By Kehinde Ogundare

Business growth should feel energising — not like a daily struggle. When operations begin to scale, the software systems need to scale as well, and adapt to the new processes and needs of the growing organisation. For many Nigerian startups, with rising costs, lean teams, and limited time, staying organised becomes a challenge. Growth demands structure, not just ambition.

The good news? A wide range of affordable and accessible tech tools can help businesses reduce costs, streamline operations, and unlock capacity. Whether it’s managing finances, people, or customers, small teams now have the means to operate at enterprise-level efficiency.

Here are top 10 practical ways the right tools can boost productivity and help cut operational expenses:

1. Finance and spend management

Tracking expenses through manual spreadsheets and scattered receipts is inefficient and prone to error. It creates blind spots in budgeting and slows down level-headed decisions.

To simplify the process, spend management tools help to consolidate all expense data into one place. They categorise spending, flag unusual activity, and streamline approvals. For example, a startup organising multiple events each quarter could use spend management software to budget per project, track payments in real time, and generate reports with a few clicks. This allows for better planning, clearer oversight, and tighter financial control.

2. Project and task management

As teams grow or operate remotely, task coordination becomes harder. Without clear roles, priorities, and timelines, delays and duplicated work are inevitable.

Project management platforms such as Zoho Projects help align workflows with shared timelines, task ownership, status updates, and performance tracking. Such tools increase transparency and ensure everyone stays focused on the right tasks. For example, a tech startup juggling client work and product development can visualise workflows, prioritise tasks, and measure productivity, all in one place. Using such software also encourages accountability and helps teams meet deadlines.

3. Customer relationship management (CRM)

Customer engagement and consistent follow-up often determine long-term success. However, managing contact data and communication manually across tools, spreadsheets, and inboxes quickly becomes unmanageable.

CRM tools such as Bigin centralise customer records, automate follow-ups, and offer insights into sales performance. This makes it easier to manage relationships, respond faster, and refine your sales and marketing strategies based on what is working. A retail business, for example, could use CRM tools to segment customers, send targeted offers, and track conversion rates, turning first-time buyers into repeat customers.

4. Data storage and cloud access

Relying on physical infrastructure for file storage is expensive and limits flexibility. Cloud storage offers an affordable and secure alternative, giving startups a secure, central location for all business files.

It allows teams to access documents anywhere, collaborate in real time, and avoid the confusion of outdated file versions. With many tools offering free tiers or scalable plans, cloud storage is one of the simplest and most cost-effective upgrades a startup can make. It’s especially useful with distributed teams or partners working across regions or time zones.

5. Social media and marketing management

Social media is a powerful way to reach new customers, but managing it manually is time-consuming. Creating content, scheduling posts, and responding to comments can drain internal resources.

Social media management tools help to plan content ahead of time, monitor performance, and stay consistent across platforms. Automation removes the drudgery of manual work, while analytics help refine your messaging and reach. For instance, a beauty brand or lifestyle brand can schedule campaigns around product launches and holidays while keeping an eye on which content drives the most engagement.

6. HR and people operations

Tasks like recruitment, onboarding, leave tracking, and managing payroll quickly pile up. Without dedicated HR support tools, these responsibilities can distract from core business goals.

With centralised employee records and self-service portals, HR tools reduce admin time and ensure staff get the support they need. A small agency, for instance, could use them to simplify leave tracking and ensure timely salary payments, avoiding disputes or bottlenecks. This builds a more professional internal structure without needing a full HR department.

7. Workflow and process automation

Hours can be wasted on manual admin: copying data between systems, sending reminders, and generating reports. Automation tools remove that burden by connecting everyday apps and triggering tasks based on simple rules.

Whether it’s sending alerts, updating spreadsheets, or managing approvals, automation tools work in the background to keep operations ticking over. For example, when a new sale is recorded, the system could automatically update inventory, notify the finance team, and schedule a customer welcome email.

8. Cybersecurity tools

Data breaches and cyberattacks are not just a risk to large corporations. Even small businesses are vulnerable, and accidental data loss can have serious consequences.

Cybersecurity solutions, such as encrypted storage, secure password managers, and access control systems, help safeguard business and customer data. For startups, building trust with users starts with protecting their information. Tools that alert teams to suspicious activity or restrict access to sensitive files can prevent costly breaches and keep your reputation intact.

9. Website builders and analytics

A professional online presence is essential, especially in competitive industries. Modern website builders allow businesses to create responsive, user-friendly sites without coding experience.

This ensures that potential customers find you easily – and that you understand how they engage with your content. For early-stage businesses, this can mean the difference between visibility and invisibility. Analytics help you learn what pages convert best, which campaigns drive traffic, and how to optimise your digital marketing spend.

10. Integrated business systems

Startups often adopt a mix of standalone tools for different tasks. But as operations expand, switching between disconnected apps becomes inefficient and error-prone.

Integrated platforms bring everything – from CRM and finance to HR and analytics – into a single ecosystem. With connected tools and shared dashboards, teams collaborate better and make faster decisions. Imagine a logistics startup being able to track deliveries, issue invoices, and review driver performance all from one interface. It cuts down on confusion, improves customer service, and saves time across the board.

The bottom line

Whether you’re managing expenses, improving collaboration, or enhancing customer service, the right tech tools can unlock new levels of efficiency.

You do not need a large team or deep pockets to build a business that runs smoothly. With the right systems in place, you can reduce admin, improve visibility, and focus on what really matters: growing the business.

As technology tools become more accessible, now is the time to assess what you’re using— and whether those tools are helping you move forward or slowing you down.

Kehinde Ogundare is the Country Head for Zoho Nigeria

By Michael Owhoko, PhD

Who will restore Warri back to its glorious days? A city that was once the pride of all Wafarians, is now a shadow of itself, rusty and reeking with aroma of poverty occasioned by systemic decline with people cocooned in deprivation and squalor.Warri is allusively known as Wafi, making the people and residents of the city identified as Wafarians.

I was close to tears during my recent visit where I toured the length and breadth of Warri, covering Deco Road, Okumagba Avenue, Okere Road, McCiver, Odion Road, Market Road, Cemetery Road, Iyara, McDermott Road, Warri-Sapele Road, Upper and Lower Erejuwa, Ajamogha, Esisi, and Warri Port.  I stayed for over two months, the longest since my relocation to Lagos in 1984.

All I saw was a distressed and a dying city with shattered dreams, shrinking hopes, and diminished opportunities induced by capital flight and economic disorders.  It is a metaphor for youth unemployment, dwindling aspirations, and social chaos, where people just labour under profound deficit constrained by rationed resources, owing to lack of fresh capital from investors.

Indeed, Warri is choking from severe economic dehydration, with all available spaces in front of buildings converted into small shops where people engaged in petty trading and POS businesses, making the whole streets look like mini-markets.  This is further worsened by the large number of keke tricycles almost outstripping the populace with attendant heavy noise emission. Even the dead have no peace in Warri as the entrance to the only cemetery in the town has been overtaken by petty traders, and keke tricycles mechanics, leaving a small gate forentry.

How did such a once vibrant cosmopolitan city that attracted global presence, including investors, and played host to several notable national and international events, degenerated into a rural enclave with dilapidated structures?  What went wrong, and who created the mess which have betrayed the values and ideals that once held Wafarians together in unity and love?

While it is easy to link Warri’s stunted growth to the unending ethnic rivalry among the Itsekiris, Urhobos and Ijaws, for posterity, it is also important to specifically identify those, whose actions, directly or indirectly,have contributed to the city’s appalling condition, which has brought shame and embarrassment to the collective psyche of Wafarians.

First, the opposition of Warri as capital of Delta State at the creation by Itsekiri leaders, led by His Royal Majesty, the Olu of Warri, AtuwatseII, have done more harm to the general good of Warri, and setting the city backward. The deficit outcome has made the motive designed to  protect the Itsekiri’s ethnic interests pale into insignificance.

What is the gain of this stand within the context of development, other than fear of Urhobo domination, and the need to thwart it?  This was an obvious delusion, and no amount of rationalization can justify the mess that has eclipsed Warri.  It was a miscalculation. Sacrificing the city’s progress on the altar of narrow ethnic interest was a tragedy.

Unfortunately, former military President, Ibrahim Babangida (IBB) further complicated the matter when he failed to demonstrate objective governance, taking advantage of the Itsekiri’s disapproval of Warri as capital to illogically site the capital of Delta State in Asaba, hometown of his wife.  It was the height of absurdity in decision making, and a study in bad leadership.Had the ethnic trust deficit in Warri been bridged and the ethnic groups unite to demand Warri as capital, the city would have been better transformed with infrastructural advantage typical of a modern capital city, attracting foreign investors, to the benefit of all.

Second, the unending contention over ownership of Warri township among Urhobos, Itsekiris and Ijaws, over the years, have continued to promote ethnic animosity and discord, contributing immensely to the backwardness of the city. Those who started this tussle have since passed on, without adding any value to their respective ethnic groups.Sadly, this bitter ethnic rivalry is being passed on to succeeding generations, who have foolishly continued in this trajectory to spread hate, rather than live in harmony as neighbours, to achieve enduring peace and development in Warri.

It should be noted that these ownership claims are exercise in futility, as either of these ethnic groups, can practically dislodge one another to take physical possession of any habitation. For example, just as it is practically impossible for the Urhobos to evict the Itsekiris from Okere, it is also unrealistic for the Itsekiris to dispossess the Ijaws of Ogbe-Ijaw land.

And so, brandishing colonial and post-colonial court judgements and papers as proof of ownership, is insignificant and waste of energies.  The three ethnic groups must bury their pride and ego, and live together peacefully as Wafarians, bound by common cultural affinity, so that Warri can experience peace and progress again.

Third, ethnic leaders that directly or indirectly encourage and incite their youth to resort to violence, and sometimes, carry arms to threaten, destroy or kill their neighbours over land, have nothing to gain other than misery and poverty.  Ironically, it is the innocent children of the poor that are used for such senseless conflict, while the children of the rich, enjoy comfort in safe haven in faraway Lagos, Abuja, London, USA or Canada.

Besides, the parents of most of these gullible youth being used to perpetuate these crimes, have no ancestral root, and properties in Warri township. Destruction and mayhem only leave in their trail, economic decline, unemployment, anguish, suffering, hardship and poverty, as investors will flee with their capital from a hostile environment, as shown with the exit of numerous companies in the city.

Lessons ought to have been learnt from the Ijaw-Itsekiri conflict which lasted from 1997 to 1999 over siting of Warri South West Local Government Area Headquarters.  At the end of that war, both parties counted only losses, no benefit, no value addition, and no reward. Regrettably, companies that were hitherto sources of sustained fresh capital in Warri, relocated to other cities, bringing lackand despair to Warri and its environs.  There must not be a repeat of such a senseless ethnic war, as Warri may never survive a second experience.

The effect of the Ijaw-Itsekiri fight led to exit of companies like Pan Ocean, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Shell Petroleum Development Company, (SPDC), ELF, Conoco-Phillips, Agip, WEAFRI, NISSCO, Globestar, McDermott, DBN, WESCO, Hercules Offshore Nigeria, Nigeria Dredging & Marine, LAMNALCO, and Dunlop.

Others include Saipem, Seismograph Services Limited, Snamprogetti, Dowell, Anadrill, Baroid, Santafe, Oceaneering, Kingsway, Leventis, West Minster Dredging, John Holt, SCOA, Glorylux, United African Company (UAC), Mandillas, Nestoil together with maritime and shipping firms located inside the Nigerian Ports Authority, Warri.

The companies not only left with their investment; they also left behind high unemployment rate of approximately 80 per cent in Warri. Except for Chevron Nigeria Limited, and perhaps, recently, Tantita Security Services Limited, through which fresh funds are being injected into the economy of Warri, the condition of the town would have been catastrophic.

Fourth, those that engage in collection of “deve” (development) fee as precondition for commencement of project, and also, who forcefully demand employment and contract slots from companies, have also contributed to the poor condition of Warri.  By their actions, companies, including small business enterprises and individuals, are frustrated and discouraged from establishing businesses in the city, thereby compounding the unemployment burden.

Fifth, the non-operational Warri Port has also added to the economic hardship in Warri.  Ocean-going vessels that used to berth, servicing business interests in neighbouring Effurun, Udu, Benin City, Onitsha, Asaba, and the environs, are no more.  This is further worsened by the collapse of adjoining companies like the Delta Steel Company, Owvian-Aladja and Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company, Ekpan, which has taken a huge toll on Warri life.

It is, therefore, imperative for the ethnic groups to redirect their energies to promote peace and unity, in order to restore investors’ confidence.The Ijaws, Urhobos and Itsekiris’ leaders can also leverage their common cultural ties, as expressed in food, clothes, trade, history, and festivals to boost Warri’s economy.  For example, Warri cultural celebrations like Agbassa Juju (Idju Owhurie Festival) and Okere Juju (Awankere Festival) can be bolstered and turned into major tourists’ destination, as part of strategy to make Warri great again.

Dr Mike Owhoko, Lagos-based public policy analyst, author, and journalist, can be reached at www.mikeowhoko.com, and followed on X {formerly Twitter} @michaelowhoko.

By Diana Tenebe

Nigeria stands at a critical juncture, faced with a demographic reality that is both its greatest asset and a significant challenge. With a population where almost 70% are under the age of 30, the nation’s future is undeniably in the hands of its youth.

Yet, the agricultural sector, the traditional backbone of the economy, is in a state of crisis, with an aging farming population and a notable disinterest from the younger generation. This disconnect poses a serious threat to our food security, economic stability, and long-term sustainable development. To navigate this, Nigeria must embark on a deliberate and multi-faceted mission to transform agriculture from a career of last resort into a dynamic, profitable, and respected profession for its youth.

The perception of farming as a life of drudgery, poverty, and limited opportunity is deeply ingrained in the minds of many young Nigerians. This is not without reason. The sector is often associated with backbreaking labor, outdated methods, and significant financial risk. The lack of access to land, credit, and modern technology creates a formidable barrier to entry, pushing aspiring young people towards often non-existent or poorly paid urban jobs. This exodus from rural areas exacerbates the issue, leaving an agricultural sector in need of fresh ideas and a renewed workforce.

To reverse this trend, we must begin by transforming the very image of agriculture. Education is the key. Integrating agriculture, food, and nutrition into the national curriculum from primary school upwards can fundamentally change how young people view the sector. By making it a compulsory subject in secondary schools, we can equip students with practical knowledge and foster an appreciation for the vast opportunities within the food system. School gardens and ‘Farm to School’ initiatives can provide hands-on experience, connecting young minds with the processes of food production and the rewards of a healthy community. By promoting farming as a business, not just a means of subsistence, we can highlight its potential for profitability and professionalism.

Crucially, young Nigerians need to see that success in agriculture is not just possible, but a reality. Showcasing successful young farmers and agripreneurs through media campaigns, documentaries, and digital platforms like Agribusiness TV can provide powerful role models. These stories of innovation, resilience, and financial success can inspire a new generation to reconsider their career paths. Peer-to-peer learning, where successful young farmers share their evidence-based success, is an effective way to demonstrate the viability of modern agricultural practices and encourage others to follow suit.

Beyond changing perceptions, we must address the tangible barriers to entry. Access to finance is paramount. Innovative funding models, including grants, subsidies, and venture capital funds specifically for young agricultural entrepreneurs, can ease the initial burden of starting an agribusiness. Policy reforms that simplify land acquisition and promote cooperative farming models are essential to ensure young people have access to the resources they need. Furthermore, providing training in technical, business, and financial literacy will empower them to develop robust business plans and attract investment.

Perhaps the most potent tool for attracting Nigeria’s tech-savvy youth is technology itself. Modern agriculture is a far cry from the old-school image of a farmer with a hoe. Digital technologies, from mobile apps that provide real-time market prices to blockchain for product traceability, can connect young farmers directly to markets and streamline their operations. The introduction of technologies like hydroponics, aquaponics, and automated farm machinery not only reduces drudgery but also offers attractive, quick-return opportunities. By promoting agri-tech startups and establishing ICT training centers for rural youth, we can position agriculture as a hub of innovation.

The government has a vital role to play in fostering an enabling environment. Initiatives like the National Young Farmers Scheme and partnerships such as the one between the Federal Government and Niger State to empower 100,000 youths are commendable steps. Continued public investment, alongside the involvement of youth in policy dialogue, will signal a genuine commitment to their future in the sector.

Engaging Nigeria’s youth in agriculture is not merely an option—it is a national imperative. By transforming perception, enhancing access to resources, and leveraging technology, we can unlock their immense potential, ensuring a sustainable and prosperous future for the entire nation. The time to act is now.

Diana Tenebe is the Chief Operating Officer of Foodstuff Store