Nigeria’s telecommunications brand, 9mobile, has reaffirmed its commitment to the growth of SMEs in Nigeria, by hosting small businesses, start-ups, and budding entrepreneurs at ‘The Hack’, a networking and business mentorship initiative.
‘The Hack’ by 9mobile is an enterprise mentorship and networking event where seasoned SME mentors, business leaders, growth experts, and facilitators share practical business fundamentals and insights to help SMEs and growing businesses scale up.
Lead facilitator and online business coach Nelly Agbogu, also known as ‘NaijaBrandChick, at ‘The Hack,’ event in Enugu, emphasised the importance of social media to the growth of SMEs. “Every business must be on social media to leverage presence and ease of accessibility, to make sales, engage with customers, and generate business leads”, she said.
Agbogu harped on the choice of social media platforms and knowing the ideal place brands can meet customers, noting that brands must be honest with themselves when making choices of social media platforms to reach their markets. She hinged business success on stability, trust, and intentionality.
“I will always tell anybody who cares to listen. To succeed in business, one must be consistent, trustworthy, and intentional about business. If you are not consistent in your actions, you will lose it. So, remain scalable, profitable at every single point in time, and consistent,” she advised.
The head of Network and IT Procurement at 9mobile, Femi Olaojo noted the significance of vendor performance evaluation, cost of ownership, sourcing strategies, and contracting in business.
The manager of SME Marketing, 9mobile, Segun Dawodu, stated how automation can help reduce business costs. According to him, “Automation can help you, as an SME, to streamline your processes, increase efficiency, reduce cost, and customer experience. What we do at 9mobile is to help you automate your customer expectations with voice solutions, CUG, accounting, inventory management, customer relations management, and CRM tools.
