TheCable

Leading entrepreneurs interacted with young Nigerian business professionals and budding entrepreneurs recently at the MTN Link Forum in a bid to impart basic business skills and strategies to aid efficiency in business operations.

Speaking at the event, Dr Jonathan Doerr, managing director of Jumia, identified people, idea and money as the three most important assets that entrepreneurs must have to start, grow and make a success of any business.

“For me, the three main things to grow a successful business are people, ideas and money. You need the right people that you can trust; you need a great idea and money to become entrepreneurs,” he said.

“You can take business ideas that have proven successful in America and Europe, and domesticate them in line with realities in the country. Online retail business had been thriving in America and Germany before it was introduced into Nigeria where it had to be domesticated to conform to best practices and standards in the country.”

In his admonition, the special assistant to the minister of industry, trade and investment, Oguche Agudah, observed that for Nigerian entrepreneurs to thrive, they must take advantage of salient government policies that have been provided to aid trade and investment.

He identified the National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) as one of the federal government’s policies designed to eliminate bottlenecks and barriers that can hinder business development and expansion in the country.

Mr. Uzora Okafor, managing director of Power Mass Company Limited, said that for entrepreneurs to succeed, they must have capacity to develop ideas, develop good plans in executing the idea, have the willingness to put things together and should not be afraid of taking risk.

The MTN Link Forum is an innovative and interactive platform that is focused on advancing the aspirations of budding entrepreneurs and professionals, by providing them with the opportunity to interact with renowned and successful Nigeria Business icons, who will share with them knowledge, experiences and insights on their business success.