Entrepreneurship is a risky, brain draining business but potentially a rewarding endeavor.
Entrepreneurs face multiple risks such as bankruptcy, financial risk, competitive risks, environmental risks, reputational risks, and political and economic risks. Entrepreneurs must plan wisely in terms of budgeting and show investors that they are considering risks by creating a realistic business plan.
When a company succeeds or wants to succeed, it’s because it has discovered and made the right moves along on different strategies involved in Marketing, and it has found out how to create and capture customer value.
If you’re exploring entrepreneurship or in the early stages of launching a venture, it’s important to learn from others to avoid common pitfalls and discover which decisions impacted a company’s survival. Here are two stories of successful entrepreneurs to inspire your entrepreneurial journey.
Here are two entrepreneurs with amazing success stories for startups to learn from.
1. Egbe Michael C.
Some of today’s big brands started with humble beginnings, and no one embodies this better than Concur Fragrance Brand founder and boss, Egbe Michael.
Michael’s Fragrance Brand began as a passion and love for good fragrances. Back in the days , he would spray his father’s cologne to school. As a son of a bank Manager , he was the cynosure of all eyes because of the sweet fragrance he wears. His journey into the world of perfumery business began with little or no much funds. He goes to big super store to buy perfumes in handy say from three to five and 10 bottles to sell to friends and family and to a few people he marketed them to. He perceived it will be a good business from the positive respond and turn up from a few customers. He gave it another trial, bought about 20 packs of Dubai made perfumes and in two days, all sold. To Mr Michael, it was like magic. At this juncture, he believed that the Business has come to stay.
He then did more research on perfume production, attended online courses and trainings in PERFUMERY . Bangkok School of Technology, graduated and now certified in perfumery production. He has also gotten his certification from Standard Organisation of Nigeria, a body that regulates Manufacturing industries. After all these put in place, Michael hit his production/mini room.
It all begun from his one bedroom apartment in Abuja city of Nigeria . It was there that Michael began making fragrance, signature and copy and decided he wanted to make the best possible bespoke fragrance for the affluent, middle class and average people.
With the challenges of facing competitors, fear of the unknown, high cost of raw materials, inflated taxes. He kept his resilient persona in checked , Michael was committed to standing out in the market by gathering feedback from new customers about the kind of fragrance they want e.g, bespoke, copy or if a new smell could be looked for, what pain points could be improved on, and how they felt about his early models.
This feedback allowed Michael to create a unique and new cologne hat was highly valued by his customers and gave him legitimacy when he “Egbe Michael” is now the Perfumer to receive his certification from SON, it’s called,” MANCAP . Concur Brand in little time has sold up to 10 thousand worth of it’s product was that same year, he got his perfume studio the first in a high brew location in Abuja.
Michael ’s vision to create the best fragrance for Nigerians, he is a blessing to Nigeria in terms of his innovative and creative. Having proven that a Nigerian can produce Perfumes locally , the type that can compete with the already known designers .Directors , CEOs, Celebrities, Clerics and customers from different walks of life wears Concur.
“Concur is a blessing to Nigeria, Concur to the world from Nigeria, Michael will proudly soliloquized always. ” Always awe and thankful at an unbelievable joy in his heart that one day Concur would be heard around the world for decades to come,” As it stands now Concur is a top notch locally produced perfumes and will remain a household name in fragrance production anywhere perfume production is mentioned anywhere in Nigeria and beyond.
Concur has grown into a big brand known for high-quality fragrance. Michael’s story sheds light on the importance of listening to target customers about their dreams, needs, and pain points. Unstoppably learning and relearning, .More importantly the marketing mix ,which refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that Concur company uses to promote its brand or product in the market. Place again plays an important roles too. It refers to the point of sale. In every industry, catching the eye of the consumer .
“Egbe Michael’s secret to success had an additional personal ingredient: his love for perfumes, passion for going into the luxury and fashion business.
His business quote remains ” A step at a time, brings success closer to your door.” Never miss any opportunity in life for any reason whatsoever. reason ,
2 . Nelly Agbogu, aka NaijaBrandChick, is an Online Business Coach who is passionate about African businesses leveraging technology to scale and grow. companies in Nigeria and the owner of the brand name NAIJA BRAND CHICK.
Nelly Agbogu is the brain behind the NELLIES Healthy Food and Snacks Company in the heart of Lagos, Nigeria. She started her company in a bid to find healthier options in the course of her weight loss journey. All this was made possible through the use of Instagram .this has made her to start online masterclass and live videos on Instagram through her platform NAIJABRANDCHICK.
She calls herself Lolo One of Instagram. And people love to listen to her because she breakdowns social media to the simplest terms.
Nelly was formerly a 9 to 5 naija chick , gives insight on how her business, journey started. She used to be a circumstance of plus size, she was 100kg then, later lost almost 50kg by experimenting with food and nutrition. Nelly’s constant posts of creative ideas on her social media platforms, people advised her start something that will help her journey towards losing weight, recall that she was very big.
Her weight challenge spurred the birth of Nellie’s Health food because it came naturally in line with her needs, the burning zeal of getting back to shape because she initially had weight problem and I was eager to find a solution in a healthy way and that drive pushed her to that desirous passion.
As a small business owner , her hiring of staff is based on needs and for those who met her hiring requirements. She has experienced working in a well structured environment and that experience has helped mold her business. Nelly Agbogu is a graduate of Business Administration from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus and some entrepreneurial training from Enterprise for Development Center has also helped her business skills .
Nelly is innovative, a solution provider and has turned her health challenge into a business that is of huge blessing to the society as regards healthy food. Nellie’s products are Uju chips, Zobo jam , acha crackers to mention but a few.
Nelly is a force to reckon with when it comes to women entrepreneurial skills acquisition. She has inspired a lot of women and given them hope to believe in themselves, manage their time we’ll and set goals and work towards achieving those goals. Nelly is a change maker and her confident and assertiveness is enough force to reckon with too.
What made Nelly a reputable brand to look up to is her passion, creativity, innovation and consistency in business. She is so open to learning which is top notch. She is never unashamed to discuss her struggles , turning points and willingness to learn from past mistakes. All these eventually carved a niche for her business.
Recall that Nellie’s healthy Food and snack company, a brand Nelly Agbogu created was founded out of the hurting body shaming criticisms and her quest for getting her son a baby food that is gluten – free. which she imports but at some point , the expense of importing it is pocket draining, the curiosity of finding gluten free food made her surf the net, researched extensively about gluten – free food and snakes on YouTube. That became a turning point and birthed Nellie’s healthy food. Initially to be precise, she worked with an oil serving company. At the birth of her food company , she was still a working mom and joggling with her new business. Yes it was so hectic at that point that she feared if it will spend the taste of time, growth and marketing strategies. She started supplying to to super stores, using her social media platforms to advertise and sell the products and to the glory of God she got positive response and supports too. When the demand for Nellie’s food got high, she had to resign from her paid job, got her own store and gave in fully into her business and managed it .
Today it’s a success and resilience, passion, consistency has played major roles and had remained her only driving force.
Nelly never gave up her dreams she so cherished. Though initially there were hurdles and challenges she encountered like fear of not actualizing it’s long term sustainability, visibility and good customer base. Social Media and the Buy Naija and Grow Naija campaign also contributed immensely to the growth of her business in that there was a time government banned foreign imported food and that helped and boosted it’s growth.
When the demand for Nellie’s food got high, she left her paid job, got her own store and gave in fully an into her business and managed it.
Today Nellie’s is a big healthy food company located in the heart of Lagos.
Nelly Agbogu also have another platform , where she has trained over 500 business owners. It’s a kind gesture and a way to give back so that people will learn the tools that has made her become a household name when it comes to healthy food company in Nigeria. It’s located in the heart of Lagos and has plans of expanding Nellie’s health and Snacks company to other States in Nigeria .
A few things set Nelly Agbogu apart from the other entrepreneurs She created a healthy based snacks for Nigerian consumption order than the imported ones filled with too much preservatives that is life’s threatening, :
Her online Naijachhickbrand, an online platform she created as a commitment to to giving back: She has coached and trained over 500 business owners on being bosses of their own.
Nelly Agbogu made her products at affordable prices, so affordable that every average Nigerian can afford her Acha crackers, Zobo jam and Uju chips ,much less expensive than other brands .
All the above mentioned products are all Made in Nigeria products and we should be proud of our own., Nellie’s healthy Food Company and Concur Fragrance Company respectively. Concur Perfumery brand has various amazing fragrance that can even compete with the foreign brands. Walk into their perfume studio , you are given 1ml bottle of perfume as a complimentary offer. It’s also a commitment of giving back . For every pack of perfume purchased , you are given a tester.
Concur kept on increasing in innovation , development and has helped startups who want to venture into perfumery business and doing well, Concur brand has many distributors and marketers caught across the environs of Abuja and a few cities in Nigeria. Today about 10 Thousand people use Concur products in the likes Concur Wood Spice , Concur Oud Sleek, Oud Smooth, Bella, Andrea, VIP, Millionaire to mention but a few of Michael’s product , Concur Brand and that’s a welcomed development to perfumery business in Nigeria.
Leave a Reply