The Nigerian Accountant 2012 - The Institute of Chartered ...

Business
their opportunity. An Entrepreneur must
have eyes that recognise opportunities.
9. Integrity: He must always act with
honesty, probity and integrity.
10. Good Listener: “Know how to
listen and you will profit even from those
who talk badly” – Plutarch.
11. Imagination: Imagination is
simply image formation. It functions like
the film in a camera or like the memory
card. When you have an image on the
film or memory card, you can print it on
a postcard. It is the image on the film
that is printed out for you on post card.
Whatever pictures that stays on the film of
your mind or in your memory long enough
will eventually be printed out for you in
real life. “Imagination is more important
than knowledge. Knowledge is limited.
Imagination encircles the world” – Albert
Einstein.
12. Constant Failure: Success
grows from aches of failure. “Failure is the
key to success; each mistake teaches us
something” – Morihei Ueshiba. “You have
to make tons of mistakes to have a chance
at succeeding” – Mark Zukerberg. “If you
are not failing every now and again, it’s
a sign you are not doing anything very
innovative” – Woody Allen.
13. Informative: The quality of your
life cannot be better than the quality of
information available to you. Information
is the key to transformation. If you break
up ‘information’ into two parts, you would
have ‘in’ and ‘formation’. Formation in
construction simply means to create
in a shape. It therefore implies that
information is the knowledge that forms
you internally. It is your in-formation that
determines your out-formation.
14. Dreams: Your dream today is
the raw material with which God will
construct your tomorrow. If you do not
have a dream, you do not have a future.
“The future belongs to those who believe
in the beauty of their dreams” – Eleanor
Roosevelt.
15. Association: “I have never met
a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn
something from him” – Galileo Galilei.
However much you think you know, you
do not know everything yet. It is important
for you to deliberately move towards
people who have already become what
you want to become.
16. Education: Either formal or
informal, it’s necessary for him to be
a successful businessman. The best
definition of education that I have
ever come across is that which says,
“Education is that which we remember
when we have forgotten all we have
learnt” – Author unknown.
SUCCESS STORY OF
ENTREPRENEURER IN NIGERIA
1. Aliko Dangote: Born in 1957
in Kano. Reputed for its groundnut
pyramids. Barely 13 years and out of
elementary school, Aliko was thrown to
the streets to provide for himself in what is
a conventional practice by some families
to toughen their wards on the challenges
of life. He started out understanding his
uncle, Sanusi Dantata after his father’s
death. After the jungle training, so to
speak, a maternal grandfather, Alhaji
Dantata could have thrust greatness
upon him. But there would be no spoonfeeding;
rather Aliko Dangote got a loan
of N500,000 from the uncle in 1977 to
start his business, with an order to offset
it within three years. It was an assistance
Dangote needed to achieve greatness
for himself. He repaid the loan within 3
months and has never looked back since
then. From a debtor in 1977, Aliko now
sits atop a conglomerate that parades
over 20 companies.
Aliko‘s humbly beginnings started
mainly with buying and selling, this saw
Dangote becoming the market leader in
such consumable products like sugar,
rice and cement. Having completed the
first stanza of its life span trading, the
conglomerate moved up to next stanza;
manufacturing. He regrets not catching
the vision of manufacturing on time and
staying too long in trading. He wished he
had started earlier. He said his formulas
for successes are: (1) Daring (2) Hard
work (3) Vision, in his words “because
you can’t just get into your car right now
and not know where you are going” (4)
Determination (5) Never look down on
people.
Dangote believes there is no greater
country than Nigeria; he thinks the
opportunity in Nigeria is enormous. His
definition of a rich man is not the man
that has his money intact in the bank,
but a wealthy man has his money out
there, creating opportunities for others
in terms of Job creation and Investment.
He was rated as Africa’s richest man this
year and awarded GCON, a national
award that is meant for Vice president,
President of the Senate, Chief Justice
of Nigeria. He is the first private sector
Nigerian to receive the National award
without being a civil servant.
2. Mike Adenuga: Nicknamed
“the Guru”, Adenuga debuts on Forbes
billionaires’ list after making waves with
mobile technology. His telecoms carrier
Globacom recently launched a 4G
network, and he’s invested $1 billion in
a submarine cable connecting Nigeria
to the rest of the world. He worked as
a cab driver and a security guard to
pay his tuition fee when schooling at
United States of America. He made his
first million at age 26 selling lace and
distributing Coca-Cola, and then won
a contract to build military barracks
in the late 1980s. He owns a stake in
the Equitorial Trust Bank and chairs
Niger Delta oil exploration firm Conoil.
Adenuga is a soccer devotee and
sponsors a number of tournaments.
3. Femi Otedola
4. Etc.
HOW CAN YOU START AND WHAT
DO YOU NEED TO DO TO START?
1. Have an idea of a business
opportunity and discover it. Understudy
an existing same or similar business to
gain an understanding of the business.
The first thing to do to start a business is
not to look for money to start but an idea.
2. Prepare a feasibility study, if you
can’t prepare, engage the service of a
consultant.
3. Register the business with
Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as
a business name first; you can convert
to limited company as the business
expands.
4. Source for the start-up fund
through personal savings; you can
introduce debt into your capital structure
later when the business has stabilised.
5. It is not compulsory to start with an
office (though this may not be applicable
to some business); you can start in your
private home. What is paramount to start
the business is customer. Build a strong
network of customers first.
6. Avoid related party transactions,
this can kill your business easily. Devoid
family relationship in business.
7. Maintain a good record. This
is very important, as it will allow you
to monitor the cost and income of the
business.
8. Open a bank Account. Well
you might not necessarily start with
a corporate bank account to avoid
unnecessary bank charges. You can
start with your personal bank account
but be aware because there will be
need for a separate company account
especially when your customers start to
pay you cheque.
THE NIGERIAN ACCOUNTANT 51
April/June, 2012