It’s wrong to streamline capital to only money – Alimi

Tell us about your job as a business coach Before I became a business growth expert, I had over 14 years corporate experience working in the telecommunications industry and at the same time I was a serial entrepreneur. The pivotal time in my career was when I went for my MBA and worked as a […]

Tell us about your job as a business coach

Before I became a business growth expert, I had over 14 years corporate experience working in the telecommunications industry and at the same time I was a serial entrepreneur. The pivotal time in my career was when I went for my MBA and worked as a consultant. In consulting, I worked with many companies which have grown. I worked with start-ups to build and grow their businesses, I worked with some small businesses to get to the next level; I worked with House of Tara and other companies at the same time I was on a journey to discover what I was meant to do. So, I started a couple of businesses. Because I was also an accountant, I was also keeping the numbers casually, then I opened my books and discovered I had worked with about a 100 small business owners, so I told myself , this is business, this is not a joke. 

I took my work as a consultant seriously and it grew to an eight figure earner. Again, I asked myself what is it that I am made to do. That was what inspired my book ‘UPLEVEL’. 

Then I realised what I did right, what I did wrong and what I’m not doing well. I found out that some of my strongest skills were strategy, marketing and sales.  I found out that I had the grace in building skills in businesses so I went and trained as a business coach. I went to the coaching academy in the UK and I trained and had a certificate in personal coaching alongside my MBA. So today, I work as business coach; I help aspiring entrepreneurs to set up their businesses, and establish entrepreneurial skills in business. And we have got hundreds of success stories after having worked with about 200 entrepreneurs in the last 15 months. Some of my clients when they started were making profit of 6 figures; some are making up to nine figures now, in terms of income. 

We teach them, the right strategy, the processes, the need to be accountable, the need to be focused and businesses are growing. Seventy to 80% of the work is mental; having the right mindset. 

 

Are you focusing on helping only women entrepreneurs grow their businesses?

The truth of the matter is that I am not segmented. But I found out that 90% of my clients are women and I think it’s because I am a woman so more women are naturally drawn to me. I work with anyone who is willing to build a skill and anyone who is willing in upleveling. 

 

What do you see as major hindrance to women growing their businesses?

In Nigeria, we have a lot of cultural limitations. It looks like women being ambitious is a sin or being ambitious makes you less of a woman. But it doesn’t.  I think that if you have capacity to do more, you should do more. Explore your capacity if not you will be doing a disservice to yourself. 

 

But some believe that lack of finance is the reason why women are not excelling in business?

I don’t think so, because capital is not only money. There are different types of capital. There are other people’s money, there is other people’s time, there are other people’s resources, there are other people’s connections, there are other peoples manufacturing companies, stores etc. It’s wrong when people streamline capital to only money and that if they don’t have money they can’t do anything. So, we have to open our mind and see things we can leverage on. 

 Where do you see your career in the next few years?

We are building our team; we want a team of 20 people. Our business is working at becoming a 10 figure income company; we are trying to expand our product line to create more platforms for SMEs to succeed. I want to create more multi-millionaires in Nigeria, at least 50 in the next three to five years. We will do this through our coaching programmes. We do this through support teams, telling them to take the marketing choice that they have and we are going to have other platforms in the media.

 

What is your educational background?

I have a first degree in accounting from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, an MBA from Lagos Business School and I went to the coaching academy in the UK where I trained and had a certificate in personal and business coaching.