How to tell compelling brand story to attract investors and buyers – Adaora Mbelu
Young Nigerians are constantly devising escape routes out of Nigeria’s unemployment woes which appear not to be decreasing. They are creating opportunities for themselves and others through startups in tech, media, logistics and other areas.
A 2020 report by PwC quoting the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics said SMEs in Nigeria contributed about 48% of the national GDP in the last five years. “With a total number of about 17.4 million, they account for about 50% of industrial jobs and nearly 90% of the manufacturing sector, in terms of the number of enterprises,” the report says.
With a youthful population making up more than 40 per cent of Nigeria’s total population, increasing smartphone and internet penetration, experts believe it is a great advantage for young entrepreneurs with innovative business models to thrive and break out of the unemployment crisis. Lack of the right information and skillset, access to funding, high cost of doing business, and regulatory hurdles are some of the challenges encountered by many SMEs in Nigeria.
Amidst all these challenges, between 2014 and 2019, Nigeria’s fintech startups raised more than $600 million in funding, according to the 2019 African Tech Startups Funding Report, ‘Disrupt Africa’.
Adaora Mbelu, the Founder of Lumination Global Network, has told business owners seeking funding opportunities and more sales that this is possible with the right branding and compelling storytelling.
“Storytelling is key! Sometimes, your product might be great, but there isn’t a good story behind it that attracts investors or buyers. People don’t just buy products; they also buy the story behind the product,” she said.
Adaora, a brand expert, was named in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “11 Africans that are changing the business landscape in Africa” in 2017. She was also nominated in the “Entrepreneur Of The Year” and “Prize For Media Enterprise” Categories of the Future Awards Africa.
She joined other experts at a Talk Series hosted by ALAT by Wema on Thursday, August 26, 2021, to equip young Nigerians with the right information and skillset to prepare them for business success and opportunities.
Tagged ‘developing and sustaining the startups of the future’, the session had more than 200 participants who are mostly small business owners.
Adaora said investors and customers would connect better with a brand that has a story to tell. “Your products or ideas might be great, but investors also want to know about the person as well. What is your story as an individual, and what is your story as a brand.”
At the session, which has more than 200 participants, mostly small business owners, Adaora said, “everyone has a story, and they buy products they can connect to. Let your business connect to your customers through their stories.”
