Connections at the September edition of Bellafricana Meetup

The September edition of the monthly Bellafricana meetup held on Friday September 18 with a group of business owners and professionals connecting for more business. The event which is the second edition of the monthly business meetup is organized by Bellafricana and held at the Labule Restaurant, Ogudu GRA.

This month’s edition featured a successful Entrepreneur, Mrs. Toki Mabogunje, CEO and principal consultant of TMC and Co. She spoke on the theme – “How to build a successful business in the Nigerian economy of today” and emphasized that to succeed, entrepreneurs must allow their their passion drive their business endeavors and must at the same time develop and show visionary leadership. According to Mrs. Mabogunje, Nigeria is a ‘short-term’ country in the sense of planning and implementation, a situation that has negatively impacted on businesses, big and small. “The SMEs must move away beyond this ‘short horizon’ if they are to avoid operational inadequacies and succeed in their respective business endeavors”, she said.

Speaking further, Mrs. Mabogunje said that SME operators must be focused on their values, take cognizance of and adapt to technology trends and be part of the formal economy through adherence to regulations, payment of taxes and filing of annual returns. She regretted the fact that not being good corporate citizens has led many businesses to miss out on opportunities, benefits of government intervention programs and also fall short of requirements for banking facilities.

The convener and organizer of the monthly event, Bukky Bello, Founder and CEO of Bellafricana, said that the event is the offline version of Bellafricana community and is designed for emerging business owners to network and learn from proven entrepreneurs.

Among those who attended this month’s meetup are Mrs. Joyce Akpata, Director general of Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Chimaobi Agwu, National Director of BNI Nigeria and Mr. Olugbenga Johnson, COO of AutusBridge Consulting.

The business owners who attended the event appreciated the opportunity with almost all making new contacts and connections and yet some forming business alliances. Next month’s edition is scheduled for October 23, 2015 at same venue.