Nigeria is blessed with many prominent capitalists and wealthy industrialists who own multi-billion dollar conglomerates with assets of more than trillions of naira and who collectively employ thousands of Nigerians in their various business operations thus making a tremendous contribution to the size, scope and direction of our country. . economy.
Notable among these is Aliko Dangote, founder and chairman of the Dangote Group, which holds large-scale interests in the commodities, agriculture, real estate and petroleum sub-sectors of our economy, and is now ranked by Forbes magazine as the richest person in Africa. with a net worth of US$20.8 Billion, as of November 2013, Otunba Mike Adenuga, telecommunications magnate now operating throughout central West Africa and valued at US$4.3 Billion, as of March 2013, as well as youth Femi Otedola, founder and CEO of Forte Oil Plc. , who was ranked by Forbes in 2009 with a net worth of US$1.2 Billion.
Yet, among these many enviable things, none is as inspiring, to me, as Jimoh Ibrahim, the 46-year-old lawyer-turned-oil magnate from Nigeria’s Southwest Ondo State, who is now said to be worth hundreds of millions. dollars, and is the founder of a large Nigerian conglomerate, which has interests in the insurance, hospitality, oil and gas, and media sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Unlike Dangote or Otedola, Ibrahim is a man with humble beginnings as he was born without a silver spoon and comes from a very rough background with many flaws in his growing up. Reportedly from a polygamous family, Ibrahim managed, against all odds, to gain admission to the University and eventually graduated as a law attorney from Ife University, now Obafemi Awolowo University in 1991.
So while the Dangotes and Otedolas of this world have the privilege of being born with a silver spoon (Dangote, comes from a wealthy industrial family of the North and Otedola, the son of the former civil governor of the state of Lagos), Ibrahim does not have such luxury. strong desire and strong belief to be successful in life, concluded in his mind that obtaining a University degree held the only promise for a better life and a fruitful future.
This story of a great entrepreneur is one that I think every young Nigerian entrepreneur and aspiring entrepreneur should pay attention to as it can be a much needed inspiration for big steps in business as well as big achievements in life. After obtaining his Bachelor of Laws degree from OAU, Ibrahim saw that waiting to gain work experience as a lawyer with an internship at an established law firm, as is common among many young lawyers in Nigeria today, could take years so he decided to specialize. taxation, which was an area of interest to him during his undergraduate days and was even the subject of several of his dissertation papers.
With a wealth of information on tax practices in Nigeria, Ibrahim, unlike many recent university graduates in Nigeria, some of whom believe that getting a prepaid job after graduating from school could be the only way to chart a successful future, starting with conducts training and workshops on taxation for local and state governments and later the Nigerian federal government, in the process becoming a nationally recognized tax consultant.
Honing his expertise in tax administration, financial reform and management and later earning a Master’s degree in Public Administration and international taxation from OAU and Harvard University in America, Ibrahim was chief executive consultant to the Nigerian federal government on petroleum tax payments, collection and monitoring , member, Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, IMF consultant on tax reform in Croatia and Lithuania and also a key member of the team designing tax reform for the state of Bangladesh.
It goes without saying that by the time he is 30 years old, while some of his colleagues may still be looking for work, Jimoh Ibrahim is already a multi-millionaire! So when he decided to set up his conglomerate in 2003, after failing miserably in his bid to become the Executive Governor of Ondo State on the old All People’s Party (APP) platform, he was well armed with rich experience of how business works. in Nigeria, how government policies are formulated and implemented and how to raise sufficient capital to start a business.
For many budding entrepreneurs, what lessons can be learned in building a great business from Lawyer Ibrahim’s journey and strategies? For me, one of them is that when planning to start a business, going out to collect all the necessary capital may not be the most important thing and it even equates to putting the cart before the horse, sometimes.
This is because, in a country like Nigeria, it is a dream to raise capital to start a business using bank loans or debt equity, without expanding the business to a substantial state where sound financial management and ambitious growth plans can be adequately demonstrated to financial institutions. or angel investors, it may seem like a mirage!
Seeing the phenomenal growth of some of Mr. Ibrahim’s business ventures, one is interested to note some of the principles he has absorbed, which have contributed no small amount to the growth of the business today. Some of these include good financial management, perseverance, short, medium and long term planning, effective use of credit and immediate repayment of these loans when taken.
However, while Lawyer Ibrahim’s passion to build and grow a large business organization that will provide lucrative employment to thousands of young Nigerian crowds while making a positive impact on our economy is to be commended, it remains to be seen what a clear corporate social responsibility (CSR) drive will be. of some of these businesses and how they seek better lives and impact on people and communities, beyond simply creating jobs.
It is interesting to note that while many large corporations and gigantic sized businesses in Nigeria such as Ibrahim, Dangote or Otedola, make large profits through Nigeria’s general protection and even repatriate those profits home with little or no cost, in the case of multi-nationals, very little. of those who do very little to give back to society through scholarships, schemes and life-changing programs that can benefit all. Very few wealthy Nigerian capitalists or industrialists have well-known foundations like those founded by Bill Gates, the world’s richest man and founder of Microsoft and his wife, and those founded by extraordinary American entrepreneurs like Henry Ford or John D Rockefeller.
Another important point to note among the most successful Nigerian entrepreneurs is the lack of a system or structure through which adequate mentoring can be provided to build an ecosystem of great entrepreneurs and outstanding young entrepreneurs in Nigeria. To this end, many budding entrepreneurs are often confused about how to organize their business, what tools to use and what to throw away, and how to harness the brains of many of these great, advanced entrepreneurs. It is through efforts like these that big Nigerian entrepreneurs like Ibrahim, Dangote, Otedola or Adenuga can leave a valuable legacy because as far as many Nigerians are concerned, the legacy of some of these people remains largely unclear if not directly unknown or undetermined!
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