The Accidental Entrepreneur

My MBA Journey Pt 2

In my previous post, I started a series on how I became an entrepreneur and the impact of my MBA on my business.

It was titled “Dreams Do Come true”. I want to continue with this series and today’s blog post is titled The Accidental Entrepreneur.

I remember our first Corporate Finance lecture with Prof Awolabi. He asked, What is the Ultimate goal of a business? Every one screamed “Profit”.

He went further to explain that there are so many institutions and organizations that there sole aim/ objective wasn’t for profit making. But for the Course Corporate Finance, we will were to focus on studying profit driven businesses.

That course took me down memory lane on how I started my Business and I was really grateful for the lessons I got from that lecture. It has broadened my scope and enlightened my mind.

If you’ve read my previous blog, I explained my dream career and entrepreneurship was never in the picture.

I stumbled into this path accidentally and I am grateful for the experience.

In continuation from the previous blog post, I started sharing lessons from my work as an Accountant in a Food company on Facebook. My friends and Family always sort my advice on business related issues. I became a business blogger but I was broke.

I was giving value but I didn’t know how to officially monetize my knowledge. With just a B.Sc Degree and less than 3 years work experience. It was misleading to pride myself as a consultant. I needed more education and experience.

The 2016 Recession was an eye opener for everyone. There was a rise in the demand for skill. Everybody wanted to learn a skill including those in paid Employment. This also created a big Opportunity for me and inspired my Entrepreneurship Journey.

I was living in The South Eastern Part of Nigeria and there was a very low quest for business knowledge. People were not willing to pay for Business Education. The only wanted to learn a trade or a skill. Consulting Firms weren’t flourishing in that part of he country except those affiliated to Banks and other Blue chip Company’s.

I did a Skill Audit and discovered that I could monetize my skills and my experience. During my formative years, my mother groomed us to be highly skilled. I could cook, sew and proficient in different softwares.

I decided to start a vocational school to fill skill gap at the time. That was how I became an entrepreneur.

I started teaching my skills and also used my little business experience to teach my students.

Its been 6 years now, I officially became an Entrepreneur. We ‘ve grown to build other businesses since then. I call my self an Accidental Entrepreneur because I did not have a clear plan on how I wanted to start or run a business. There was no business plan. I actually started with Zero capital.

I know you will be wondering if it was possible to start a business with Zero Capital. Well, I actually did. I never had an amount I set aside to start the business.

According the balance sheet equation

Asset = Liability+ Owners Equity

It is false to say I started with zero capital. My Facilitator Prof Owolabi brought so much clarity on this subject that I no longer say I started my Business with Zero capital. Yes, there was no Contributed Capital from me as the founder or business owner, but I leveraged on Trade credit which is a Liability.

From an Accidental Entrepreneur, I am gradually becoming better business person as my MBA programme has brought more insight and clarity on how to run a successful business.

In my next post, I will be sharing how I got into LBS and why I chose the school.

I hope you enjoy reading about my journey.

Dont forget to stay on the look out for the next post.