Business strategists reveal secret to start-up growth

An idea consultant and strategist, Bayode Oke, has urged startups to give more attention to building structures and strategies to survive and grow in the long-run. According to The PUNCH, Oke made this known at a closed boardroom event tagged, ‘Strategic foresighting: A peep into the future of startups in Nigeria’.The business strategist revealed that the major challenge that start-ups face is there’s often so much excitement at the beginning that business owners fail to realize it’s still a business, and requires a model, feasibility study amongst other things.He said, “There’s so much enthusiasm in trying to birth an idea but we fail to realise that a start-up is still a business. Regardless of the change in the name of start-up, there is a model a business should run. There are feasibility studies; there are predictions of the forecasting of the future that we must engage in to help position properly.“So, what we do most times is that we are too enthusiastic than positioned for whatever is to come because by the time ideas come, it’s really exciting but there are structures that must be in place, there are strategies that must be in place, there’s also the funding conversation.”The Chief Executive Officer of Advantage Health Africa, Adebola Adebakin, have also urged the federal government to draw closer to start-ups for better understanding and cooperation.She said, “As an experienced entrepreneur, I knew I needed to get the government on my side and so even before I launched, I went to create attention with the government. But how many people can do that? I’m much older, and much more experienced, and I have a bigger network. We have a government full of old people and far away from those who are innovating. There is a disconnect and we need a good mix in government.“I understand we should carry government along, but the reality is that they’re too far away from the startups, and because they have all the power, they can wait for you to go on and clamp you down. We’re saying rather than clamp down people like a bully or clamp down on people because you’ve got the power, seek avenues to sit at the same table with these startups.”