In this Interview with The Guardian, Chief Operations Officer, Obiwezy Enterprises, Kofoworola Onanuga, shares her experience as an entrepreneur and the challenges that come with it.

How would you rate your journey to being the most technologically advanced platform for innovative smartphone buy-back solutions?
We are not where we started, however, we are moving really quickly and stealthily.
How would you rate your impact in the sectors?
Our impact is small but very significant, I must say.

Inflation is affecting a number of things including businesses, how do you cope with pricing and other cost of operations?
While prices are destabilising, it’s a good thing that Nigerians are very adaptable, and that has been of great help.

What are the things you wished you had knowledge about before coming into this business?
I wished I had known that entrepreneurship is not a relief, such that when you are tired, you should rest well. Another thing is our scope of Human Resources is underrated.

How do you intend to maximize those lessons to benefit Obiwezy and the larger e-commerce space?
With time, all of it will show.
What goals do you seek to achieve with Obiwezy?
Extensive e-commerce. The market is wide and largely untapped so we are looking forward to doing it big time, extensively.

How do you weigh progress and success?
Our reach and revenue tells us on a periodic basis how good and progressive we are. That also shows our strength and weakness points, as well as what steps we should take to address it in the case of our weaknesses.

What is your present market reach?
Not enough and we are doing everything possible to gather more clients on our platform because they can’t afford to miss out on the convenience that we sell.
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What are your plans for operations outside Nigeria?
We have not dominated Nigeria yet, having said that, there’s no need to rush. However, an American company wouldn’t do badly.

What is your global outlook for the Nigerian e-commerce and IT industries?
We are still part of the emerging markets, these industries will continue to grow. Aside from the insurgency and all that is in that line, it’s expected to be quite a rapid growth.
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