MSME DIGEST With Kola Owolabi
Money on the table!!! (Part 4)
There is a table on which every entrepreneur must learn to look for money. It is not the table in your office, your shop, your factory or your boardroom. The market is the real table!
Your customers are sitting around that table, waiting for solutions to their problems, answers to their needs and products that will make their lives easier. The entrepreneur who fails to connect with this market promptly is leaving money on the table.
Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs spend months and sometimes years perfecting their products and services before approaching the market. They want the perfect packaging, the perfect office, the perfect website, the perfect equipment and the perfect business plan. By the time they are ready, they may have missed valuable opportunities to serve customers, learn from their feedback and establish a market position.
Let us be clear: quality matters. Proper preparation matters. But preparation without market engagement can become an expensive form of procrastination.
Most entrepreneurs are surprised to discover that the market may have been waiting for something like their product or service long before they arrived. Once the right solution becomes available, customers may be willing to pay for it enthusiastically. The entrepreneur who gets there early, understands the customer and delivers value has an opportunity to smile to the bank.
Consider the evolution of personal technology. There was a time when the desktop computer appeared to be the ultimate personal computing device. Then came more portable computing options, including laptops, and eventually smartphones transformed how millions of people communicated, worked, shopped and accessed information. Android-powered smartphones helped bring these capabilities to an enormous range of users.
The lesson is not that every new product will succeed. It is that the market’s needs and preferences keep evolving, creating fresh opportunities for entrepreneurs who pay attention and act.
Think, too, about the transition from electric typewriters to personal computers. People who could not justify buying an electric typewriter at one point might later find compelling reasons to invest in a personal computer. The new technology offered a different range of capabilities and possibilities. When customers recognise sufficient value, they can become willing to spend money on solutions they previously considered unnecessary or unaffordable.
This is why entrepreneurs must not confuse their own readiness with the market’s readiness. Sometimes, customers are ready before the entrepreneur is.
So, what should you do?
Take your product or service to prospective customers early. Start with a manageable market test. Ask questions. Invite feedback. Make trial sales where appropriate. Observe what customers buy, what they reject and what they are willing to pay for. Improve your offering based on what you learn.
You do not need to wait until you can serve the whole country before serving your first customer. You do not need a million units before testing whether ten people will buy. You do not need a nationwide distribution network before learning whether customers in your neighbourhood want your product.
Start where you are, reach the market, learn and improve.
Of course, products involving health, safety, legal approvals or other regulatory requirements must meet the relevant standards before being offered for sale. Moving early means testing and learning responsibly, not cutting corners.
As we conclude this series, remember the central message: money is often lost not because opportunities do not exist, but because entrepreneurs fail to recognise them, attend to them or act on them in time.
Do not spend all your energy preparing for the market while leaving the market waiting for you.
The market is the real table. Take your product or service to it. The money may already be waiting there!
Kola Owolabi – 08023203198 is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria. He is the CEO of David Solomon Consulting, a foremost business plan preparation and business consulting firm, which operates out of Igbesa, near Crawford University, Ogun State. He can be reached on 08023203198 ( WhatsApp line)
