I read an article on Forbes’ website titled “The World’s Richest Tech billionaires” and as you’ll expect, no African was among the first twenty; there were the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Larry Page (Google), Pierre Omidyar (Ebay) and others. Many billion dollar and multi-million dollar internet companies have been built since 1994 when Yahoo and Amazon were launched. In Nigeria, we have the same internet that the founders of these huge companies have; that means that we can also build multi-million dollar internet companies, right?
Some internet companies in Nigeria like IrokoTV, etc have shown that it is possible to build a multi-million dollar internet company in Nigeria. It all begins with an idea, a great idea.
Anyone can create a great idea, your mind just needs to be in the right frequency of thought… thinking how you can solve problems that Nigerians face. And there are so many of them. Infact, it might not even be a problem per se but something that makes life easier. According to the words of Muhammad Umair Moiz, “I think entrepreneurship means the fulfilment of that need of society which society didn’t know up till then.” The truth is… we don’t even know the problems we have until we find an easier way of doing something; then we realize that we were facing such difficulty. Increasing numbers of these types of difficulties can be solved by internet companies which aim to alleviate such restraints.
Having a good idea or vision is not enough, you got to complement that with great execution because your idea without execution is hallucination.
Airbnb, founded in 2008 in California, help people make extra income from renting out their apartment or duplex for a night, week or month. People who come into the city can get a less expensive accommodation when compared to a hotel. Cool Internet Business!
A Cool Internet Business (CIB) is an Internet business that is worth over $1million or has the potential of growing to a multi-million dollar company within 2 years. The question for you is: When are you gonna start-up your own CIB?
We are approaching the twenty year mark of the commercial internet which is utilised almost everywhere around the globe. Nigerians too have embraced the internet with open arms as more internet companies are being created. Wakanow, DealDey, Jumia, Jobberman, Vconnect, LindaIkeji Blog, Naij and Nairaland are more companies I consider as CIBs and they are making millions of dollars (annually at least).
If you are a webmaster and you’re yet to start a profitable business (a multi-million dollar company in the making), my advice is: don’t settle for mediocrity; think, create an idea that you know can grow a multi-million dollar company and start working towards it with passion.
If you are a student, nobody needs to tell you about the unemployment situation in our country, the same advice applies to you. 17-year-old, high school boy Nick D’Aloisio recently sold his company to Yahoo for $30 million, Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook from his university hostel, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs didn’t wait to complete their first degree before they started Microsoft and Apple respectively. The reason I continue to compare them with us Nigerians is because I believe they are in no way extremely priviledged than we are. Even Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group, in his new book Screw Business as Usual acknowledged the opportunities we have when he said and i quote, “if you want to meet entrepreneurs, come to Africa. It’s a continent full of opportunities for the creation of wealth, enterprise and future prosperity.”
Starting a CIB doesn’t mean cloning an existing business like some people trying to create Nigerian facebook with same concept and nothing new, sure you don’t expect to succeed. Even if you want to create a social network, there should be something about your social network that will make a facebook and twitter user decide to sign up and be active which means it must add a value that neither facebook or twitter gives.
It is obvious that we also need smart investors to succeed in a CIB; but since you don’t have an investor, is that enough excuse to give up on your idea? The right approach will be to start with a business that can raise you some capital with which you can invest into your bigger idea. To do this, you have to be innovative and the first step to being innovative is to think. Think! Think!! Think!!! Unfortunately, people don’t spend much time thinking, but in thinking is the power to create great things. Even God had to think before he made his greatest creation, man, and can you imagine how enthusiastic He was when He shared his idea with other heavenly beings “Let Us make man in our own image…”
Think, and create an idea to a new product or service or improve on an already existing one. Don’t be too fast to copy someone else’s idea if you can’t improve significantly on it. Don’t settle for less – if something is very easy to achieve, is it worth it? It is possible to build a multi-million dollar internet company in Nigeria, even as a student. William Vanbergen said, “an entrepreneur is someone who has the perseverance to keep going against all odds, over time, to realise their vision.”
Remember! If you say you can, you’re right… if you say you can’t, you’re equally right. I will ask one more time, ”When are you gonna start-up your own CIB?”
Feel free to share and make comments.
By Ignatius Ukwuoma, Co-Founder of Topserve Nigeria.
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