Entrepreneurship, most transformational tool for Africa —Dangote

Africa’s richest businessman, Aliko Dangote on Saturday told the African entrepreneurs in Nigeria to dream bigger, saying when he started, he “didn’t have enough ideas as you guys, I was contended with making N5,000 every day.” He said even when he started; he returned the loan he received from an uncle very quickly because he didn’t think he needed the money.

Dangote was speaking at as the keynote speaker at the forum, where he urged African entrepreneurs to “develop a solution driven mind-set and build a business that solves a problem or addresses a need that many people have.”

He also tasked the entrepreneurs to “think big but start small, be diligent and passionate about what to do.”

Dangote said these during his keynote address at the forum, saying that it was important that the entrepreneurs allocated their resources efficiently to be prudent and avoid waste.

Dangote, who said he would commission his fertiliser plan in 2018, told the entrepreneurs to learn to “bounce back from setback” and refuse to be afraid to fail because “failure is usually a preccursor to success.”

“The private sector working with the public sector can achieve so much by way of development, Oba Otudeko, founder and Chairman of Honeywell Group, said at the forum.

He said this while motivating the entreprenuers in the building, asking them to aim for the starts, because the “empires of the future are actually the empires of the mind.”

He told the entreprenuers that “entreprenuship is not an easy road It’s slippery. For every one Aliko Dangote you find there are 99 who didn’t make it.” He tasked the entrepreneurs needed to adopt global standards in their operations.

Katsina State governor, Aminu Masari, decried unfriendly business environment in Africa, saying “regulators sometimes put conditions that are stringent for our entrepreneurs.” He counseled that “entrepreneurship must be built on sound education and training.”

He also joined the founder of Tony Elumelu Foundation and Chairman, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Heirs Holding, Tony Elumelu and other entrepreneurs in Africa to  call on African governments to create friendly business climate in Africa, as he said “Entrepreneurship has the potential to be the most transformational tool for Africa.”

According to him, African governments have a role to play by putting in place a supportive investment climate, as entrepreneurs are those who create employments, while the governments facilitate enabling environment.