1. Discipline, logical reasoning and market insight are three success factors for entrepreneurs. #Entrepreneurship
2. To develop an idea, you can employ Synthetic Creativity or Intuitive Creativity. #Entrepreneurship
3. Synthetic Creativity asks how you can do something better and faster. It looks at existing conditions and finds ways to improve them. It adds value. #Entrepreneurship
4. Intuitive Creativity is the ability to cross-reference information. You read Science, Architecture, Fiction etc. and then draw insights from the different sources. You essentially deploy data to create new ideas and products. It's harder than Synthetic Creativity.
5. Where data is absent, you generate your own data. When you generate your own data, you create another business opportunity as there are always people willing to buy data. #Entrepreneurship
6. Be careful about defining your market share. The population size of a country is not the same as market share. Your market share is the people willing and able to buy your products and services. #Entrepreneurship
7. Distinguish between an idea and the idea of an idea. An idea of an idea is a thought about how something could be, for instance an app that can make you flip and jump. #Entrepreneurship
8. You need to work out the modalities of the idea - what will make it fail, its production cost, willingness of the market to buy it, etc. Do your research and bring your idea to a point of refinement, where you can present it to the market. #Entrepreneurship
9. Solomon said, "Buy wisdom." Wisdom isn’t cheap. The average bank in Nigeria has at least 25 consultants working on the company. Why? One insight can change the trajectory of an organisation. #Entrepreneurship
10. Consultants may be expensive but thinking and ideas matter to an entrepreneur. You need to develop the capacity to think. #Entrepreneurship
11. The most powerful movie that has shaped and stimulated my ideas about business is Wall Street, starring Charlie Sheen. The famous quote, “Money never sleeps” is from this movie. #Entrepreneurship
12. Entrepreneurs are not opportunists; they are opportunity tourists. They always look for opportunities to make money. Your job in every situation, is to look for how to make money. #Entrepreneurship
13. Entrepreneurs ought to restrategise their business to function within the reality of #COVID19. The first thing would be to find ways to mitigate the effects of the Coronavirus on the business. #Entrepreneurship
14. Some of the effects of #COVID19 are policy changes, foreign exchange issues, people holding on to cash thus limiting cash flow. Consumer behaviour will also change. #Entrepreneurship
15. Think about the relevance of your business to your clients, the value that your product gives to them. Then ask yourself, "How can I make money out of this?" #Entrepreneurship
16. Your business is only as good as your team. Your first job is to put together a sound team that is intelligent, loyal and ethical. #Entrepreneurship
17. Share your vision with your team. Communicate the dream. Inspire your team through personal example. #Entrepreneurship
18. In business, you don’t operate for now alone, you take a long term view. #Entrepreneurship
19. If your business is not sound or solid and you diversify too early, you’re going to destroy what you have. You can’t diversify without consolidating. Diversification needs a solid structure - Admin, HR, Strategy, etc. #Entrepreneurship
20. On the effect of #COVID19 lockdown and salaries, communication with staff is required. Explain how a pay cut may be necessary to enable everyone to keep their job. As the head of the organisation, lead by example in this regard. #Entrepreneurship
21. Run a humanitarian system. Care for your staff genuinely. Provide health benefits, do hospital visits, where necessary etc. Develop a family structure in your business, so that everyone understands that a lay off is the extremity in any situation. #Entrepreneurship
22. If you have to lay off staff do it in a humane manner. #Entrepreneurship
23. Right now, entrepreneurs should think in terms of innovation and creativity. How do you leverage technology and telecommunications? How do you bring your team together? How do you keep on working at this time? #Entrepreneurship
24. What products can you develop? How do you change the thrust of your organisation to be relevant now? Have a strategy session with your team to talk through these things. #Entrepreneurship
25. You don’t grow a company by just cutting costs. You grow a company by managing costs and growing revenue. #Entrepreneurship
26. Industries in the non-essential space need to mitigate the effects of #COVID19. They must study the environment and recognise that cash flow will be constricted. So, they must ask what the market needs right now. #Entrepreneurship
27. Industries in the non-essential space need to transform their products into needs, because needs are selling now, not wants. #Entrepreneurship
28. In these times, religious institutions should be selling what the corporations typically sell - utilitarian value, while Corporations must sell what the religious institutions sell - hope. There's a switch. It’s called the Scissors Effect. #Entrepreneurship
29. Corporations need to push hope, optimism, trust and solidity, by assuring their clients that their businesses are going concerns & here to stay. Religious institutions need to equip their congregation with the tools to survive - food, business classes etc. #Entrepreneurship
30. Imagine that this crisis may be here for a while and reconfigure your business accordingly. #Entrepreneurship
31. You remain relevant at this period by helping your clients. Where can you be relevant along the corporate value chain? #Entrepreneurship
32. An entrepreneur converts emotions into intelligence. You have to be rational. Stop complaining. You’re not a victim, you’re an entrepreneur! #Entrepreneurship
33. Discouragement may come but you need to think about how to generate cashflow and what you can offer at different price points. Don’t go for very high price points, because people are watching their cash flow right now. #Entrepreneurship
34. Go for low or affordable price points because you need cash flow in business. In business, if your cash flow is dead, you’re dead. #Entrepreneurship
35. Partnership should be based on contributory capacity. It should not be sentimental. Draw up a partnership agreement. Agree on basic covenants - the things that will never take place. #Entrepreneurship
36. If you don’t trust someone, don’t go into a partnership with the person. Have an adjudicatory process where the parties have an impartial individual that serves as a mentor. #Entrepreneurship
37. You can bring your children into a business, as long as they are competent. If not, let them learn & grow through the ranks. Expose them to business principles so they understand the history, ethos, vision and character of the company. #Entrepreneurship
38. If your children work in your business, they should earn respect, because of their competence and intelligence, not because they are children of the boss. #Entrepreneurship
39. Get rid of any cultural baggage that makes no sense within the context of a commercial transaction. #Entrepreneurship
40. Humility is key. Be mindful of envy. #Entrepreneurship
