We often hear people with a positive mindset say, “My best is yet to come.” Yes, the best is always in front of anyone with a winning mentality.
In case you think the headline to this article is a mistake because of the current economic challenges, I make bold to declare to you, without any iota of doubt, that Nigeria’s best times, your very best times, start now.
I am not an oracle but I know it from experience that a nation that is as down and dysfunctional as Nigeria currently is presents great opportunities for ordinary men to become great, the timid to be bold, the weak to get strong, the dullard to become the genius. Let me announce to you that, once we get out of this recession, another crisis is waiting some years down the road, because the world is always in a boom and bust cycle.
Sometimes, opportunities are hidden in crises. The scarcity of foreign exchange has deprived importers of billions of dollars needed to import goods from abroad. But it has thrown big a challenge at our local producers to replace those foreign goods with locally-made ones.
In response to a crisis period in American history, Thomas Paine wrote in the first paragraph of his famous essay, “These are the times that try men’s souls…”
Yes, that may be true, but while hard times try men’s souls, they push our survival instincts to the limit and make men (and women) stretch to bring out the best in them. That is why I stated earlier that Nigeria’s best times, your best times start right now in the midst of this crisis.
The scientific achievements that transformed Western societies should never be envied because they paid the price to become first world nations. In fact, we should be inspired by what they have done and start in earnest to rebuild our own nation from the present rubble.
Great Nigerian youths, most of the household items we import from Asia, like tooth picks, matches, cooking utensils, stoves, lanterns, rechargeable lights, batteries and numerous food items, can be produced in this country, if subsisting local brands like Mouka Foam, Alabukun, Power drinks, beer, soft and fruit drinks are still able to produce, in spite of the present recession. The local bukateria across the road is still there, so also are the local herbal stores.
Small and medium-scale enterprises are the engine room of modern economies. Hello, young graduates, you can team up with like minds and start a small-scale business to replace the hundreds of the little items we import from Asia that eat up our hard-earned oil revenues. We have most of the raw materials you need to produce virtually anything from footwear, to clothing, bedsheets, belts, jewelry, bags; all kinds of apparel for male and female that we import from China and India. Let’s create the Nigerian brand.
We have rubber, cocoa, groundnut, hides and skin, bauxite, shea butter, beef, all kinds of plants, fish, all manner of grains, animal feeds and products; all our local foods are here in abundance. Yet, the United Nations says 5.2 million Nigerians are starving.
How can that be? It means, we are not working. This is the best time for Nigerians to prove that we can rescue our nation ourselves. We can do it now. We have the means if we have the will.
We must change our orientation. Nigerians must reject being importers and distributors of foreign goods. Let us become producers and exporters, now that foreign goods are scarce or too expensive, and see how our fortunes would change before our own eyes. You may say, “but I don’t have capital,” ideas come first before capital. If you want to do business, I always teach in my seminars, get the idea first, the capital comes last, in-between is the feasibity and market research.
You need a business plan, your blueprint or game plan before you go into the jungle called business. Never step into the ring if you are not ready. You’d get knocked down and out!
Identify the import you want to replace, arm yourself with a good business plan, then start with the little money you can get from friends, relatives, savings (if any), safe loans, preferably with little or no interest. Start small and don’t sell on credit. Take a plunge but feel the waters to know how deep, and to see if there are no substances that could hurt you. Then, jump in there. If you get a beating, dress your wound and let it heal, then start again.
Keep going until you get it right. That’s how to win in business. Never wait till the ideal time; your best time to start is now, when the prices of foreign goods are over the roof. Those who wait until the comfortable time never ever get started. Start now and undercut the foreign competitors and you will smile to the bank.
WEEKEND SPICE: “There are only three requirements for success. First, decide exactly what it is you want in life; second, determine the price that you want to pay to get the things you want; and, third, and this is the most important, resolve to pay that price.”
– H.L. Hunt
Thank God it’s Friday. Let’s do it again next week. Stay motivated.
•Ladi Ayodeji is an Author, Conference Speaker/Pastor and life coach. He can be reached at [email protected] and 09059243004 (sms only).