Being a woman and daring.

Being a woman and daring to run a successful business may still sound and seem like a ‘pipeline dream’ for many females who hold such aspirations considering that to a large extent business is still male dominated and to many women this is a discouraging impediment yet only a few dare to dream and persist in pursuit of success and such is Alsu E. Odemwingie…

Alsu, 35, a single mom of 2 .  She is the CEO of a company called StartupSity, An entrepreneurship  coaching business testing incubator. Much of Alsu desire to succeed in life can be traced back to the coaching she received from her father... “My dad had a special skill when it came to coaching us  in order to instill survival instincts in us. I was only 13 years old when he first taught me the art of negotiating and bargaining. On three different attempts, he sent me to purchase groceries and ask me to bring back his change and I had to negotiate and bargain with the vendors in order to achieve that. Later when I was 21 we discussed this experience which allowed me to be more courageous about achieving goals. The natives of the Asian state love to bargain and love a good bargainer because it’s the way they connect mentally. Communication may be daunting for the average person who wants to get things off the shelf but in the Asian and African environment bargaining shows your level of intelligence, she explained boldly.

When asked why she got into business in the first place one would expect a response similar to why some of us are essentially in business. ‘I never got into business with the intention or wanting it to be successful in terms of the myth around making tremendous amount of money; I just wanted to help my friends and mothers to be able to deal with change and showing them how to transition. I was just busy as a kid at 18 trying to find a place for myself and share the good news that everything is possible if only they try. I didn’t realize and probably still don’t the extent of my success. What keeps me going is the need to reach out.

Alsu, a part time blogger and internet surfer says she spends most of her time trying to instill some skills she learnt from her father through her company StartUpsity which provides the following services:

Coaching, counseling, consulting for skill acquisition for students, parents, and physically disabled who need to grow.

She asserts that just because someone has one arm or a leg doesn’t remove away the brain and creativity. Students are very smart. They just need clarification on matters concerning the work world. And mothers are the most loyal but they lose focus when they have a family to manage.

Design, Build & Management for startup businesses. 

She motivates this function of her business by emphasizing that startup companies are predominantly one-man businesses. Some of the startups manufacture products from their kitchen or garage, and sell to the surrounding neighborhood. The products are predominantly of poor quality due to poor manufacturing practices and in some cases, with low quality raw materials. The end result is that the final consumer – be it government department or individual consumer – ends up with a product that is sub-standard, as well as poor revenue because the market knows when they see quality.

As with any other business, one of the biggest challenges faced by small businesses is growth, (rather the lack of it and mismanagement of resources) which she however says is easily averted in her company through the implementation of strategic systems including exploiting social media platforms as means of marketing and growing her business.

‘Social networks are the best for us as our method revolves around intellectual communication; Facebook has been the best option for promotion. We are invited for radio talks on our topics and create educational programs. Our Virtual Incubator www.startupsity.biz also allows us and our community of member’s to explore possibilities before wasting resources on investment. It allows us to reach out to all Africa and the business world for collaborative projects that create jobs’.

To develop a likeable company culture the company create  business events with entertaining speeches that broaden people’s knowledge of the business world. Job fairs, Inventors Expos, Virtual tournaments, debates, social orientated programs, blogs, explore social networks. Generally we are very playful as our operations involve a lot of creativity’, she added.

Startupsity continues to make its mark through various partnerships and sponsors.  It is currently sponsored by SouthernSun who supports their training programs for youth.

How does Alsu define success?

Alsu believes that when you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be. Alsu, non fearing entrepreneur advices  against Stagnation by articulating that ‘Life is dynamic; if there is no change there is no growth. I’d rather crash than burn she says, light  heartedly.

As a person who loves sharing empowering information she can’t hold back at dispensing some things  she learned over the years: ‘I learnt long ago if you don’t push you will be pushed, so I might as well not let change catch me unawares. I have moments but as soon as that fear kicks in it reminds me that maybe I did something wrong, I retrace myself and soon find that loophole. Motivation plays a great role, as an entrepreneur you shouldn’t avoid contact, in fact contact is the very essence of finding opportunities. We live in a world where people are walking on tiptoe with each other; personally I don’t understand why sometimes you have to be naughty and step on a few toes but not to forget to make an apology. Business is like a relationship it needs a spark. If you are not naughty by nature you are not an entrepreneur.

It would seem  Alsu is not the kind of a person who believes in a standard formula for business successbut to first time entrepreneurs her advice is:Follow your pain and joy it’s  what they call the “heart”, these are the biggest motivators behind any solution you find today. Ask questions, accept opinions and reanalyze them, never take things personal, never act subjectively when it comes to managing people. But if you must react manage the after effects. Don’t follow every rule in the book because it is for general consumption. Build a base but see the peak first.’

She continues to inspire young people and aspiring entrepreneurs by saying: Dreams are acheavable. Know yourself; put yourself through everything so that events don’t scare you, undue expectations create the problems because you have developed preconseived ideas about the world. If you venture into things see it for what it is and don’t cloud yourself with emotions. Collaborate with your peers and those older and younger than you while in university and out of it, because those are your future partners, staff, suppliers, future political leaders. Get yourself known. Start a project before you leave school so that when an employer asks about you, you will have something to say other than you wasted your time. As that would reflect on how seriously you took your life, don’t forget that your hobbies also develop skills that will give you additional pay, such as having a voice would mean you can record a company sountrack, dancing makes you a good team leader / HR speaker, sports give you skills in strategic thinking and develops dicipline focus towards achieving a goal.’

Alsu dreads being interpreted as an ‘Invincible Miss Perfect’ as she admits to coming across  moments where she has to deal with her own failures,  however it is the positive attitude she employs in dealing with faults that help her triumph: ‘I am still quite young, but I also have a frame of mind that as soon as I make an error I rectify it. I would also state that a great deal of time I trust, and people take it as being a weakness, yet I have learnt and gained a lot of skills through it. Being in the business of coaching people and helping people succeed means I have to be hard on myself and set an example. If you can’t help yourself how you can help others?

Alsu draws inspiration from people she looks up to, leaders such as United States president Barrack Obama and former South African president Nelson Mandelawho she says help ignite her passion.She says they had the Audacity to hope. ‘Our girls need women to hold as examples. If we have no leaders we will all be puppets under rulers for misguided heads.’

When it comes to family one would expect Alsu to be completely off balance seeing her business interest seem to take centre stage. She admits it is hard to jugle 10 hats at the same time. When you have a vision like mine you can’t devote much time family however my kids are happy because my business revolves around adventure and exploration they are at the age where discovery is of great pleasure to them, she says.

She continues to share her dreams and intents to be in all African countries.’ For now her goal is to help 400,000 people and integrate 3000 small business projects as a ripple effect to startup the economy in Africa. ‘Our kids need a safer region where girls wouldn’t be turning into prostitutes and boys into gangsters to survive.’

This year 2013 I set a goal to reach out to many and have so far accumulated over 460,000 hits on YouTube. Startupsity is well known and I am being approached by media and publishing industries for publications, which I believe is a sign of recognition in the Services Industry.’

In conclusion Alsu shares with us five key elements for starting and running a successful business:

"Dream" - Look at what is most important to you! 

"Plan" - Find what is around you, 

"Strategy" - Picture how all u see and know fits the puzzle,

"Tactics" - Head on collecting the bricks,

"Method" - Start building the wall."

Alsu underpins her story by stating that: ‘the world of business is not used to women, besides Africa isn’t business based but trade based, everyone is reselling other nations products rather than being producers of their own. This makes us defendant and dependent, independence requires not being beggars but doers. To the men that fight against women who are willing to go into business I would say remember this when a woman is a maid, sons become servants. Kids are growing directly under the influence of mothers, if she isn’t smart, what then will the kids inherit?

WB

By Otto Tshilenge