Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Achieving the 7 Point Agenda in a “Planless” Nigeria

A wise man once said, “A failure to plan is a plan to fail”. Most problems in businesses, society, and government arise from this- a failure to plan. A book in the Bible- Proverbs has a mention of the need for us humans to emulate the ant, which plans on how it can survive scarcity of food in the period when food supply is bountiful.

Nigeria our dear nation suffers from a sincere lack of direction. There I’ve said it. That’s our major problem. Everything appears chaotic, haphazard and done without a solidly defined end-point. I read on THISDAY Nov. 23rd, the recent call by the former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Chairman, Barr. Olisa Agbakoba on the Federal Government to scrap the Ministry of Planning and replace it with a development portfolio of some sort. Well up till that moment I had hardly ever heard mention of the ministry. Why? Well, probably because I hardly saw the Ministry’s work in action as represented by the plethora of issues and problems still besieging most of our capital projects, initiatives that hardly last for a decade and multiplicity of Commissions whose goals and objectives though similar to their counterparts operate virtually as islands. Nonetheless I think his call for the scrapping of the Ministry might be too shortsighted, and being a learned colleague ought to see the need for a Ministry of Planning which the Federal Government must be applauded for seeing the need for establishing an entire Ministry solely for the purpose. The rationale behind the institutionalizing of the Ministry is absolutely justifiable, but would the structure and role it plays in government be judged as being effective?

In my humble opinion the Ministry of Planning ought to be put as a central focal point in every medium and long scale project being undertaken by the Federal Government and its state governments. The Ministry ought to be brought in right from the moment of idea conceptualization up on till the moment it is executed and thereafter. The Ministry of Planning ought to be put at the helm of affairs such as oil price boom and subsequent fall and how it affects the nation foreign reserves and GDP. It should be able to advise the Federal Government of why there is a need for the National Budget to be approved and implemented at the beginning of the year and not late in the second quarter as this undermines a developing nation that should be forward thinking and consequently undermines growth. The Ministry should be represented by capable leaders with sound vision and well grounded experience and training on project management (scenario planning) and economic planning. You might ask, “What and how does planning help in a nation that is distraught with multiplicity of problems ranging from inefficient power supply to youth restiveness in the Niger Delta region?” Well the Ministry of Planning if well managed ought to use its skills in assisting policymakers and other stakeholders in enhancing their skills in the areas of policymaking, long-term perspective planning and institutional and regulatory reforms as well as facilitate the emergence of policy ideas and consensus positions in Nigeria.

Without this as a guide the Ministry simply shouldn’t exist. But with the reports on the news- on how our N40 billion satellite- NigComSat 1 gets missing and is having a free rough and tumble fall in space, lack of proper accounting and auditing in government parastatals, food scarcity, lack of funds to pay pensioners, loss of foreign investment to foreign seafarers, lack of credible contractors for power projects and everything in between; is it safe to seat back at home and say scrap the Ministry of Planning? And replace it with what, if I may ask?

We are tired of having to see structures, projects, initiatives and commissions come into existence amidst much cheer and jamboree and then after a change in government, switch in leadership seats or mere passage of time; these projects lay to waste forever up until the building dilapidates- like our dear old National Theatre and dozens of other government initiatives that gets dropped like hot oil the moment the baton of leadership changes hands. So in a metaphorical sense of it we as a nation can be described an Olympian relay runner that changes course soon as a team mate hands him/her the baton. How do we ever get to the finish line?

We need a more active ministry of planning that is well grounded and if possible run in conjunction with professionals from the private sector. God knows we have a formidable army of management consultants, project mangers, and financial analysts that can get a proper blueprint of the economic, financial and socio-economic impact on any given major project to be executed for far less costs in terms of consultancy fees than it would save leaving matters like these in the hands of a few corrupt directors that might be looking for a quick kickback from approving a contract or maybe slightly more honorable- public awareness and accolades. Mr. Ijiebor McCarthy, founder of the Institute of Planning describes planning as “the link between an idea and action so that the action can have a well thought out and logical route to take you to the expected destination. It involves the establishment of objectives, formulation, evaluation and selection of policies. It is like a compass that a pilot uses to navigate his route from point A to point B while measuring the amount of fuel necessary from Benin to Lagos without which the journey won’t be embarked on”.

The Ministry of Planning should employ experts in carrying out the duties for which they were established. In every aspect of our policies and infrastructure building as a developing nation the Ministry of Planning ought to take charge of affairs by pointing out to the Federal Government the desired paths required towards projects and initiatives using an approach that puts Sustainability, Reaction and Scenario planning in its forefront.

We need a Ministry of Planning that has special sub-units for economic, production, financial, budgetary, logistic, educational, community development, occupational, project finance, taxation and last but not least scenario planning. This Ministry under the several sub units listed above can then position itself as a central chief consultant with oversight functions to the Federal Government of Nigeria and its 36 states. Every contract awarded after due process has been carried out must have been deemed worthy and approved by the Ministry of having a positive effect that would be long-lasting and outlive its initiators, founding fathers, project commissioners and signatories. Of course this can only be properly carried out by having sound leadership in the Ministry and a partnership with institutional investors (both foreign and local), private funded educational institutions, and management consultancy firms as partners towards moving the nation forward. Then we can move towards our Millennium Development Goals, Vision 2020, New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and the 7 Point Agenda of the current leadership of the country.
Until then majority of our citizens would remain disenchanted about the way and manner the Nigerian Government is being run and their dreams of seeing a continually progressive nation with sound policies and clear sense of direction will remain doubtful. But then again, who is a believer in an agenda without a clear cut plan. Anyone?

Send your thoughts to ebuka@jeanpaulconsult.com
Ebuka J. Anichebe
Member of the Institute of Planning (Corporate Planners) www.instituteofplanningng.com

ENTREPRENEUR 101- FINDING INVESTORS

In order to carry out a business venture, most entrepreneurs feel that they must start with a sizable sum of money, often their own personal money. The aim of this business series is to teach budding entrepreneurs simple and practical techniques on how to start your own business with limited funds and limited know-how.

Faith! This is one of the most important values that you must possess. Having faith in yourself will help you through the dark moments that you will indeed encounter along your road to creating your own business. A young lady once went to a “healer” and asked “I am so in the dark, for how long will I remain in this darkness?” The healer paused thoughtfully and in a deep voice replied “Till you can see in the dark, child.” The ability to have full belief in oneself, belief in the product or service he or she is providing as well as the willingness to learn, form the motto of the entrepreneur “Live and Learn!”

The lectures series are based on actual life success stories of young entrepreneurs and are written to be a source of inspiration for you. We sincerely hope that you gain some insight from the solutions offered and find ways to adapt it to suit your needs.

CASE STUDY 1
“When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to their Mercy or Gratitude”- Law 13. Robert Greene and Joost Elffers (48 Laws of Power)
Ebuka Anichebe decided that he would like to operate a property website and make life a lot easier for individuals or companies looking to own/rent a house in Abuja. Houses on rent were so few and scattered and most of his target customers were individuals that were too busy to go round town looking for houses for rent from property agents. He had the idea of how he would serve a need to bring homes directly to the customer; however what he lacked were the funds to start the website and market it effectively. It would cost at least N700,000 to get things off the ground.

The Strategy
Ebuka borrowed N100,000 from a relative to start the business, and persuaded a friend to bring up another N200,000 with the incentive to become a partner in the business with 30 percent share interest. He also convinced four of his colleagues to invest in him, in exchange for 100,000 each was promised 5 percent share in profits. He did the legwork and got agencies and landlords subscribed to the website.

The Result
By printing thousands of flyers and bumper stickers to promote the website, Ebuka managed to get a house sold on the site for a whooping N100 million. His agency fee of 5 percent allowed him pay off his debts and buy back shares from the original investors at twice the price within 2 months! He’s currently moved on working on another website that would enable casual home-workers more accessible to jobs from individuals and bigger organizations.

Ebuka was willing to take the risk of entering into a market he knew little about but had a solid idea on what the ideal situation should be. He had very little money but was wise enough to spread the risks by asking others to invest in him. He made family and friends shareholders in the business. Although at first they were skeptical; the sense of ownership of an innovative idea increased their confidence in him. His willingness to do all the hard work paid off with the sale of the first house and him paying back all his debts.

Questions to ponder on:
1. Have you given some thought on how others (family or friends) can assist in spreading the cost of a project?
2. Have you considered ways to make them feel like business angels or like investors from Dragon’s Den and make it seem business-like?
3. Are you ready to do the necessary leg-work and do you have sufficient faith in your products? Faith and a strong sense of belief are what spur investors to part with their money.
4. Have you considered ways to make other people’s risk modest- no more than they can afford to lose?

Tips to get to get you started in spreading the risk:
1. Start with people who know you best and likely to believe in you more. Family, friends and work colleagues would be an ideal starting place.
2. Be honest about the risks but be enthusiastic about the potentials- a brief business plan would be handy sometimes
3. Organize a party doubles as a shareholder’s meeting for all interested investors. Make out fanciful share certificates, monthly or annual reports - the more they seem involved the more they will enjoy the process whether or not they make a profit.

Good luck!

Ebuka Anichebe is the Managing Director of Jean-Paul and Associates Consultancy and an affiliate of Velvet Projects U.K. He specializes in marketing consulting, business development and has an uncommon approach to branding and advertising. Write to him at hello@jeanpaulconsult.com. or call 08064-393-711

"WASHING" SELLING YOURSELF IN A CROWDED MARKET

I’m going to give you some ideas on how you can scream and make yourself heard even in an over-crowded market. Most “solopreneurs” (a coined word signifying one-man entrepreneurs) are selling something, an idea, a product, a service but then most entrepreneurs never quite get beyond the point of selling and move into marketing on a much bigger scale. They keep on trucking to make small sales and get by day to day. Some keep waiting and hoping for the big time job or contract which sometimes proves elusive and finally outlasts their patience and persistence possessed by small entrepreneurs.

It’s a crowded market with multinationals that have enormous marketing budgets, solopreneurs-with little startup capital, organizations with hugely successful brands and thriving entrepreneurs with seemingly bottomless pool of funds for PR. How does a “solopreneur” successfully sell himself in a dog eat dog business world with everyone fighting for every bit of the customer’s money?

We are going to point out some ways a solopreneur can stand out and make a difference. From experience I have learnt the following lessons

3 Key Lessons
• The customer’s perception of you is at least as important as what you are really like- always consider your personal image (haircut, business suit, shoes)
• Most people still and often will judge a book by its cover- includes your paper image (letterheads, business cards, brochures and website)
• Always consider the eye of the beholder and you can fool some of the people some of the time (appear the image of success)

Among youths in Nigeria there is slang or slogan called “washing”- there’s a thin line and slight differences between this phrase and what in business world is often called branding. The meaning in layman’s term implies creating an intrinsic emotional connection or perceived image on someone about a certain business or product. In the business world a brand may very well mean everything. It’s the differentiation between a software program that can be sold for millions of naira to a bank by a multinational corporation and another with the same functionalities that a startup solopreneur will find difficult selling for a couple of thousands of naira to the same bank irrespective of the fact that both software programs are identical. When such incident occurs as they very often do, you can say that the bank has been “washed” by the big corporation.

How does a solopreneur successfully “wash” or brand his/her self in today’s competitive market? Consider the following case study as a guide

Case Study
Ruth decided that her event management company didn’t stand out in anyway from the competition and very well didn’t stand the chance of ever growing from a micro enterprise into a small or medium size enterprise.



Strategy
Ruth decided to move from word of mouth referrals, personal selling and take a leap into the web and using up majority of her savings to advertise on social networks online such as FaceBook, Hi5 and the likes.

Outcome
Two months after launching her business on the web complete with referrals, testimonials and pictures of her previous events, she was overwhelmed with phone calls from potential clients from across the country requesting her services.

Lessons
Consider re-evaluating your business as you enter the New Year. Most times, solopreneurs tend to become bugged down by the tedious nature of their day to day activities that they remain focused on fishing in a small pond while there’s an ocean out there waiting to be explored. Ask yourself before considering the internet as a viable marketing alternative- Do you have the resources to pursue this strategy? What is the impact of your strategy on your kind of business? Would you be better off going into an internet only operation? Can you make yourself seem larger than life by the web content displayed on your website? How do you get clients to visit your website?

The internet represents a cheaper and often more viable means of advertising yourself. While big corporations have the budget to consider advertising on national dailies, television and billboards, a start up business or solopreneur is often left behind. The internet is and still remains an effective and cost-efficient strategy of being able to create an outlook and perceived value in the minds of clients about a business. Most often what they see when visiting your website determines what impression they have about your services without ever meeting you in person.

Alternative ways of making your business stand out especially when selling services (often less expensive strategy than selling products) may include getting trend-setters, industry leaders, or local celebrities to use your products free of charge. You can then leverage on this goodwill by asking for testimonials and subsequently mentioning such often high sounding names during sales presentations and adding them on your list of clients on your website or business proposal when bidding for a job. This could be all the “washing” you need to position yourself as being already successful and you may end up fooling some of the people some of the time. Look out for this section next month for more innovative ideas on achieving your business targets.

Good Luck!
Ebuka Anichebe is a Management Consultant of Jean-Paul and Associates Consultancy. He specializes in marketing consulting, business development and website development. He’ll like to hear your views on this article and more, write to him at hello@jeanpaulconsult.com. or call +234-807-7744-731.

A CONSULTANT BLOG: DO WHAT YOU LOVE

How would you like to eat your cake, and then have it? Well that’s what you get when you are paid for doing what you love.

I’ve heard many people particularly associates in the banking sector say they envy me for being able to laugh at the end of the day. Work at my own hours (I love working at night) and thoroughly enjoy doing it! Doing what you love is great. But, if you're in business, you want to know that you're making a profit from it. According to the author Steve Pavlina "Do what you love, but be damned sure it’s profitable."

If you're going to be in business, you need to be sure that there's money in what you're doing. Sure, you don't want to bang your head against a wall by doing something you dislike. But there's no point doing something you love if you can't make a good living from it. That's because most of us really love having food, clothing, shelter, security, self esteem and other important needs.

One may love consulting, but then would not love everything about consulting. There are some projects that you merely like. However, you would LOVE being able to enjoy the freedoms of having a good income- maybe not as steady as some would like.

Sometimes it’s high and sometimes it’s just enough to get by another month. You shouldn’t throw yourself into work you hate, but then again you wouldn’t mind making good money for doing things you naturally like. In the end, you’ll love the freedom that work delivers.

I would advise anyone going into the consulting world in any field to begin with focusing on the work they like best. This pays by itself by helping you and your client giving the surprise factor in all you do. Putting in that extra touch, the extra thought, going an extra mile.

I once had a job to create a website for a particular client that was keen on faultless writing but was unable to do so himself. Being keen on delivering a good job as well as my interest in designing websites led to my involvement in carrying out a detailed study and research into the field of business he was into. And subsequently writing up the content of the site and designing its layout. The client was amazed- we had two more similar jobs in less than a week!

That’s the power of doing the jobs you truly enjoy. You then require little momentum to deliver first class 5 star service and oust the competition with little or no effort in putting that extra value. A computer analyst that helps you do a system upgrade after a cursory maintenance check is more preferred to one that doesn’t. A consultant that sends you relevant mail updates regarding news in your field is generally appreciated than one that does a one off job and is off to the next.

If you're having a hard time figuring out what you can do for profit, work on doing a personal inventory to help you identify your passions, interests and talents. Talk to friends, colleagues or visit sites on the internet that describes your occupational interests or personal inventory.

Good Luck and Have a Happy Valentine in Advance!
Ebuka Anichebe is the Managing Director of Jean-Paul and Associates Consultancy and an affiliate of Velvet Projects U.K. He specializes in marketing consulting, business development and conducts personal development and capacity building workshops for entrepreneurs. He’ll like to hear your views on this and more, write to him at info@jeanpaulconsult.com. or call +234-806-4393-711.