YOU DON’T NEED MONEY TO START ANY BUSINESS!
Mark Onoja
Startup & Small Business Growth Partner | Helping Businesses Grow & Scale in Nigeria | Speaker & Trainer
I once made this statement while training some startups, and I could see jaws dropping in the room.
Some of them summoned the courage and responded with… “It is a lie!… How na?!…In this Nigeria?!…Okay, show us the way!”
I’ll answer the question, but first, let me share a testimony…I used to believe that you always need money to start a business! I led that campaign and, of course, had to save and borrow to get myself started. But then I discovered that the belief that money is all you need to get started limits your creativity as an entrepreneur and can cripple you.
Fundamentally, an entrepreneur is someone who creates things out of nothing! That distinct nature is what makes you the entrepreneur (sorry, CEO) that you call yourself and that your friends call you on WhatsApp (lol).
So how do you start a business without money…any business? Now let me give you a bit of economics. Every industry has what we call a value chain. A value chain simply describes how value is exchanged within that industry. Basic economics or business studies tell us that there are Manufacturers, Wholesalers, Retailers, and Consumers.
Take, for example, the Real Estate Industry. We have landowners, government land agencies, facility management, construction, interior designers, sales, rentals, etc. So value within the real estate sector flows within these people and places.
Say you want to start a real estate business; there are a lot of areas you can venture into without money:
1. You can sell houses
2. You can rent houses
3. You can broker construction projects
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4. You can manage people’s properties for them
You see…business has started!
So how do you start that business without money:
1. Discover the value chain of the industry you are interested in.
2. Find out which area has a low barrier to entry with maximum returns.
3. Get started and test the market. If you get paid, then you launch more into it or change to another area if the market reception is poor.
My advice for you is to get started with an aspect of your industry and move more into it and expand as your business grows.
I hope this helped!
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Development Aid Program management / Advocacy and Communication / EiE & Education specialization / Partnership management / Grant writing / Ready to drive impact.
3 个月This nugget is more a snippet shot. I am moved to do something. But Mark Onoja does age matter in this move to starting a business? I'll really want to be mentored by you sir