Many have argued that entrepreneurship is both lucrative and dangerous, which seems true and untrue to different individuals around the world. Entrepreneurs find relevance in giving value to systems and the world at large.
Entrepreneur statistics for 2021 shows that there are about 582 million entrepreneurs in the world, and that 62 percent of all small businesses do not employ any staff, which directly means that a high number of businesses are run individually.
Entrepreneurship has become a more sustainable tool for generating jobs, and reducing the high level of unemployment in Africa.
In 2021, the Borgen Project issued a blog post that said that the unemployment rate stood at 6.6 percent in 2020, as the report also stated the number was inflated in reality due to some effects from the situation in the labour force. In 2020 which was defined as the pandemic year, most of the youths were either unemployed, or underemployed, as they were not making up to the living wage in the different regions of Africa.
The report recalls the in 2013 a study was carried out by the Brookings Institution, a think-tank in the United States of America(USA), which discovered that an average African youth between 15 to 24 years constituted about 37 percent of the working age population and also counted for about 60 percent of the unemployed people on the continent of Africa. This was a year where companies around the world reported a decline in productivity.
Nigeria and South Africa which have the largest economies in Africa published their labour force statistics in 2021, and it projected a high rise in unemployment such that one in two youths is most likely unemployed.
Faith Institute, a training institution in Nigeria in a report which focused on Entrepreneurship in Nigeria said to create business growth and maximum impact on the economy, more women and youth between 18 and 35 years have started going into entrepreneurship. Most of the entrepreneurs are found to have either started business from their school days or trading with a family relative and friends as the case may be. Nowadays, people now do trading through social media platforms.
Olajide Demola, owner of a telecommunication store located in the popular Computer Village in Ikeja, Lagos State has three different degrees. But he is now fully ventured into entrepreneurship says he has been an entrepreneur since 2014.
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He was still a student when his brother who was based abroad sent a phone to him, which he sold, and continued this way until 2018 when he was trusted with about twenty phones. He delivered a revenue of over N1 million to his brother and that was how they became partners.
Prior to his journey as an entrepreneur, he had applied for a sales manager position where he was asked if he had a business idea. He had one at the time and openly informed the interviewer. After a while, he was not offered the job. He later found out that the said company started advertising services based on the idea concepts he discussed during the interview. Demola said it was at that point he decided to own his own business.
Aside selling mobile phones, he also runs the business of currency exchange, which he had knowledge about from one of his degrees-international trade and finance. He also runs a travel agency, which also emanates from one of his college degrees- traveling and logistics.
Ebuka Mic, a standup comedian, compere and entertainment creative also has something to say in his journey as an entrepreneur who sells entertainment content. The information and communication engineering graduate had made a niche for himself with his creative events from his university days, where he would take offers and privileges to do standup comedy, compere to events held by students in school. He started creating and producing of numerous artistic contents which sells him forward to various clients around the world.
Ebuka who has been hosted by the popular TV show, AMVCA among others, says most of the clients he has been able to serve reached him through referrals, which means he has been delivering value in his entertainment skills and this has empowered him to some extent of growth, establishing a thoughtful vision.
He currently hosts series of comedians and artistes in the seasonal comedy shows which he convenes in different cities, Abuja, the nation’s federal capital, and Lagos, West Africa’s commercial capital. He is set to hold a paid comedy show in Port Harcourt, Rivers State with other set of young comedians this June.
Myles Munroe, a public speaker, who specialized on the path of leadership while alive made a statement that: “The greatest tragedy in life is not death, but a life without a purpose”.
Haoma Worgwu, an entrepreneur who focuses on direct impact to both old and young people, also shares her bit. Worgwu, an award-winning social entrepreneur, and TEDx speaker currently holds a degree in economics. Although her skills in public speaking and her drive to cause transformation leading to impact solution right from her university days have created a niche for her. Also, this has led her forth into opportunities to impact people alongside giant public speakers in the nation.
Worgwu founded a non-governmental organisation, Envisage Hub, an innovative career hub which aims to create impacts by creating social awareness for millennials, exposing them to developmental opportunities in Africa, and globally. Her company fills a gap for young adults, and students by running series of trainings, bootcamps, workshop for Africans and global citizens who are ready to learn, and grow within the confines of career.
The organization also finds for her followers, career opportunities which are intertwined to their mission statement which is to breed global competitive persons. Some of the other services that the organization offers is access to certifications, and courses which aim to improver career paths.
Tiwalola Olanubi, the founder of Dotte Media House, once stated that “The best thing that can happen to any entrepreneurs is to start chasing their dreams as early as possible. He advised that as soon as ideas get into mind, they should start”. This is coming from a company founder who is in his youth days.
Another thriving business some youths have taken a stride is the digital bukka business, where good chefs make food available to people who will need them. The service is about making homemade food and selling via social media platforms. This kind of business thrives mostly by digital marketing and referrals. So, the chef must have delivered good products and kept getting referrals from her clients.
Since the lockdown year, some young people now share the value they have with their friends and family, or even colleagues at work, hence the same way it is for a chef who shows forth his food making skills to the public by selling, in a corporate way.
Olamide Bamisile, a food vendor that sells her expertise off the internet is a first-degree holder of food technology. She is currently earning her master’s degree in the same field- food processing and engineering, although, she is held down by the ongoing current ASUU strike. Olamide has not stopped earning income and building her consumer base even as her school is on strike. She believes that she has to let her internet followers know that she is able to save them the stress of going to the market, and the duty of cooking or visiting restaurants by providing sumptuous and wholesome meals on their doorstep.
Olamide also believes her food business is highly profitable even more than so many white-collar jobs, hence as much as she believes she can succeed in both path of business, she also creates business models, which she reviews from time to time. She trusts her understanding and her people management skills as a prerequisite for a profitable business, and also, she believes on the effects technology will bring to the food sector.
Another importance of having and running a business is that it gives you security, although not every one may be an entrepreneur, but entrepreneurs will always be around to grant job opportunities to employees.
Jude, a young entrepreneur is the founder of SOJ Exchange, a cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform. He is currently an undergraduate, but seems to have the need to start running a company. He believes that entrepreneurship will be his path to control time, his money, and what he will be doing all his life. Jude says he has given much time to research before he started his company, he has also had to learn communication, as it is a yielding path for him. He also believes that the advent of new technologies that the world is having are a breathing route of his business.
