Public outcry has continued to trail the newly introduced policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), that limits over the counter and ATMs withdrawal to N100,000 per week for individuals and N500,000 for corporate organizations.

The policy also affected Point of Sale (POS) operators. POS withdrawal was limited to N20,000 per day for individuals and N100,000 for corporate bodies, greatly downsizing the operators’ turnover.

Consequently, a group under the aegis of Point of Sale (POS Operators) has in protest over the policy, petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Friday, the National President of Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN), Victor Olojo, said that if the central bank proceeds to implement the policy, more than 1.4 million bank agents will lose their jobs.

In the petition dated 16 Dec. 2022, the group asked that the policy be reviewed upward, allowing the maximum withdrawal limit of N500, 000 weekly for individuals and N3 million for corporate organizations.

“AMMBAN believes the cashless policy in its current state hasn’t provided for Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria adequately.

“Even as the CBN Governor made reference to the fact that Mobile Money and Bank Agents are spread across the country is one of the reasons why he strongly feels the country is ready for the cashless policy, the document puts the jobs of over 1.4million agents on the line in its present state.

“This and many other germane reasons informed the decisions of the Association to engage the CBN, the National Assembly and other relevant stakeholders.

“This is to ensure that while we show support for the cashless policy of the government through the CBN, the policy should recognize the categorization of Agents’ accounts as it does individuals and corporate entities,” he said.

But AMMBAN’s concern has been noted by the National Assembly. The House of Representatives had last week, summoned the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, to answer relevant questions respecting the cash withdrawal policy. The House had asked the governor to suspend the policy in order to protect Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), especially in rural areas.

“I do not know how my people will go and change this money, I do not know where my people will go and get it; the best we have is the POS, our people still deal in physical cash.

“The issue affects everyone, most of our people are in rural areas and everything is being done in Naira and cash and somebody will wake up and make a policy that will start tomorrow, no consultation.

“People have forgotten that 80 to 90 percent of our people are in the rural areas, we must do something to save the situation, if there were enough banks and facilities, why not, it will work,” Rep. Rep. Aliyu Magaji lamented.

On Wednesday, the Senate similarly asked the central bank to considerably adjust the cash withdrawal limits. Although Emefiele had acknowledged the possibility of the withdrawal limits being adjusted upward, the CBN governor did not honor the summon of the National Assembly to give further details about it.

You have successfully taken your business from stage zero to the first stage. Now you have a product live in the market, some customers, maybe a couple of partners, and even a financier. What next? It is now time to move the business to the next stage – thousands of customers, millions of dollars in revenue, a larger team, maybe more financiers, and so on.

Note first that there is no saying how long the startup stage would or should last. It can be a year, two years, five years, or even more. It is evident to everyone on the team when it is time to move on to the growth stage.

Here are three skills you need to grow your business from the launch stage to become a successful company.

Sales

You must work on sales to grow revenue from hundreds of thousands into millions. Get more customers, increase your market share, expand into new areas, and boost sales. You will need the skills to execute these at the growth stage.

Customer service

This is closely linked to the former. As you onboard new customers, you must develop a customer service culture that will keep your customers glued to you. There will be constant competition with other brands upping their game to give as much or even more than you do. It may require you to upgrade your solution to keep up. They become your evangelists if you can keep your customers happy and satisfied.

Team building and people management

You will work with a larger team than you did at the beginning. Depending on your model, this may be completely remote, physical, or hybrid. It will take more from you to manage a team of 100 people than to manage a group of 10. That is why I mentioned in a previous post that one person might not have all the skills, but in some cases, they do. You may be good at building and working very well with a team of 10 people, but not a group of 100.

One thing you should keep in mind is creating a sense of mission that brings them together. A lot at this stage will depend on the culture you built with a more minor team. How you develop and treat your team members is very important.

There are other skills you will need as you gradually grow your business from the launch stage to become a successful company. Things like risk management, resource management, and so on. Most of them may have team members with that expertise, but you have to be directly involved in sales and people management. You should know what is going on with your sales team at every point because the business is going nowhere if there are no sales.