Doing business in Nigeria is not a walk in the park; however, there are people who have managed these challenges to build a successful business.
Ibukun Awosika, the Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria is an example of a successful business woman in Nigeria. She is the founder of SOKOA Chair Centre Limited, a furniture manufacturing company, which is still functioning till date.
In a video she posted on her social media page, Awosika shares the two things she made up her mind to do when starting her business. According to her, they served as the foundation of her business.
Read what she said below:
In life, we all have different things that we believe in but our ability to have the courage to fight for the things that we believe in, in a way that no matter what is changing around us, we can stand and keep standing, is what is key.
In the world that we live in today, there is so much confusion as to who we should be, as to what we should believe, as to what we can defend. We are all struggling with whether to follow the crowd, to be part of the crowd or to have the audacity to stand for what we believe.
As a young woman of 25, when I was starting my first business, I made up my mind that two things were going to be critical to me. I am from Nigeria and there are many things that my country is struggling with in many ways but we are a great country of a great people.
I made up my mind on two things. I was never going to pay bribe in order to succeed in my business nor was I ever going to sleep with a man in order to take an opportunity. Everyone thought I was an idealistic young woman that wasn’t going to go too far holding on to those principles.
Well, its 30 years after and I have built a successful manufacturing group. On top of that, my country got to a point where corporate governance became a major part of the business language and it became important to find people who are not only good technical track record but people of integrity, of character and people that could be trusted.
Watch her speak here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4imjh2Dfdu/
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