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In this interview with Oluwakemi Abimbola, the Founder, Startup Kano, Aisha Tofa, speaks on how to be successful as a young entrepreneur
What motivated you to start this journey of entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship for me was a result of my upbringing. My mum has always been into so many businesses; she is never idle and she always wants to make things better and easier. I grew up with the same mindset and I started at the age of 16. And then, I fell in love with technology seeing how it makes life easy and creative!
What has been your experience in helping startups in Kano?
Startup Kano has always been my get away. I so much love what I do that I don’t like weekends to come. This is our seventh year but I still love Mondays! It has been a wonderful experience especially in a community with so many societal and traditional challenges. So my keen experience is not even the work journey, but the fact that I get to see how the society works, how people think, and how we are able to make it in the ecosystem with all the biases, steretotyping and all. It is an amazing experience because I see how talents are being built, I see innovation and creativity and it gives me joy!
What are some of the challenges common to these startups regarding the problems they want to solve and how have you been able to help them overcome them?
Mostly, it has always been funding for 80 per cent of the startups. People come with amazing ideas and feel it is only money that can make it realistic. But that’s not the fact and that’s not how it works. One thing we always do is show them that their passion must build the idea, not money, because there is joy in the journey and they need to have a story to tell. So we support then to bootstrap or start leaning. We incubate them and then show them how to get the funding. If you want to build a solution, you need to make it a part of you, you must be passionate, you must sacrifice and you must be focused. Nothing good and worthy comes easy. You must learn skills, develop yourself and put yourself out there to network and show what you have. Nobody will invest in an idea or a person that doesn’t have a compelling story or nothing to show but just the idea.
How can startups position themselves for funding opportunities especially from overseas?
They need to invest in themselves, be humble, network, work smart, and build real and innovative solutions. Startup founders need to understand that ideas are cheap and free, so they must be willing to be open because I know many people that lost opportunities because they feel someone will steal their ideas.
Most startups die within their first few years. Why?
I feel it’s because they only want to make money. If there is passion, value, and patience, thing could be different. One can’t just build a startup because they feel like! There are processes to this. Structure, policies, team, skills, networks, strategies, value, that must be put in mind. And there is pivoting, if plan A doesn’t work, pivot to something that will fund it. So one must really brace up because it is not really all fun in the beginning especially in a community like ours where the gap is really huge in terms of investment and growth.
What inspired you to start the Women Founders Group?
Women are special, but also under represented and gender equality in this case (business) is a huge problem. Also, the North has been left behind and women need to have a safe space to be innovative and creative, to build businesses and be heard/compete globally. This is why we started, to give a platform for women to achieve economic resilience.
Are there unique challenges facing female business owners?
Mostly, the challenges are mentorship, building a structured business and investment. These are key things that every realistic business needs to achieve and have in place and they are the problems the business owners are facing.
In your opinion, what are the best ways that government can support MSMEs?
The startup bill is here and ready, I think it will help a lot and at the moment, we are working for Kano State adoption which will ease a lot of things for business owners. Good policies are the best ways to support businesses and everything follows in terms of communication, up-skill, grant opportunities etc.
What do you consider the investment opportunities in Northern Nigeria?
At this point it is not favourable but we are getting there gradually. There is information gap, lack of inclusion, low representation, and insecurity that the social media always put out there about Northern Nigeria which is very false in many cases.
What do you think woud be the long-term aftermath of the Naira crunch and fuel scarcity that occurred recently?
I believe Nigeria will be great again. The government is working and a new government is coming with a Renewed Hope. I am sure these problems will soon be a story. Nigeria won’t forever be in a mess by God’s grace.
What do business owners need to stay motivated?
The best I can give here is they should always remember why they started, how far they have come and never stop learning. With these, you will surely keep moving because they will always open new challenges and experiences for them.
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