2. Today is the first of the #PRstory series and I'm glad you're online
3. In the course of these series, I will be telling how I started a small business 4 years ago, #PRstory
4. and everything that has happened BTW then and now #PRstory.
5. The purpose is to share with you entrepreneurial insights, with practical situations as example
6.There are lots of reasons why businesses in this part of the world are naturally wired to fail
7.The #PRstory will prove to you however, that business challenges can be surmounted,
8. And We can also build world class businesses. So let's begin!
9. Zik hall, University of Ibadan, 2010. I was in my final year.
10. I had a 'box room' to myself- a privilege that came with being the Hall Secretary for the students.
11.That was one of the many extracurricular activities I had gotten involved in.
12. It was a Sunday evening, and I was hungry
13. I was however too lazy to cook, or to go to the nearby cafeteria to get food.
14. That day, I wished there were a food delivery service running on campus
15. Unfortunately, there was none, and in fact, there was none in the whole city.
16. It struck me there and then, this was a business opportunity, a need that had to be met!
17. Every business idea must meet a need! Instantly, I started thinking of how to meet that need-
18. ...Ibadan's first call-up food delivery service
19. Immediately my mind scanned and located the most important resource I had at my disposal;
20. My mum had a restaurant somewhere very close to the university main gate. Not so 'tush', but had a unique selling point:
21. The food was excellent. It was just rice she sold, but the stew was so good and unique. It was deeply fried.
22.At that point I started getting interested in my mum's business. The opportunities were opening up.
23. I started envisioning my mums business as a world class Food brand, running the best delivery service.
24. Note that at that time, there was no Jumia, Konga, or Dominos in Nigeria.
25.Only DHL and EMS came to mind when delivery service was mentioned
26.I started brooding on the idea, started putting pen to paper on how it would look like.
27. It wasn't a standard business plan, it was a statement of the idea, including its components.
28. The first plan was to bring a franchise of my mum's restaurant into the campus, and run delivery service alongside.
29. I talked to a few friends about the idea, for me, that got me more committed to its execution.
30. Let me pause and talk a little about ideas here.
31. God is the author of ideas, and he gives to everyone liberally(as the idea is a good one of course).
32. At every point of conception of an idea, there is always something that can be done about it,
33. Even when there are no financial resources.
34. Not all ideas are for sudden execution, in fact, most are not.
35. Most times you have to incubate your ideas well enough before execution.
36. The incubation process might involve praying, study, meditation, enquiry, research, etc.
37. Sometimes you might even have to volunteer with someone who does something similar
38. You need not worry about someone else stealing your idea, as long as you've started working on it
39. Your idea is unique to you, at least until you stop working at it, because all ideas MUST be executed
40. God will only give your idea to someone else if you don't start working on it.
41. Like @lekeAlder once said: ideas need a worthy host.
42. A worthy host nurtures an idea to the point of execution
43. It took me a little over a year to get my idea to the point of execution
44. However, I spent the whole time preparing and incubating the idea.
45. As much as it it important not to rush into execution, it is also important not to be too perfectionist.
46. Some people have not kick started their dreams because of this. Finding the right balance is what matters.
47. As you will find out in the course of the story,mistakes are inevitable. What makes you stand out is not giving up.
48.Next week I will be talking about the build up to the opening day,
49. The skepticism about the idea from my mum, how I raised funds, how I got the space for the first outlet.
50. Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment