THE TIME TO START IS NOW!

[This e-book is for every young man and woman out there, who is still grappling with the fear of launching out.]

In the course of my work as a business and leadership coach, I have encountered several young people who are afraid to get started with their ideas. Most a times, they are either waiting for the perfect idea or finance before jumping into the murky waters of becoming founders of organizations or businesses.

Over these years, I have taught my audience in conferences and workshops that the best time to start is NOW! And guess what… With whatever resources you have at your disposal. Sounds funny, right? As funny as it may sound, this strategy worked for most of my mentees. This strategy has taken many startups off their feet and their founders are glad for the push I gave them.

Anyway, that fear is always there. There is always this fear of uncertainties when you are about to launch out an idea. The reason is because, everyone is afraid of losing money. Interestingly, those that overcome this fear of uncertainties at the onset are usually successful in their businesses and careers.

This e-book is for every young man and woman out there, who is still grappling with the fear of launching out. Whether you want to launch out a social enterprise, tech startup, and agribusiness or even build an organization, there is no better time to start than NOW!

Chapter One: IDEAS ARE LIKE RAW MATERIALS

[Ideas are like raw materials and will never look beautiful until when they are refined. The gold ore will never come out as fine gold unless it passes through the fire.]

Are you waiting for the perfect idea? Is there anything like a perfect idea? I am sure you will not be marveled to learn that there’s nothing like a perfect idea if that is what you are waiting for… An ordinary idea or whatever you wish to call it will turn out a great one when you give it attention and your thoughts. That is one of the secrets, successful entrepreneurs and business owners may not tell you.

If you are observant enough, you will realize that whatever ideas you have had in the past became more meaningful and clearer as you gave more thoughts to them. That is how every successful business around the world today started.

Ideas are like raw materials and will never look beautiful until when they are refined. The gold ore will never come out as fine gold unless it passes through the fire. Just like talents, if you do not identify and develop them, they become dormant and invisible to others and unprofitable to you.

Many successful young people we celebrate today, whether in the music, football, tech and creative industry never knew they could become celebrities until they gave their ideas a try. Most of them even acted crazy and unreasonable when they chose and followed after their passions. Chimamanda Adiche is a typical example of such persons. When she abandoned her studies as a Pharmacy student and enrolled for Mass Communication to pursue a career that she is passionate about, I am sure her parents thought she had gone crazy. If she was not courageous, may be today, the world would not have known anybody called Chimamanda!

When I founded the African Youth Development Foundation as a Youth Corps Member in 1999 in Kaduna, Nigeria, the ideas coming to my head were just crazy. I was having a great passion to move into communities in the rural areas that had needs for water, health care services, electricity, etc and begin to provide them those facilities like UNICEF, UNDP, Oxfam, etc.

As enthusiastic as I was then, one thing I didn’t realize was that those international organizations were funded by the United Nations and other big foundations but mine was just a local organization trying to find its feet. When I eventually launched out and funding became a constraint to implementing my ideas, do you know what I did? I had to take time to learn how to write grant proposals and solicit for funds. Today, I can boast about it that I am an expert in proposal writing and presentation.

One of the success stories that we have is that, the same year I founded the organization, we partnered with the USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives and Committee for Advancement of Justice and we jointly implemented a peace building project in the oil producing communities of Imo State.

Today, those crazy ideas I had then have been transformed into great projects, including the Youth Cooperative and Enterprise Academy, which is a metamorphosis of another idea, called “The Business in You Daily”.

That’s how ideas can grow into big stuff if you give them your attention and invest in them. Remember, ideas rule the world…

Chapter Two: LEARN AS YOU GO!

[When I started writing these daily messages, I was afraid because, I didn’t know how I was going to meet up with the daily demands because of my other crowded schedules.]

I must confess that I am glad with the amount and quality of responses I am getting from the readers of my Business in You Dailies. The only regret I have is that most of the responses come from people resident outside the African continent. It is really amazing how this idea of publishing “The Business in You Daily”, which I started in February, 2016 is gradually making impacts around the world and creating new opportunities for my organization. That is why I am urging you today to start now!

To start, you do not need everything that is required to start.

When I started writing these daily messages, I was afraid because, I didn’t know how I was going to meet up with the daily demands because of my other crowded schedules. Sincerely speaking, I do not usually know what to write each day until I sit before my computer. Today, by the grace of God, it’s just like ABC…

Every other business you celebrate today started like the description above. Even, the most celebrated philanthropist and richest man in the world, Bill Gates started out like this, too. During his startup days, he got contracts many times for software he never had ideas of how to develop. How did he survive those offers? He had to settle down and started researching, developing and testing before he succeeded. Only God knows how many times he must have failed before he met those demands.

You just have to start now, tomorrow might be too late. That idea in your head that you are waiting for it to mature, do not be surprised that someone else around the corner also has it. That is the risk in procrastination of ideas. Like I said previously, there is nothing like the perfect idea. When you give that idea your time and your money, you will be amazed what it will turn out to be.

That is exactly what we do at Youth Cooperative and Enterprise Academy. We help young people incubate their ideas and give them life. At the end of the day, they become entrepreneurs and employers of labour instead of waiting for paid jobs that do not exist anywhere, any more.

Chapter Three: START SMALL.

[As you can see, everything God created started small. At birth, we are born as infants, little creatures. Growing up was not easy. We crawled and fell down trying to walk, stuttered in speech while trying to make sense, had napkins and pampers, etc.]

Permit me to emphasize once again that this book is not meant for everyone reading it. There are people, especially the unemployed youths in the continent of Africa, who are my target audience. They are the ones that understand the challenges they face in moving away from the “norm of job seeking” to becoming job creators.

Another category is those, who need this book in order to reach out to young people around them, who need to arise and embrace these options I am presenting.

I am glad to learn that some people, even in London who read my Business in You Dailies have already started reaching out to youths in their churches with my messages. They really understand the pains of poverty youths in Africa are going through. They understand that it does not take just a dose of information to change this age-long practice of running about looking for job.

Once more, I want to encourage you to start small. As you can see, everything God created started small. At birth, we are born as infants, little creatures. Growing up was not easy. We crawled and fell down trying to walk, stuttered in speech while trying to make sense, had napkins and pampers, etc. Today, we are grown up and matured adults. We started like seeds, even as mustard seeds, one of the minutest seeds that grow up and become giant trees.

That is the way it is always… you are permitted to think globally but to start locally! Every successful business I know today started small. Have you ever taken time to watch a “mama put seller”? With her wheelbarrow, give her only two years, she will own a restaurant if she is diligent in the trade.

I have heard success stories from some CEOs of big fast food chains today. One of them told me that she started by selling “moi moi” in her neighborhood. From there she became a food vendor in one of the cities in Nigeria. Today, she owns one of the popular fast food chains in Nigeria.

Another one told me how she built a two-storey building through selling ‘abacha”, a local delicacy made from dry cassava chips. One other person, who started a restaurant in her sitting room, now owns a hotel in one of the cities in Nigeria.

What about those who were diligent in their “recharge card selling businesses” or what was referred to as “call centers” when GSM was newly launched in Nigeria? If you are observant in your city, you will find that such people ended up as partners of the telecommunication companies or own their phone shops where they sell recharge cards, phone accessories, etc.

The reason why many young people in Africa have not launched out their own businesses today is because they are looking for millions to set up mega stores and business centers. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. That is exactly why they do not have access to bank loans and thus, keep postponing their startup days.

The truth is that if you start small, your business will have a history

of cash flows that can attract credits from the banks and even from your relations. No one wants to invest in a business that will fail.

When you start small, you learn from your mistakes but when you start it big, any serious mistake can crumble your business.

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