‘Experts urge business owners to see opportunities in recession’

Rather than lamenting, entrepreneurs have been urged to take advantage of the latent opportunities in the current economic recession facing the country.

Speaking at the maiden edition of Nigerian Entrepreneurship Summit and Honours (NESH) yesterday in Lagos, the keynote speaker and Managing director of NEXTZON Business Services Limited, Macaulay Atasie, argued that business owners needed to think outside the box to identify the hidden prospects.

Representing the keynote speaker, Head, Public Sector and Non-Financial sector, Victor Alaofin, noted that trend called for economic diversification with focus on agriculture rather than depending solely on petroleum.

He said further: “It is time for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to utilise this period well by being more productive than ever, as the economy is now in a downturn.”

He added that Nigeria was plunged into this state due to past mistakes in managing the economy right, saying: ‘’Every situation that you meets in life teaches either how to do it or how not to do it. so I believe that what we are learning right now as country should teach us how not to do things we have done in the past that has put us in this present situation.”

Alaofin charged young entrepreneurs to stop lamenting but key into the opportunities in the recession like diverting from the former way of doing their business, to the trend at which the economy is going in order to remain in the labour market and also not lose customers’ interests in their products.

He however pleaded with business owners to exercise more patience and remember that tough times don’t last forever, “but we need to work hard because hard work remains forever. The economic downturn will soon be over; it just requires patience and hard work and seeing opportunities beyond oil and gas sectors alone.”

Also speaking the Founder of the summit, NESH, Emeka Ugwu-Oju, said the forum was targeted at making Nigeria a haven for entrepreneurs to become the major drivers of the nation’s economic development.

He said it was time for both young and aspiring entrepreneurs to see the need to promote made in Nigeria product in order to help bring the country out of recession.

“NESH will be at the forefront of promoting the patronage of Nigeria made goods and services for the world and not for Nigerians alone,” he said.

He added that this year’s edition has provided an avenue for thought leadership and engagement, knowledge exchange, networking, benchmarking and appreciation of the contribution of entrepreneurs to national development.

Ugwu-Oju then pledged to make forum more interactive, saying NESH will offer not only a live hub but also build an online platform (NESH TV) for entrepreneurs, offering advice, case studies, news and analysis.

“There will also be a NESH for young entrepreneurs from age 18 to 35 years named NESH-NXT, and some of the NESH-NXT attendees will also participate in the NESH to gain further insight and network with more experienced entrepreneurs”, he added.