Nigerian entrepreneur Chijioke Dozie is the co-founder of OneFi, which provides short-term loans through its Paylater mobile app. In addition to OneFi Dozie, and his business-partner brother, have launched a chain of coffee shops, tried their hand at fast food restaurants, invested in a Rwandan coffee roaster and backed a Ghanaian fruit juice exporter.
Dozie is one of the businesspeople featured in HOW WE MADE IT IN AFRICA: THE BOOK (available here), which tells the stories of 25 entrepreneurs who’ve built thriving businesses. Here are three lessons we can learn from Dozie’s business journey, as chronicled in the book.
1. Highly-skilled human resources are in short supply in many African countries. To get the best talent possible on board, companies should consider recruiting people working remotely from another country. While not suitable for all industries, such arrangements are often doable for tech companies.
2. Don’t let fear of conflict paralyse you from making tough decisions. Embrace conflict, otherwise, you won’t operate at your best or be as aggressive as you need to be.
3. Remain focused. Entrepreneurs in Africa (where there are many problems to solve) often tackle too many business ideas at once. Rather be excellent at one thing, than mediocre at many.
