Managing Director of Seven-Up Bottling Company and convener of SME Scaleup, Ziad Maalouf, took centre stage at the highly anticipated TEDx Pan-Atlantic University (PAU) event, where he delivered a speech on the challenges Nigerian entrepreneurs face as they scale their businesses.

Maalouf who has successfully led the growth of Seven-Up for over a decade, learning from his early days as an entrepreneur in e-commerce, shared his journey and insights to help Nigerian entrepreneurs avoid the mistakes he made in scaling up his business. His talk focused on a critical challenge facing many small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria – the scaleup deficit disorder (SDD).

“I want to help other SMEs avoid the mistakes I made,” Maalouf stated, acknowledging that while 98 per cent of Nigeria’s entrepreneurs have this disorder, they are extraordinary in their potential, as many struggle to transition from the ‘sphere of anxiety’ to the ‘sphere of impact’.

Drawing from his experience and using a compelling case study of a Nigerian SME, Maalouf illustrated how adopting a structured approach to cost reduction, strategic hiring and operational efficiency helped the company move from modest beginnings to significant success.

In just four months, the company’s revenue soared to N310 million and within a year, it crossed the billion-naira mark.

“The problem is you,” the SBC Managing Director emphasized, noting: “The cure for SSD starts with a clear focus on growth strategies. You have to take responsibility for your business’s growth and not wait for external factors to change.”

As the convener of SME Scaleup, an initiative designed to help small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) scale their operations and drive long-term growth, Maalouf’s TEDx speech resonated with many.

Other speakers included Dr Cosmas Maduka, President and Chairman of Coscharis Group, who spoke on entrepreneurial success and mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Programme Director, Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (P-CNGi), Michael Olugbemi, spoke on how gas can power Nigeria into the future.