In a bold effort to empower entrepreneurs and business leaders, Sir Obiwulu Divine Obiora’s latest book, The Entrepreneurial Mindset, beams a searchlight on the essential qualities and strategies required to thrive in Nigeria’s complex business environment.

With a focus on resilience, determination, and innovative thinking, Obi Obi, as fondly called, shares his expertise and insights, gleaned from over 25 years of experience, to help aspiring and established entrepreneurs unlock their full potential and achieve success in the Nigerian market.
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In this comprehensive guide, he shares his personal journeys, recounting the challenges he faced and how he persevered. He also delved into the intricacies of navigating the Nigerian business landscape.

Speaking with journalists at the book launch, which was recently held in Lagos, the author revealed that his motivation for writing the book stemmed from his over 25 years of experience in entrepreneurship, coupled with a deep understanding of the Nigerian business environment.

According to him, the book tackles pressing questions, such as the factors affecting businesses in Nigeria, and reasons behind the struggles entrepreneurs face.

“The way businesses are run in Nigeria actually gave me the insight to write this book,” he said, adding: “This is a book I’ve been compiling for over five years now. And as a matter of fact, I took experience from my over 25 years journey into doing business in Nigeria.

“I looked at some factors that are really, really affecting business in Nigeria; why people are not getting it right, why a lot of people make some mistakes in business, and the need for us to teach the younger ones, the upcoming generation, who are currently deviating from the right way of pursuing money. There is something that they need to do; there are ways to do these things right.

“When we are growing up, we were taught that there is dignity in labour, and that dignity in labour has gone. If a white man wants to know your background, he will only asked you three questions – Who are you? What do you do? And how long have you done that? It is enough for him to know you,” Obiwulu stated.

He noted that social media lifestyles had greatly influenced the younger generation, leading them to deviate from the right course. “Today, you can see a boy of 18 years and he’s driving a big car like Mercedes Benz car, and our society celebrate them. Then you asked yourself, where is that dignity of labour? Where has it gone to?

“So I looked at a lot of things in line with this and I said, no, someone has to speak out. Social media has influenced our lives so negatively. Social media lifestyle and a lot of things have influenced the youths so negatively that one has to speak up. There are so many things that we are not getting right. It’s not just for the youths alone. So in ‘The Entrepreneurial Mindset’, there is a lot we need to learn about,” he enthused.

Obiwulu continued, “A lot of people that are into business don’t know about book-keeping; they can’t keep it right, they don’t know their figures and facts. These are fundamentals if we must get it right. So all these put together were the things that inspired me.

“Though I have been doing this business for about 25 years, I think I have a lot I need to put down and this is just the starting point because what I have in my head I think I cannot finish writing up to 10 books. So it’s just the starting point now.”

In his brief remark, the of book launch, Dr. Kennedy Okonkwo, CEO of Nedcomoaks Limited, praised the author for writing the book, saying before now, books on entrepreneurship were written by foreigners, as well as those who were not really full in entrepreneurship. He eulogised Obiwulu for coming up with a book that uses local business challenges as case studies.

Okonkwo also said the uniqueness of the book lies in the fact that he dissected the major problems plaguing entrepreneurship in Nigeria, using those who have navigated through those challenges as example. He, therefore, recommended the book to Nigerians.

The panel section included the author, Chief Kingsley Ilechukwu, Chief Ebere Nwosu and Dr Kennedy Okonkwo. They relayed their experiences and how they braved the odds to be where they are today, challenging both existing, aspiring and budding entrepreneurs to imbibe resilience in order to attain greatness in their quest.
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