Founders and other experts in the tech industry have stated the need for consistency and collaboration to fast-track growth in Nigeria start-up ecosystem.
Experts while speaking to start-up founders at the Founders Hangout hosted recently by Dual luxury world, First Founders and PropTech Hub Africa in Lagos disclosed that entrepreneurs must remain consistent and think about possibilities despite the odds surrounding the system, while collaborating with others in the sector to thrive.
Freeman Osonuga, founder and CEO of PropTech Hub Africa and Dual Luxury World, said the entrepreneurship stage is a marathon and what helps is to keep in touch with the basis, data and big dreams to know what people can pay for.
“At the beginning, no one will believe what you are building till they see the traction. That is why you must continue to push yourself to success because that is the life of an entrepreneur. There is a time your innovation will just be an idea and it’s just a matter of time. All an entrepreneur need is to keep up because it’s a phase and with hard work, you will achieve a certain amount of success that will take you to the next level,” he said.
Osonuga also encourages start-ups to avoid procrastination in carrying out new ideas, as time remains very important to the success of every start-up.
“I like to implement my business ideas very fast to know the outcome. The faster we fail, the closer we get to the innovations that succeed, and just one business plan that works, will turn everything around. Analyse your data, get feedback and don’t be emotional about any business. Always look for what the market want and what they are willing to pay for. If you create an innovation for the market and it doesn’t work, create another one,” he said.
Read also: GIZ, LMDC partner to deepen capacity in dispute resolution for MSMEs
Meanwhile, David Lanre Messan, CEO Firstfounders while speaking on the purpose of hangout said the goal is to enhance teamwork and engender the growth of technology in Africa.
He disclosed that Firstfounders is on a mission to build, scale and fund a community of 1000 founders with Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), with 200 becoming unicorns by 2032.
“We support start-ups to scale-up their solutions and ideas and we help them grow. We have an academy where we train and grow entrepreneurs. Firstfounders will be launching its digital bank next year to help tech founders to source for finance to expand their business.”
Meanwhile, Tosin Arubieke, COO Dual luxury world, which is the major sponsor of the hangout, disclosed that the company focus on citizenship by investment which gives Nigerians access to global freedom.
She said, “We focus specifically on citizenship by investment. We give new identities in a legal way. There are two ways to get citizenship by investment which is through investment and contributing to the economy of the country. We have 20 countries within our reach at the moment like Portugal, Spain and other countries.”
