Startsups that were present at the May 2017 Edition of CFA’s Startups Hangout have been tasked to understand the fundamentals of a successful business before kick starting the journey of entrepreneurship.
Two successfull and serial entrepreneurs, Simeon Ononobi, the Founder of SimplePay and MyAdsApp and Adeoye Abodunrin, The ED of Xpos Technologies, were on hand to set the Startups that attended the event on the right course.
The Startups were offered insight into what it takes to run successful startups.
CFA’s Startups Hangout is a monthly meetup, where Startups meet to learn and grow their businesses from successful Entrepreneurs that grace each edition of the Startups Hangout.
The successful entrepreneurs divulge nuggets that assisted them in catapulting their various businesses into success as well as advice on what Startups should do to avoid pitfalls.
Startups are also afforded the opportunity to network and synergize with one another.
The first invited Speaker, Simeon Ononobi, Founder of SimplePay and MyAdsApp, stated that he started venturing into business at the age of 16 by teaching people how to open emails at the University. He later opened a cyber cafe and that was how he made his first million.
He said venturing into businesses for him usually occurred from mistakes that caused him problems and the need to solve the problem by himself.
He stated that after solving the problems by himself, he now investigated to see that various other people had the same problems.
This now gives him the opportunity to solve their problems for them at a price, hence, his starting a business in that line.
Simeon went on to consult for Guaranty Trust Bank PLC, offering to carry out the jib for free, but was eventually paid for his services.
His good work at Guaranty Trust Bank won him many more contracts, including YouWin, a Federal Government initiative. ““Know the market you’re dealing with.
Don’t be excited in entering every market. Start small”, Simeon advised the Startups present at the event. Simeon also advised that Startups should go into partnership with one another or even work with bigger entrepreneurs to have their dreams realised.
On his part, the second invited Speaker, Adeoye Abodunrin, ED, Xpos Technologies, stated that, Startups need to be level headed because they cannot afford to make mistakes as the odds are high against them.
He said that you cannot run an innovation business where your idea can be taken over by anyone with a deeper pocket, like you will run a traditional business that has a set format for its operations.
He advised that anywhere the Startups see pain, discomfort and chaos, they should know that innovation is in the offing. “If you’re a Startup, you have to know how to convert pain into comfort in order to make money”, he stated.
He said that Startup businesses involves three stages that intersect each other and any Startup that wants to be successful should locate himself at the point where the three intersect. The thee are, Pain (human needs), Technology (technological understanding and how to supervise it) and Value (Business sense, creativity, funding and value creation). “Idea is cheap, but impact engineering is key”, Adeoye stated. Adeoye went on to advice the Startups to allocate budget for Research and Development, no matter whether the Startup is at the Small approach stage (5% to 10%), Repeatable approach stage (40% to 50%) and Hybrid, but risky stage (70%).
Adeoye explained that the first point in the entrepreneurial journey is to understand the needs of the customers and identifying the target market. “You need to know exactly where you’re selling your products”.
He tasked entrepreneurs to have the broad knowledge of technology to afford then to supervise the tech aspect of their business.
“Technology is the key tool to make business flexible and it is important to understand how it works before you can start delegating responsibilities,” Adeoye said.
If you’re thinking innovation, think about how to manage money, think about customers money, break even point, payback period, return on investment, future value of money, etc.”, Adeoye concluded.
The Hangout ended with the Startups asking the invited speakers questions to which relevant answers were given.
Most of the Startups said they look forward to attend the June edition of the CFA’s Startups Hangout, as they are gaining a lot from the invited guest speakers.
