The world needs more entrepreneurs – real ones, not mere opportunists. Nigeria needs more entrepreneurs, ones with heart, courage and conviction, not those who will give up, throw in their hats or cower at various challenges. The world celebrates the big entrepreneurs who found the big multibillion-dollar companies and overlooks the small and medium entrepreneurs who actually keep the world and the nations going around. Well, whether big or small, the world needs an entrepreneur who is willing to stick to their trade until it becomes sustainable and profitable.
Here are some interesting facts about the value of entrepreneurs
- Job Creation: According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report, in 2019, entrepreneurs in the 54 participating countries created 115 million jobs, representing over 70% of total employment growth. If idle hands are the devil’s workshop, then job creation by entrepreneurship becomes a viable option to rid the land of the enterprise of evil. Stealing, corruption, kidnapping and banditry are directly proportional to unemployment and lack of entrepreneurial activity.
- SMEs and Economic Growth: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are typically founded by entrepreneurs, account for a significant portion of economic growth in many countries. For example, in the United States, SMEs account for 64% of net new private-sector jobs and 49.2% of private-sector employment. If you see a woman with a shop hiring 2 sales girls, you can just drop by and encourage them. They are keeping away thieves from your house.
- GDP Growth: A study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that entrepreneurship is positively correlated with GDP growth. The study found that a 1% increase in the rate of entrepreneurship is associated with a 2.2% increase in economic growth. Imagine what happens when we raise the entrepreneurship rate by 20%, our economy will blow!
We need entrepreneurs – No doubt!
One of the biggest killers of the entrepreneurship culture and mindset is those who make it look too easy. Business is tough, and those who commit to it need to know from the get-go that it requires perseverance. The Japanese have a popular proverb – “Nana korobi yaoki”. The proverb refers to the idea that when a person falls down seven times, they must rise up eight times. In other words, the number eight symbolizes the idea of always getting up one more time than the number of times one has fallen. The concept of “Nana korobi yaoki” is often used in the context of entrepreneurship, where it is recognized that failure is a common experience for entrepreneurs and that the ability to persevere and learn from failure is a key factor in achieving success.
Failure is normal in business, and success is not the absence of failure but not letting failure have the last say.
There are many factors that rob us of all our entrepreneurship fervour and make us unable to really build businesses that become massive. I’ll highlight two of them today and get into the gist at a later time.
- Selling business as something that is easy and not properly teaching people about risks and the need to take them. You need to be prepared for the seasons ahead to be able to outlast them. It’s only the river that forms while you are watching that can’t carry you away.
- High Yield Investment Programs – Easy money is the biggest enemy of hard work, diligence and perseverance. Everybody wants a soft life, it’s selfish and really ends up as a curse to those who crave it.
More on these later.
Kind Regards,
Adeolu Akinyemi.
