Dangote urges young entrepreneurs tostay focused

Foremost industrialist, Aliko Dangote, has
tasked young and upcoming
entrepreneurs to always stay focused on
achieving their dreams despite the many
challenges of doing business in Nigeria.
Dangote, who gave the advice at the
National Summit on Entrepreneurship and
Innovation, with the theme:
‘Entrepreneurship, Job creation and
Poverty reduction,’ in Lagos urged young
entrepreneurs to focus on achieving their
goals of establishing their businesses
instead of dwelling on the challenges
militating against their enterprises.
Dangote, who was represented by Group
Executive Director, Stakeholders’
Management & Corporate
Communications, Dangote Industries Ltd,
Mansur Ahmed, said that all
entrepreneurs in Nigeria face similar
challenges, therefore, focus should be on
finding ways of making the business
succeed and move forward, rather than
dwelling on constraints.
Addressing the young entrepreneurs, he
counseled them to know themselves and
identify their calling saying that ‘success
is in your calling and character’. He
challenged them to build the necessary
skills and competence required to
succeed. According to him, young
entrepreneurs should think big, dream big
and aim high.
Dangote, speaking on the theme of the
summit: ‘Entrepreneurship, Job Creation
and Poverty Reduction,’ said “the theme
is quite apt, as the three terms are clearly
interwoven. Entrepreneurs create jobs and
when people are gainfully employed, the
incidence of poverty is greatly reduced.
“This forum is coming at a time when
Nigeria has been rated the largest
economy in Africa with a gross domestic
product (GDP) of $510billion (well above
South Africa’s $350bn); the 26th largest
economy in the world; and the leading
destination for investment in Africa.”
However, he described the situation as a
curious paradox that despite these
excellent achievements, the level of
unemployment in the country remains
high.
Citing relevant reports, he said, “Reports
put Nigeria’s unemployment rate at about
24 percent. The job creation figure
released by the National Bureau of
Statistics, (NBS) in September 2014,
showed that the economy created
500,224 jobs across the country in the
first six months of 2014.
“More efforts are obviously needed in
view of the large army of unemployed
Nigerians, particularly graduates, roaming
the streets in search of often elusive
white-collar jobs. As you may well
imagine, this has a lot of security
implications for the country.”