Hi there!

Welcome to this new empowerment column, ?BUSINESS LAUNCH PAD?, anchored by yours sincerely.

For those who may not know much about me, I am a philosopher, development economist and international bestselling author.

I am the founder of Ultimate Entrepreneurs Academy, an organisation that trains students, undergraduates and even workers on how to become successful entrepreneurs. I am also the Public Relations Officer, African Institute of Consultants and Profit Managers (AICPM).

I am the author of the book, Dangote?s Ten Commandments on Money (Lessons on how to make money from one of the world?s richest men), which was rated as one of the best development books in the world by Wall Street Journal, the biggest and highest circulating newspaper in the United States of America. Here in Nigeria, the book was adopted as a work book for grooming entrepreneurs by the Small/Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), the Federal Government agency in charge of small and medium businesses in Nigeria.

My other bestselling books include, Nigerian Billionaires and Boardroom Gurus Speak on How to Start and Succeed in Business, How to Become the Best That You Can Be, The Lies That Have Kept Success Away From Your Business ? Know The Truth, How to Become a Millionaire in Your 20s or early 30s, and Mastering Your Destiny, among others.

I have a passion for mentoring business people. Along this line, I recently bagged a doctorate degree in Consulting and Profit Management from Brainae University in the State of Delaware, USA.

Since then, I have asked by a lot of people: Why Consulting and Profit Management?

The answer is simple: Experience, interactions and research have shown me that most people don?t design their lives, rather they react to them.

They wake up every morning and instantly dive into chaos and at the end of the day, they?re exhausted. But despite all the headaches, all the sweats, all the troubles, they haven?t moved the needle on what actually matters in their lives and businesses.

However, rather than see themselves as the problem, such people would be blaming everything outside of themselves ? government, economy, competitors, enemies ? name them.

What most people have failed to realise is that if you fail to design your life, someone else will design it for you.

Put in another way, if you fail to design your life, you end up working all your life for those who have designed theirs.

That was what led to my going into consulting and profit management ? to help in planning lives and businesses.

Tony Robbins declared thus: ?If you don?t decide what your life is about, the world will decide for you.? He also said that, ?life is far too precious to live on someone else?s terms.?

In this part of the globe, real mentors are like forex; not always available and even when available, unaffordable.

The highly successful and influential ones are almost invisible.

How many times do we see Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Tony Elumelu, Abdul Samad Rabiu, Femi Otedola and the rest of the money bags?

That is why a lot of Nigerians are not getting the right motivation and inspiration, because the easiest way to success is to model oneself after the character, lifestyle and work ethic of an already successful person so as to achieve what he or she has achieved.

As someone who has had the privilege of having one-on-one interviews with over 500 highly successful and influential people all over the world on their secrets of success in life and business and have written bestselling books, I have decided to create on this platform, a column to be used in sharing the knowledge that I got from this class of people.

BUSINESS LAUNCH PAD is not just to help you start and run a successful business, but also to help you manage the success because getting to the top is not always the problem but remaining at the top.

So if you are struggling in your business or you want to take your business to the next level, join me on this platform every Saturday as we navigate the Intricacies, obstacles, stumbling blocks and ups and downs of businesses, the more reason why somebody said that it is far easier to gain admission into Harvard than to succeed in business, most especially in an unpredictable economy like Nigeria.

Once more, you?re warmly welcome to BUSINESS LAUNCH PAD. Please keep a date every other Saturday. God bless you as you do.

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