How To Be A Successful Entrepreneur

Jim McKelvey, an American computer science engineer and entrepreneur is the co-founder of Square, a mobile payments company. During his maiden visit to Nigeria, the world-acclaimed businessman was a guest speaker at Tech Plus Conference & Expo facilitated by MTN Nigeria and a host of other companies. In a media chat, he spoke with Femi Ayodele of Naija.com and other newsmen on how entrepreneurs can smell opportunity and how they can be more innovative What is your impression about Tech Plus Conference & Expo? This is a catalyst for change and improvement. We have a community of people that are supporting each other in the aspect of technological advancement so for Nigeria to build a similar community will be important and this is a good start. Jim McKelvey What should be the focus of a young entrepreneur seeking opportunities in technology? It is a big question. Your question is being particular about young entrepreneurs in Nigeria. I don’t know much about the young in Nigeria but in United States for instance, a 20-year-old have been raised with a lot of praise given the background. There is a lot of positive reinforcement through school and some of these people can start a company with immediate success. One of the important things as a young entrepreneur seeking to maximise opportunities in technology in Nigeria or any other part of the world is to learn not to accept defeat at the early stage. When I see a lot of people do that, they seem to focus on the current state: the unsuccessful state of technology. Most products that are innovative and are really world changing are meant for the future, built for something to come. They never worked like a big deal at the beginning. For instance, in the United States, everyone thought Square was going to fail. When we started people thought we would not get there. They dismissing the idea but It turned out that all these companies turned tremendously successful in spite of the fact it didn’t look like anything form the beginning. One of the things to remember as an entrepreneur is that you are not going to get feedback early. From your success story, what do you think is required to be a successful entrepreneur? The most critical thing is stubbornness, plain perseverance. Most of the time as an entrepreneur you are dealing with things that are not working. As a matter of fact, this is what you do as an engineer.