I think rather than build our busineses, too many of us young entrepreneurs are locked in the battle of too many definitions and nomenclatures.
Oh it’s business plan, no it’s business model, no it’s strategy document, no no no it’s business strategic framework, bla bla bla.
While most of us are busy looking for perfect names and definitions, trying to sound all MBA-like, street kids are skipping all those shits and doing the real work.
They are getting their hands dirty and birthing solutions for the world like never before and smiling to the bank.
Go to Nnemi, Onitsha, Ibadan, Kano, Onikan, you will see them there.
My mum doesn’t know jack of what “entrepreneurship” is…
Ask her to define entrepreneurship and she would say to me:
“Bia Chukuwnonso, gini bu enterpronuw gini….hapu mu o”
She can’t define jack!
But my mum currently distributes palm oil and produces locally made detergents and disinfectants in droves and supplies to all her distributors in Lagos.
Each supply doesn’t last beyond 7 days and she is back to her production complex – her kitchen.
She sources her own materials herself, mixes them herself, she is in the streets marketing them herself, and making her money herself.
Recently, she bought a large quantity of wrappers worth over N200K and started re-selling to neighbors, friends, and family members.
She visited me at my crip and sold to me. When I visited her this past holiday, she had already cleared the entire merchandise.
From her projections (which doesn’t know what the word projections means), she will be netting over N80,000.
FYI, she doesn’t know how to spell or define entrepreneurship.
But you that went to school, you that know how to define all the terms, CAC, Ideation, Mark up, Scaling, Beta Testing, Cash Flow Analysis, Break Event Analysis, and all the various ishs, what have you done with it?
What?
This is why most times I get pissed off or shy away from debates or presentations that have to do with definitions and counter-definitions of the term “entrepreneurship” and the likes.
More often than not, they really don’t make sense to me.
Don’t allow those distract you from focusing on the real work that matters.
I mean…
Do you want to define entrepreneurship or do you really want to become an entrepreneur?
Which one?
Written by Chinonso Ogbogu
5 Comments
Every. Single. Word. You. Said. Is. Spot-on.
If you want to be an entrepreneur, be an entrepreneur. Pull your sleeves up and do the work!
This is apt. Just go get the job done and quit wasting time talking about how you will get the job done.
Great post
Chinonso, you hit the nail right on top of the head. It boils down to execution, focus, discipline and never giving up. Go out there and make mistakes and learn from them. One of my favorite phrases “Fail Fast”.
It’s not in the talking but in the doing. Thanks for this