ENTREPRENEURSHIP - THE GREEN IN THE NIGERIA ECONOMY

In a staggering economy fraught with high rate of unemployment, a lot of college graduates are finding it very difficult to get a job even remotely related to their fields. Self-employment has sprung up as a credible solution for many. Recognizing and empathizing with fresh graduates and struggling entrepreneurs, I think it is very important we think of a nice gift for our graduates.

Niyi Alexander, Founder and CEO, ESTREET stated, "We are entrepreneurs ourselves and understand the difficulties in launching a business, particularly in this country. But we also know the incredible rewards that entrepreneurship provides."

IN THE FUTURE WE'LL ALL BE ENTREPRENEURS

I don't think that anyone under 35 actually thinks that they work for anyone any more. I include in that group those under-35's who work at any firm. They think of themselves as their own brand, with their own profit and loss. They're just waiting for an opportunity to take the world on. They may not call themselves entrepreneurs, but they certainly are "individual capitalists" - where the unit of trading has shifted from the company to the individual. Many young people – whether by design or accident – have become individual capitalists as well. They have left the thought of working with any company and are working from home and through virtual receptions, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, or serviced offices. They are operating a freelance career and have no intention of working for anyone else again. And it's not just in Nigeria that we are experiencing this trend. Individual capitalism is a megatrend.

MOSES STILL SHOWING THE WAY OUT

I'm frequently asked what's the next new thing? What new directions and destinations today's trend is pointing? People want to be shown the "green lands" – those uncontested spaces - where big success is to be made.

A lot of young people, entrepreneurs, and businesses want to run smart companies as their counterparts do in other countries and accross continents. They have seen great success stories emerge. These young individuals are already in constant conversation with peers about such possibilities. They are looking for growth everywhere possible. This quest demands a new sense of responsibility, creativity and a measure of deliberate policy.

It is exciting to watch the explosion of entrepreneurship in the digital space. Everywhere you turn, its visible energy follows the path digital networks drive efficiently. If you want to envision where the future of your industry will be, imagine it as a business built entirely around the soft, even if at this point you see it based in the hard. Young people today will find a great platform for their ideas well accepted and accomodated with distribution channels that is global in scale. Instead of discovering talent through staged TV formats like...you know the lists :), a broader base of talent will find their natural audience through the web.

In building this kind of business model, you have to understand "you can't build an ecosystem without humility". I would add to that: No one does anything which is not in his interest because we are all in the game for "what's in it for me?" So make it in their interest to help you succeed.

A PERSONAL FORTUNE IN DATA

The relationship between corporates and fast-growing SMEs is closer than ever before. Most internet businesses can get going for 10pc of the cost it took 10 years ago. Everything is driven by networks today. It is indeed the new order. Networks have existed in every economy. What’s different now is

that networks, enhanced and multiplied by technology, penetrate our lives so deeply that “network” has become the central metaphor around which our thinking and our economy are organized.

Unless we can understand the distinctive logic of networks, we can’t profit from the economic transformation that's responsible for the explosion of entrepreneurship.

The Internet's arrival in the 1990's disrupted industries much like the printing press did in Germany in the early 1400's. Ideas without distribution don't last. Today's idea merchants can reach their audiences more cheaply, and if they're smart, they'll work to organize a more inclusive set of economics for the world in which they transact. What's left for the publishers, record labels and Nollywood to do is to provide distribution for them so that their ideas scale into sustainable businesses.

I am more than convinced this generation has so much to offer investors. T.Y Bello was very correct when she sang "The Land is Green!" Entrepreneurs are indeed the GREENS in the land.