Aspiring entrepreneurs have been advised to start their
businesses on a small- scale in order to guarantee their survival.

Mr Olugbenga Ogundeji, the South-West Zonal Coordinator,
Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), made the
remarks at a seminar for Nigerian entrepreneurs in Lagos.

The seminar, tagged “Business and Branding Seminar for Small
and Medium Sized Enterprises”, was targeted at helping people to develop
business ideas and to encourage them start one.

Ogundeji told the participants that entrepreneurs should
feel more financially secured than salary earners.

‘‘No employer can guarantee you job security. It is an
illusion that makes you think you cannot survive without your salary.

“You can only be financially secured when you have your own
business.

“Many businesses fail before they are actualised because people
want to start on a large scale. Many aspiring entrepreneurs do not want to
start small.

‘‘They would rather want to borrow millions of naira from
the bank in order to set up a business. Businesses should be started on a small
scale.

“It pays off to start small. It is easier to raise capital
for small businesses. Small business will grow into a larger enterprise in the
future,’’ he said.

Ogundeji said that many people erroneously believed that
successful business operators were born with magic wand.

He said that it was not true that one had to be a special
breed to become a successful entrepreneur.

The SMEDAN official said that all human beings could become
successful in business if they developed the right attitude.

Mr Nosa Iyamu, a Business Developer, told the participants
that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) were the engines that ran the world’s
economies.

Iyamu said that SMEs were very vital to a nation’s economy,
adding that SMEs were getting a lot of attention in developed countries because
of the gross income they were generating.

‘‘SMEs help in retaining revenues within the communities
that they are located. They are indigenous. They plough back their profit into
developing their host community.

“But foreign investors will invest their money in Nigeria,
but take the huge profit back to develop their own countries,’’ Iyamu said.

Mrs Angela Ihunweze, a facilitator with Fate Foundation,
said that aspiring entrepreneurs should develop their own business concepts
instead of copying pre-existing ones.

Ihunweze said that somebody conceived the idea of sachet
water, but now the market was being flooded with varieties of it.

According to her, having your own business idea will give
you the monopoly for a long time.