Owner of the reputable Guardian Newspapers, Maiden Alex Ibru, has tasked Nigerian youths on rules guiding businesses in order to make success.
Ibru spoke on the second day of the recent 19th Akwaaba Travel Market, highlighting planning, execution, monitoring and control as four basic rules to imbibe in business.
This is just as the Convener of Akwaaba, Ambassador Ikechi Uko, has said that the problem of the youths is not capacity but hinged on lack of mentorship.
Ibru noted the changing times in relation to the new generation that the youths belong to but urged them to be focused and ensure they carry what they are able to per time.
The business guru harped on workplace relationship, stressing the importance of treating the workers well for the purpose of safety, also stressing that to err is human and to forgive is divine so subordinates apologies should be accepted and offences pushed aside.
She also advised on how workers can ensure great relationships with clients without damaging the company’s reputation.
Her words: “There are four rules that actually guide you in any business you want to embark on. The first thing is the planning stage: what do you want to do. The second stage is execute the plan and the other two key things are monitoring and control.
“Try your workers well, don’t use abusive words. If you don’t treat those people well, they really can do a lot of havoc. Treat everybody with dignity and if anybody offends you or they do something wrong, accept their apologies and don’t go back to that matter again.”
“When I was growing up certain things that are happening now did not happen then, we are in a new generation now. You must learn to focus on what you are interested in. For example, do not juggle two different businesses, it is not worth it, it is better you start on something and perfect it.
“There is nothing wrong if you want to be in partnership but ideally, do not partner a friend because that friendship may go sour because you trust yourself you cannot say 100 per cent you trust your friend so, it is very possible that you make some sense of your life,” she advised the youths further.
Also speaking, Uko dwelt on youth mentorship stating that the lack of capacity being experienced is not a challenge of the youth but an issue of mentorship.
He said: “I ask them, if the young ones are not good enough, ‘how many did you mentor?’ Can you tell me one person that you mentored and tell me someone you have groomed that can take over? If those of us who pioneered this in Africa, if we walk away, who takes over?
“The problem is not the problem of the youths, it is the problem of those of us who had gone through those doors, yes, we paid the price but how many people are we leading to walk into the place in the future.
“Who takes over from us that is the problem. The next generation of Africa problem is real.
“For those of you who have been chosen, won the awards, you are the lucky ones, a lot of your peers nobody was willing to nominate them or endorse them.”