Starting and running a thriving business in Africa is not for the faint-hearted. The terrain is tough, the odds are long, and the survival rate is painfully low. Every year, millions of dreams are launched as small businesses across Africa, but most never make it past the starting line. According to the African Development Bank,…
Customer expectations are evolving fast, and data-driven customer insights are critical to stay one step ahead in the marketplace. According to McKinsey, companies leveraging customer behavioral insights outperform peers by 85% in sales growth and more than 25% in gross margin. In today’s hyper-competitive business environment, understanding your customers isn’t just beneficial but essential. Customers’ data…
In today’s digital age, the rules of business have changed dramatically. For every business, the competition is no longer the shop next door but a global marketplace driven by digital disruptions. The digital era has transformed the way businesses operate, offering immense opportunities. The once-insurmountable barriers to entry have crumbled, allowing businesses to reach customers…
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept; it’s a present-day catalyst transforming businesses worldwide. For Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Africa, AI offers a unique opportunity to leapfrog traditional barriers and drive growth. By embracing AI, African MSMEs can increase their productivity, reach new markets, and experience unimaginable growth. For instance,…
The digital revolution is here, changing how businesses operate, serve their customers, and get results. The digital pressure has never been greater in human history like now. Why? To thrive in today’s digital world, you must go digital, and more importantly have a digital mindset. This age of digital transformation requires new ways of approaching your business if…
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a powerful tool that significantly contributes to the growth and success of any business. In today’s highly competitive business landscape, leveraging AI can be a game-changer for businesses to fuel their productivity and growth. There are AI-powered tools that are useful for a variety of applications in business for performance…
The digital economy is rapidly growing and transforming the way we live, work, and interact with the world. The digital age has ushered in the digital economy, and having a strong digital presence is critical to surviving and thriving today. What is the digital economy? The digital economy describes how traditional brick-and-mortar economic activities are being…
The world has witnessed unprecedented technological innovations in the last decades, leading to the development of a strong digital economy. The way we work and live has evolved significantly, owing to this digital transformation. Some of the technological innovations that rocked the last decade and radically changed our day-to-day lives for the good includeAugmented Reality,…
Today, disruptive companies are the fastest-growing in history. In reality, they are movers and shakers in the business world today. They came and smoothly disrupted the business ecosystem. They rolled their products and services that approached their market in a way that changed everything by offering products or services that lowered prices, approached their markets…
Read the Part 1 of this article here A disruptive innovation is an innovation that creates a new market frontiers and value network. It eventually unsettles an existing market and value network, displacing established market leaders and alliances, and overturns the traditional business methods and practices. No one can deny the fact that we are…
Today, emerging technological innovations are changing every aspect of businesses. The best way to describe these radical changes is disruption! Disruption is said to have occurred when a product or service fits a new or emerging market segment that is not served by existing incumbents in the industry, and it usually ride on the wings…
Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive officer (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Yves Nicolet , Consul General Switzerland in Lagos, Nigeria; Davis Cook, CEO, Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability(RIIS),South Africa, Dr Daniel Folukoya, CEO & Founder of OneDokita Healthcare Limited, Dr Tunde Adekola, Senior Education Specialist at World Bank…
See Part 1 of this Article Education: Undoubtedly, education is a powerful agent of socio-economic transformation. Educational technology and teaching methods would put nations that adopt them above others. We need a paradigm shift in our educational system with improved method of learning through the application of innovative technological development as obtainable in leading countries…
In this age of exponential technological advancement, innovation has become the prime drivers of economic growth, especially in countries that have embraced it. And for Nigeria not to be left behind, she must aggressively adopt innovation in every facet of her economy. Innovation is considered by experts to be a critical component of business productivity,…
Global electronic payment company, Visa recently organized and hosted technology correspondents and bloggers in Lagos.
President Goodluck Jonathan had on August 28, 2014, heralded the official launch of the eID card pilot scheme. As part of the pilot phase, the Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has started to issue identity cards with MasterCards’s electronic functionality to 13 million Nigerians. This initiative is the largest rollout of a biometric-based verification card…
Market your product-service benefits I would be dwelling a little more on this; it appears to be pivotal to this whole topic. According to Brian Tracy, ‘The best sales presentation shows the prospect how much better off he will be if he buys and simultaneously how much worse off he will be if…
Read Strategic Marketing Part 1 by Tony Ajah Marketing and the buyers’ personalities As people differ, so are the strategies for reaching them. Our ability to resolve this earlier would give you access into their ‘comfort-zone’ – the zone where every buying decisions are made. To achieve success in marketing, you…
Marketing is a very serious activity and it is the fundamental part of every business. It is your ability to win in the marketplace that makes you a true business winner. Most business failures known to me are mainly those relating to the market or marketing. The subject of marketing is becoming harder…
Your money Money is a powerful force in business war. Those who have it have an advantage over those who don’t have it. Nothing lubricates and eases your efforts like money. And nothing limits your efforts in business like lack of it. It takes money to go for war and win. Anybody who says…
This article started from part 1 and part 2 The advancement in human activities has also affected the level of businessing all over the world, even in our home soil. We must wake up to the fact that it is no longer business as usual. One must equally advance in tools of operations in…
Continued from Business Sophistication Part 1 The next area today’s business must be sophisticated is in their machinery. Your machines By machines, I am talking about the tools, the weapon and the technology you employ for your business war. It is a known fact that a fighter is not better than his tools;…
This is the age of human sophistication as evident in every facet of our lives, even in our business lives. The way of doing business in the 80s, 90s and at the dawn of this century are different from what we experience today. Sometimes I wonder if the likes of Lee Iacocca and Jack Welch…
Business has a life cycle. And each stage of this cycle introduces a new business order or dispensation that would partly, and in some cases totally alter what we may have known. Everything has a shelf life, whether it is a product or even a business. Undoubtedly, we are in another phase of enterprising, and…
There are emerging facts from global reports that doing business in the present age is no longer a joke, even in the most stable markets and economies such as Europe and America.Indeed, the business world is no longer fair!There have been so many political, economical, social, infrastructural, and other discomforts that have led to the…
Entrepreneurial minded talent-force Another main way of weathering the storm is to go back to the basis – entrepreneurships. Everyone has got it, not excluding you and me. There is a focus on entrepreneurship no only outside but also inside an organisation. Today’s challenging economic environment demands entrepreneurs who truly have the eagles’ eyes to…
Adopt Creative- Innovation To remain competitive in this ever increasingly aggressive business climate, enterprises have to adopt a positive attitude that tilts towards unending business model reinvention and creative innovation. True innovation means demolishing and recreating an entire business concept so that you won’t be limited by your past experience, some of which might not…
At the end of last century, everybody was apprehensive of what the new millennium would hold. One word became a buzzword, and that was being ‘Y2K compliant’. Not few of us were talking about that because of the fear of the so called ‘millennium bug’. (I know that you can recall that, and was probably…
The Connection We have learned that customers do business in pursuit of the emotional experience they seek. They return to the same businesses and become loyal to the brands because of the way these businesses and brands make them feel. And when customers feel good about your ‘product-service’, they tell their friends. Put yourself in…
At a first glance, many businesses in Nigeria have all it takes to hit it big in business locally and internationally. Of course, we are good business people with sound business acumen and savvy. I know that you will agree with me. Ironically, countless number of businesses, including those favoured by political, economical, social, technological,…