As female entrepreneurs in Nigeria, there are certain things you have to go through, it happens to everyone, although in different forms the core still remains the same. Some of them include:
- Searching for funds: Kudi, Owo, Ego, money or whatever you try to call it, money is an important factor for every female entrepreneur. Searching for funds could be very tiring and draining. Most times discouraging, luckily, some female entrepreneurs are able to get funds from family and friends while others just have to work other jobs in order to chase their dreams.
- Searching for publicity: Now you’ve gotten your funds and the business is ready to strive but you need people to patronize you so as to make profit at the end of the month. Female entrepreneurs just starting out would create fliers to share to as many people as they can, often times they get rejected and sometimes others collect it and throw it away when you are no longer looking. Social Media has made it easy to reach a large audience at once but then comes the struggle for shares, retweets and posts. So, female entrepreneurs take it upon themselves to message people directly begging for their help to share, retweet or post their “hustle”.
- Chasing Customers to pay: As a starting business, you want people to patronize you, so out of the goodness of your heart, you sell good/render services on credit. Now here is where the problem is, getting your money from your debtors. You find yourself calling, sending texts and emails just to serve as reminders for payment. This can sometimes lead to disagreements.
- Troublesome customers: Customers are a blessing to any business but some customers could be tiring to deal with sometimes. They are often not satisfied with goods and services offered. Every female entrepreneur has that one customer but the good thing is that they always come back and bring referrals too.