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Iya-eko - Tola Oredope #inthespiritofenterprise

Posted by Unknown Selasa, 28 Januari 2014 0 komentar

Tola and I go waay back, it was him who produced my final year CD. Even then, I knew that he would be one to do great things. Of course, he has had his fair share of failed projects, but he keeps going, no matter what. Today, he shares with us his new project.

Enjoy.....

Tell us about yourself

My name is Tola Oredope and I am a your typical regular, just taking one step at a time.

Tell us about your business

Since this is an Entrepreneurial platform, I think I should dissect your question - he he he.

To be sincere, this is not yet a business. Hear me out. I may be wrong, but I see a business as an entity that is trying to execute a well-defined business plan, based on an existing business model. For example, selling sugar is a business; as the business model for selling sugar is well known. Your success in a sugar business is how well you choose to execute the well-known business model. This includes, sourcing the sugar cheaply and selling it at a marked up price while reducing operational costs to maximise profit. Simple. There is nothing new or innovative going on there.

At the moment, I am involved in a startup that has the ability to carry out a wide range of experiments with various business models and pivots for as long as we don’t run out of cash. Investors in early-stage startups are aware of this, so they don’t expect you to make money but to build value. Once you have built value, which is also known as your “value proposition” then you have the chance to experiment with various business models until you can find the best business model for your value proposition. This is when you become a business and your job is to execute your business model flawlessly or else you stand the chance to be eaten up.

Now back to the question, I am very fortunate to be involved in startup developing a platform known as Iya Eko. The whole idea is to build a platform that allows you to discover, collect, manage and share cultural images that inspire you. Think of it as a mashup of Instagram, Pintrest and WeHeartIt. For example, lets assume you are interested in seeing the trending knot wrapper styles at Edo weddings, where do you go to? Its now Iya Eko because we have the largest dedicated collection of not just knot wrapper styles but also of cat-eye makeup, Gele styles, Beads, Sequins Designs, Aso-Oke styles, Wedding Hijabs and lots more that you can just imagine. This is because we currently have over 20,000 images and counting of the Nigerian cultural experience as whole. Hopefully we can start extending our platform to capture the cultural experiences in India, Malaysia, Peru, Uganda and even places like Afghanistan. I believe we can do this and we are working hard to make this happen.

Having launched about only a month ago we have been featured by the local and international press. For example in Nigeria, all top four Nigerian newspapers - Punch, The Guardian, This Day and Vanguard - have featured us. Media outlets in the Middle East, South East Asia, UK and the US have all featured as they see us as the future. But what we have is more than press features because our users also love the platform. I can hear you say “But people lie but numbers don’t lie". So here are the numbers - since launch 4 weeks ago, we have served over 16,000 pages via over 2,500 unique users with each user spending an average of 5 minutes on our website with little to no publicity.

What is the idea behind the name Iya-eko?

We wanted a name that brings together various cultures. For some reason I have been reading about Madam Tinubu of recent who was a well known adversary of the British colonial Government because she believed all cultures differ are made up of the same essence. This was hard to comprehend back then, but she was a visionary that went on to build her own financial empire. Long after her death, her activism was the stage for women like Fumilayo Ransome Kuti and many more Nigerian women that traveled all around preaching that same message - “We are all the same even though we are from different cultures and backgrounds” - This is the simple message of Iya Eko – even though our locations may differ, our cultures are similar and made up of the same essence. This is was Iya Eko stands for and hopefully, this is what we will show to the world.

How did you get into this line of business?

I have always believed in the power of the well-managed crowd. Notice I said, "the well-managed crowd" not just any crowd because too many hands always spoil the soup, if they are not well managed. From the first Chemical Year CD that I created with yours truly as far back as 2001, (I was a part of this! Yaay me) I believed that people need to have choices. Back then, I challenged the notion of "One person One picture" yearbooks that were the norm and asked why can’t one person have 10 pictures, a video, their song of choice and their own profile colour? This was way back when Mark Zuckerberg was still in secondary school and biggest search engine was Altavista. Everyone thought it was a stupid idea and it could not be achieved expect for Sade and her team and the rest is now history.

The same principles lie in the heart of Iya Eko - Why should my online experience of Nigeria be based on what BBC and CNN decides to show me? Cant the ordinary people of Nigeria show me themselves? How can see the trending fashion on the streets of Kano? Why should one fashion editor sitting in lovely air-conditioned office decide who wore the best Gele last weekend? Why can’t you show me all the Geles and let me decide for myself which one is the best? This is why we decided to build the platform.

What are the main challenges you face and how have you overcome them.

I have got millions of challenges but my main one is building an A+ team. I spent my last week speaking to over 22 prospective co-founders and advisors but for some reason I can’t seem to find a perfect match. This is not because, I want too much but it seems like everyone I meet already has a pre-planned agenda or just wants to ride on our current publicity. I really want people that are passionate about the Iya Eko idea and can help in driving it forward.

We are glad that the core platform is working quite well but we still need to work on the UI design, external facing APIs that will allow our users embed their collections on their websites and most importantly finalize our deals with prospective partners. All these require a lot of dedicated time and I don’t mind any help that I can get.

How will you summarize your journey so far?

It’s been hard, very hard. I have experienced the good, the bad and the ugly. A lot of rejections, negative feedback and skepticism but I have no choice, as I have bitten the fruit and I have to carry on. But there are also good times, for example, when I get messages from Nigerians living in Russia saying they spent 3 hours on the website as it their only connection back home or a well known investor from Silicon Valley sees our Quantcast profile and agrees to chat with me. Those times are priceless.

Where do you see Iya-eko in the future?

I see Iya Eko as a platform that inspires people around the world.

Given another chance, will you do this again?

Definitely, Yes!

So what are you waiting for, visit www.iyaeko.com and start sharing. Cheers!

Baca Selengkapnya ....

The Land Is Green - Kehinde Olagbenjo(co-founder) #inthespiritofenterprise

Posted by Unknown Selasa, 12 November 2013 0 komentar

Our entrepreneur today is more like a "Multi-preneur". You'll understand why I call him this when you read his interview. Kehinde is an octopus. Lol. He also has a lot of experience working with entrepreneurs and so I took the liberty of picking his brain to get some tips for us! So get your notepad and pen and take notes! Hehe.

Enjoy.....

http://www.lifewithoutpants.com/ - Another cool site for entrepreneurs and I love this picture!

Tell us about yourself

I am kehinde Olagbenjo co- founder The land is green limited. Associate consultant SME Business Platform and the CEO of 3m Global Resources Limited, an IT and media services firm set up to offer IT and Media services to businesses and individuals with the goal of helping them increase their customer base and sales through cost effective Bulk SMS messaging (www.smsmak.com), Website Design and development ,e-Commerce business www.alaba-intl.com and (www.madeinnaija.com.ng)

We also train SMEs (small, medium enterprise) and We have organised several seminars that have changed businesses positively and published over 20,000 business bulletins.

As a writer I have co-authored the best selling Book -The Land is green for Entrepreneurs. And finally we run a weekly radio program for SMEs (SME Business Platform) on inspiration 92.3Fm every wednesday by 3.30pm.

Last year I won 2 awards by Nigerian Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards As the most outstanding website designer of the year for alabaonline www.alaba-intl.com) and 2012 S.D.E.A (Success Digest Enterprise Award) young entrepreneur of the year.

How did you get into business?

I have been nurturing the dream of owning a business since when I was young. My mother ran a couple of businesses and I also I sold one or two things when I was young and when I got into school to study mass communication I fell in love with a course, Entrepreneurship development program. Today I am on my own and I have been helping people to run their businesses also.

How did you finance your businesses?

Apart from having my own businesses I am a multi-talented person, I play and direct music productions and from this I was able to raise about N60k for my first book. In 2008 and I raised another N150k through my savings as well as a loan from a friend to register my first business name and start my sms business in 2010

Starting a business is not expensive if you have the right knowledge and relationship.

Having worked with a lot of entrepreneurs, what would you say is their greatest challenge doing business in Nigeria?

From my experience over the years as an SME consultant I have come to understand that money is not the reason many have not launched their business idea, but the lack of determination and skill.
For you to succeed in life you have to start with what you have not with what you don't have. To get anywhere in life, you have to start from somewhere or else you will get to nowhere.

There is always something you can start with in life. The issue with SMEs is that we tend to focus on what we don't have and neglect what we have.

There are many free things around you that you can use to start your business but the question is, how have you been able to identify what you have? Can you use what you have to the advantage of your business? People are afraid to invest in new business ideas so there is a level you have to push your business to before you can begin to attract investors.

Another thing is, lack of quality information and wrong mindset. The way an entrepreneur thinks is different from the way an employee thinks. It will be impossible for you to become an entrepreneur with your employee mindset. You have to think like an entrepreneur. Being a successful banker, manager does not guarantee you that you will succeed as an entrepreneur because most employee think about salary increment, security, strike, public holiday, thank God is Friday and you can’t control a successful business with such mentality.

You have to start thinking as an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs think about ideas, risk, opportunity, freedom, expansion and so on. For you to succeed as an entrepreneur you need to get information on entrepreneurship.

What will advise would you give to anyone looking to start a business

They need the following;

1. Business idea- and you must understand that there is difference between business idea and business opportunity. It is not every business idea that will lead to business opportunity.
For you to call your business idea a business opportunity you must ask yourself the following questions

A. Will my business idea solve a problem for people?

B. Are people desperate or willing to have my business idea or is my business idea relevant to their needs?

C. Is there a market for my business idea or people willing to buy my solution?

D. Do my target audience have the resources to pay for my business idea?
You need to answer these questions correctly to know if your business idea can be translated into business opportunity.

2. Develop a business plan for your business idea. Organise it in a way that it will be attractive to investors. Nobody will invest in you without a business plan.

3. Start with what you have. Before you will convince people to invest in you they want to see that you have put in something yourself. Use free resources around to promote your business.

4. Develop strong relationship. I have achieved many things in life and business due to quality relationships. There are lot of things you will get for free or at a reduced price if you build strong relationships.

As an entrepreneur you must not only discover, recognise or perceive business ideas, it goes beyond that. As an entrepreneur you are a leader and you must be able to manage what I called six Ms of management in order to run a successful business.

1.Man - (e.g staff, customers, partners etc)
People are key to the success of your business and you must learn how to manage people if you must succeed in life. Even if you have few resources and you know how to manage people you will succeed

2.Machine - depending on your line of business as an entrepreneur you must learn how to manage your equipment very well for you business success.

3.Money- capital for investment. As an entrepreneur you must learn how to manage your fund very well. Lack of money management is one major reason many entrepreneurs fail.

4.Market- this refers to your potential customers, your target audience, your niche market. Your product/service is not for everybody, identify your market and draw a plan on how to get to them.

5.Management –leadership- no business will grow beyond the owner. Show me your leader and I can predict the future of your business. When you grow as a leader your business will grow as well.

6.Method – your style of leadership and your method of running your business.