Before the start of my journey in Lagos Business School, I recognized that there was something missing in my business operations. In the past 4 years of my entrepreneurial experience carving a niche for myself in the highly saturated and competitive real estate and interiors industry segment in Abuja, I’ve seen but dodged this clear gap. The excuse I always told myself was that the industry I’m playing in is not fully developed for it yet, rather, capital and hard brick and mortar labor are the core requirements and therefore should be the core focus. But as time has gone by, I’m beginning to see that this key ingredient I’ve been ignoring could be the key to staking a claim for myself in my intended economic sector of influence.
What is this mysterious key I have been speculating and wetting your curiosity with? If you have not guessed already (by the title of this discuss), I’m talking about technology. Technology has been the buzz word for over 2 decades in Africa but in the past decade has become a relevant factor frequently associated with the entrepreneurial journey of start-ups. From the Interswitch and Jumia boom days to recent financial investments in new start-ups like flutterwave, shevest; you can hardly think innovation, scale, impact etc without thinking technology.
Therefore, joining the MBA programme is an effort on my side to force open my mind to the impact technology can have in my business and which technologies would be priority to invest in. Taking part in courses like Data Analytics have proven that it really isn’t rocket science. One just needs to be open minded and adapt to new and effective ways of doing business.
The application of Technology in the real estate sector has been used mostly for smart home applications and off-site security management. Whilst these are buzz words that excite potential customers, I’ve learnt that a lot of them fail due to install and maintenance related issues. Another main issue why it’s not widely implemented is the lack of 24 hours electricity in the country. So I ask myself if the niche for these technology is rather too small and the market not fully ready for it.
My most interested area of application for my business would be in the design of spaces using 3d VR equipment, sales and marketing of ready properties and using tech to run lean operations. For now as a start-up, my core focus is in the use of tech to run lean operations and this has led me to peruse various Project management and CRM software. Yet, another key element is human resources. I’ve noticed a lack of affordable skilled tech labor in the job market. To counter this, I have begun investing in my human capital to ensure they then become more skilled for tech integration. As a leadr, I’v learnt that it’s best to hire for attitude and train for skill.
As I continue my learning in the MBA journey, I hope to fully realize the impact of employing technology more in my business.
