The Myth about Lack of Start-up Capital – 2

Now let’s assume someone could not get his or her act together while in the University and all opportunities to accumulate seed capital no matter how minute has been frittered away. What about the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)? All youth Corpers have two sources of income during the service year – from their employers and from NYSC. Why not live on one and put away the other? The reason is simple. Most Corpers do not look at it as their capital.

They look at it as an allowance, a good opportunity to buy things that have been on their wish list for a while. With the heady feeling of independence, free at last from parents, professors, and school authorities, they give in to every impulse without thinking of the future. They believe somehow they will get a job, hence they do not need to cultivate personal financial management skills. With a job, they have the rest of their lives to live.

The NYSC authorities have tried to close this gap by introducing entrepreneurship into the curriculum for the orientation camp. I am not sure how effective this has been. Actually, it is a bit late in the day to teach adults who have been programmed from birth as employees to start thinking like entrepreneurs at the eve of their being let loose on the job market.

This is the reason we have a burgeoning army of unemployed scouring the internet in search of vacancies. The mindset is so focused on getting a job that they do not give a thought to the fact that they can hire themselves, and then others and ultimately live their dreams, following their passion. Nigerian graduates have an opportunity graduates of other countries can only dream about. You get posted outside your comfort zone at the expense of the state, a good opportunity to think through and launch out, but what most do is have fun and put together a resume for the hunt for elusive jobs. Imagine what would happen if 50% of Youth Corpers pass out looking for someone to hire. If each Corper hires one fellow Corper, that set will have 0% unemployment.

It is the job of entrepreneurs to create jobs, not the government. The government can only do so much, but the core role of government is to create the enabling environment for businesses to be born and flourish. Wherever there is high unemployment, it means there are not enough entrepreneurs in town. Entrepreneurship is a mindset, a mindset that focuses on solving problems and creating value.

An employee who does nothing else but waits for payday is addicted to working for money and derives his financial security from the illusion of a steady income. He is unaware of the fact that the owners of the business take risks to enable the company to remain in business and grow. If they have challenges managing the risks and the feedback comes through a plunge in revenues, the employee will be visited with a rude shock – downsizing. The builders of the Titanic said even God could not sink it. Well, the rest as they say is history.