LAST week we looked at the compelling entrepreneurial success story of Alhaji Aliko Dangote and the Dangote Group of Companies.
We learnt that Mr Dangote started business in a small way, with an initial loan capital of 500,000 Naira.
We also saw how he grew the business to the extent of three subsidiaries being listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), which currently collectively account for about 25 per cent of the market capitalisation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Additionally, we also saw his passion for his country and belief in himself as well as his resolve to create wealth for the wider community of stakeholders.
One of the underlying factors fostering this entrepreneur’s business success is his peculiar dexterity and ability look at adversity differently.
He has demonstrated an immerse understanding that major technological innovations and business success is imbedded in economic adversity.
Today, we will consider a few principles and insights that we depicted from our case study. It is our hope that these two articles will contribute to foster a shift in entrepreneur paradigm thinking in entrepreneurs in our country.
Once again, we are grateful to the Dangote Group of Companies, Zambia and Nigeria for their generosity to allow us tap into the compelling success story of Mr. Dangote.
Mr Dangote says: “Besides my business investments, I am also involved in advocacy for greater participation by other investors, policy makers, financiers, innovators and communities.
I serve on the World economic forum’s Global Business Council, Harvard University’s Global Advisory Council as well as the Global Advisory Board of McKinsey, among others.
I am also a co-founder of the African Energy Leaders Group and inaugural member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition.”
We can go on to say that great entrepreneurial success is synonymous with the level of educational and skill attainment.
Intense learning, a great deal of dexterity, intense personal belief and enormous understanding of global business and industrial experience are some of the prerequisites of a successful modern entrepreneur.
We have also seen from our case study that an entrepreneur’s motive of starting a business drives and determines the magnitude and direction of the business.
Additionally, the baseline survey report by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for emerging businesses for 2003 to 2004 revealed that there were low entrepreneurship levels among owners of enterprises.
The report further revealed that 80 per cent of business executives were ‘pushed entrepreneurs’ and only 20 per cent being ‘pulled entrepreneurs’.
This resulted in low ambition and lack of innovation as well as short operation lifespan of business undertakings.
In majority of cases, people have engaged in such activities as a livelihood strategy and not for purposes of creating wealth.
As we have already alluded to, research shows that technological, innovation and business breakthroughs are synonymous with economic adversity.
Mr Dangote saw the helpless economic hardships that Nigeria was facing in the 1980’s and likened his country’s situation to that of Brazil.
He took time off his routine to study Brazil’s situation and was inspired to note that the country was learning from her economic adversities.
Mr Dangote decided to replicate those lessons of reducing import dependency and instead foster an industrialization of Nigeria.
Zambian entrepreneurs too, have the opportunity to harness the country’s economic challenges and make positive contributions of wealth creation for the nation.
Essentially, entrepreneurs can help foster the private sector driven industrialisation and economic diversification agenda.
During my exclusive interview with Mr Dangote, I had this one more question to pose to him.
“Is entrepreneurship easy?”  He answered, “Certainly not! Throughout my journey, I have encountered several challenges and obstacles and some failures too, but I have kept going”
It’s a sigh of relief to hear from a highly regarded serial entrepreneur that him too has faced insurmountable challenges, failed here and there, but ultimately succeeded!
Napoleon Hill once said “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve”
This goes to agree with our case study that Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s success was not an overnight dream; it has been a direct result of his acumen, belief and deliberate decision and intense hard work.
Dangote managed to replicate the Brazilian solutions on to the Nigerian scenario; Zambian entrepreneurs too, have a timely call and challenge to learn a number of lessons from our Nigerian colleagues.
It is also imperative for entrepreneurs to look at entrepreneurship in a broader perspective. It has the potential to create wealth and industrialise our country.
(The author is the managing consultant at G.N Grant Business Consultant, a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), a Master of Business Administration (MBA) holder and a candidate for the Herriot Watt University (Scotland) Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)