It is no longer news that about 19 graduate job-seekers
lost their lives in an attempt to gain employment recently. The tragic loss of
these young Nigerians cannot be replaced as their contributions would have been
invaluable in Nigeria’s march to a better future. What has worked for many
countries like China and India is their ability to look inwards and invest in
their citizens while discouraging dependence on importation to a large extent.
This and many more are some of the positive policies the Nigerian government
has already started.
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| Unemployed graduates getting flogged during a recruitment exercise early this year |
The truth is some people are destined to run their own
business and might not succeed if they decide to work for others; it sometimes
takes the loss of the “highly-priced” job for them to realise their potential
as entrepreneurs. But others still pick up the pen again and go through the
same cycle of applying for a white collar job.
Some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs were
once sacked from their paid employment. In the year 1919, the now so popular
Walt Disney was fired from his paid employment in a newspaper called the “Kansas
City Star”. His editor, justifying the sack, said he "lacked imagination
and had no good ideas." Today, the founder of “Disney Land” a leading cartoon
and entertainment outfit in the world remains a household name even after his
death.
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| Some applicants who lost their lives trying to get a job |
Last year, this forum as it has always done, went to
different parts of Nigeria, taking this rare opportunity to budding
entrepreneurs and giving them the chance of a life time, as they meet
one-on-one with successful entrepreneurs of whom they only read about on the
pages of newspapers and watch on the screens of their television sets.
Port Harcourt, Calabar, Onitsha, Kaduna, Benin, Abuja
and Lagos have all hosted the MTN Link Forum which offered the avenues for the
emergence of not just young businessmen but young entrepreneurs that can start
their own businesses with minimum risk, having acquired first hand tutoring
from established entrepreneurs at the fora.
This year, MTN is enabling the spirit
of entrepreneurship and growth of SMEs by presenting the “Budding Entrepreneur
Challenge”. The “Challenge” will afford many young entrepreneurs the chance to
win full sponsorship to the 2014 World Entrepreneurship Forum taking place in
Lyon, France and business grants worth 10 million Naira.
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| Unemployed graduates hoping for a job as they fill the stadium in anticipation |
MTN Link Forum provides a networking platform that
connects people with ideas and opportunities because there’s nothing worse than
an opportunity not realised, which is why MTN is helping these young
entrepreneurs to live their dreams, giving them the motivation and belief that
they can achieve the statute of great entrepreneurs like Aliko Dangote, Tony
Elumelu and others who have excelled in their entrepreneurial ventures.
In this regard, last
year, MTN supported entrepreneurs in Onitsha, one of the nation’s commercial
hubs to improve on the knowledge of numerous intelligent and creative young men
and women who engage in trading, small scale manufacturing and other SMEs. Showing
this same great entrepreneurs who have for so long “cornered the Nigerian
Market”; the objective is to show how to avoid some financial losses and
managerial mistakes, without going through the pains associated with nurturing
a business.
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| Made to buy white T-Shirts, the over 520 thousand applied for work yet the vacancy was just for three thousand |
Speaker after speaker revealed how despite the many challenges
they encountered, they continued to forge ahead and today they had exciting
stories to tell; this inspired the young entrepreneurs. In addition, they were
advised to imbibe the virtues of integrity, hard work and honesty
as prerequisites for success in business and life generally.
The first Speaker, a
seasoned businessman, who started the business of printing with a loan of N7.5m
in Onitsha, Engineer Chukwudi Ejemba, CEO, SCOA Heritage Awka, Anambra State,
gave a vivid narration of how he started his business and overcame obstacles.
“Your destiny is in
your hands. If you see the end from the beginning, you have captured the dream
by visualising; my parents couldn’t afford the basic luxuries of life.
Entrepreneurs willing to take the risks and make significant commitment to get
a new business off the ground or build on an existing one, must be ready to
forfeit luxury at the start. For a lot of reasons, not many Nigerians see
running a small business as sufficient or more attractive than working as an
employee for some other persons” Mr. Ejemba explained.
The second speaker at
the event was Mr Nwadiogbu Ebele John, the Chief Executive Officer Piccalilli
Bites & Licks, Awka and part-time lecturer at St Paul University, Anambra
State. Unlike the first speaker, Mr. Nwadiogbu had a wealthy background and his
success story held the participants spell-bound. Egemba believes that
‘‘mentoring plays a key role in contributing to corporate and individual growth,
by accelerating the rate of change’’ he said.
The unemployment saga plaguing Nigeria did not just
start knocking on the doors of millions in the country. It started with a
snail-like movement, over the years, creeping past the notice of everyone,
until, like cancer; it became too visible to be ignored and too strong and
daunting to be contained. Those who were not prepared for what the future held,
after graduating from tertiary institutions, were caught off-guard, by the
harsh reality which hit them in the face, “there is no job until you create it
yourself”.
This harsh reality is still being unaccepted by the
teeming youths, as most of them graduate and still relentlessly (most times)
try to get scarce white-collar jobs, after graduating from the University, when
they could easily have become job providers.
It’s because of painful stories like this, that Link
Forum, a project that brings together teeming young entrepreneurs, to learn
first-hand from established business icons, who put them through processes and
expose key-business secrets that will make them successful entrepreneurs in any
field they choose.
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| Those who died trying to get a job |
Link Forum, is sponsored by Nigeria’s leading ICT
company and telecommunications giant, MTN, as a means of making youths believe
more in their capabilities to excel, even with the harsh business realities in
the country. The young men and women are made to learn from the experiences of
business gurus, without going through their pains, like financial losses,
mistakes, while venturing into a particular business.
Recovering from business failures can be almost
impossible to some who venture into entrepreneurship ill-equipped (and with a
palpable lack of knowledge). Today, China is known, globally, as an economic
force to be reckoned with. With small and medium-size SME’s making up to 60% of
China’s industrial output and employing 75% of the country’s labour force. But,
the Chinese entrepreneurs did not achieve this feat on a platter of gold.
The Chinese government, which is known for its
unrepentant opposition to capitalism, provided an enabling environment after
seeing the imminence of an economic collapse. And since it joined the World
Trade Organisation in 2001, the country has continued to liberalise its economy
and attract more foreign interest.
Nigeria, like China, has been going through similar
challenges and the government has been coming out with different programmes to
alleviate poverty. But, doing this would need the collective participation of
everybody and it is laudable that MTN Link Forum has taken it upon itself to
mentor young-entrepreneurs, who most times think that passion for a certain
business is enough. But, experience has proved that passion is not enough.
Networking is vital in today’s business world. Known
for bridging the gap between accomplished entrepreneurs and young ones, who
aspire to make it one day, the project has, over time, brought established
names like Olusola Lanre, Tonye Cole, Joyce Jacob, Etim Bassey, Patrick Ugbeh,
NzanOgbo, Ronke Bello, LadiOkuneye and a host of others, to give lectures, in
various parts of the country, thereby taking knowledge to the youths, rather
than wait on them to make the effort, with the likely risk that they may never
do so.
These
teachings and lectures from these icons cannot be provided or acquired from the
classroom and even if the University lecturers tried to teach it, it would be
taken for granted. But, in an encounter with well-known entrepreneurs, who
“walk-the–walk and talk-the-talk” and also have the practical knowledge of what
they have come to talk about, the youths have no alternative but to listen
attentively and learn constructively or face the likelihood of seeing their
business aborted.
In this regard, MTN challenged the Igbo entrepreneurs,
in Onitsha, as one of the nation’s commercial hubs, to improve on the knowledge
of numerous young men and women, who engage in trading and small scale
manufacturing, showing them how to avoid some financial hitches, losses and
managerial mistakes, without going through the pains themselves.
The first Speaker, at the Onitsha edition, a seasoned
businessman, who started the business of printing with a loan of N7.5m in
Onitsha, Engineer ChukwudiEjemba, CEO SCOA Heritage,Awka, Anambra State, gave a
vivid narration of how he started his business and overcame obstacles.
“Your destiny is in your hands. If you see the end
from the beginning, you have captured the dream by visualising. My parents
couldn’t afford the basic luxuries of life. An entrepreneurshould be willing to
take the risks and make significant commitment to get a new business off the
ground or build on an existing one. He must be ready to forfeit luxury at the
start. For a lot of reasons, not many Nigerians see running a small business as
sufficient or more attractive than working as an employee for some other
persons” Mr. Ejemba explained.
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