Business Tactics of
Successful African
Entrepreneurs – The
Dangote Model
“The key about disruptive technology is that it really has a chance to innovate at the base of the pyramid.” Euvin Naidoo
Who is Aliko Dangote? Age: 54
Net Worth: $13.8 billion – Forbes
Based in Nigeria; owner of the Dangote Group which has operations in his homeland and 13 other countries in Africa, including Benin, Cameroun, Ghana, South Africa, and Zambia. Ranked by Forbes as the 51st richest person in the world; had his fortune surge 557% in 2011, making him the world’s biggest gainer in percentage terms and Africa’s richest individual. Tactics (1): Passion is Key; but Never Take Your Eyes off the Money When we look at successful people we will find that they have common traits that make them standout. They have a passion for the things they do. It is a weakness in the western world to be passionate about money. Oprah Winfrey says “What I know is that if you do work that you love, and work that fulfills you, the rest will come,” she says. “And, I truly believe, that the reason I’ve been able to be so financially successful is because my focus has never, ever for one minute been money.” Dangote sees it differently. As a young school boy, “I would go and buy cartons of sweets and I would start selling them just to make money. I was so interested in business, even at that time.”
At 54, Dangote’s passion still lives strong. He says “Nigeria is really the best place to invest. It is one of the best places to make money. You know, all over the world it is the best kept secret actually in terms of investment.”
Tactics (2): Fortify Your Entrepreneurial Armoury: Read, Learn & build appropriate Competencies Perhaps luck is what you need for a successful startup but you sure do need more than luck to account for 7 % of a country’s GDP. Aliko Dangote got an early business education in commodity trading with his uncle Sanusi Dangote at a time where the basic need of man was about the only need of 99 % of the population in Nigeria. Dangote soon took on an aura of an economic folk hero. He led the Dangote Group of Companies from a trading entity in 1977 to a multi billion dollars manufacturing behemoth that it is today retaining its business strategy of focusing on the provision of the basic human needs – food, shelter and clothing. Dangote has taken his manufacturing conglomerate outside the shores of Nigeria exploiting advantages in favourable government policies in terms of incentives and good working conditions.
Tactics (3): Trust Your Instincts “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs. While the world is still waiting to be convinced on the attractiveness of Africa for investment, Dangote sees a different picture. Dangote says “We believe in Nigeria and that is why we are actually investing heavily…… If you have confidence in the country, you believe that Nigeria is here to stay and you believe that yes, Nigeria is a good place to invest then I don’t really see any problem in investing.” He went further to say, “if you give me $5 billion today, I will invest everything here in Nigeria.”
Tactics (4): When you have a window of opportunity, go for the jugular ‘“Nothing is more critical to the Entrepreneur than the ability to recognise and exploit opportunities” - Jean Paul Lyet. Dangote Group’s goal is to dominate every sector in which it operates. Successful entrepreneurship in the African terrain has nothing to do with “fairness” or does it? About established competition in the cement industry, Dangote says “If I were the other parties, Dangote would not have been where it is today, at all. They have been here since 1956 or 1957. What have they been doing that now we are almost 5 to 6 times their size?” Tactics (5): Anything is possible through hard work, determination, a sense of vision and a pinch of luck At every opportunity, Dangote ascribes his growth, fame and phenomenal rise in the manufacturing sector to God and hard work. He says “To be successful, you have to work very hard. We thank God we have done by far more than what we anticipated. We never dreamt of becoming one per cent of what we are today. Yes, we had a big dream; I had a big dream, but I never expected we would be building a company this big.”
Monday, 9 April 2012
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Genuine success tips from a business tycoon
8 (Genuine!) Tips For Success From Asia’s
Richest Man Li Ka-shing
Moving up during the course of his life from humble circumstances as afatherless teenager to one of the world’s richest business leaders and most generous philanthropists, Li Ka-shing for many in Asia represents a model of how to succeed in the world. Books about his approach to life and business — mostly in Chinese and all unauthorized — populate business sections of Chinese-language bookstores around the world, much like books about Warren Buffett do in the United States. The Li Ka Shing Foundation, Li’s charity foundation, kindly helped me with the
following eight:
*As a leader, one should spend more time than others planning for the future.
*I do not get overly optimistic when the
market is good, nor overly pessimistic
when the market is down.
*A good reputation for yourself and your
company is an invaluable asset not
reflected in the balance sheets.
* It doesn’t matter how strong or capable you are; if you don’t have a big heart, you will not succeed.
*To be a successful manager, attitude and ability are equally important ingredients. A leader inspires others to greatness. A boss dominates his subordinates and makes them feel small.
*Though a universal formula for success is difficult to come by, caution signs for
failure are posted everywhere.Establishing a structure that serves to
minimize failure will prove to be a
shortcut to success.
*Successful managers should also have a keen eye for talent. They not only select people who are smarter than themselves, but also avoid picking corporate superstars whose reputation precedes them.
*The art of good management lies in the
capacity to accept change, and the ability
to meld new and traditional thinking.
–from the Li Ka Shing Foundation
Richest Man Li Ka-shing
Moving up during the course of his life from humble circumstances as afatherless teenager to one of the world’s richest business leaders and most generous philanthropists, Li Ka-shing for many in Asia represents a model of how to succeed in the world. Books about his approach to life and business — mostly in Chinese and all unauthorized — populate business sections of Chinese-language bookstores around the world, much like books about Warren Buffett do in the United States. The Li Ka Shing Foundation, Li’s charity foundation, kindly helped me with the
following eight:
*As a leader, one should spend more time than others planning for the future.
*I do not get overly optimistic when the
market is good, nor overly pessimistic
when the market is down.
*A good reputation for yourself and your
company is an invaluable asset not
reflected in the balance sheets.
* It doesn’t matter how strong or capable you are; if you don’t have a big heart, you will not succeed.
*To be a successful manager, attitude and ability are equally important ingredients. A leader inspires others to greatness. A boss dominates his subordinates and makes them feel small.
*Though a universal formula for success is difficult to come by, caution signs for
failure are posted everywhere.Establishing a structure that serves to
minimize failure will prove to be a
shortcut to success.
*Successful managers should also have a keen eye for talent. They not only select people who are smarter than themselves, but also avoid picking corporate superstars whose reputation precedes them.
*The art of good management lies in the
capacity to accept change, and the ability
to meld new and traditional thinking.
–from the Li Ka Shing Foundation
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
writing a winning resume
writing a winning CV is not as difficult as you might think. However, I have observed with
deep regret, several applicants submit
resume(s) that only qualify to be
thrown into the thrash without given
any further consideration. Resume- writing is a skill you fine-tune as you
practice more often. You must know
how to self-criticize, self-appraise and
edit correctly. There are so many
features to assist you along the way
both on the internet or even the most basic form of edit on Microsoft Word
(such as the review functions of spell-
check, thesaurus and comparison) Getting the perfect job is no small feat
and your resume is your first
opportunity to make a outstanding
impression on the recruiter. It is a big
deal - never trivialize its efficacy.
Here are some points to bear in mind as to prepare your resume: 1. Where the advertisement requires
specific education or industry
experience, do not apply if you do not
qualify in any respect. However, if you
qualify at least 85%, please by all
means do apply. 2. Typos and spelling errors are very
annoying to recruiters.
3. Keep it brief and simple.
4. The Career Statement or Profile
Statement is to sell your individuality.
Never blow your trumpet higher than your experience or educational
qualifications, most recruiters can see
through the charade.
5. Career Statements and Profile
Statements are required to be job-
specific. For example: Do not say you “close deals easily” unless you are
applying for a marketing job, do not
say you have impeccable
communication skills and make
grammatical errors in your resume
(talk about irony) 6. Follow specific instructions given by
the recruiter. For example: If you are
required to use the Job title as the
subject of the email, do not play funny
by adding your name to it.
7. Display your skills by employing specific description of your work
experience. (If you are seeking a
position that requires experience, This
is your strongest selling point)
8. Do not sound desperate in your cover
letter or resume and most importantly your email. You are a unique individual,
there are several recruiters looking out
for someone with your unique
personality, never sell yourself short.
(Never title your letter “Application for
any position available”) 9. When asked to send your resume by
email, send your resume as an
attachment. Do not just copy and paste
as an email (for God’s sake, it always
disjointed!) or send it as a scanned
document (haba! an electronic copy is as original as the hardcopy). This shows
you are not as computer literate as you
want recruiters to believe. (The
generally acceptable formats are pdf,
word or excel)
10. Open up an email address that sounds and looks professional not
“talktosexybaby@yahoo.com”.
(Hilarious!!) You can always use the
different variations of your name for
example omayeli.richards@yahoo.com
or Orichards@yahoo.com. 11. Never use vague career objectives
for example “To improve the efficiency
and productivity of ANY organization
that can afford me the opportunity”
Remember what we discussed about
being job-specific. 12. Don’t break your activity chain. If
you are yet to obtain admission to
school or find work, join an activity
group, work pro-bono in a charitable
organization, take a course, start a
small business and by all means get busy. Recruiters look out for innovative
personnel, not lay-abouts.
13. It is better not to have references
in your resume than to have references
that either do not know you in person
(and so cannot have any handy comment when called)or use a family
member as referee (even with a
different surname, when called
impromptu, they readily give you away)
14. Always keep track of your
applications and have a list of the position and the company you applied
to. Never call to ask which position you
applied for, it just shows you really do
not have a specific professional area of
interest.
15. A good resume must highlight your educational qualifications and details
of your work experience.
Should you require any help feel free to contact me
deep regret, several applicants submit
resume(s) that only qualify to be
thrown into the thrash without given
any further consideration. Resume- writing is a skill you fine-tune as you
practice more often. You must know
how to self-criticize, self-appraise and
edit correctly. There are so many
features to assist you along the way
both on the internet or even the most basic form of edit on Microsoft Word
(such as the review functions of spell-
check, thesaurus and comparison) Getting the perfect job is no small feat
and your resume is your first
opportunity to make a outstanding
impression on the recruiter. It is a big
deal - never trivialize its efficacy.
Here are some points to bear in mind as to prepare your resume: 1. Where the advertisement requires
specific education or industry
experience, do not apply if you do not
qualify in any respect. However, if you
qualify at least 85%, please by all
means do apply. 2. Typos and spelling errors are very
annoying to recruiters.
3. Keep it brief and simple.
4. The Career Statement or Profile
Statement is to sell your individuality.
Never blow your trumpet higher than your experience or educational
qualifications, most recruiters can see
through the charade.
5. Career Statements and Profile
Statements are required to be job-
specific. For example: Do not say you “close deals easily” unless you are
applying for a marketing job, do not
say you have impeccable
communication skills and make
grammatical errors in your resume
(talk about irony) 6. Follow specific instructions given by
the recruiter. For example: If you are
required to use the Job title as the
subject of the email, do not play funny
by adding your name to it.
7. Display your skills by employing specific description of your work
experience. (If you are seeking a
position that requires experience, This
is your strongest selling point)
8. Do not sound desperate in your cover
letter or resume and most importantly your email. You are a unique individual,
there are several recruiters looking out
for someone with your unique
personality, never sell yourself short.
(Never title your letter “Application for
any position available”) 9. When asked to send your resume by
email, send your resume as an
attachment. Do not just copy and paste
as an email (for God’s sake, it always
disjointed!) or send it as a scanned
document (haba! an electronic copy is as original as the hardcopy). This shows
you are not as computer literate as you
want recruiters to believe. (The
generally acceptable formats are pdf,
word or excel)
10. Open up an email address that sounds and looks professional not
“talktosexybaby@yahoo.com”.
(Hilarious!!) You can always use the
different variations of your name for
example omayeli.richards@yahoo.com
or Orichards@yahoo.com. 11. Never use vague career objectives
for example “To improve the efficiency
and productivity of ANY organization
that can afford me the opportunity”
Remember what we discussed about
being job-specific. 12. Don’t break your activity chain. If
you are yet to obtain admission to
school or find work, join an activity
group, work pro-bono in a charitable
organization, take a course, start a
small business and by all means get busy. Recruiters look out for innovative
personnel, not lay-abouts.
13. It is better not to have references
in your resume than to have references
that either do not know you in person
(and so cannot have any handy comment when called)or use a family
member as referee (even with a
different surname, when called
impromptu, they readily give you away)
14. Always keep track of your
applications and have a list of the position and the company you applied
to. Never call to ask which position you
applied for, it just shows you really do
not have a specific professional area of
interest.
15. A good resume must highlight your educational qualifications and details
of your work experience.
Should you require any help feel free to contact me
Thursday, 9 February 2012
psychometric, personality and aptitude test
What are Psychometric Tests? The word psychometric is formed from
the Greek words for mental and
measurement. Psychometric tests
attempt to objectively measure aspects of
your mental ability or your personality.
You are most likely to encounter psychometric testing as part of the
recruitment or selection process and
occupational psychometric tests are
designed to provide employers with a
reliable method of selecting the most
suitable job applicants or candidates for promotion. Psychometric tests are seldom used in
isolation and represent just one of the
methods used by employers in the
selection process. The usual procedures
for selecting candidates still apply, for
example: A job is advertised and you are invited to send in your resume, which is
then checked to see if the organisation
thinks that your experience and
qualifications are suitable. It is only after this initial screening that
you may be asked to sit a psychometric
test. These tests aim to measure
attributes like intelligence, aptitude and
personality, providing a potential
employer with an insight into how well you work with other people, how well you
handle stress, and whether you will be
able to cope with the intellectual
demands of the job. There are two main types of psychometric
tests: Ability Tests – Measure your ability to
perform or carry out different tasks.
Personality Questionnaires - Measure your
way of doing things, and specifically the
way you interact with your environment
and other people. Aptitude Tests
Aptitude and ability tests are designed to
assess your logical reasoning or thinking
performance. They consist of multiple
choice questions and are administered
under exam conditions. They are strictly timed and a typical test might allow 30
minutes for 30 or so questions. Verbal Ability - These include questions
which test your ability to spell words
correctly, use correct grammar,
understand analogies and follow detailed
written instructions. Numeric Ability - These include questions
on basic arithmetic, number sequences
and simple mathematics. In more
complex numerical critical reasoning
questions, blocks of information are
provided that require interpretation. Abstract Reasoning - These tests are
usually based on diagrams and measure
your ability to identify the underlying
logic of a pattern and then determine the
solution. Spatial Reasoning - These tests measure
your ability to manipulate shapes in two
dimensions or to visualize three-
dimensional objects presented as two-
dimensional pictures. Mechanical Reasoning - These tests are
designed to assess your knowledge of
physical and mechanical principles. Aptitude tests produce raw scores which
are compared to a benchmark which may
be either average scores for a particular
norm group or which may be a specific
criterion of performance. In other words,
your score may indicate that a certain ability is better than say 70% of
graduates, or is at a level which shows
sufficient competence to carry out certain
tasks required by the job. Aptitude tests are designed so that very
few people will be able to complete all of
the questions, and the problems usually
become more complex as the test
progresses. Don’t be concerned if you do
not complete all of the questions - its the number of correct answers that matters. Personality Questionnaires
The principle behind personality
questionnaires is that it is possible to
quantify your personality by asking you
about your feelings, thoughts and
behavior. You will be presented with statements describing various ways of
feeling or acting and asked to answer
each one on a scale. For example; 1. I enjoy taking risks? A) True B) False 2. I like to be the center of attention? A) strongly disagree B) disagree C)
neutrals D) agree E) strongly agree The number of questions you are
expected to answer varies from about 50
to 500 depending on the particular
questionnaire used by the employer. Personality has a significant role to play
in providing answers to questions the
employer may have regarding your
enthusiasm and motivation as well as
providing an insight into whether you are
going to fit in, in terms of your personality, attitude and general work
style. What types of employers use
psychometric tests? Psychometric testing is now used by over
80% of the Fortune 500 companies in the
USA and by over 75% of the Times Top
100 companies in the UK. Tests are used
by many employers across most sectors,
including IT, engineering, energy, banking, consultancy, accountancy, the
civil service and other public sector, fast
moving consumer goods and retail.
the Greek words for mental and
measurement. Psychometric tests
attempt to objectively measure aspects of
your mental ability or your personality.
You are most likely to encounter psychometric testing as part of the
recruitment or selection process and
occupational psychometric tests are
designed to provide employers with a
reliable method of selecting the most
suitable job applicants or candidates for promotion. Psychometric tests are seldom used in
isolation and represent just one of the
methods used by employers in the
selection process. The usual procedures
for selecting candidates still apply, for
example: A job is advertised and you are invited to send in your resume, which is
then checked to see if the organisation
thinks that your experience and
qualifications are suitable. It is only after this initial screening that
you may be asked to sit a psychometric
test. These tests aim to measure
attributes like intelligence, aptitude and
personality, providing a potential
employer with an insight into how well you work with other people, how well you
handle stress, and whether you will be
able to cope with the intellectual
demands of the job. There are two main types of psychometric
tests: Ability Tests – Measure your ability to
perform or carry out different tasks.
Personality Questionnaires - Measure your
way of doing things, and specifically the
way you interact with your environment
and other people. Aptitude Tests
Aptitude and ability tests are designed to
assess your logical reasoning or thinking
performance. They consist of multiple
choice questions and are administered
under exam conditions. They are strictly timed and a typical test might allow 30
minutes for 30 or so questions. Verbal Ability - These include questions
which test your ability to spell words
correctly, use correct grammar,
understand analogies and follow detailed
written instructions. Numeric Ability - These include questions
on basic arithmetic, number sequences
and simple mathematics. In more
complex numerical critical reasoning
questions, blocks of information are
provided that require interpretation. Abstract Reasoning - These tests are
usually based on diagrams and measure
your ability to identify the underlying
logic of a pattern and then determine the
solution. Spatial Reasoning - These tests measure
your ability to manipulate shapes in two
dimensions or to visualize three-
dimensional objects presented as two-
dimensional pictures. Mechanical Reasoning - These tests are
designed to assess your knowledge of
physical and mechanical principles. Aptitude tests produce raw scores which
are compared to a benchmark which may
be either average scores for a particular
norm group or which may be a specific
criterion of performance. In other words,
your score may indicate that a certain ability is better than say 70% of
graduates, or is at a level which shows
sufficient competence to carry out certain
tasks required by the job. Aptitude tests are designed so that very
few people will be able to complete all of
the questions, and the problems usually
become more complex as the test
progresses. Don’t be concerned if you do
not complete all of the questions - its the number of correct answers that matters. Personality Questionnaires
The principle behind personality
questionnaires is that it is possible to
quantify your personality by asking you
about your feelings, thoughts and
behavior. You will be presented with statements describing various ways of
feeling or acting and asked to answer
each one on a scale. For example; 1. I enjoy taking risks? A) True B) False 2. I like to be the center of attention? A) strongly disagree B) disagree C)
neutrals D) agree E) strongly agree The number of questions you are
expected to answer varies from about 50
to 500 depending on the particular
questionnaire used by the employer. Personality has a significant role to play
in providing answers to questions the
employer may have regarding your
enthusiasm and motivation as well as
providing an insight into whether you are
going to fit in, in terms of your personality, attitude and general work
style. What types of employers use
psychometric tests? Psychometric testing is now used by over
80% of the Fortune 500 companies in the
USA and by over 75% of the Times Top
100 companies in the UK. Tests are used
by many employers across most sectors,
including IT, engineering, energy, banking, consultancy, accountancy, the
civil service and other public sector, fast
moving consumer goods and retail.
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
New IGP to be named today.
A new Inspector general of police is said to be named very soon. AIG M.D Abubakar is said to be named the new IGP today according to reports
Friday, 20 January 2012
Bomb explosions in 4 locations in kano
Simultaneous bomb explosion in the ancient city of kano. The 1st one at police zone 1 along buk road then immigration office at farm centre, unguwa uku and sokoto road. Many are feared dead due to the heavy blast which shook buildings kilometers away. The bomb continue to explode upto the time of filing this report.
Monday, 16 January 2012
Nlc calls off strike
The combine labour; NLC and TUC have succumb to pressure from the fed govt by calling off their 9 day old strike...Mean while concerned citizens have vowed to continue with occupy Nigeria.
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