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Who Cares About Starting Small?
The seventh entrepreneur, Jumobi Daniel and his “Jumoby Fruity Eatery” left a fruity taste in the den when he came asking for 5 million naira in exchange of 30% equity in his business, an outlet where fruits can be savored by customers all day long. This investment would afford him the infrastructure required to run this business on a decent middle-class scale. The ‘fruity’ packages he brought to the den appeared very palatable, but as his pitch continued, he posited that his retail price would sky-rocket once he secured an investment. Ibukun Awosika failed to see the logic in this line of thinking, wondering why his prices should rise unprecedentedly because of their investment, instead of minimizing prices and maximizing sales, and driving more profit as a result. However, the dragons seemed genuinely interested in this business idea, and this entrepreneur, having sensed their interest became more confident and ambitious with his figures, as he proclaimed that his monthly turn-over had been 85, 000 naira derived from a monthly expenditure of about 15, 000 naira…his profit margin was huge and impressive…he claimed to be making about 70, 000 naira monthly from just doing door-to-door delivery in his neighborhood, and on campus.
When the cross-examinations began, with John Momoh wanting to know how this entrepreneur intended to access quality control of his product, and what he intended to do if the market demands meant that he was going to double or triple his supply. And the entrepreneur still very ambitious, reeled out initiatives that seemed too bogus to be accomplished with just 5 million naira.
“With the way you’re stretching this 5 million naira,” Chris Parkes stated light-heartedly, “I wish I could use you for my weekly shopping…” The entrepreneur lost the dragons on the basis that his business plan was not feasible, and his idea was not well-researched. They advised him to allow his business to grow from bottom upwards instead of jumping from start-up to becoming a conglomerate.
Chris Parkes offered him a million naira worth of business advice for free, by compelling his to approach the supermarkets in town with his product, offer them a deal to stock his products on a sales-on-return basis, cashing in on such delivery daily or weekly, supplying his products according to the market demands. It sounded like an extremely smart advice, and it is to be hoped that the smile on the entrepreneur’s face as he walked out of the den meant that he was willing to go to town with Chris Parkes’ advice.
The dragons seemed disappointed that they hadn’t found an investable idea in the den this week. But next week is another week for shopping for business ideas that will not only enrich the entrepreneurs but also empower the consumer and the society, while promoting moral and God-fearing business ethics amongst young Nigerians.
Obv: sometimes, we should take our own biological growth into consideration before daring to defy business-gravity. It’s okay to shoot straight for the top, but be sure you have the right tools to take you there, and keep you there. My question for this week is : who cares about starting small?
—The Den Sweeper!
August 12th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Another classical example of lack of preparation. I agree with Chris Parkes 100%, an Enterprenuer should first demonstrate he is capable of executing his/her business idea by showing proof of what he/she had done. I was a bit surprised that the Jumobi does not even have a clue how much he made and how much was his profit and yet he wants an investment of 5 million pumped into his business. Good business idea which I believe will make loads of money but planning and adequate research has to be done for this business to grow.
August 13th, 2008 at 9:45 am
If you had the Den Sweeper’s job, you can’t help but wonder why a lot of entrepreneurs are in a hurry to control large sums of the naira. When they make their presentation, all you can see is the presence of an idea, and the absence of research or any business sense whatsoever…
A few of the entrepreneurs are splendid…very good planners, but a good number of them are just in a hurry to go from start-up to multi-national, without an atom of experience.
Just watching the entrepreneurs from my humble cubicle, I’ve been able to learn first-hand what never to do when you approach a group of learned, and highly experienced investors.
But I believe that if the entrepreneurs keep an open-mind, they’d go home more knowledgeable, and better equipped for the real business world.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:29 am
i think the young man needs just mentoring, he sure has drive, a school leaver with such drive and an appreciable presentation skills should not be discouraged, by opting out totally, at least one of the dragons should also play the humanitarian role of “not -all-profit” by bringing a slogan where you can “adopt a budding entrepreneur” this is what the country needs right now
anyway he needs a formal higher education a must be in business even while in school, and pleas dragon sweeper contact the entreprenuers to log in into this blog so they could tap usefull advice,
August 24th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I was really impressed when i first saw the program on tv. i think its a very commendable thing for people especially youths with business ideas to have the opportunity of presenting their plans to prospective investors. However i began to get concerned when i noticed that most of the time ,all the Dragons do is to critise and kill such dreams.
Honestly i think this is a bright and aspering young man who needs all the encouragement and support he can get from such calibre of people as the dragons. Really every big business today im sure must have started small and we should not lose sight of the fact that not all of us had the opportunity to be born into wealth like most of the dragons. A lot of people like this young man never had the opportunities most of them have of going to good schools in Nigeria and even abroad.The fact that the guy even had such an idea and has been struggling on his own all these while is commendable.If i was one of the Dragons or privilaged enough, i would have really encouraged the young man and even if i can give him all the money ,a part of it no matter how small at least people spend more than that on less profitable things.
My advise to the Dragons is that they should not look down on alll ideas just because they feel they cant make enough profit but encourage such ideas.