Last night, a senior in one of the former industries I once worked saw this #LagosSMEbootCamp flyer & buzzed me with some snide remarks to know what I do now & "How do you make money from a free online seminar??"Sadly, my ethics can't let me share the chat that followed. Thread.
The convo reminds me of when we started in 2018, had heated debates with some of my friends who could not understand why I should invest my own money running free events when I had a sellable brand & can make money from charging SMEs some fees for the bootcamp.
I spent almost everyday in one form of explanation or argument or the other as to why it should be free. I kept explaining the vision. Many felt it was silly. I still do the explaining till today. 3years after, I am glad we are seeing the results of some of our objectives.
Something I've learnt with this journey with the #LagosSMEbootCamp is that everyone feels entitled to tell you why your own vision or objectives are flawed and why you should adopt what they think is the best approach. This is why you must have a clear vision and a conviction.
It is easy to get distracted with all forms of opinions, distractions and pressure from people who don't know your story or why you are doing what you do. My mother raised me with little proceeds from her small business. I saw her toil day and night & struggle with her records.
She was neither a strategist nor an accountant, but she knew when to exit one business & join the other, she knew how to keep detailed records in her notebook. When I started my career and began seeing SMEs making millions, I was shocked many had no records, no structure. Nothing
Yet many of them were or are in those businesses for survival. SMEs are largely survival strategies for Nigerians. Yet their lack of understanding about how to manage their business makes it impossible to grow those businesses or scale them. They even fail. Double tragedy.
I was consulting for large firms who paid thousands of dollars, even millions for our services. Yet SMEs from whom we were raised & who contribute the largest chunk to employment & our economy are failing & have no access to these services. That's why we started #LagosSMEbootCamp
This year, we're honoured to be hosting some of Nigeria's brightest minds & leaders to share their genius in quality service, finance, branding, biz. modelling, etc. with SMEs for free. We have @TundeIrukera @NkiruOlumideOjo @yinkanubi @heynkechi on the panel. #LagosSMEbootCamp
Our panel also includes genius millennial disruptors: @TundeTASH @hunmiz @CBiNGR's Kitan Babalola and @SystemSpecsNig's Adesuwa Opedun. These brilliant minds will be talking about HR tools, social currency, corporate governance & technology tools for SMEs. #LagosSMEbootCamp
This video summarizes our journey. While others argued, some saw the vision & supported us. @AXAMansard supported us for 2.0. For 3.0, @Paylink_Ng is supporting strongly, together with @proshare, @MsmeStandards and @OGZFoundation. We thank you for believing #LagosSMEbootCamp
If you're yet to register, please quickly visit lagos-sme.com for a chance to participate. Also follow @LagoSMEbootCamp for updates. It's our first virtual edition and there are no location constraints for those outside Lagos. It’s bigger & better. God bless you🙏
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