Starting any business at all in a developing economy can be quite challenging, especially when the infrastructures are not available to support your initiative, it really can be quite discouraging.
So what do you do when you really do not have all it takes?
A Chinese proverbs says if you wait for everything to be in place before you set out, you may never get anything done.
Let’s take a Laundry business as an example, just like any other business startup, you need a location, many would say you need a permit first, but most developing economies don’t function that way, you start with what you have and evolve into what is expected.
Unlike in more developed economies where businesses are highly regulated, the nature of developing economies leave room for serious minded individuals to start and grow businesses without having to go through the rigors of securing permits just to start a small business.
Starting a business in the first place is like giving birth to a baby. You conceive, prepare for his birth and possibly raising the child. But you do not know who this child will be as an adult. But in your heart as a parent, you have dreams and hopes of your own.
So it is with starting any business at all. So let’s go back to our laundry business startup. A typical start up owner should have the following in his checklist:
A washing basin to separate and soak different materials and colors of clothing.
A generator set to power your laundry business in case of an electricity outage.
A garment conveyor to hang the finished clothes.
An ironing table to straighten and fold the dried clothes with an industrial steam iron.
Starch.
Laundry detergents specifically used by dry cleaners.
A water storage or tank.
Wooden shelves.
Clothe hangers.
Tags.
Nylons.
Buckets.
Two employees.
Fact is, most startups within and outside Nigeria usually really do not have all of the above when they venture out. They have a dream, an idea, and a plan but not the funds.
Such was the case with Chioma Okechukwu, a young woman who started her own Laundry business with just N1,200 (Less than $10 dollars).
After youth service, she finds herself in an already bleak unemployment market, with some inspiration from her pastor, she dared into her a venture of her own. Hear her story.
