Success Story – Superflux International Limited

December 15th, 2008

A Nigerian Company, Superflux International Limited has won the Pioneers of Prosperity Africa Awards 2008. Who says good things can’t come out of Nigeria?

I’m using this post to congratulate Superflux International for winning the Awards and also to challenge other African Entrepreneurs not to relent in their efforts. Media organizations within and outside Nigeria give wide publicity to con-artists that are bent on destroying the image of Nigeria. However, they give little or no publicity to honest entrepreneurs in Nigeria. I believe it is time to correct that.

Pioneers of Prosperity Awards Read the rest of this entry »

Have You Updated To WordPress 2.7?

December 12th, 2008

WordPress 2.7

WordPress 2.7

Nigerian Entrepreneur is now powered by the new WordPress 2.7! I first noticed the update prompt on my blog admin dashboard yesterday. It may have been there before then, but it was yesterday I noticed it. I took a mental note to Google and find out if anybody was having a hitch upgrading from WordPress 2.6.5 to WordPress 2.7 I was not ready as at then to meddle with my blog setup, having experienced some WordPress upgrade headache in time past.

This morning, I decided to take the bull by the horn and upgrade (I was ready for any eventualities that may crop up). After backing up, I started the Automatic Upgrade Plugin. Frankly, I was not expecting the upgrade to be smooth since WordPress 2.7 is a major upgrade Read the rest of this entry »

7 Mistakes Home Based Online Entrepreneurs Should Avoid

December 11th, 2008

That online business is easy to start and cost little capital to kick off does not mean you can just start one and achieve success without proper approach. Just as easy as it is to start, so it is easy to pack-up.  Experts claim that about 90% small scale businesses fail within the first five years. The failure rate for the online home based business is worse. Too many home based online entrepreneurs get confused and frustrated within the first six months and they end up packing-up.

If you are really serious about starting a home based online business and making success of it, then you need to learn from the pitfall of others so that you do not end up like them.

1. No written Goal and Plan

If you don’t know where you are heading to, you will end up arriving nowhere. Starting an online home based business without having a proper written Goal and drawing up a blueprint of how you intend to arrive at the goal is sure road to business failure! If you write out your goal and spend time developing a blueprint you will discover potential pitfalls and hurdles that you are likely to meet on the way. Also, it will be easy to evaluate your progress by comparing result with expectation.

I know you want to ask, is it necessary? Are those stuff not for big entrepreneurs? Well, you want your home-business to be as successful as that being run by those big entrepreneurs, don’t you? If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, then you must think and act like a successful entrepreneur. Read the rest of this entry »

How To Transfer Fund From AlertPay

December 8th, 2008

How Do I Withdraw Money From My AlertPay Account?

I wrote about AlertPay sometime ago in a post titled How to receive Payment Online. AlertPay, which is a Canadian Online Payment Processing Company,  is a competitor to the widely known PayPal Online Payment Processor. PayPal has refused to allow many African Entrepreneurs (especially Nigerians) to use its facility in conducting business online. Their reason being that those nations harbor SCAM Artists (I wonder if PayPal action can be justified as being fair, since every nation has their own set of black-sheep).

I strongly encourage African Entrepreneurs, especially Nigerian Entrepreneurs to subscribe to AlertPay service. Opening an account with them is free. You only pay fees when you are withdrawing or spending money from your account. This is similar to the bank charges that local banks takes for providing you with their service. You can get your free AlertPay Account by clicking any of the links or the banner below.

AlertPay

Free AlertPay Account

Well, AlertPay has proved to be a good competitor and they allow African Entrepreneurs including Nigerians to do business online using their payment processing facility. Of recent, I have received mails and IM’s requesting to know how an African Entrepreneur can withdraw fund from the AlertPay account into a local bank account.

The answer is simple and can easily be found on their website at the following url www.alertpay.com/info/worldwide.aspx (please, copy and paste url into your browser) However, for convenience sake, I will simply explain what is written there.

Depending on where you reside there are three (3) ways you can withdraw money from your AlertPay account.

1. You can request for a Check from AlertPay

You can then pay same into your domiciliary account with the local bank. All countries that are allowed to subscribe to AlertPay are eligible for this. In some countries, the cheque might take about 21days to get cleared.

2. You can request for a Direct Deposit into your local bank account

You can only use this method  if your country of residence is eligible for such service. Please note that Nigeria is not eligible for such service. Only three countries in Africa are eligible, namely South Africa, Reunion and Mayotte.

3. You can request for Bank Wire Transfer

Almost all African Countries are eligble for this, except Republic of Congo.

I do hope this brief explanation puts to rest the fear of my fellow African Entrepreneurs who want to know How they can withdraw Fund from AlertPay into their local bank account. You can get free updates to this article How to Transfer Fund from AlertPay and other Small Bsuiness Survival Tips by subscribing to Nigerian Entrepreneur RSS FEED, it is free. See you at the top, Cheers.

Update: Please note that AlertPay was bought over by Payza in March, 2012. Payza offer the same service AlertPay was offering and much more.

5 Tips For Ensuring Consistent Customer Patronage

December 4th, 2008

How Do I Ensure Consistent Customer Patronage?

An entrepreneur is consider successful when he has gotten a good number of customers who consistently patronize his products or services. It is the dream of every business man to have satisfied customers returning time and time again to make more purchases. Here are five tips that many successful entrepreneurs use to build such customer patronage.

1. Build Good Personal Relationship With Your Customers

Don’t just aim at your customer’s purse or pocket! Render quality services that will truly satisfy their need and then back that up with a personal touch that shows you are genuinely interested in their welfare. When you do this, they will come to consider you as a friend instead of a salesman that is after their money.

Remember that everyone craves for attention and recognition. Don’t wait for them to ask for it. Give them attention, make them feel special. Treat them as friends! Research has shown that about 80% of customers who complain are just seeking for attention, not that they actually have a serious issue with the product or service they are complaining about.

Don’t wait for such customer to ask for attention, give it to them cheerfully. You can be assured they will return for more.

2. Be Courteous To Customers

Treat each client as a king. Believe it or not, without their patronage, your business is as good as dead. Also note that an unsatisfied customer can cost you so much in terms of bad publicity. He or she can make you loose potential income by discouraging others from doing business with you. Unfortunately, you may not be given an opportunity to defend yourself before such potential customer pass a vote of no confidence on you and your business. Do all within your power to treat each customer with respect, kindness and offer extras as much as you can afford.

3. Business Integrity

This is your greatest asset as a business owner. Deal with clients honestly and insist that your employees do likewise. Never make a promise that you cannot keep. Always keep your promise even if it requires a sacrifice to keep your word. This will win your customers trust and make them have confidence in you.

4. Reward Clients Patronage

Devise a means of compensating clients who patronize your business often. Make them feel they are special because indeed they are special to you. They are the ones that gives your business stability. Give discount and if possible render some additional services to such consistent customer without demanding for payment. This will enshrine you to their hearts.

5. Add Value To The Society

In all your dealings, always seek for a way to add value to the society. This pay huge dividend on the long run. Human beings are intelligent, they know the difference between a business man who adds value and the one that seeks for profit.

Summary

If you make up your mind to render quality services and products, beyond what you are paid for, in due time, clients will be eager to pay you for more than you offer. Many successful businesses have built such goodwill that people are willing to pay more for their brand of product even when it is the same quality with that of a competitor. You can get future updates to this post 5 Tips For Ensuring Consistent Customer Patronage by subscribing to Nigerian Entrepreneur RSS, cheers.