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While a team of
young entrepreneurs recently embarked on a financial literacy campaign
to some parts of the country under the umbrella of ‘Financial IQ’
programme, one of the campaign contributors, Segun Olu of AirDock
Services Limited, an export trading company said there are enormous
opportunities awaiting entrepreneurs who would venture into export
trading.

Mr Olu said many
people look out of the way when export business is suggested to them as
a business venture. “This is because people believe export is a
business for the rich, forgetting that business is about generation of
ideas which are well packaged, delivered and experimented over a period
of time,” he said.

Explaining further,
Mr Olu said export business expenses are determined by the nature of
the goods. Citing an example, he said perishable goods are costly to
export than non-perishable goods.

“Export is a
business that can be started small and expanded over a period of time.
Some of the local foods in Nigeria have a high demand in the
international market.

Goods such as fish,
vegetable leaves, spices and other items found around us are in high
demand outside the shores of the country,” he said, adding that if
people look around, these goods are readily available and affordable
with respect to the quantity that is needed to kick-start an export
business.

Financing export business

On financing export
business, Mr Olu said, “I advise that an export business should be
financed internally. A beginner should avoid the banks because banks
normally give loans to businesses with operating record and history.
Secondly, the interest rate from banks might make the business to be
unprofitable and unattractive.” He said an exporter needs to look for,
locate and attract prospective buyers either from the Internet or
through phone calls to friends with same business interest. He also
advised that foreign academic institutions and biology departments in
countries where those species are not available are also good
prospects. “An exporter can attend exhibitions to build a network both
locally and internationally. There are also export clubs made up with
people with same interests. An exporter can study the geographical
distribution, demand and supply of each item and species to be
exported,” Mr Olu said.

Time management

He said timing is
an important aspect of export business especially when dealing with
perishable goods as all transactions must be brought to conclusion on
time.

Time management
should also include the processing and packaging part of the business
activities; this will prevent the business owner from running into a
loss.

Exporters have also
been advised to deliver their products to clients through an airport
export agent for the onward delivery to the client in any part of the
world,

adding that as
businesses grows, it is advisable that exporters should join export
association in order to have more control over their expenses.

Mr Olu said export
business is a profitable venture for entrepreneurs that could bring
weekly return on investment if well managed. “For your company’s
capital base to grow, you must grow your client base. This can be
achieved by fostering a cordial working relationship with both new and
existing clients. If your service is impressive, it can make your
satisfied clients to see themselves as your partners and this will open
doors to more referrals, more business leads and more business
opportunities,” he said.

Innovation in business

Meanwhile, Seun
Shoyelu, a project officer at European Union with the aim of assisting
new companies in Africa, said entrepreneurs have to be innovative in
doing business. “Innovation simply means to bring something new into
existence. This means that entrepreneurs, in order to be successful,
must learn to utilise or exploit change as a foundation for generating
new businesses or services,” Mr Shoyelu said.

He added that a
product-based innovation generally results in totally new or improved
old products and services, adding that new products have been
demonstrated to help firms capture and retain market shares and
ultimately help businesses increase their profitability in the market
place.

Mr Shoyelu said
entrepreneurs need to engage in creative thinking because “it is widely
believed to be the first step to creativity and innovation” in business
success. He added that business owners must also do strategic planning
beyond just generating business ideas. He said entrepreneurs need “a
coherent business strategy combining clearly-defined goals with adequate
outcome.”

Entrepreneurship development

Shola Olaleye, the
chief executive officer of Financial IQ, an entrepreneurship campaign
organisation, said graduates that do not see the need for personal
development in entrepreneurship after graduation “may be in for a long
journey to nowhere because they would not fit into the job society.” Mr
Olaleye said he believe that new set of entrepreneurs will produce
“massive wealth and job opportunities” in Nigeria in few years time.
However, he said to achieve this, Nigerians must be “sincerely
interested in job creation and continually look for opportunities to
learn modern entrepreneurial skills,” adding that employment by
government agencies and multinationals cannot solve the problem of
unemployment in the country.