Chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Transcorp Plc, Tony Elumelu, has charged young entrepreneurs to see entrepreneur as a long-term journey.
“Stop seeing entrepreneurship as a short-term journey. Great entrepreneurs or companies didn’t build their business overnight. It is a long-term journey, so dare to dream, implement your dreams and stay focused,” he said.
He charged them to have vision of what they want to do, adding: “I grew up with certain beliefs and motivations one of which is: when you envision and take position to make that vision come through, then significant opportunities will crystallise.
“We saw banking industry that was growing very fast, and we didn’t think the requisite human capital capacity was available to support the continued support of these banks, so we took an early position in putting in place a company that would help guarantee the survival of banks, and when an opportunity presented itself we were ready for it.
He charged them to always read good books and execute ideas they found in such books, stressing that people generally conceive ideas based on history or socio-environmental factors and influences, so young people need to read a lot.
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“I would recommend autobiographies for many entrepreneurs out there, who are looking for role models. When you have a dream, you have to execute that dream by working hard, which is what differentiates a successful person from unsuccessful. Combining the ability to read with the mentality to translate an idea into reality will guarantee your success in life,” he said.
While charging the youths to seize opportunities whenever they present themselves, he advised that when running a business venture, one must be quick and fast in his ideas to know when an opportunity presents itself and how to seize it.
“They say that success depends, to a large extent, on being at the right place at the right time and this philosophy has helped us many times to take advantage of situations and turning things around,” he added.
Elumelu further advised them to be disciplined, financially diligent and being prepared even before a crisis will arrive.
He said: “Growing up, my dad always told me that if you earn a dollar and you don’t save, when you earns a $1 billion you may not be able to save too. So, that discipline of investment, keeping something and not consuming everything has helped me significantly.”
He charged the youths to work hard, insisting that only hard work separates dreamers from achievers, just as he cautioned them against measuring success in the amount of money they have in the bank, adding: “People should not measure ones success in amount of money they have in the bank, but how they have truly impacted others.”
