Business strategist and personal development coach, Dr. Stephen Enike-Matthew, has said acquiring vocational or professional skills alone is not enough to build sustainable businesses, urging entrepreneurs to develop the business knowledge, financial discipline, and systems needed to move beyond survival.

Enike-Matthew said skills-based entrepreneurs must also understand their markets and build structures that allow their ventures to operate beyond their direct involvement if they are to achieve sustained growth.

Speaking on the place of self-discovery in entrepreneurship, he said understanding one’s identity, abilities and purpose was important to unlocking individual potential.

“Understanding one’s identity, abilities and purpose provides a foundation for building sustainable personal and professional success,” he said.

Enike-Matthew said his approach was centred on “Discovery, Development and Deployment”, which involves identifying individual strengths, developing those abilities and putting them to productive use.

He urged entrepreneurs to look beyond quick-money schemes and focus on creating value from their individual capabilities, saying “building value from individual skills, ideas, experiences and creativity” should form part of efforts to create sustainable income streams.

He also stressed the need for entrepreneurs to move from informal or highly personalised operations to structured businesses supported by systems and processes.

“The framework is also presented as a tool for entrepreneurs seeking to move beyond short-term survival and build businesses with structures that can support growth and succession,” he said.

According to him, understanding an individual’s abilities was only part of the process, as those abilities must be developed and eventually deployed productively to create value.

He said his work with young people, professionals and entrepreneurs over the years had focused on personal development, business growth and purpose-driven enterprise, with the Masterminds International School, his books and the Paradigm Shift Conference serving as platforms through which the ideas were promoted.

Enike-Matthew said the approach also placed emphasis on Africa’s human capital, particularly the capacity of individuals to create opportunities, build enterprises and contribute to economic development.

“From training programmes and classrooms to business and leadership conferences, his work centres on the proposition that personal development and entrepreneurship can play a role in addressing some of the challenges facing young Africans,” he said.

He said the broader objective was to encourage individuals to turn their skills and ideas into sustainable ventures while contributing to their communities and the wider economy.

“The broader mission is an effort to raise a generation of self-aware entrepreneurs and nation builders equipped to turn their skills and ideas into sustainable ventures and meaningful impact,” he said.