I have helped people start, grow businesses in Nigeria – Iwuoha

Entrepreneur and business activator John-Paul Iwuoha, has unveiled the 3X Startup Prize, a platform designed to provide financial assistance and entrepreneurial education to aspiring entrepreneurs in Nigeria. The initiative, launched in partnership with VOP (Voice of the People) 90.3FM Lagos, aims to bridge the gap for individuals with innovative business ideas lacking essential guidance and seed capital.

“Since I started on this mission almost a decade ago, I have helped dozens of people start and grow businesses in Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia, Uganda, DR Congo, and several countries in Africa. I started my career in the business advisory practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 2008 where I worked on a number of high-profile engagements that cut across corporate strategy, performance improvement, and technology. From PwC, I transitioned to a business development role in the oil and gas industry, and then moved on in 2015 to focus on building my own firm, Smallstarter Africa, which was relaunched as Activator HQ in 2023,” he said.

In an interview with news reporters, Iwuoha emphasized the significant hurdles faced by talented and enterprising individuals across Nigeria who possess brilliant business ideas but lack the resources to turn these ideas into thriving enterprises.

“As a business activator, I work with entrepreneurs in the startup and growth stages, addressing challenges related to strategy, sales, business models, fundraising, growth, and human capital. My goal is to make it easier and faster for Africa-focused entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses,” stated Iwuoha.

With almost a decade of experience, Iwuoha has played a pivotal role in assisting individuals in Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia, Uganda, DR Congo, and several African countries to initiate and expand their businesses. His extensive background includes work with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the establishment of his own firm, Smallstarter Africa, later rebranded as Activator HQ in 2023.

Inspired by his mission to empower entrepreneurs, Iwuoha introduced the 3X Startup Prize, a N1 million initiative aimed at discovering and supporting early-stage entrepreneurial talent in Lagos. The initiative seeks to address the critical missing link hindering the realization of entrepreneurial dreams, be it in the form of seed capital, strategy, mindset, skill, or guidance.

“In my line of work, I have found there are many smart and enterprising people across Nigeria who have brilliant and innovative business ideas but lack the guidance and seed capital required to transform their ideas into real, thriving businesses. For these people, there is a critical missing link that holds them back from realizing their entrepreneurial dreams. This missing link could be seed capital, strategy, mindset, skill, or guidance.

“The “missing link” is the inspiration behind the name we chose for our initiative, the 3X Startup Prize. The “X” is a common letter used in mathematics to represent an unknown or missing values that needs to be solved for. As a result, we are hoping to discover and support three people with promising business ideas who will get valuable feedback, mentoring, and a total cash prize of N1 million as seed capital. More importantly, the process for selecting the three finalists for the prize will be primarily driven by audience engagement on radio (VOP 90.3FM) and social media. As a result, we expect that thousands of people will learn important business principles that will create positive impacts in the wider society.

Explaining the unique aspect of the 3X Startup Prize, Iwuoha said, “The ‘X’ in our initiative represents the unknown or missing values that need to be solved for in mathematics. We aim to discover and support three people with promising business ideas, providing them with valuable feedback, mentoring, and a total cash prize of N1 million as seed capital.”

The selection process for the prize will be driven by audience engagement on VOP 90.3FM radio and social media, ensuring a broad reach for business principles that can positively impact society.

Highlighting the similarities and differences between the 3X Startup Prize and other initiatives such as Shark Tank and the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Iwuoha emphasized the focus on nurturing entrepreneurs with bright and promising business ideas. The initiative aims to leverage radio and social media to facilitate knowledge transfer, insights, and advice during the competition.

Iwuoha acknowledged the challenges faced by startups in Nigeria, including limited access to quality business education and the lack of incentives for starting a business.

“The major challenge we anticipate will be the difficulty of selecting winners from what is expected to be a rich supply of good-quality applications. As I mentioned earlier, Lagos is blessed with thousands of smart and enterprising people and choosing only three winners will surely be a tough responsibility.”

He encouraged the government to create opportunities for employment and enterprise, suggesting strategic partnerships and additional support for initiatives like the 3X Startup Prize.

The 3X Startup Prize (2024 edition) represents a significant step in Iwuoha’s mission to make business knowledge more accessible, relatable, and fun. The initiative is poised to contribute to the development and support of entrepreneurs in Lagos and potentially expand its reach to other states in Nigeria.

On monitoring the beneficiaries to avoid the fund not been used for the purpose that it is meant for, John Paul said, “While we expect entrepreneurs to take full ownership of their ambitions, we do not want to be overly restrictive. In addition to due diligence checks that will be performed on the finalists for the 3X Startup Prize, milestone-based disbursements may be required for certain candidates and certain kinds of businesses to reduce the risk of misappropriation of prize money.

“We developed the 3X Startup Prize with the assumption that it will attract sufficient engagement and participation to justify ongoing sponsorship. We are hopeful that our assumptions will be positively validated and we will get strong signals from the audience to justify a decision to continue with future editions.

“Startups face several problems in Nigeria, but I would highlight two critical ones. First is the limited access to quality business education. The education system, particularly the tertiary institutions, are still skewed toward producing component labour for employment. As a result, many educated people across Nigeria lack the basic business and financial literacy that is required to succeed in entrepreneurship.

“The other big problem I want to highlight is the lack of incentives to start a business in Nigeria. The cost of startup capital is quite prohibitive and many startups cannot access ‘patient capital’ that is favorable to the unique needs of young businesses. Also, the inadequacy of infrastructure such as power increases the costs of doing business and undermines the competitiveness of startups in Nigeria.

“It is always in every government’s interest to create opportunities for employment and enterprise, especially in a country like Nigeria with a significant youth population. Initiatives like the 3X Startup Prize, although driven by the private sector, actually help the government to meet it social and economic responsibilities by developing the capacity for entrepreneurship in the country.

Specifically, government can assist the 3X Startup Prize through strategic partnerships that create additional exposure and impact for the program. The government could embed the 3X Startup Prize into tertiary education and youth-focused programs like the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). The government can also provide additional financial and technical support to promising finalists of the 3X Startup Prize.

“In the next 10 years, with sustained interest from the public and support from our current and future partners, I want the 3X Startup Prize to be active in more states of Nigeria with an enviable lineup of alumni who are building remarkable businesses and creating economic value and jobs across the country.

“Nigerian youths need to realize that entrepreneurship is not “that thing” you do when you cannot find a job. While many youths are looking to be hired for existing jobs, the country actually needs people who can create additional jobs that help to reduce the country’s high youth unemployment. I strongly advise that as our youths study for degrees and diplomas in school, they should also acquire business knowledge and hone their entrepreneurship skills on the side.

“This approach will produce a more resilient and productive youth who can choose to work a job or start their own business, rather than languish in an unfortunate state of unemployment. Government, at both federal and state levels, can significantly cut down unemployment in the country if they create incentives for companies, organizations, and private sector players to close the capacity gap for entrepreneurship development in Nigeria. If governments develop attractive incentives for companies that provide apprenticeship, training, mentoring, infrastructure support,  special financing, and other kinds of support for entrepreneurs, more people will be encouraged to follow the path of entrepreneurship for self-employment, innovation, and job- and value creation.”