Ola Grace : “Raising the bar for entrepreneurs”

With the need to diversify the Nigerian economy now paramount, Ola Grace, a lawyer and Alumna of Enterprise development centre of Pan Atlantic University, Lagos; has provided an escape route for young Nigerians from poverty and reliance on white-collar jobs.

Grace who earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Abuja in 2006 and has proceeded to several entrepreneurial pursuits, in her book, Our Entrepreneurship Mandate with four chapters and 110 pages, launched recently Grace has raised the bar for other young Nigerians for not just stuck in a courtroom or work on criminal or civil lawsuits, she’s defined the true meaning of independence.

In chapter one, Practical insight for Entrepreneurship development, Grace stated that Entrepreneurship remains the most enable economic order to tackle unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, diseases, youth restiveness and many other challenges being addressed in isolation.
She reiterated “Africa, particularly Nigeria has no business relying heavily on Official Development Aid (ODA) and philanthropy, with such vibrant and young population, arable land mass, extensive mineral deposit, forest resources, rich heritage and several advantages, yet unexplored. It is only by infusing an entrepreneurship culture in the teeming populace that we can unlock the obscure, massive potentials in agriculture, science and technology, manufacturing, tourism and several talent multi-billion dollar industries in Nigeria. And community entrepreneurship must be encouraged to control rural-urban migration, unemployment and provide easy to economic activities in all local community

In chapter two; Africa Entrepreneurship agenda, the 10 dynamics for Entrepreneurship development, in this chapter, Grace who owns Goldbridge concept limited, a non-profit organisation for small and growing business and other corporate entities said that Africa beckons like a country lass; plain, unattractive and devoid of sophistication but inherent is the raw and feisty beauty in her waiting to be tapped, harnessed, and revealed by only the discerning.“The Africa Entrepreneurship Agenda proposes a plethora of methods necessary to achieving accelerated entrepreneurship development in Africa. It is my well-founded believe that when economic activities increase in Africa, poverty and all its kindred can be effectively decimated. There is no magic in development. Singapore, China, UAE, South Africa and many of the newly developed economies in Asia are proof to what determination, good governance, collective and concerted efforts can achieve.

She continues “Africa as home to over 30 per cent of mineral resources and raw materials in the world, with a strong presence of numerous fortune five hundred companies, the stories of potentials and outstanding success remains true for many who have ventured to unravel the hidden treasures in the continent.23 of the Forbes Global Billionaires in 2016 are Africans, living and doing business in Africa. Africa is a green field for entrepreneurs and investors, though it has been setback owing to bad leadership, there is yet a lot of opportunities for Entrepreneurs in all sectors.

The member of the World Bank Youth Forum in Nigeria stated in the chapter three of the book, The making of Entrepreneur, that being an entrepreneur has nothing with your personality but more of your inclinations and choices, adding that an entrepreneur does not wait for things to happen, they make things happen, “a passionate entrepreneur is not propelled by his bank statement but his mind statement. Entrepreneur may spend years from imagination to impact incurring losses, making blunders, running low and yet keep going because of passion.

The stick-to-it-ive-ness is a key ingredient lacking with many “failed entrepreneur. The arm wrestle that entrepreneurs encounter against diverse challenges is the defining moment between those who finally succeed and those who crack up. It’s bad enough that the odds are already against a new start up until you scale the first five years and therefore the need to mitigate the risks of failure through well articulated steps. While the steps are not fool proof, planning in itself is an antidote to failure.

The writer however state eight important steps in becoming an entrepreneur which are Generate business ideas and analyse the ideas, prepare for start up, Business plan writing, Create operating structure among others