CEO of VFD group Plc, Mr Nonso Okpala has shared salient business lessons he learnt from a 28 year old entrepreneur he had a discussion with recently.
Mr Nonso Okpala revealed these lessons on a post he made on the microblogging platform X(Formerly Twitter).
He said:
“In 2008, I was 30 years old. I founded a company with a group of guys with an initial capital of N2.5m. Today, that company is well-established, mature, and expanding. It has gradually gained prominence in the Nigerian economy, and more is to come.
“Today, I am nearly 45 years old. I am financially more secure than I was at 30 and way more accomplished.
“With all of this under my belt, I would assume it would be easier to do what I did years ago: start a business. The last two years have taught me a lesson, with three attempts yielding no alpha results.
“It wasn’t until I had a conversation with a 28-year-old that I discovered what the problem was: I was “too big to think and act small” as required to make a startup successful.
“Don’t feel sorry for me; I’m still in the game, just a different one. First and foremost, I am uniquely positioned to venture assist exceptional talents such as the 28-year-old. Second, I am better positioned to invest in two categories of organizations: underperforming and undervalued companies.
“Goodbye, startups; It was fantastic while it lasted”.
Mr Nonso Okpala is the CEO/GMD of VFD group Plc, Nigeria’s most diverse Investment Company. The company which was founded about 13 years ago with 2.5 Million Naira with diverse investments in Atiat Ltd, VBank, Piggy Vest etc is worth over 55 billion naira today.
Mr Nonso Okpala who hails from Uga in Anambra State recently built a tuition-free Secondary in that community to train Nigeria’s brightest students.