Business News

Monday, 30 May 2022 07:10

Successful founders offer insight into the best company values

Your company's values are everything. They're the cornerstone of the most successful ventures. The very foundation of every business decision you make. Actually, not just the foundation. They are the mortar holding the bricks. The grout between the tiles. The caulk and paint, too. All that stuff. So it's reasonable to start considering what your company stands for the moment you launch, right? Wrong. That's too late. Not only must you establish your values before day one, you must also refine them throughout the life of your venture. You actually needed to start yesterday. And, also, start now. And then…

Monday, 30 May 2022 06:21

Citibank targets Nigerian smallholder farmers with new facility

Citigroup Inc. has entered a partnership with Lagos-based social enterprise Babban Gona to increase lending to local smallholder farmers in a bid to boost agricultural output in Africa’s most populous country. Babban Gona will administer a $10 million Citigroup Inc. financing to about 41,000 small farmers in the West African nation, it says in an emailed statement. Even though agriculture contributes a third of Nigeria’s economic output, it attracts less than 5% of bank loans. The facility will enable farmers improve income by 350% per hectare, Babban Gona said. The organization has extended nearly $200 million in loans to over…

Monday, 30 May 2022 06:15

Failing to win: A page-turner for entrepreneurs

I am no stranger to failure. In fact, one might say it’s my one constant success factor, so when I had the opportunity to review this book, I jumped at the chance. Failing to Win by Mike Quinn is a well-written codification of the success and failure of a FinTech business. Mike Quinn was the co-founder and CEO of Zoona. In this book, he has done a deep dive into the anatomy of why he believes that the company “failed to win.” The business, an early play in the payments transfer space, was a success and was undoubtedly the darling…

Saturday, 28 May 2022 06:15

The three monkeys of strategy

We are all familiar with the three monkeys advising against evil—‘See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil.’—but what do the three monkeys of strategy advocate? Unlike the three monkeys who recommend passive avoidance, the three monkeys of strategy urge contributory action: ‘See Unusual. Hear Uncut. Speak Uncommon.’ When you see unusual, you see opportunity—in situations such as: What the customer could accomplish, even if the customer didn’t realise that—as smartphone makers foresaw. What the customer might outsource—as task-runner companies noticed. What the customer wants to use but not own—as ride-sharing companies espied. What the customer doesn’t want to…

Friday, 27 May 2022 06:43

4 tips to help you get what you want in any negotiation

Back in the days before Amazon's retail dominance, I went into bookstores to see which titles the store managers opted to display. I often noticed that there were many copies of Herb Cohen's "You Can Negotiate Anything: How to Get What You Want" and no copies of mine. That made me feel sad that my book was not popular and curious about why Cohen's book was so appealing to people. To some extent the appeal was obvious -- everybody wants things that they can't get and reading the book might help them win more often. Recently. Herb's son Rich wrote…

Thursday, 26 May 2022 06:30

Don't hire the devil you know

You need resources quickly. Should you reach out to friends and family? Let me make it clear up front that I'm not calling anyone a devil. But at what point does your employee become your friend and at what point does your friend become your employee? This is one of my least favorite questions. And I get it more often than you'd think. My own work history isn't any different than most. One of my best friends in the world is someone I hired almost 25 years ago. And one of the worst enemies from my past is someone who…

Wednesday, 25 May 2022 06:30

Startups can’t succeed on ideas alone: Why deep market knowledge is key

There is a common misunderstanding that a successful startup equates to a great idea executed—or sold—well. However, countless companies based on excellent ideas have failed because they lack one key attribute: deep knowledge and expertise about their market. You can see this in media companies that don’t quite understand how or why people consume content, healthcare startups that focus more on sleek technological offerings over actual needs and consumer goods companies that overvalue what customers are willing to pay. While it seems simple, I’ve been surprised by the number of startups I’ve encountered over the years that have jumped headfirst…

Tuesday, 24 May 2022 06:32

70 percent of all businesses fail. This is how to ensure yours isn’t one of them

If you watch the news, read a paper, or go online, you will hear about the big box stores daily; Toy R Us, Pier One, Stein Mart, and many more public companies that are all going under after being in business for decades. What you don't hear about are the small business owners going out of business across our nation. Small businesses are the majority of all businesses and 70% of them will go out of business withing 10 years of founding, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's out of a sampling of 27,600 businesses, and these…

Monday, 23 May 2022 06:16

Why entrepreneurs shouldn't expect loyalty from their staff

Many entrepreneurs talk of loyalty in business partnerships, staff loyalty (or lack of) and loyalty in relationships. These founders expect people to be loyal to them and often get upset when they are not. If this sounds like you, think of how much frustration or pain it caused you to hold on to the fantasy that people are loyal to you. How disappointed you've been in others when they did not live up to your expectations. Well, sorry to point out the harsh reality, but no one was born to please you and live up to your unrealistic expectations of…

Saturday, 21 May 2022 06:58

Naira slides further, crosses the 600 mark to dollar at parallel market

Naira, on Friday, weakened to N607 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market amid increased demand. The figure represents a drop of N7 or 1.2 percent from the N600 it traded earlier this week. Currency traders known as Bureaux De Change operators (BDCs), who spoke to our correspondent in Lagos, quoted the buying rate of the greenback at N598 and the selling price at N607 per dollar. A parallel market (street market) is characterised by noncompliant behaviour with an institutional set of rules. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has consistently maintained that the parallel…

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Saturday, 21 May 2022 06:49

How truly great leaders overcome the fear of trusting their teams

"Ultimately, we know very deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom." —Marilyn Ferguson, author of The Aquarium Conspiracy Anytime we are about to make a difficult decision or try something new, we instinctively consider the risk. We ask ourselves a whole host of questions that begin with “But what if . . .” That phrase is then followed by any number of potential concerns with varying degrees of likelihood based on past experience, fears, and worst-case scenarios. Everyone has fears. Some fears protect us from very real threats, while others irrationally paralyze us. I’ve explored what…

Friday, 20 May 2022 06:41

Customs reintroduces e-valuation policy on imported vehicles

Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it will re-introduce the suspended electronic valuation policy on Friday. NCS said this in a letter dated May 17, 2022, and signed by Ajibola Odusany, NCS’ deputy controller, administration, on behalf of Yusuf Malanta, area controller in charge of the Apapa Command of the service. The agency said there would be a sensitisation programme for stakeholders in the clearance chain in preparation for the redeployment. “In line with the planned nationwide deployment of the VIN Valuation on Friday, 20 May 2022, and the need to continually enhance the platform for optimal performance and service delivery,…

Friday, 20 May 2022 06:32

A respected MIT professor said your success will be determined by 3 things. Here's how to get better at each of them

The quality of your ideas is important. Even more important: being able to communicate those ideas effectively. Before he died, beloved MIT Professor Patrick Winston would give a famous lecture to university students teaching them the value of good communication. In his introduction, he drew attention to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which calls for court martial for any officer who sends a soldier into battle without a weapon. Winston says there ought to be a similar protection for students--and we might add, that protection should be provided for entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners, too. Namely, that no one…

Thursday, 19 May 2022 06:17

A simple formula for running a successful business

Earlier in her career, Ann McNeill had a very different time-management approach than she does now. "I was one of those people that if I had to be to work at eight o'clock, I got up at seven-thirty," says McNeill, the founder and CEO of MCO Construction and Services, a Miami-based consulting company that partners with private-sector firms working on public sector land projects. Following the 1980 race riots in Miami, McNeill decided to leave her role as a contract administrator for Pratt & Whitney aircraft group to become an entrepreneur, set on rebuilding the affected neighborhoods. Today the 68-year-old…

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