Be Your Own Boss (Entrepreneur Movement)

My girlfriend broke up with me on a Monday... by that Friday I'd made my 1st million in one lump sum... She broke up with me because I didn't have enough money to visit her as often as she wanted.  Motivation

During the filming of #AskGaryVee Show 244, Taylor, a 22 year old fresh out of college, phoned in for advice on how she can build a business. What followed was one of the most important pieces of advice I have recorded and is applicable to almost all my community, but definitely to young people across the world between 20–30 years old. Here is how the call with Taylor played out word for word: Gary Vee

As far as business and entrepreneurship is concerned, branding plays a key role. Let's face it, you are first seen before you are heard. But being a brand is more than just being aesthetically pleasing. We have come to see that personal branding has become more of a necessity and requirement than a mere competitive edge. Unfortunately, many business men and entrepreneurs do not know this and have become prone to personal branding errors. In this post, we will learn of real life personal branding errors and mistakes and how to avoid them.

      We cannot deny how incredibly important social media has become in today's business world. Brands are built with more social media work these days. Unfortunately, if you are a small player or a startup, getting the attention of people on social media can prove to be a herculean task.  It is at this point that you need to focus on getting the attention of a social influencer just so you can leverage on their already established popularity. It is not as easy as it sounds but with the steps written here, you wont find it as hard as most people do. Influence

     The google hash code challenge is a programming competition organized by google for students and industry professionals across Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Since it is team based, you get to pick your team and programming language while Google picks a real life engineering problem for you and your teammates to solve. image source: clickinfo.com.ng

     The Tony Elumelu Foundation has started accepting applications from African entrepreneurs with innovative ideas that can transform the continent.  The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2010 by Nigerian businessman, Tony Elumelu,  with the sole aim of promoting excellence in business leadership and entrepreneurship across Africa. image source: pulse.ng

     The Google Online Marketing Challenge provides a platform for students to experience as well as create online marketing campaigns using Google Adwords.  In the past 9 years, a plethora of students and professors from at least 100 countries have participated. The challenge is open to student teams of a minimum of three and a maximum of six members from undergraduate or graduate programs, irrespective of their major. image source: tarcsoft.com

     The World Photography Organization in partnership with ZEISS have announced the commencement of the second edition of the ZEISS Photography Award 'Seeing Beyond', with the theme "Meaningful Places". ZEISS started this competition to challenge photographers the world over to " look beyond the ordinary and capture the extraordinary things that exist in the world we live in, by documenting the importance of one or several places that bear significance to each other" . source: lensipre.zeiss.com

     A skill that is of utmost importance to entrepreneurs nowadays is the ability to understand the times, to know what ideas will make profit at any point in time. 2016 was a year of relative hardship (not so relative to some people though) for a vast majority of Nigerians. The Nigerian Naira was on a free fall, oil prices did not want to feel left out so it fell too, and then there's MMM that I dont even feel like talking about.  It is everyone's hope that 2017 will be much better than 2016. While we are hoping, here are some ideas you can consider. source: businessnewsdaily.com

     The Africa Food Prize  is the preeminent award for recognizing the extraordinary individual or institution whose contributions to African agriculture are forging a new era of sustainable food security and economic opportunity for all Africans. image source: utibeetim.com

     A lot has been said about money,  like how it makes the world go round and how loving it is the root of all evil.  The thoughts of most people, most of the time,  revolve around money whether directly or indirectly.  Questions like "when am I going to pay off this debt?" "who can I borrow from? " " how do I pay the bills? " are given the right to roam free in our minds .  image source : simpleeconomist.com

     As far as business finance is concerned,  crowdfunding is a relatively new term but certainly not a new method.  Crowdfunding works with the same principle as fundraising, and it basically involves soliciting for funds, large or small, from individuals.      In recent time, crowdfunding has been made easier due to the presence of websites that help nonprofit organizations, businesses and people raise money.      Crowdfunding has become a useful tool in the hands of entrepreneurs to generate capital.  Here's how it works.  Crowd

     Rockefeller Foundation Cassava Innovation Challenge, a global competition offering up to $1 million in funding to novel solutions that can increase the shelf life of cassava. Cassava Innovation Challenge 

      Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE) is a subsidiary of the National Innovation Technology Development Agency (NITDA) with the responsibilities to nurture, cultivate and expand the ICT innovation and entrepreneurship within Nigeria in line with NITDA Act 2007 and National ICT Policy. NITDA

     Failure is a terrible feeling! Forget the talk about rising up again,  being optimistic, and learning from experience , failure is a really bad thing!.  It leaves a bad taste in the mouth of anyone who experiences it and does a number on the confidence of the person affected. Photo Credit: enevada.org

     The Africa Prize encourages ambitious and talented sub-Saharan African engineers from all disciplines to apply their skills to develop scalable solutions to local challenges, highlighting the importance of engineering as an enabler of improved quality of life and economic development. 

      So,  you have made the decision to become an entrepreneur and the only thing holding you back is the idea of what business to start. It could be because you have too many ideas in your head and you cannot settle for one,  or maybe you do not have any idea at all but you are convinced the entrepreneurial road is your path. The selection process is tricky and mentally exhausting but with the right kind of guidance,  it can be really easy.  If you're struggling to decide which niche best suits you,  the post will do you a lot of good. image credit : gembaacademy.com

      The process of hiring staff can be insanely tricky.  The decision to hire a person or group of people is one of the hardest and most important as it is these people that will determine to a larelge extent how successful you start up will be and how much it will grow.  The decision should be given a lot of thought and planned out meticulously.  Who is the right candidate? 

     Apply for the  Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) Regional Leadership Center (RLC) Emerging Leaders Program  – A President Barak Obama and  USAID youth initiative !

      Having to face a panel that would leave no stone unturned when scrutinizing your business idea or proposal is not exactly the easiest task in the world. It takes an insane amount of composure and belief in your plan to make your pitching perfect.  Composure may not be enough sometimes and questions may arise that would raise doubts about the viability of your idea. The Perfect Pitch