Causes of Failure in Agribusiness
By
Blessing Akpan
Today I have a notch in my agropreneurial mind to talk about Business failure in Agriculture and it's value chain.
Why people fail in business generally.
Below are few points to note:
1. Lack of Vision (Why are you in business).
2. Lack of Business Model.
3. Lack of Finance.
4. Lack of innovation.
5. Lack of financial intelligence.
6.Poor Decision making ability.
7. Lack of focus.
8. Procrastination.
9. Lack of planning.
I will discuss each points one after the other,
As an agropreneur, our goal is to use the available resources and maximize it's potentials to achieve our set goal
1. Lack of Vision
Why are you in business,
As a business person you must have seen a common need, or problem, in your environment and saw the possible solution of that need/problem or better way of doing things.
This solution put together gave birth to your vision, which can be put in the form of a money making venture or humanitarian service (which I know all of here are for the money making Venture)
3 in every 5 Nigerians are hungry for food hence farmers are in high demand
Those 2 that are not hungry have the power of money working for them,so they can buy food with ease, so in conclusion everybody need food to survive, farmers are in luck
2. Lack of Business model
People talk about Business plan a lot, but Business plan is mostly needed by Investors , but a business model is a must have for the agropreneur as it helps create a road map to the agropreneur's set goal in a sustainable level by connecting all variables to work you you.
With a Business model the agropreneur can identify the following at a glance :
1.Key customers
2.Value proposition
3.Key partners
4.Key activities
5.Key resources
6.Channels of reaching customers
7.Customer relationship
8.Cost structure
9.Revenue stream
This will help the agropreneur run his internal business affairs on a daily basis to achieve his/her overall goal.
3.Lack of finance
Yes the elephant in the room.
Everyone keeps complaining about not having money to start a business.
Breaking news guys - Money follows value
If you don't have value to offer, money will run far away from you
This takes you back to your business model (Value proposition) once you something of value, people will want to partner with you to make it happen. Facebook started with an idea, he didn't have money, but he was able to get people who have money to partner with him and make his vision a reality, same with Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, etc.
Lack of finance is not the problem, the problem is lack of value
4. Lack of innovation
What is innovation? Innovation is the merging of 2 separate things to birth something new.
Good example is our local farmers remain poor because they sell their farm produce raw (which is cheap) but processors add value to the raw farm produce an create a desired product for end users who are willing to pay more (value addition is key -be creative)
Now we know that most of these local farmers are illiterates, why don't you use your education and exposure to create access to Market for them, you just fused the local farmer energy an your education to create a service needed somewhere.
Use what you have and do something new
5. Lack of financial intelligence
Why a lot of people fall for ponzi schemes is because they lack financial intelligence and their untamed nature of the quick fix attitude rather than following laid down success principles
Financial intelligence is needed for success to occur in an individual's life, knowing where to spend your hard earned money is vital to your success.
People forget how hard it was for them to acquire money and then let that money go without analyzing the value they will get for the services they are buying,
We have a management team that analyses every investment opportunity that people bring to our cooperative, you want to know if it's a good deal or a bad deal, we respect the b
ack breaking work time everyone undergo to earn money, so every investment brought on our table must be analysed properly to de-risk ourselves from undue financial loss.
6. Poor Decisions making ability.
Most agropreneurs jump at anything offered to them without understanding how it works,
As an agropreneur your business decisions determine your destiny
Your choice of where you get your seedlings, stems, broilers etc matters
Poor - input =poor - output
7.Lack of Focus
As an agropreneur doing one thing at a time is important, it reduces numbers of unfinished projects, helps you measure your success, and open up your eyes to further improvement.
It is very possible to be a jack of all trade and master of all, the secret there is "timing"
Once you start a project ensure you focus on that project till the end ,then move to the next project.
I have been blessed to be called a serial entrepreneur because I have mastered each business I venture into.
I am the M. D/CEO of World of marketing international Ltd, Fullcare pharmaceutical Ltd, A Business model Consultant,
A local fabricator of agri-related equipment, a farmer of who started with 14plots and now 5,000acres with the goal of setting up an Agro processing factory,
A registered Red Cross First Aider (Supply First aid kits to farmers, organizations and individuals) also
An insurance broker.
I did all of that one step at a time.
9.Procrastination
A lot of agropreneurs keep procrastinating on their plans of being successful , the I will do it tomorrow ailments keeps lingering from days to years, yet nothing is done that will move you to your goal.
Do it afraid should be your watch word, just make a move towards the right direction, you will learn something new.
10. Lack of planning
Who amongst you will desire to build a house without sitting down to plan the cost?
Okay someone might say building a house is too far on my bucket list,
Who among you will embark on a journey from point A to B without planning his or her movement mentally, financially and time based?
If you don't plan your agribusiness journey you are setting yourself up to fail.
We hope these few points has touched base in your hearts, we wish you all a happy stay on our platform and we encourage you to join our cooperative and leverage on networks available for you to enable you achieve your personal goal in your agropreneurial journey.
Cheers!!!
Blessing Akpan
By
Blessing Akpan
Today I have a notch in my agropreneurial mind to talk about Business failure in Agriculture and it's value chain.
Why people fail in business generally.
Below are few points to note:
1. Lack of Vision (Why are you in business).
2. Lack of Business Model.
3. Lack of Finance.
4. Lack of innovation.
5. Lack of financial intelligence.
6.Poor Decision making ability.
7. Lack of focus.
8. Procrastination.
9. Lack of planning.
I will discuss each points one after the other,
As an agropreneur, our goal is to use the available resources and maximize it's potentials to achieve our set goal
1. Lack of Vision
Why are you in business,
As a business person you must have seen a common need, or problem, in your environment and saw the possible solution of that need/problem or better way of doing things.
This solution put together gave birth to your vision, which can be put in the form of a money making venture or humanitarian service (which I know all of here are for the money making Venture)
3 in every 5 Nigerians are hungry for food hence farmers are in high demand
Those 2 that are not hungry have the power of money working for them,so they can buy food with ease, so in conclusion everybody need food to survive, farmers are in luck
2. Lack of Business model
People talk about Business plan a lot, but Business plan is mostly needed by Investors , but a business model is a must have for the agropreneur as it helps create a road map to the agropreneur's set goal in a sustainable level by connecting all variables to work you you.
With a Business model the agropreneur can identify the following at a glance :
1.Key customers
2.Value proposition
3.Key partners
4.Key activities
5.Key resources
6.Channels of reaching customers
7.Customer relationship
8.Cost structure
9.Revenue stream
This will help the agropreneur run his internal business affairs on a daily basis to achieve his/her overall goal.
3.Lack of finance
Yes the elephant in the room.
Everyone keeps complaining about not having money to start a business.
Breaking news guys - Money follows value
If you don't have value to offer, money will run far away from you
This takes you back to your business model (Value proposition) once you something of value, people will want to partner with you to make it happen. Facebook started with an idea, he didn't have money, but he was able to get people who have money to partner with him and make his vision a reality, same with Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, etc.
Lack of finance is not the problem, the problem is lack of value
4. Lack of innovation
What is innovation? Innovation is the merging of 2 separate things to birth something new.
Good example is our local farmers remain poor because they sell their farm produce raw (which is cheap) but processors add value to the raw farm produce an create a desired product for end users who are willing to pay more (value addition is key -be creative)
Now we know that most of these local farmers are illiterates, why don't you use your education and exposure to create access to Market for them, you just fused the local farmer energy an your education to create a service needed somewhere.
Use what you have and do something new
5. Lack of financial intelligence
Why a lot of people fall for ponzi schemes is because they lack financial intelligence and their untamed nature of the quick fix attitude rather than following laid down success principles
Financial intelligence is needed for success to occur in an individual's life, knowing where to spend your hard earned money is vital to your success.
People forget how hard it was for them to acquire money and then let that money go without analyzing the value they will get for the services they are buying,
We have a management team that analyses every investment opportunity that people bring to our cooperative, you want to know if it's a good deal or a bad deal, we respect the b
ack breaking work time everyone undergo to earn money, so every investment brought on our table must be analysed properly to de-risk ourselves from undue financial loss.
6. Poor Decisions making ability.
Most agropreneurs jump at anything offered to them without understanding how it works,
As an agropreneur your business decisions determine your destiny
Your choice of where you get your seedlings, stems, broilers etc matters
Poor - input =poor - output
7.Lack of Focus
As an agropreneur doing one thing at a time is important, it reduces numbers of unfinished projects, helps you measure your success, and open up your eyes to further improvement.
It is very possible to be a jack of all trade and master of all, the secret there is "timing"
Once you start a project ensure you focus on that project till the end ,then move to the next project.
I have been blessed to be called a serial entrepreneur because I have mastered each business I venture into.
I am the M. D/CEO of World of marketing international Ltd, Fullcare pharmaceutical Ltd, A Business model Consultant,
A local fabricator of agri-related equipment, a farmer of who started with 14plots and now 5,000acres with the goal of setting up an Agro processing factory,
A registered Red Cross First Aider (Supply First aid kits to farmers, organizations and individuals) also
An insurance broker.
I did all of that one step at a time.
9.Procrastination
A lot of agropreneurs keep procrastinating on their plans of being successful , the I will do it tomorrow ailments keeps lingering from days to years, yet nothing is done that will move you to your goal.
Do it afraid should be your watch word, just make a move towards the right direction, you will learn something new.
10. Lack of planning
Who amongst you will desire to build a house without sitting down to plan the cost?
Okay someone might say building a house is too far on my bucket list,
Who among you will embark on a journey from point A to B without planning his or her movement mentally, financially and time based?
If you don't plan your agribusiness journey you are setting yourself up to fail.
We hope these few points has touched base in your hearts, we wish you all a happy stay on our platform and we encourage you to join our cooperative and leverage on networks available for you to enable you achieve your personal goal in your agropreneurial journey.
Cheers!!!
Blessing Akpan
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