By Francis Sadhere, Warri
Master Baker and Chief Executive Officer of Gezeora Commercial Enterprises Nigeria, bakers of one of the most sought after bread in Delta, Mr Beniah Eze, has advised young entrepreneurs who want to go into any business to start small.
Eze who spoke to our correspondent in his office in Warri said that for one to be successful as a young entrepreneur, one has to grow in the business he chooses to do so that one does not get stuck in the middle of the business.
He said as a young man who decided to go into business without any experience, he started small and gradually learnt from the mistakes he made while growing in his business.
Before he became a top Master Baker in the bread industry in the state, Eze who produced two brands names of bread, Big Dad and Gezeora, said he started out as a vegetable oil dealer.
“At a very early age I discovered that whenever you’re going into business you should start small. The big structures will come later when you have enough money,” he said.
Eze also noted that money should not be a hindrance when you want to start your own business, stressing that this is one of the reasons why a lot of businesses crumble because the owners did not start small.
“My advice to young entrepreneur is that they should try to have a little knowledge about the business that they want to go into before they start.
“I will also advice that if you have a hundred thousand naira that you want to invest in a business, you should first of all invest twenty thousand naira into the business to see whether it will succeed. If it
succeeds, then you can invest more. But if it does not succeed then you can take the remaining balance and invest it into another business,” Eze said.
He also advised young entrepreneurs to be truthful to themselves saying that this will enable them to have an edge over their peers in a world that is filled with dishonest people.
“Right now we are lacking straight-forward persons in the country because everybody wants to be rich overnight. Before you set up a business you have to be a straightforward person so that at the end of the day the people you are going to employ will not do to you what you have done to others,” he advised further.
The Warri based business Mogul also advised young entrepreneurs to have the spirit of learning from the scratch before they go about opening a new business.
Speaking on some of the challenges in his line of business, Eze said power supply and how to manage his staff were his greatest Challenges in the business.
“Our greatest challenge is supposed to be power, but right now we no longer look at it as a challenge because the whole country is having the same challenge. We cannot keep shouting power failure everyday. We just have to find a way around it if we want to survive.
“Staff management is one of our challenges because these days it’s not easy to see sincere people. Though we have about a hundred staff, managing them is a big challenge.
“Access to raw materials is also no longer a challenge because I discovered that when you are sincere with your suppliers they will provide you with the raw materials even of you do not have money,” Eze said.
On how he manages to survive in an industry that has so many competitors, Eze said he had to devise new market strategies to be above his competitors.
“Competition is one thing that allows you to grow as a businessman because any business you are doing and there is no competition, then it shows that you are not doing well or you are not the best.
“If you don’t have any competition, it will make you to be comfortable where you are and you may not want to grow. So competition is very good in business,” he said.
“If you have a good product but don’t have a good marketing strategy, your products will suffer. Some people just produce bread und wait for their vendors to come and pick them up,” Eze said.
He noted that when he discovered that this system was not going to grow his business, he decided to employ sales representatives who he pays to take his products out.
He said this has enabled him to supply his products to the people without stress adding that it has also made him to be one step ahead his competitors.
