 'Ma, if given a chance to go back into power, what would you change?' Her reply was 'After serving for 5years, I think I have had enough service of the Country, we need the younger ones like you in power' I was thrilled by her response and the next thing that came to mind was the politicians who are still clamouring for political offices after serving for about half of the country's age or even more.

Instead of taking sides or voting for 'our' parties during elections, I think we should concentrate on doing away with these aged fellows who had done nothing but worsen our problem and breed a new crop of young leaders who are passionate for change and would champion the course of good governance and effective leadership which would bring about the desired change and development that we as a Country had been deprived of over the years.

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Twitter: @victorikeji