CBN-SSEDC GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK 2015 COMMUNIQUE

          CBN SS EDC CELEBRATION OF GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK 2015

For a period of one week, the SSEDC joined the world to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week 2015, with different packages created to engage Agro-allied businesses, tech innovators, creative industry drivers. This was done with the aim of driving interaction with experts in the business and showcase cutting edge innovative and user friendly products and services that will enhance the productivity and profitability of SME’s.

As an institution set up to drive entrepreneurship within the region, collaborating with the Calabar Chamber of Commerce, and joining the global entrepreneurship community, the CBN South South Entrepreneurship Development Centre, organized commemorative events to celebrate the week.  The events were targeted at captains of industry, government agencies, Entrepreneurs, Financial Community and General members of the public.

Global Entrepreneurship Week is the world’s largest celebration of innovators and job creators, who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare. During one week in November, GEW is a platform created to inspire people globally through entrepreneurial fostering activities, help exploit existing and emerging opportunities as well as intimate networking gatherings, and connect practitioners to prospective investors, collaborators and mentors. The activities started with a city walk on Saturday, 14^th November 25, 2015 tagged “My Business, My Tomorrow which kicked off from CBN SS EDC grounds at Prof. Eyo Ita House through Marian Road–IBB Way, Akim Road, Etaagbor Road and ended with a picnic at the Airport Green.

The 4.3km city walk was aimed at creating awareness of Global Entrepreneurship Week, engaging and interacting with community business owners/CEOs with the ultimate goal of encouraging more people to see business as a sure way to financial freedom and wealth creation. The walk received active support, demonstrated by the excitement and participation from the enterprises which lined the route. Some business people took time off their work to share their testimonies, comment and dance with the walkers.

The commemorative events for the week, continued with two events, which took place on Monday 16^th November 25, 2015. The CAMPUS CEO event took place at the ETF hall of the CRUTECH by 10:00am with 447 students in attendance. The event which was aimed at encouraging students to imbibe entrepreneurship as a lifestyle even while still in school and mainly dependents was hosted by the vice-chancellor of the university Prof. Anthony Owan-Eno who encouraged the students to listen and imbibe entrepreneurship as this was practically one of the best advice they will be receiving. The conference featured a host of high profile speakers like Mr. Efa Imoke, the Vice President of CALCIMA who took the keynote address titled “Entrepreneurship; The Fulcrum of Economic Sustainability”; Mr Iso Bassey who spoke on practical ways of generating markets using modern marketing strategies; Mr. James Mbu and Dr. Nelson Takon who all expounded the theme “Entrepreneurship - The driver for sustainable growth”. They spoke on Eco-preneurship: locally driven entrepreneurship which is derived from solving problems in your society and environment; ICT-preneurship: using ICT to solve entrepreneurial problems and Techno-preneurship: the application of science to social, environmental problems. Mr. James Mbu wrapped-up the session talking about the 4Ps of entrepreneurship: Perception, Performance, Persistence and Passion.

The event also featured a panel discussion on The Giant Strides of Entrepreneurship by some existing business owners (who started their businesses while still students) to encourage the students to do same.

The second event for the day was the vocational training exercise for students of some secondary schools within Calabar municipality. It was held at the Obudu hall of the SS EDC by 11am and featured a total number of 42 students from GGSS Big Qua, Housing Estate, Eastern and NIICO secondary schools respectively.

The vocational training was put together to encourage an entrepreneurial lifestyle in the Secondary School Students through experiential and practical skills learning that can be commercialized.

Five different teams from Radiant Brides, Sugar n Spice, Ankara Bag House and others were on hand to teach the students how to make confectionaries (Cakes), Facial Makeup, Ankara shoe/bags making, Shoe making and Hat making.

The programme lasted for about 5 hours and some of the students who were ecstatic about their newly acquired skills promised to follow-up on and develop them. Master Ayi Ukorebi of NICO Secondary School who had taken the training on make-up commented that he never knew he had such artistic skills as he realized today and had every intention of pursuing his artistic side.

One of the secondary school teachers, Mr. Okoroafor Michael, on behalf of others, thanked SS EDC for putting together the training, as it afforded the students an opportunity to learn differently from what they are used to and encouraged all the students present to put to use, all the skills and knowledge gained from the training.

The Agripreneurship/Innovative conference which held on Thursday 18^th November, 2015 was aimed at drawing attention to the critical role entrepreneurship plays in the economies of developed countries  taking into consideration the massive opportunities in the agricultural sector and the need for young people with innovative ideas to take advantage of such opportunities. Some of the activities in this event included a presentation by Dr. Alban Nwogu of the Ministry of Agric. Drew attention to the government’s efforts in the Agric. sector in several areas including free distribution of improved breeds of seeds including rice, cocoa and maize, giving 50% off chemical fertilizer, trainings on farm methods and lots more. In a question and answer session, he gave instructions on how to access these and many more schemes.

The programme director of CUSO international Mr. Danny Pelletier who spoke on “Land yield- the role of international agencies”, drew attention to the various opportunities for entrepreneurship and investments in Cross River State and Nigeria at large. He said Nigeria imports more Agricultural products than it produces and if the government can focus on developing and producing its food, there is a potential of self-sustainability thereby providing income for local farmers and reduced importation. He summed it up with the words “To be an entrepreneur requires internal motivation and also luck which is being at the right place and the right time doing the right things. The right place definitely is Nigeria and the right time is now with the increasing population with attendant huge increase in demand for all kinds of goods and services which will inadvertently lead to economic growth”.

These chain of week-long activities culminated on Friday 20^th in a dinner event tagged CEO/Investors’ round table with theme “Funding the SME sector”. This event was aimed at creating a platform where cheap funds can be raised for use by budding entrepreneurs as well as an opportunity for investors to take advantage of the unique products by young entrepreneurs before such ideas are made open to the public for investment.

This event featured an investment showcase by innovative young entrepreneurs, an auction sales of products especially with emphasis on waste-to-wealth, an entrepreneurial talk by Steve Harris and Victor Bassey. As with any celebration, there must be cake cutting! Mrs. Catherine Adie led the designates to cut the cake, spelling S-S-E-D-C! 

Picture Gallery from GEW 2015 Activities

Day 1 – Entrepreneur City Awareness Walk/Picnic:

Day 2 – Campus CEO Seminar For Tertiary Students & Vocational Skill Training Youngstars:

Day 3 – Agri-Preneurship & Innovative Thinking Conference:

Day 4 – CEO/Angel Investors Roundtable Dinner:

Testimonial: From Engineering and Medicine to Fish Farming

MEET THE FAMILY OF FISH FARMERS

He is an engineer by profession and works with the best engineering and construction firm in the country while the wife is a medical doctor who works with the Federal Medical Centre Calabar. Both salary earners. The Okories didn’t see any need to undertake entrepreneurship, until he encountered the SSEDC and had a mindset shift. Mr. Charles Okorie walked into SS EDC briefly in February, 2015 out of curiosity to know what goes on in the imposing edifice that houses the Centre’s activities. But 30 minutes after, he registered for the entrepreneurship program and resumed class immediately. Being someone who believes in self-development and that no knowledge is a waste, he enrolled to expand his knowledge in an albeit foreign area, especially since he was on leave. During the idea generation class, he noticed a trend and immense opportunity inherent in farming and decided to go into fish farming. After making up his mind to go into farming, next thing he did was going for internship in a fish farm where he studied the business closely and observed all the risks and potential associated with the business. Putting knowledge to practice, he successful invested in and managed about 1000 fishes alone. This he did for 4 months before finally establishing his own fish farm which can now boast of over 5000 fishes. Mr Okorie passion and innovation made him set-up a sick bay where sick fishes are monitored between 24-48 hours. He supported in the farm by his wife – a medical doctor and her Mum who see the fishes as her own babies. A brief discussion with the wife and her mother indicated huge love and passion which is seen in the way they take care of the fishes.

For the Okories, business cannot be any better though there are still lots of challenges to surmount, the upside far outweighs the downside. His long term plan is to package branded fish for export as there is huge demand for that. He intends to resign from his high paying job to concentrates fully on the farm business.

Risk management and Internal Control: Article by Otobong and Sarah

 Risk Management and Internal Control

Organizations face a wide range of uncertain internal and external factors that may affect achievement of their objectives—whether they are strategic, operational, or financial. The effect of this uncertainty on their objectives can be a positive risk (opportunities) or a negative risk (threats).

THE EVOLUTION OF RISK MANAGEMENT

The field of risk management emerged in the mid-1970s, evolving from the older field of insurance management. The term risk management was adopted because the new field has a much wider focus than simply insurance management. Risk management includes activities and responsibilities outside of the general insurance domain, although insurance is an important part of it and insurance agents often serve as risk managers. Insurance management focused on protecting companies from natural disasters and basic kinds of exposures, such as fire, theft, and employee injuries, whereas risk management focuses on these kinds of risks as well as other kinds of costly losses, including those stemming from product liability, employment practices, environmental degradation, accounting compliance, offshore outsourcing, currency fluctuations, and electronic commerce.

In the 1980s and 1990s, risk management grew into a vital part of company planning and strategy. Risk management became integrated with more and more company functions as the field evolved. New areas of risk management began to emerge in the 1990s, providing managers with more options to protect their companies against new kinds of exposures. According to the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS), the main trade organization for the risk management profession, among the emerging areas for risk management were operations management, environmental risks, and ethics. As the role of risk management has increased to encompass large-scale, organization-wide programs, the field has become known as enterprise risk management (ERM).

Why are Risk Management and Internal Control important?

Proper risk management and internal control assist organizations in making informed decisions about the level of risk that they want to take and implementing the necessary controls to effectively pursue their objectives.

Risk management and internal control are therefore important aspects of an organization’s governance, management, and operations. Successful organizations integrate effective governance structures and processes with performance-focused risk management and internal control at every level of an organization and across all operations.

However, risk management and internal control are not objectives in themselves. They should always be considered when setting and achieving organizational objectives and creating, enhancing, and protecting stakeholder value.

Ways of managing Risks

As factories can be dangerous places to work, it is important that companies implement appropriate risk management processes.  For example, a company can reduce the likelihood of an accident by limiting work schedules (to reduce employee fatigue), locating equipment in areas that are less vulnerable to damage, performing regular maintenance on equipment, performing regular environmental reviews and establishing communication protocols between line workers, supervisors and management.

ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT (ERM)

As the field of risk management expanded to include managing financial, environmental, and technological risks, the role of risk managers grew to encompass the organization-wide risk embodied in ERM. This approach seeks to implement risk awareness and prevention programs throughout a company, thus creating a corporate culture able to handle the risks associated with a rapidly changing business environment. Practitioners of ERM incorporate risk management into the basic goals and values of the company and support those values with action. They conduct risk analyses, devise specific strategies to reduce risk, develop monitoring systems to warn about potential risks, and perform regular reviews of the program.

Article: Customer Relationship by Lawrence and Amanda

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP

Every entrepreneur wants to maximize profit and profit cannot be maximized without sales. Sales and turnover can be achieved through assured customer base - they have the purchasing power. Phrases like, ‘’customers are kings’’, ‘’the customer is always right’’, ’’ customers make the life wire of a business’’, are pointers to the importance of customers and the salient need to satisfy them.
The relationship you have formed with various types of people in many different areas of your life can serve as a foundation for you creating strong ties with clients. It’s always worthwhile to pay attention to the things that truly enhance good customer relationship.
Keep the following tips in mind and strengthen the most important aspect of your business; the relationship you have with your customer base:

Internal Customers 
It is just as important to keep your internal customers as your external customers. Your internal customers especially the employees are carriers of the organizational culture. The satisfaction of your external customers depends on how the internal customers are satisfied. Satisfying them and keeping them fit is not basically on the amount paid but the employer-employee relationship, the induction to keep them vested with organizational values, working condition and environment, and the training for manpower development among others will do the magic. Charity begins at home!

Treat others the way you want to be treated
This classic lesson seems like the simplest of tasks, yet it is often the one forgotten when engaging in business with a customer. Put yourself in the person's shoe and provide the level of service and respect that you would want.

Honesty is key
Stretching the truth about your products or services in any way can seriously hinder your reputation. If you can be honest and realistic about any services that your business cannot provide, customers will appreciate this and a foundation for a lasting relationship can develop.

Remember that your customers are people not numbers
After a first conversation with a client, remember not only the name but something about the individual as a person. Remembering a fact about the person will prompt you to recall how your business can suit the person’s needs. And these little details can have a big impact on building the relationship.

Keep things lighthearted
Nothing is more upsetting than asking for a product and having a clerk or owner be rude. In contrast feel more comfortable so that he or she can better open up you about a need.

Take cognizance of body language
People can tell, consciously and subconsciously, how you feel about being around them. Keeping your arms and legs uncrossed, smiling and making eye contacts are great ways to ensure that a customer remembers interacting with you.
Each connection is unique and should be treated as such. Often the best tactic is to just be yourself and not overthink things. Take a genuine interest in relationship and the rest will take care of itself.

Respond Promptly
Elliot Hirsch, founder and CEO of AdYapper asserts, "We live in a real-time world, and our clients have diverse schedules, so we feel strongly that immediate responses to requests are very important and deliver a big Wow’’. It may seem unimportant but quick responses can leave a lasting impact on customers. Prompt responses to customer inquiries, feedback or comments can be the difference between a mediocre client relationship and a great one.

Set and Manage Realistic Expectations 
One of the most important factors that goes into an effective CRM strategy is providing customers and clients with realistic expectations and following through with them. The worst you can do is disappoint your customers. You might think you will sound lame if you under-promise, but you will never regret it. So, when in doubt, under-promising and over-delivering is preferable to setting wildly unrealistic expectations that you or your company simply cannot deliver.

Finally, it is pertinent to know that, your customers don’t think about your company all of the time. The only time they consciously think of your company is when something breaks. However, when something goes wrong, if you’ve taken care of your customers properly, your company’s name should pop into their heads. This is why you should know that, Happy Customers = Returning Customers! To buttress this point, Lee Hnetinka, co-founder and CEO of WunWun,  has strong customer relationships to thank for his growing business. He asserts that, most of their business comes from relationships and most of their users come from current users.

Relationships are huge … making and keeping customers happy has benefits that stretch beyond simply having satisfied patrons. Happy customers are more likely to refer your service, product or business to their friends, family and colleagues — and this grapevine effect is invaluable. Therefore, fasten your, initial the top gear and accelerate into the path of good customer relationship and sustainable business success!!!

SSEDC Testimonial- Tee Brown Cereals

DANIEL PEMIDA
All he ever wanted was to be a music star as he was greatly influenced by Robert Kelly music while still growing up. Meet the multi-talented musician and entrepreneur Daniel Pemida – Daniel is the CEO of Raginal Production Company (owners of Tea brown Cereals).  He got the idea to start Tea brown during a discussion he had with a course mate back at the Nassarawa State University, Keffi while studying Accounting. He knew back then that he needed to come up with a product that will not just compete with existing products but meet specific needs of customers. And that was how “Tea Brown Cereals” – a rich cereal that can be prepared as beverage, pap and fruit drink. The biggest challenged he faced was not knowing how the public will accept the product but this has been properly addressed as the products is widely accepted and in high demand. The Okene, Kogi State born entrepreneur business strategy changed after attending SS EDC entrepreneurship development program in early 2015 as his business brand was given  a new refreshing structure that has attracted new customers segments as the products now comes in different packs and sizes. Today, in addition to contributing to Nigeria economy through taxes, he has equally taken a number of person off the labour market through employment. For this musician turn entrepreneur, his long term ambition is to make Tea brown a household name in Nigeria and Africa at large.

SSEDC TESTIMONIAL- Joe-Smart Communication

      JOSEPH ETULU    

At SSEDC, identifying your niche and starting small is not just a mantra but the entrepreneur’s code of operation. For Joseph Etulu, the owner of Joe-Smart Communication – a thriving small business that market and sales electrical appliances, phone accessories and decoders, there is no better time to start than now. Joseph started with selling UK used phone with a transparent display glass and an umbrella but soon discovered that this was not giving him the satisfaction he wants in terms of turnover and profit. After a careful study of his business environment, he knew he needed to upgrade but funding became his number one challenge. As God would have it, he successfully accessed #500,000 CBN MSME fund facilitated by SSEDC and scaled up to include phone accessories and electrical appliances. And that turned out to be his best move as more sells was made leading to expansion into a spacious container. Today, the 22 year old Joseph not only pay his school fees, but caters for his family in addition to employing 3 staff. All these was achieved with just mindset re-orientation. As he plans to open up more branches in other strategic locations, Joseph complains bitterly about government multiple taxation and pleads that it should be more uniform for all in other for small business to thrive. For this 100 level Mass Communication student at Cross River State University of Science and Technology (CRUTECH), his long term ambition is to be a reputable television personality.

ALTERNATIVE FUNDING SOURCES FOR BUSINESSES ..by Ayotunde Williams

Funding our business ideas and startups can at times become an entrepreneur`s nightmare. Many get stuck and actually lose a good night`s sleep because of the challenges they face in sourcing funds to finance their business ideas. Financial institutions don`t make it any easier with the very stringent conditions that must be met to access finance.

In spite of the seeming challenges faced with sourcing funds from conventional sources i.e banks and other financial institutions there are however, other alternative funding sources that many at times we tend to overlook, completely ignore or are not aware of. Such alternative funding sources will be discussed below.

Family and friends: This is one funding source that can provide funds that are either cheap or at no significant cost. Not only are you likely to get funds at little or no interest but you are also going to get such funds on very flexible terms. Provided you can present your ideas in a clear, convincing and professional manner to your family members and friends while also proving to them the credibility and viability of your business idea you build a network of people who can support your business idea. Trust is however a key factor in getting funds from family and friends. It remains the currency that will unlock the purses and bank accounts of friends and family towards you. The challenge with family and friends at times may be that you have to subject your ideas and concepts to the scrutiny of several people and unless you are a very persuaded person you may derail from the original idea or concept in an effort to please this circle of people.

Asset Sale: Many entrepreneurs do not realise that the proceeds from the sale of an asset can provide seed fund to finance their business idea and startup. Do you have a piece of land, some jewelry, shares and stocks, vehicles or any other kind of asset whose sale can provide some good finance? Then you may actually be sitting on your seed capital without realizing it! Would you rather eat now and pay later or pay now and eat later? The choice is yours. As long as you are convinced about your business idea and you have done your due diligence (business planning and market research), selling that asset may actually be a good way to finance your startup. This is one of the key reasons why you need to own an asset(s) in the first place.

Other Businesses: Proceeds from a side business may also be another way to finance that new business idea. This is referred to as “double-dipping”- the process whereby proceeds from an existing business (es) are used to finance a new business. You can equally finance your new business from your existing income as an employee (if you are working for someone else).

Business Plan (Pitching) Competitions: In recent times there has been an increase in the number of business plan competitions and challenges which offer successful contestants funds (in grant forms) to finance their business ideas. The benefit of these competitions is not just that they provide funds at no cost if you win but also that they provide an avenue for you to test the veracity of your business idea as it opens it up to a great deal of scrutiny from people who can advise you appropriately and also challenge your assumptions. In addition you can also get good mentors and coaches as part of the winning package.

Crowdfunding: This funding source is gaining a lot of momentum. It allows you to share your idea with a large pool of people who might be interested and would only need to provide a small fraction of your required funding amount. The key here is in the numbers – the more interested people you get who will believe enough to want to invest small amounts of money the more successfully this method of fund sourcing will be for you.

Angel Investors: These are investors who will be willing to support your business idea for a period and for reasonable returns of between 10-20%. According to Katherine Arline in her article on “15 Creative Financing Methods for Startups” Angel investors have financed the starting of companies like Google, Yahoo and Costco.

Venture Capitalists: Funds from this source can also be accessed especially for businesses that are already getting revenues and have an exit strategy. Most venture capitalists will invest funds in high growth companies for a percentage of the shareholding of the company which when the company goes public they can sell off and recoup their investments.

Cooperatives: These can also be a good source of funding for businesses especially where such businesses exist in a cluster and can come together to use their strength and synergy to access funding which can then be disbursed to their members.

All these funding sources provide alternative funding for different kinds of businesses at different stages of growth. You will do well to analyse your funding requirement and explore the opportunities these alternative sources present for funding your business idea or startup.  References:  Arline, K., 2015. 15 Creative Financing Methods for Startups. Business News Daily http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/1733-small-business-financing-options-.html

Entreprenureship is a lifestyle...Embrace it!

Human Resource Management

            Every organization at each level needs management, be it an organization as small as a family or temple or big organizations such as schools and corporate institutions. It is important both for profit and non-profit organization. In today’s global world challenges and opportunities of businesses are enormous hence they will only be successful if they are effectively managed.  Management helps in doing and getting things done through others.

Human resource is the process that optimizes human capacity, material and financial resource of an organization for the effective achievement of goals.

Human resource management is a function in organizations designed to maximize employee performance of an organization’s strategic objectives. It is mainly concerned with the management of people within an organization, focusing on policies and systems.

The term human resource management (HRM) can be defined as the strategic and systematic approach to managing people in a way that will maximize their motivation and contribution towards meeting organizational objectives. Apart from the basic functions of HRM (planning, organizing, leading and controlling), they have some other special functions. Some of the functions are as follows;

·         Staffing( planning, recruitment & selection)

·         Compensation and benefits

·         Human resource development

·         Safety and health.

Orientation

Human resource managers are responsible for the orientation of staffs. After giving the selected candidates an offer letter and the person has accepted, you have to give that individual an orientation i.e. the way things are done around there (culture). Steps to follow;

·         History of the organization

·         Philosophy on which they are driving (values and norms)

·         Roles: The Head of department lets you know what your role is. You take it one step at a time, don’t fume and explode, and don’t expect them to hit the ground running.

·         Do’s and don’ts of the organization (rules and regulations)

·         Sign the code of conduct

Most organizations today, place great emphasis on their performance management systems as a means of generating higher levels of job performance.

However, producing performance increments may be best achieved by orienting the performance management system to promote employee engagement.

The major focus of orientation is to reduce stranger anxiety which is very negative in the workplace. No man is an island, so as a human resource manager nobody should be alienated but you should have an eye for everyone in the organization. 

entrepreneurship is a lifestyle... Embrace it...