Nigeria is faced with an interesting opportunity, indeed, a unique one where a growing number of young people are rising up to the challenge of trying to find innovative ways of solving problems. There are generally working hard to improve the quality of lives for citizens.
This is not just the situation in Nigeria alone; I have witnessed similar developments in Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia and many other countries where I have had the opportunity to visit and interact with industry players.
From my point of view, I can state that a lot is changing indeed because I have dedicated the last couple of years to supporting not just the adoption of technology, but the growth of the start-up ecosystem in order to get more Nigerians to leverage technology either to start or scale their enterprises.
This is due to my long-term conviction that this is the only way out of this terrible quagmire of youth restiveness, kidnapping and rising crime rate, which are mainly linked to high unemployment.
We simply need to build and support more start-ups. The reality is that being an entrepreneur is one thing and being successful is absolutely another as the latter involves engaging in a number of things to scale businesses.
Also, other personal prices must be paid by the entrepreneurs to see the businesses through. The advent of technology has not only become the game-changer for multiple things, but it has also produced a new generation of tech-savvy entrepreneurs that are changing the Nigerian story.
So far, this new generation of start-ups have not only been able to proffer lasting solutions to some basic problems besetting the continent, but they have been able to leverage technology to achieve a feat that seems impossible before now.
One of the things that technology has done is that it has provided an avenue through which anyone with an idea can start and scale an enterprise. To, however, fully harness all this potential and push Nigeria to become a hub for sustainable start-ups and technology in Africa, there is the need to have training programmes that will aggregate all the requirements to succeed in business. Doing this, will expose the average entrepreneur in Nigeria with business ideas, which can change the country Nigeria, Africa and the entire world for good.
Building up a start-up is a very difficult task in Nigeria, especially, without a guide or mentor as unforgiving mistakes that will crush such unguided businesses are lurking around the corner. If you are not prepared, no matter how awesome you think your idea might be, you will be overwhelmed with pressure until you lose sight of the ultimate goal and give up altogether.
For these reasons, there is the need for anyone with a business idea to undergo an entrepreneurial training programme that will not only prepare and help them to develop and shape their ideas, but also prepare them psychologically and physically for the journey ahead.
So far, some of the best entrepreneurs that Africa has produced have passed through one pre-seed acceleration and incubation programme or the — Finish Reading on the Punch