Opening the door to startups

With countless economies cruising on the wave of startups popularity as the new Rolling Stones, the Nigerian economy should not be left behind. The current economic and sicial realities has made it even more imperative that extra ordinary measures has to be adopted to tame the slide in the economy and the attendant effects; like unemployment, poverty and restiveness. Small businesses all over the world are the engine of the economy, accounting for the largest chunk of jobs and opportunities. Although it requires a whole gourmet of support networks to develop the culture, which often appear unclear to the everyday nine to fiver.

Accelerators are just one factor that contribute to the growth of startup businesses, yet to those outside of the community they go unknown. Part of the reason for accelerators or incubators being unknown to the ‘small towners’ or corporate employees, is the closed door policy that often excludes those that have not benefited from it. Of course, the program is designed to have an impact upon the cohort who have received funding in return for equity, so by that notion they have paid in one respect, to have the individual support and focused mentorship to best equip them in their period of rapid growth. Why should anyone else get an insight?

The public and private sectors, the government and the financial services providers have to perform due diligence on this segment of businesses to understand their operations and viability in order to join in the provision of the needed support systems, both on the social and commercial angle. It is important therefore that the awareness permeates the ranks and file of the operatives in these sectors, in order to build up the knowlege bank needed to administer this needs of startups, and support / partner with them.

Without these it will be difficult for the banks, either traditional or the special ones (like the ‘’Bank of Industries’’) to administer support to the startups. Moreso public policy recognises these channels as medium for administering supports to startups and small businesses, therefore for optimum result and efficiency, the level of ignorance must be dispelled.

The third sector financial organisations like the cooperative societies, the local personal bankers (Esusu) and the microfinance banks, would not be able to help the small businesses do enough in area we are advocating. The startups needs enermous assistance to thrive and make their desired impact in the economy, hence the need for support in other areas beyond finance, especially in the provision of incubator projects, to offers facility (office/factory/warehouse fitted accommodation), administrative, legal, accounting and business advisory services, either on social or commercial terms.

Another support that is equally important to the well being of small businesses and startups is the creation and provision of clusters. This provides opportunities for sharing facilities, information and resources among similar businesses and organisations with same interest. This is already in operation, but more is needed, especially in the area of technology based businesses, in entertainment and in the provision of needed facilities that supports this cluster areas.

Training is another important element of success in business even for the startups and small business. The organised private sector and the public sector as their social responsibility, must find a way to champion the facilitation of basic business education and entrepreneurial training to the small business owners and managers, because they constitute the larger chunk of their customers and suppliers. Enlightened stakeholders  would ultimately make better customers and dealers. The success of these small businesses guarantees more widespread provision of jobs and wealth creation, hence a more inclusive and balanced soceity where crime and restiveness will be low, with a more productivity index on a wide spectrum of products and services, thereby resulting in a buoyant economy.

The end goal for those who see the bigger picture is a thriving economy and further growth of examples like the Computer Village (a TechCity) in Ikeja – Lagos, to be found around the country. With increase of accelerator programmes reaching near on the hundred mark, it will then be fair to say we may be climbing to a peak in that regard. So whats next?

Accelerators for individuals? A collaboration of the successful programmes to match the outcomes of those in the public sector (like what the Lagos state government is doing in the area of provision of incubator centres) and how the private sector provides the cluster areas.

We are starting to see different examples bucking the trend to build their own desired approach to scaling startups to their highest net worth. The Nigeria Universities Commission with their instituting an entrepreneurship development centre in all the Universities and Polytechnics (by the NBTE) has really put forth an interesting model to challenge the framework we have become accustomed to. In that they have gone ahead to catch them young and produce the next generations of business owners and self employed in the society, thereby stemming the unemployment scourge from the roots.

The YouWin programme of the last administration and the other startup financial support windows have done alot in this regards, although much more needs to be done, above all consistency is paramount if the startups must get their desired height to affect positively the economy.

Social enterprise or social impact is not something that is often connected with the accelerator model, but the scaleability of examples like ‘give me tape’ – www.givemetap.com (in the United Kingdom) prove there is an opportunity to invest and grow socially focused business in the society.

Also in the United Kingdom, Dortforge (www.dotforge.com) is now in its second cohort of socially focused startups after a successful first round in Sheffield. Predominantly tech focused in recent years they have taken up the task of growing socially motivated startups with a key focus on technology. Now Manchester is the residence for the Dotforge Impact program which sees 8 teams take on 13 weeks of intense development at the hands of the instructors as well as the mentors and contributors.

Trialling something unknown in the realm of business accelerators, Dotforge are making their workshops open to the public, the idea is to support the wider community by making the program available to all. This approach has potential to create connections for the startup ecosystem of the community, enabling stakeholders to engage with the different sectors that make it an ever evolving startup destination. Two-fold, this unprecedented model of support is opening the doors for mentors and potential leads to enter the previously unseen accelerator environment and support the cohort where possible in a valuable exchange for everyone.

Bringing the startup community and stakeholders together doesn’t happen all that often but hopefully this initiative will break the ice. There should be a discourse on the successes and where help is needed. The hope in all these is that the open door policy will encourage that conversation to further support the wider community to grow.

The lessons here is that we can replicate this in our own environment, to grow our economy bottom up, since as President Obama remarked, ‘’the trickle down approach to economic growth strategy has failed and the bottom up is succeeding’’ let’s therefore give all it takes to support opportunities expansion in an exponential dimension in the society through business creation, employment generation and demystification of sustainable wealth creation. These will douse the restiveness among the youths and the apprehensions of the unemployed, for it creates the much needed hope that the youths desire to realise their dreams in Nigeria. Some of the criminality, that we are witnessing today in the form of kidnapping, militancy or Internet fraud, are the express manifestations of social exclusions: whether they be real or apparent.

Nwaodu Lawrence Chukwuemeka