History was made in the history of football. I mean the European Super Cup between Liverpool and Chelsea. We had female officials in an action-filled contest. Stephanie Frappart, a female French referee, officiated the match with the help of her assistants Manuela Nicolosi of Italy and Michelle O’Neill from the Republic of Ireland. 

They became the first women officials to take charge of a major men’s European match. Judging their performances in the game, they didn’t put a foot wrong. Their calls in the match were spot on. 

Could this be the revolution that we’ve been waiting for? 

Gender equality is what we’ve always craved for and it’s a welcome development from the world of sports as we finally saw women being trusted to take part in a men’s game. However, we don’t want this to be limited to sports alone, we want to see this in different spheres of life. 

We want to see many female Presidents, governors, the board of directors, and other sensitive positions in the world.

We want a world where everyone is seen equal irrespective of gender. Of course, it’s a big ask but we can get there gradually. 

Perhaps if we change our mindset, it will change our way of thinking. It will change our view of women, especially in Africa. We need to start seeing women as leaders and not a baby-making factory. We need to start trusting them with sensitive positions. 

I was excited when I saw Obiageli Ezekwesili also known as Oby Ezekwesili contested for the post of presidency in Nigeria, but eventually stepped down to some reasons best known to her. As a Nigerian, I wanted it. 

Would I have voted for her?

Yes, I would have voted for her. If she could be entrusted with the post of Vice President for the World Bank’s Africa Region in 2007, why can’t she build a falling nation like Nigeria? 

A country like Nigeria needs a great leader that understands how to build the country’s economy from scratch, and a candidate like Oby would have been a blessing. But it’s not over yet, Oby has laid a foundation that every woman can build on in the future. 

Hillary Clinton was another strong woman that could have been the American president but lost to Donald Trump. 

Great women like Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Ariana Huffington and many more, have all shown that women can be successful leaders. 

It’s high time Africans overlook gender and give women a chance to also lead nations without bias or prejudice. If they can become successful entrepreneurs, they can also be successful leaders of nations. 

But the big question remains, ”are we ready?”

Are you burned out as an entrepreneur? Here’s why;

Firstly, I’d say this piece is as golden as the motivations you prefer reading as a wantpreneur and it is more like an exposition and a safety net for you to keep you from being burned out knowing the reality of entrepreneurship.

I’m an African and Nigerian to be precise, and in my two years journey into entrepreneurship, I have had some few discoveries that if I had them earlier, I might have been saved from a lot of mess, debts, depression and frustration. There’s this subtle feeling that once we have an idea, succeeding is not far and that if we keep at it, winning is sure.

Statements like “Be consistent, you’d surely win”>

I’m here to tell you that there’s so much in this statement that is not revealed. All we see are successful entrepreneurs whom we admire pose in front of their cars and houses type such statements. Consistency might ruin you if you’re being consistent on the wrong trail. Entrepreneurship has its dark side and I’m here to get you aware of them and what you can possibly do to stay safe.

1. Optimism and Realism are two different words: This point is golden. When starting out, it is good to be optimistic and if you’re starting out as a team, having an optimist will save you so much stress, will keep the energy burning, will keep hope alive and will keep the company on wheels. However, there’s a need to always rely on realism.

Optimism will say it’s possible to build a house on the sun, let’s try it. Realism will say, the temperature of the sun can melt the earth if it moves some kilometers closer. Now, that’s not pessimism, it’s being real. Another good thing about optimism is that it helps see bright ideas but it can be harmful because you’d be in a rush to get it done.

This happens a lot during the planning stage as ideas begin to pop out of your mind, you’re in a haste to get them executed. Out of optimism, you begin to write down accomplishing huge feats within seconds. Realism will tell you to take it one at a time. After my experience so far, when I discuss with entrepreneurs to give them pieces of advice, I tell them to always mark one month as ten months.

2. Expectations are different from reality: Now, to further explain why they should mark one month as ten months, I have realised that things won’t always go as planned and I’m not trying to sound evil but that’s just as it is. There’s one stone that’s always left unturned which will cause a delay and give so many lessons. Whenever you have an idea in your head, put it down on paper, set out time frame but also have it at the back of your mind that one month on paper is ten months in reality.

This simply means that you should not be hyper-excited about ideas even when you have them on paper. Even Elon Musk sometimes delays in finishing his goals on time. This means that you shouldn’t announce your launch date unless you have really completed 90% of the work that needs to be done and not when it’s still on paper. I have learned my lesson the hard way.

3. Huge investment may not come on time: Well, well, this is another golden point. If you are thinking of delving into entrepreneurship, then you should practise the habit of saving ahead before you go into it; don’t go on an empty pocket. It’s either you have a side job, hustle that puts food on your table, keeps cost running, or you have some huge money you have saved overtime.

Like I said, optimism might want to make you go all in hoping that in a few months, you’d hit it big. In few months, you might as well be totally depressed over huge amount of debts you need to repay. Have a safety net while bootstrapping because it’s obvious that bootstrapping is the best option at the early stages. Safety net means have something you can always fall back on, your parents, your side hustle, your side job or your partners.

The funny thing is that despite your side hustles, you might still always see your account in negative because you’re running, spending and all. It is rather advisable to know you have a source of income anyways. I learned this the hard way and I have seen many wantpreneurs also make similar mistakes. In order to save yourself from battling with debts while running, take this advice.

4. You’d be alone: I believe you must have read this a lot on quotes and it may just sound like a normal quote to you. There’s a huge reality behind these words. In Africa, starting a business as a young fellow or even delving into entrepreneurship is not often celebrated seeing several risks around it. The advice you’d often receive is to get a job. Nobody will believe in you at first, even down to your family, so you must have your mind ready to face the worst else you’d always slip into depression, pressure, frustration.

The average African believes in getting jobs and your friends who rush to get jobs may begin to make it faster than you because they have a steady source of income. They now save their money and invest while you don’t. If you don’t know that this reality exists, you may want to begin to question your existence.

Now that you’re aware that entrepreneurship has its dark sides, I hope you build your mind to staying strong on the journey.

Nigenius is a smart digital assistant which enables Nigerian teachers to improve their students’ performance and learning outcomes by providing quality teaching and learning contents. It is the premier teaching and learning solution for private and public, primary and secondary schools, in Nigeria and the West African sub region. It wants to be the medium for school administrators to maximize the productivity of their teachers in the classroom.

Nigenius provides teachers with access to well researched lesson plans and teaching resources quickly and efficiently through their mobile devices via the Google Playstore. Teachers with Nigenius  spend less time searching through multiple web pages and rather devote it to engage students with quality content from the app. To solve the common problem of outdated teaching and learning content which is prevalent in the Nigerian educational sector resulting in inefficient teachers and students, Nigenius updates its content regularly so that teachers are abreast with the latest developments in efficient teaching.

It provides teachers with the ability to search and access content which is specific to their teaching and learning objectives with quality assurance on the lesson plans by different teachers which is regularly updated for positive classroom engagement.

Nigenius operates a monthly subscription service with single and multi user subscription packages. It’s goal is to create a classroom leveraging technology for teachers to have access to the best teaching and learning resources on the go.

 As a result of ill trained teachers, Nigeria has had to grapple with a high illiteracy rate because an inefficient teacher cannot impact the pupils with knowledge to make them globally competitive. With Nigenius, it is hoped that the standard of education in primary and secondary schools in the country will be bench-marked positively in line with global standards for the 21st century.