In 2019, I wrote about Copia: ‘This is the most potent ecommerce model in Africa at the moment; Copia is on a mission…. Largely, Copia is a consumer goods catalog and delivery service for Base of the Pyramid consumers in the developing world. It leverages mobile technologies and a network of agents serving as distribution points of aggregation to make a wide range of quality goods accessible to rural and peri-urban consumers.

‘Through this mechanism, Copia has fixed the marginal cost problem, and that makes its model supreme. It does everything through aggregation which means it can pursue a near-zero marginal cost in its scaling.’

Today, Copia just raised $50 million to begin that scaling: “Kenyan B2C e-commerce company Copia Global has raised $50 million in a Series C equity round led by Goodwell Investments.”

What it does looks like agency banking: “The agent network model allows customers to choose how they interact with Copia – online or offline. The e-commerce company pays agents a commission on every sold product, increasing their income by more than 30%. And of the 30,000 agents of the company, 77% are women”.

“Copia’s e-commerce model is built for the unique requirements of the African market and will save many Africans a lot of time and money. We see it as one of the next big leapfrogging technologies; just like mobile phones leapfrogged landlines and solar power leapfrogged the grid, Copia is leapfrogging retail,” Els Boerhof, the managing partner at Goodwell Investments, said in a statement.

Now you know the B2C ecommerce model  that is working in Africa. Here, humans are the postal service systems, the shops, the platforms, etc through an orchestration powered by technology, removing all elements of marginal cost challenges.

If you are checking why I called this B2C company the best in Africa, read this line from  the TechCrunch piece:”… Western-style e-commerce companies such as Jumia operate unprofitably. The African e-commerce giant has not turned a profit since going public as its losses continue to increase. “Copia, on the other hand, runs a profitable business because of how it approaches the market. The e-commerce company focuses on customers in rural areas that struggle to access the same goods and services in terms of choice, price value and reliability that similar consumers in urban areas or of higher income levels can access.” Yes, the company is profitable unlike peers which run the Amazon-like business model in the continent.

I have often heard a lot of entrepreneurs say that “entrepreneurship is hard”. Anytime I hear or come across such statement, I am always bewildered if they are being honest, or it is a gimmick deployed by them to discourage others from venturing into it.

A look at the glamourous side of Entrepreneurship especially from the outlook will make you want to quit your 9 to 5 job If you have got one and start a business immediately, even though it is not as easy as it looks. Who doesn’t want to be the next Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Dangote, etc?

These are great entrepreneurs doing great in their respective fields. Their net worth alone can send chills down one’s spine. Asides from the fact that a lot of people are inspired and motivated by the glamorous lifestyles and net worth of great entrepreneurs, there are still some other factors that motivate people to become entrepreneurs even though every entrepreneur says it is hard.

Below are five(5) of them

1. The Freedom It Provides

One of the major reasons why a lot of people still go ahead to venture into entrepreneurship is because of the freedom it provides. Everyone wants freedom. As humans, the craving for freedom is a universal human trait which is the reason why most people become entrepreneurs, simply because they want to attain freedom, especially from corporate employment.

Most people who venture into it want to have full control of their time, without anyone having to boss them around or confine them to a particular space, doing repeated jobs over and over again. Being self-employed gives them unlimited options to explore life especially taking vacations or spending quality time with their families.

It’s an entrepreneur’s dream to be in charge of their schedule, unlimited earning potential, and the freedom to choose whatever thing they have set their mind to achieve.

According to research, it is reported that most entrepreneurs choose freedom over money. Despite reporting more day-to-day stress, lower earnings and more hours worked than people employed by others, research shows that entrepreneurs are more satisfied with their jobs and happier in general.

Entrepreneurs who work for themselves are happier because of the freedom that working for themselves permits. Read an article that stated that although people who work for themselves earn less, have fewer benefits, and experience more on-the-job stress than those who work for others, a majority of Americans would prefer to be Entrepreneurs because workplace autonomy is a powerful motivator.

2. Control Of Income/ Financial Independence

I will say another major force that makes people go into entrepreneurship is the fact that they are in control of their income. They get to spend any amount they want on anything, without anyone questioning their spending habits. All entrepreneurs love the fact that they are in charge of paying themselves and can determine how much they want to earn.

Unlike a typical 9 to 5 job where they usually have to wait for a paycheque to come, especially at month-end which they find so rigid.

Many people also commit to being an entrepreneur because they want to attain financial independence. Although it’s true that getting a business off the ground can take years before it booms, the ultimate goal of an entrepreneur is to take control of his or her income. One of the benefits is that as the business grows, so does their income.

3. They Never Feel Under Valued

People venture into entrepreneurship because by becoming one they will never at any point feel undervalued. Unlike in a work environment where most employees who possess valuable skills oftentimes remain dormant because they have a boss that doesn’t pay attention to their abilities.

They have unique skill sets beyond the job description, that if eventually they are allowed to showcase their skills, they can improve the firm greatly.

The case is different in entrepreneurship because If an entrepreneur comes up with an idea that can make his business better, they implement it right away. They don’t have to hope and wait for someone in a higher position to give them the time and chance to listen to their ideas, which sometimes gets overlooked and ignored.

These actions have often led to cases where many talented individuals have had to resign from their place of work, simply because they proffered solutions on how to move the firm forward but were not given the attention. Some offer so much value to a company, yet they earn meager pay or feel they are worth more than what they earn.

Unlike in entrepreneurship where your input determines your output. The energy and idea you put in is what you get.

4. Passion-Driven

Many people venture into entrepreneurship basically because they want to follow their dreams and fulfill their passion. They don’t see themselves working in a corporate organization no matter how high the pay is, other than doing something they are passionate about.

They feel fulfilled following their dreams regardless of the hurdles they face. There are cases where people have had to resign from high-paying jobs, to start a business they are passionate about.

No matter how hard entrepreneurs describe Entrepreneurship to be, those who are passionate about becoming one are not bothered about such statement, they still go ahead to venture into it.

If you come across an entrepreneur who is passionate about what he does, he is not necessarily concerned about the money, because he derives joy in doing what he does.

According to Steve Jobs, he says ” The only way to do great work is to love what you do. Research shows that passion is a key predictor of entrepreneurs’ creativity, persistence, and venture performance. That is to say, the more passionate an entrepreneur is, the more likely they are to succeed.

Passion is the fuel that drives and inspires people towards specific goals no matter how unlikely or difficult the situation might be.

5. Job Security

Of course, entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, but there is no doubt that the path of entrepreneurship provides as much more job security than a traditional payment.

The stress of climbing the corporate ladder is real. You never know whether you’ll be promoted or whether you might get laid off.

These life-altering decisions are in someone else’s hands and beyond one’s control. It is always wise to prepare ahead for unseen circumstances. Life can happen at any time.

People who venture into entrepreneurship do so because, when they start their own company, they know they are investing in their future and job security. Moreover, should they choose to start a family business, they could be providing jobs for other members of their family, as well. Their destiny is in their own hands no more layoffs in the future.

All they would focus on would be how to grow the business, and when they eventually can’t continue the business, it can be passed on to the next generation thereby securing their future. 

Conclusion

Aside the glamourous part of entrepreneurship, I have the inkling that a lot of people who want to venture into it, won’t be deterred by this statement “Entrepreneurship is hard” simply because looking at the points above-mentioned they are quite convincing that entrepreneurship offers a lot of benefits/advantages.

To some, becoming an entrepreneur might seem like a scary and high-risk taking journey, but to others who are determined, this unpredictable adventure seems like the perfect path that their life should take.

We’re excited to unveil a new program in Tekedia Institute – the Tekedia Industries. The program will focus on specific industrial sectors and domains, providing practical world-class playbooks on how entrepreneurs, builders, makers, project champions, workers, etc in the industry will understand it, and find value therein.

Raphael Adegboye MSc., P.Ag. of Scotiabank Canada created the foundational courseware of the Agriculture track on a lead course titled “Agribusiness Strategy: How to Succeed in Today’s Agribusiness Changing Ecosystem”. It is a masterpiece from a professional who actually studied agriculture at one of Africa’s finest universities, Obafemi Awolowo University. The cases will transform your perspectives.

Other tracks are Digital Technology Business and New Energy Business tracks. With Tekedia Industries, learners will have opportunities to also schedule one-on-one Zoom sessions with industry leading experts in our 200+ faculty.

At Tekedia Institute, we support  Africa’s knowledge capability and do hope that we will play a role as the continent rises. Tekedia Industries goes live on Monday.

There is strong research evidence to suggest that work culture in an organization might be one of the most underrated influences on a business’s success. Culture is the way of life of a group of persons like we were taught in school. Work culture in your organization would thus be the way of life or attitude towards work among the staff of a firm, and this is the first in a series of different work cultures.

An HR officer had her sister stopover at her office for a brief visit. What was supposed to be a brief visit ended up lasting from about 1:00 pm till the close of work, and with her door slightly ajar, the rest of the staff could hear the rings of their laughter throughout the office. No one said a thing about it, even though glances were exchanged.

By the next week, the receptionist had a male friend stop over to see her. He sat at the reception with her for the better part of four hours, and they kept chatting. Even though she was sitting in front of a desktop and holding a mouse, it was easy to see that she was doing more of the ‘gist’ than she was working.

Before long, every staff seemed to be having one visitor or the other dropping in to say hi, and no one said anything about it. When it was time for the third quarterly report of the year, it became clear that results have been gradually dwindling without much notice. One failed deadline here, another missed target there and every team’s performance had dropped by at least 30% over the space of two quarters.

What went wrong? It was the work culture.

One critical aspect of work culture is how employees spend their work hours. How do you ensure they are making the most of the work hours to the advantage of the team? Already there is some legislation here and there suggesting that employers should not reach out to their staff outside work hours. But how do we ensure that during the work hours, employees are actually working?

One aspect of work culture is that of receiving visitors during work hours. It is sad to know that most firms really have no clear policy on this, while some are just extreme. There is no regulation as to whether employees can receive visitors, and for how long. There is no one to say what the consequences would be if an employee spends more than say 10 minutes with a visitor. Everything is just left to assumption and in these cases, it takes one person doing the wrong thing to turn the firm inside out. You walk into some offices and you see staff perpetually on their mobile phones and you have to wonder if that is where all their tasks are confined to.

On the other end, we have some firms that have very harsh policies in this regard. Some go as far as refusing staff from making or taking any personal calls during work hours. I saw a post of a teacher who said that they had to submit their phones when signing in at the resumption of work and pick them up at the close of work. While this may help reduce distractions and probably increase productivity, I think it may be a little on the extreme.

What should startup entrepreneurs do?

Have a defined work culture. The internet and even the environment around us is rife with distractions. It only takes your eyes straying off work for a minute and you may struggle to return to work. Without a clearly defined policy on this, you may spend so much paying staff who would not be maximizing their actual potentials. Depending on the sector you find yourself in, you would have to define what would work for your business and what will not. It is not a one-size-fits-all scenario so I cannot tell you what to use.

Be careful not to make it too extreme. But also, do not leave it to assumption. Make it clear upon recruitment that you are particularly concerned about what they do during work hours. Culture is never left to assumption, and if you don’t fix it from the beginning, you will have a hard time making a change much later on. There is something about the culture that is contagious so that once new staff is recruited, they observe the older staff and simply pick it up from there. If a new staff resumes with so much zeal to work and prove his worth, it is difficult to keep that enthusiasm, if all he sees around are older staffs that do the barest minimum.