Awuzie, Abiola, Oluoma, Li charge Entrepreneurs with Borderless Businesses

Thought leaders and industry experts have charged Nigerian and African entrepreneurs with leveraging strategic mentorship and partnership to build lasting businesses that transcend national and continental borders.

These experts made this charge during the second edition of the annual Evolve Conference held on Friday in Lagos with the theme ‘Building borderless businesses’, hosted by 2014 Miss United Nations and actress, Dr. Precious Chikwendu.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the co-host of the conference, Ossai Ilome, stated that the Evolve conference and community believe in human inclusion and emancipation because they believe in a future where young people are not spectators but architects of tomorrow.

He stressed that they are “committed to building a network of changemakers with the vision to seek mentorship, and leverage technology and innovation to build sustainable partnerships, better societies, and borderless businesses.”

Nigerian South African-based technology entrepreneur and convener of the Evolve Conference, Charles Awuzie, in his speech titled ‘Crossing the four types of borders’, explained how natural disasters, bad economy, and other factors behind human control can force an entrepreneur to start thinking about how to make their businesses borderless, beyond the brick-and-mortar physical settings.

He detailed how digital, physical, industry and generational challenges can constitute borders that can hinder most Nigerian and African businesses from going global.

Awuzie said that lack of business expansion strategies, cheap profit, and a daily-bread mentality are also borders fostered by the inability to think outside the box and that the worst box caging many Nigerians and Africans is the economic box.

He added that the best way to overcome business failure associated with natural disaster and manmade challenges is to diversify by creating sustainable processes and systems that are scalable technology and innovation.

“My mission is to stretch someone beyond their comfort zones, to see beyond the challenges of present business realities and open their minds to the potentials of borderless businesses and opportunities,” he added.

Mr Olajide Abiola, CEO of Gidanka, owners of Destination Hotel, spoke on trusting the business and entrepreneurship process. He stressed that there is no problem with Nigeria but with Nigerians.

Abiola further stressed that the major problem of this generation of Nigerians, especially young businesspeople, is the haste and destination syndromes.

He said people are interested in looking rich and successful rather than wanting to be rich and successful, which must be addressed for any meaningful progress to be achieved in any business.

“What is deficit in Nigeria is not money or funds, but trust and integrity. The more corrupt a society is, the more scarce trust is,” he said.
Abiola further said Nigerians have bad work ethics and attitudes, and that everything one needs to succeed in life and business is in service and leadership. In light of this, he encouraged young business people to “learn to approach problems differently, build longtime relationships, and open your heart to collaborations.”

Reverend Father Oluoma John, founder of WOW Catholic and Catholicpay, spoke on thinking outside the box. He said that thinking outside the box means challenging long-held assumptions, understanding one’s limitations, and looking for solutions outside of one’s domain.

The reverend listed religion, politics, ethnicity, among others as obstacles that prevent people from thinking outside the box.

“There is a level of success you cannot reach if you cannot think outside the box. And, to think outside the box, you have to learn, relearn, relearn, search, and research,” the reverend added.

Heather Li, public relations consultant and founder of The Dot Connector, spoke on connecting the dots between the China-Africa startup ecosystem. Li noted that Diaspora Africans speak passionately about Africa but many of them do not like to go home.

Speaking about borderless businesses, she stressed that African-based businesses should start looking beyond their countries and the continent and go global.

“Starting from little things can teach you a lot about the business world. I would like to see an African business thriving in China,” she added.

Mrs Edidinong Amos, founder of The Geo-Initiative, spoke on the benefit of mentors and mentorship in building and growing a business.

Amos stated that strategic mentorship is lacking among most Nigerian entrepreneurs and that is why many businesses close up after a short period of existence.

She, however, said that with events like the Evolve Conference, “Old and young Nigerians are now interested in change and are ready to change the way they do things and business.”

Dr Segun Oshinaga, evangelist and inspirational speaker, spoke on the power of the borderless mind in building borderless businesses. He expressed joy in what events, like the Evolve Conference, are doing in encouraging young people to take their lives to the next level.

Oshinaga said that the biggest problem of Africa is the negative mindset mentality, which needs to be positively reoriented, adding that borderless dreams and businesses can only be achieved by borderless minds.
“Globalisation has democratised opportunities. If your mind does not shift, borderless opportunities will pass you by,” he said.

Alyse Sue, co-founder of the Transhuman Coin (THC), spoke on technology enabling transhumanism through enhancements in innovation, longevity, and well-being.

A panel session titled ‘Strategies for scaling businesses without borders: Leveraging tech and innovation’, was anchored by Dr Precious Chikwendu and Ossai Ilome, and featured Charles Awuzi, Mr Olajide Abiola, Reverend Father Oluoma John, Heather Li, Simon Musa, Cyril Ishmael, and Kelechi Amstrong Ameobi.

The panellists spoke extensively on how technology can be a vital tool, an enabler and a strategy to build borderless businesses in Nigeria and Africa. They added that technology is a tool and that what one uses it for is the substance.

The panellists advised that before leveraging any technology to scale and grow businesses, the user should know what they want to use it for, adding that if the user does not have the basic skills to operate the tool, it will not be useful.

Charles Awuzie, convener of the conference, seized the opportunity to launch the $1m Africa Tech Fund, a startup fund he leads through a strategic partnership with American Venture Capital.

In the course of the conference, some of the participants pitched their businesses and business ideas.

The organisers of the conference announced that the third edition of the conference will be held in London, United Kingdom, next year in September. The first edition of the Evolve Conference was held in Abuja last year September.