Barclays Bank in collaboration with the Students’ Representative Council has held a seminar on Entrepreneurship for students of the Univeristy.

The seminar dubbed “ReadytoWork” formed part of Barclays Bank’s corporate social responsibility to the University.

Speaking on how to become a successful entrepreneur, Mr. John Siade from Barclays Bank, said there were numerous opportunities for students to engage in meaningful ventures that would earn them income. He noted that what was required of was for them to identify a problem around and identify solutions to solve them. “Business opportunities are everywhere. You have to look for them and also create them”, he noted.

Mr. Siade noted that if they wanted to succeed, they should not wait for opportunities to come to them adding that, “look for the ordinary things and turn them to make money”. According to him, to become a successful entrepreneur, one must be self-disciplined, determined, purpose-driven, clever, motivated, and excellent at creating opportunities for making money.

He noted that preparation was a key to any successful entrepreneurship. “If you fail to plan it means you are planning to fail”, he stated.  He advised them always start a business with a plan as a guide. According to him one way for them to succeed was to do a thorough research about the business idea they want to implement.

Mr. Siade advised potential entrepreneurs to desist from the common habit of waiting to develop a perfect product before hitting the market. “Many entrepreneurs believe they have to perfect their product before the world sees it”, he observed. “Build the product, put it on the market and develop it based on customers’ feedback”, he encouraged. He asked them to recognize their weakness and learn how to build their business on their own from other successful people.

He admitted that as an entrepreneur they were bound to face challenges however they must face it without stopping. “When things get tough get back to your purpose and you will get the courage to continue”, he noted. He also advised students to dream big.          

The seminar was introduced four years ago to help eradicate the canker of fresh graduates getting stranded in the world of work. It has two aspects that focused on how to get job as a fresh graduate and how to create employment themselves.