Gone are the days when having a good idea was all you needed to start a thriving business. As a matter of fact, many businesses have died on the altars of passion and good ideas because they had no concrete plans to make money. More than ever, making your small business profitable transcends just being passionate.
In a place like Nigeria where many experienced and successful entrepreneurs hardly share their knowledge, small business owners often lack mentors and role models to glean lessons from. It is one of the reasons Small Business, Big Money, a book by long-time entrepreneur and now member of the National Assembly, Akin Alabi comes handy.
Small Business, Big Money compresses more than ten years of the author’s experiences into just over 200 pages of wisdom. While its subtitle, How to Start, Grow and Turn Your Small Business into a cash-generating machine, might give an impression of a quick fix book, it is fair to say that Alabi held nothing back as he shared insights about turning small businesses into profitable ventures.
The author gets in your face with his ruthless honesty and spares no details as he lays bare the brutality of conducting business in Nigeria. He however also share insight into what small and big businesses must do to thrive here.
Before he bares it all, Alabi issues a rather humorous disclaimer cautioning readers. “Any use of this information is at your own risk,” he writes. Even though he shares his experiences, he states that does not assume any liability to any loss, damage or disruption caused by errors or omissions, due to the information provided in the book. For such a work, such disclaimers is but expected.
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In its seven chapters, Small Business, Big Money shares various stories including how Alabi started his first online sports betting site in Nigeria and hard facts around some of his other deals, fights back, unique selling points and how he has functioned in the Nigerian market.
If you feel bad about failing in business, Alabi gives you reason to feel good about yourself because he has had several failed enterprises before his major breakthrough with Nairabet. In his mostly casual style of writing, Alabi shares tons of step-by-step actionable tips in this down-to-earth book to help small business owners make more profit.
The author presents the truth about entrepreneurship, discusses some new business ideas, explains how to emerge first in the marketplace and walks the reader through the process of getting people to know, talk about and patronise your business. He highlights many of the ways small businesses run out of business. For instance, he writes: “One of the reasons small business owners go out of business is because they keep reducing their prices due to competition forgetting that Nigerians are not looking for the lowest prices, they are looking for what they perceive as the best deal.”
Although targeted at small business owners, the secrets shared are useful even to experienced business owners across various sectors. Overall, Small Business, Big Money is a good resource that would help business owners in Nigeria to overcome some of the challenges of operating in Nigeria and thrive well into the future.
Book Title: Small Business, Big Money
Author: Akin Alabi
Year of Publication: 2017
Number of Pages: 223
Category: Business
About the reviewer
Titilade Oyemade is a business execute in a leading organisation and holds a degree in Russian Language. She’s the convener of the Hangoutwithtee Ladies Event and the publisher of Hangoutwithtee magazine. She spends her weekends attending women conferences, events and book readings. She loves to have fun and to help other women have the same in their lives. Email: [email protected] Social: @tiipree
