We’ll be discussing some challenges you will be facing in the Nigerian business environment and how you can overcome those challenges.
There’s no country where you will do business and not face challenges but for you to be successful in business, you need to be able to overcome this challenges. This is why we will be looking at the challenges in the Nigerian business environment and how to overcome them.
Incompetent employees
Mediocrity has become the order of the day in Nigeria because most employees are not competent at doing their job. They are only interested in getting paid their salary and don’t really care about adding value to your organization.
To solve this issue make sure you employ staffs that are willing to work and add value to your organization. You can also get business consultant to help you with your recruiting process as it might be a cumbersome process doing it yourself.
Corrupt employees
It is possible to have corrupt employees because a lot of people grew up in a corrupt environment and their mentality is that you need to be corrupt before you can be successful.
To curtail these corrupt employees, you need to develop a structured working environment that does not support corruption because if you have a porous working system, they will take advantage of it.
You can also apply the use of technology instead of humans in situations where it is possible you do so as technology can hardly be compromised.
Lack of power supply
Lack of power supply is a general problem faced by everyone in every area, no matter the area your business might be, you are still likely to be affect. The truth is even those supplying the electricity have a backup plan for themselves, so you should also have a backup plan.
You can supply electricity to your company yourself by using a generator that is powered by fuel or diesel. Another option you have is using a solar energy system with an inverter.
Bad roads
Depending on the type of business you are doing you might need to make supplies to customers around the country but the big challenge is that most major roads are bad.
Bad roads can also affect the movement of you and your staffs around the country making it hard for you to keep up with appointments as it sometimes causes heavy traffic.
You can use professional courier services for delivering your products around the country as this help your business in making its deliveries.
You can also schedule meetings with clients online instead of having to go to their office.
Government policies
Sometimes government policies also affect your business because from time to time new policies are being made and some might favor you while others might not favor you.
You should always have it at the back of your mind that government can come up with new policies and you should also be ready with a backup plan.
Some year’s back there’s was ban on importation of rice and a lot of businesses were affected. Those that had a backup plan moved on to another line of business while those without a backup plan were badly affected.
Corrupt system
The business environment in Nigeria is one that supports corruption because people can always give bribe to have their way.
The truth is being corrupt or doing illegal deals can always back fire, so you should avoid it at all cost because without being corrupt you can make it in the Nigeria business environment.
Some years back owners of some banks were prosecuted because they were involved in corrupt deals and that was how they lost all that they’ve worked for.
High interest rate on loan
Most banks are just out there to make profit and don’t really care about their customers business because if they do they won’t be charging high interest rate on loans. At the end of the day if a customer takes a loan, he will hardly make any profit because the a large chunk of the profit is being paid to the bank as interest.
Before going into any credit transaction with a bank, you should have a professional accountant who can go through the terms and conditions of the loan so as to make sure that it is beneficial to your business.
Conclusion
We trust that the business environment in Nigeria will get better and become more favorable to businesses but before then you need to take up some major responsibilities by yourself if you really want your business to succeed.