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How to cultivate the spirit of entrepreneurship

Thursday, November 3, 2005

The Entrepreneur, is a well-researched book that has come to Nigeria at no better time than now when the present administration is working assiduously  to increase capacity utilization of industries and empowering Nigerians through various self-employment programmes. Transformational policies of successive administrations in the past towards a more sustainable national economic development and growth including the Obasanjo’s poverty eradication programme, National  Economic Empowerment Development Strategies and other employment generation programmes will be enhanced by the availability of this book.


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 Not until recently the study of entrepreneurship in our tertiary institutions has not been made compulsory for all undergraduate students; The University of Lagos has been offering this very essential course to students of the Faculty of Business Administration and Department of Chemical Engineering including Masters of Business Administration since the 1990s. And recently, the University Senate approved the inclusion of entrepreneurial skills development course in all bachelor degree curricula at thc 300 Level. The current re-orientation will provide necessary impetus for overcoming the nightmares often associated with forming and running businesses and increase the existing small number of enterprising men and women. The unavailability and substenability of appropriate finance mechanism has contributed in no small measure to the high rate of unemployment in the Nigerian labour market.

 Nigeria is blessed with abundant human and natural resources that could position her as a world economic leader, yet poverty is - ravaging our citizenry. They complement our position as one of the leading oil producing nations and consolidate our quest to be a major world leader, the Federal Government has finally established a Ministry of Solid Minerals for natural resources such as gold, tin, columbite, iron ore, coal, limestone, lead, zinc and arable land amongst others. Regrettably, many Nigerians remain unemployed because they are not taught the culture of self-employment and therefore they go seeking white-collar jobs upon the completion of their academic pursuits.

 A very low percentage of Nigerians have embarked on entrepreneurial pursuit because of lack of knowledge and knowledge is derived from processed information. Because of this, only a limited number have ventured into entrepreneurial practice; an insignificant number have made a success of it while majority of those who tried have had their entrepreneurial spirit extinguished because ‘of inadequate information.

 The Entrepreneur  is an experiential book based on years’ experience of the author as a motivational and management speaker of repute. The author used his practical and theoretical knowledge of the practice of entrepreneurship to locate or focus his research on management practices with greater emphasis on organizational behaviour in Africa especially Nigeria where there is shortage of literature on the subject matter.

 The author’s involvement and the roles he  had been playing in organizations such as Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN), the Institute of Directors, Nigeria (IoD), the Nigeria-American Chamber of Commerce, amongst others, afforded him the interactive opportunities with fellow entrepreneurs and therefore, “The Entrepreneur” can also be called an “Entrepreneurial Reflections

 It has been argued that maintenance  of success is more difficult than getting to the top in any human endeavours. This book does not teach you how to get to the top only, but also the a, b, c of how to sustain your success and remain there. The several benefits it offers to different strata of our society are enormous and it provides the necessary essential ingredients for the creation of the needed entrepreneurial spirit to undergraduates, graduates and postgraduates including those preparing for retirement or already retired.

 The Entrepreneur is a 360-page book divided into two parts. Part one deals with secrets of getting to the top and staying there happily, while part two chronicles the personality profiles of some selected entrepreneurs and captains of industry in Nigeria.

 Chapter one, deals with the concept of entrepreneur which examined the definition of the author of the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and Retire Young Rich, Robert Kiyosaki. Kiyosaki defined  entrepreneur as “someone that sees an opportunity, put together a team and builds a business that profits from the opportunity”. Dr. Ajagu provides a generic classification of entrepreneurs, as those who are, leaders, prime movers, authors, - pacesetters, investors and risk-bearers. His classification is informed by the fact that such people usually perform pioneering roles in their organizations since they are engaged in formulating or reformulating the mission and vision, crafting strategies and establishing the rules procedures and programmes of their enterprises.

 Chapter two identifies the 14 qualities of successful entrepreneurs, which include initiative, attitude, leadership, perseverance. The book contributes to the literature on the on-going debate on the characteristics of entrepreneurs over which there is a lack of consensus.

 The end of chapter references commends the book to all reference material to the public and private sectors; including legislators, vice-chancellors, and other public sector executives as well. Most importantly, it offers the general public and all tiers of government and private sector strategic thinking on entrepreneurial opportunity.