The road to successful business and entrepreneurship is fraught with common business mistakes that could lead to the fall of an entire business empire. In this part of the world, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man comes to mind when one thinks of successful entrepreneurship.
According to Forbes, the Nigerian billionaire has an estimated net worth of $18 billion. Known for the success story of his business empire, the Dangote Group, he has held the spot of Africa’s richest man for over eight years and still counting.
It has been speculated that Dangote became wealthy and successful because he is from a wealthy background. Despite that he was born into a wealthy family, his business successes cannot be entirely attributed to his family’s fortunes.
At different times in his business life, he took some risky and major business decisions to get to where he is. Here are things you can learn from Dangote’s story even as the business giant marks his birthday today, Wednesday, April 10, 2019.
Don’t be afraid to take a business loan:
There are some people out there who have the opportunity of having access to business loans but are afraid to get the loan. This fear is always due to the fear of failure and the unknown. Many people may have access to funds, but may not want to take that bold step because of lack of conviction that they are taking the right step and decision.
According to Dangote, he got a N500, 000 loan from his uncle, Sanusi Abdulkadir Dantata, to start his business. This start-up fund was quite a huge amount of money as at that time, which contributed greatly to his business success. Perhaps, what made it work for him was his zeal, commitment and passion for his dream.
Make sure your product/service satisfies a need:
This is often neglected by a lot of entrepreneurs. If your business does not satisfy some major needs in the life or business of other people, you can as well ditch it and find something else. Do something that is seen as a solution to the needs of people.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Dangote revealed the reasons for his decision to move into key areas such as cement and agriculture. “I think actually what I figured out was looking at the entire African continent, especially sub-Saharan, and saying, “What do we actually produce?” What I learned is that the majority of African countries imported cement. The better way, I thought, would be to empower Africa – to meet our own infrastructural needs so that we could be more self-sufficient,” he said.
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Be Passionate, Passion is Key:
First, being an entrepreneur is not easy and will never be easy. There will be times when you will encounter low sales and problems will emerge from all nooks and cranny. The only thing that will keep you going is the “passion” you have towards making your dreams a reality. Dangote Group was in huge debt as at 2010. That means, even for Africa’s richest man, it has never been rosy at all times.
“We had already studied doing 300,000 barrels a day back in 2005. At that time I couldn’t even fathom a larger refinery. I had no financial capacity. Then in about 2010, we paid all Dangote Group’s debts, which amounted to $2 billion…We don’t want to listen to the critics because their intention is to destroy us. We are using our own money. This is my lifetime project. I have to back it up with my own life to make sure it is delivered.
“There is no way you can have a population of 320 million in West Africa and no self-sufficiency. So the first thing to do is food security. We have land, we have water, we have the climate – we shouldn’t be a massive importer of food. With modern farming, you can get 8 to 10 tons per hectare. I believe Dangote Group is in the right position to drive this trajectory,” Dangote stated in an interview.
Never stop growing your urge for success:
One thing that sets Dangote apart as a successful entrepreneur is his urge to keep breaking records despite how successful he has been already. Dangote Group has a lot of products under its belt including producing tomatoes and others. It’s 2019 but Dangote already has a plan for 2025.
Every entrepreneur needs to take this important point home and work on it. In order to reach your goal and exceed it, you need to plan your business strategies. As they say, failing to plan is planning to fail.
According to him, “beginning in 2020 our major investment will be in the U.S. and Europe… Beginning in 2020, 60 percent of our future investments will be outside Africa, so we can have a balance. Let’s say that by 2025, I’m looking at [investing] between $20 billion and $50 billion [in Europe or the U.S]. Our business strategy has always been like that, yes. We don’t want to be No. 2 in anything that we do. We want to be No. 1. Worst case, we can be No. 2 but targeted to become No. 1.”
Believe In Yourself :
Nobody can believe in you than yourself. In an interview with Forbe’s Peace Hyde, Dangote said that he is on a trajectory and that he will get to the top no matter what. These are very important business lessons to be learnt by people in business or intending to go into business.