The presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP, during the 2023 general election, also former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, has stressed the need for government and the private sector to motivate and support up-coming entrepreneurs to succeed in order to create more jobs for Nigerians.
Obi who said this in Lagos on Monday during a book launch titled: ‘Just Go Further-Become the Total Entrepreneur, authored by Mrs. Ebele Obi, said successful entrepreneurs could grow to become unicorns that would create chains of jobs for Nigerian youths, if given the right motivation and support.
According to him, majority of entrepreneurs die in their first and second year of growth as a result of several factors, a development, Obi said, should be looked into, with a view to providing the right motivation and the needed support for growing entrepreneurs.
He explained that successful entrepreneurs must not necessarily pass through the best universities in the world like Harvard Business School in the United States of America, in order to be successful, insisting that self-determination, motivation, and support are critical factors that will make entrepreneurs to succeed.
“I have gone through Harvard, Columbia, IMG in Switzerland, to Oxford, to Cambridge. I’ve gone to all of them, and I discovered that they have more clinical professors than academic professors.
“The reason is simple. They found out that the clinical professors have contributed more to developing the people than academic professors,” Obi said.
He further said entrepreneurs should start small, create something from small and be able to use it to help and build a better society.
“It is your contribution in developing other people, bringing value in human lives and everything, that defines wealth,” Obi added.
Giving reasons why she took out time from her busy schedule to write the book on entrepreneurship, the author, who is a former banker and currently the coach of VIV Network, said the book, ‘Just Go Further-Become the Total Entrepreneur’, captured her journey and her mission to inspire others to rise above fear, embrace growth, and step fully into their potentials.
According to her, entrepreneurship and finance are focus areas that have not been talked about enough, hence the emphasis on entrepreneurship and finance in the book.
Reviewing the 240-page book, segmented into three parts, the book reviewer, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, a former UN Senior Diplomat, said: “The book is a motivational book written by an entrepreneur for budding entrepreneurs. But one thing that makes the book unique is that she’s taking her knowledge as somebody who grew up in a commercial city of Onitsha, where I grew up also, and who went to school, lived in Lagos, lived in London, and was able to put up all that experiences together in the book.”
He listed the three segments of the book to include: Becoming an entrepreneur; Sustaining the growth as an entrepreneur; and Crossing the generation.
“The book speaks as to why entrepreneurs start companies and the critical role they must play in an economy. The book deals with how to identify the problems, the prospect and the opportunities, as well as the unmet needs, and thereafter, developing the pertinent business ideas required to solve problems and needs.”
The chief Launcher at the book launch, Chief Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Okonkwo, commended the author and recommended the book for personal growth and for business schools.
Emma Okonji
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