YOUNG CEO'S BLOG:Start Small, Scale Big!

- The ultimate dream of every young man is to retire at 40- build mansions globally, sleep in London, wake up in New York and spend the evening in Nigeria; to live life to the fullest…

Dreaming big has never been a problem but turning it into reality is the key issue. It saddens my heart when I see young people with ideas that could rule the world, employ generations and even turn them into billionaires over time, approach and execute these ideas poorly, along with their little savings.

I was once told the story of a man who needed N15,000,000 to start recharge card distribution business with paper projections that the business could triple the invested capital in 6 months. This was a man without prior experience in business, no record of being loaned money from a bank, no collateral and nobody to stand for him.

He could not move forward with his idea because of financial dearth. He refused to start small. The sad news is that those that have money to shake the market, while he is still waiting for the big money to start, today, have replicated his idea.

Starting a business is not as difficult as being in business (existence). While trying to achieve the big dream of being the best corporation in Africa or in the world, learn to imbibe the KISS concept (Keep It Simple Sweet). A company started with just N10000 could be worth N200,000,000 in the next ten years.

  But how do you start small and scale big?

Go back to history and check top 10 companies. They started small, scaled big over time, then the money started rolling in from investors: Venture capitalists and Initial Public Offer.

So before you start that next business of yours, or launch out with your first idea, consider these suggestions:

- Take time to understand your business

- Don’t assume your business will be profitable in 2 months time – test the market to understand public acceptance

- Spend less on overhead expenses – improvise or find alternatives.

- Build your network

- Keep records of daily, weekly and monthly performance

- Plough back profit

- Focus on your operations – it is the blood of your business

- After a year of running the business, ask yourself if you are doing fine

- Share your expansion plan with  business consultants

-  Improve on logistics while you still stretch the dollar

- Put your business plan together with 5 year projection based on what you did the first year.

- While your business is gradually growing, hit your network list for funds

 - Replicate your success model -  Scale fast

- Focus on the long term dream

- At this stage of your business, you already have loyal customers. So Deliver Quality to increase Income Quantity.

- Make everybody happy – customers, workers, shareholders, and yourself

- Keep growing!

The above steps could take years to yield the result you want- you don’t start a business today and think you will scale in a month. Instead of waiting forever to get everything you need to get the ball rolling, start with whatever you have now, and gradually expand.

Don’t stop dreaming big. But start small and start now.

DANGOTE To Build $8 BILLION Oil Refinery

Another chapter will this year be opened in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, when business mogul Alhaji Aliko Dangote kicks off his plan to establish a refinery in the country.

The federal government had, in 2011, granted approval to 19 multinationals for the setting up of private refineries in the country, but none of them has come on stream due to the regulation of the price of fuel in the country.

Though details of where the refinery will be sited and its capacity were yet to be made known, work on the refinery, which will cost $8 billion, will begin this year.

At a breakfast meeting with some senior editors to mark his 57th birthday in Lagos, Alhaji Dangote said work will start on the refinery once his company secured the final approval from the federal government.

While acknowledging the fact that only a mad businessman would consider establishing a refinery in Nigeria under the present uncertain business terrain of subsidising the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, Dangote pleaded with the government to allow market forces to determine the price of fuel to allow the private sector play a significant role in the industry.

“We are all aware that the federal government had issued 19 licences to the private sector to establish refineries in the country, but how many of them have come on stream? There is uncertainty in the sector and only a mad businessman will put up a refinery now, but we are set to do that,” he said.

Alhaji Dangote urged the federal government to put in place critical infrastructure in all sectors of the economy to kick-start its rapid development.

He said that with the country’s population expected to hit 200 million by 2015, there were no serious plans to take care of the huge population.

He also called on the government to diversify the economy by intensifying reforms in agriculture. -LEADERSHIP