By Adedapo Adesanya

Capital is an integral part of business and its importance cannot be overlooked in Africa; this is why the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) has called on entrepreneurs to build their profiles so as to ensure easy access to investors and get opportunities and capital for their businesses.

This call was made by a panel of honourees comprised of Abayomi Awobokun, CEO, ENYO Retail and Supply; Dr. Ola Brown, Managing Director, Flying Doctors Nigeria; Obi Ozor, Managing Director, Kobo 360 (represented by Samuel Riou); Bunmi Akinyemiju, CEO, Venture Garden Group and Ukinebo Dare, Head, Edo State Skills Development Agency (EdoJobs), during the Class of 2019 100 Under 40 event organised by MIPAD, held at the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Friday, 30 August 2019.

Amongst the honourees who made this call was Abayomi Awobokun, during his opening remark at the event informed the audience that MIPAD was focused on changing the narrative about Africa and he encouraged honourees worldwide to leverage this global network to make major changes in the way Africa and Africans are seen by the world.

Supporting this during the panel discussion moderated by Ukinebo Dare, was Bunmi Akinyemiju, CEO, Venture Garden Group, who, speaking on this year’s theme Raising Capital in Africa, said there was a need to drive and encourage a better outlook for business looking for prospective investors in Africa.

He said “Entrepreneurs looking for prospective investors must have a good story, a consistent story that show their promises kept, and not just turning up at the investor’s door with a request for investment.”

Another member of the panel, Dr. Ola Brown, a medical doctor cum venture capitalist and Managing Director of Flying Doctors Nigeria, corrected the preconceived notion held by entrepreneurs about ideas, stating that ideas are not enough to attract investors but also the viability of these ideas in the market.

According to her, “it is true that investors look for those companies that can fill the gaps in the market but they also ensure that there is enough market in the gap to ensure good and timely returns on investment.”

Dr Brown then used the opportunity to call on entrepreneurs to increase the scope of their businesses and social circles to include people with clout and social stature in order to ease their search for investors.

On his own part during the panel discussion, Abayomi Awobokun, another noted that investors are always looking at the market realities and would go for businesses that are poised to maximally exploit these realities.

“You must show the problems they are solving as well as show passion and energy to solve those problems in order to attract investments.” He said.

Awobokun, using his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of ENYO Retail and Supply, listed other factors that brought about desirability to include a dedicated team to scout for investors, entrepreneurial resilience, a long-term investment horizon, the integrity of entrepreneur and in-house of corporate governance structure.

Kamil Olufowobi, Founder & CEO, MIPAD, during his goodwill messages to the 2019 honourees of the group disclosed that these leaders will be representing Nigeria, the largest country in the world of People of African descent, at MIPAD Recognition Week on the side-lines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, slated for September 27th – October 3rd 2019.

“Honourees are decision-makers from over 60 countries worldwide, selected based on their political clout, business acumen, social media following and humanitarian endeavours in support of UN International Decade for People of African Descent (IDPAD) and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” he explained.

Olufowobi also noted at the event which served as the luncheon for the organisation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) platform where its honourees and the global community can discover their primary SDGs numbers.

“We are excited to align all MIPAD honorees with creating social impact because influence can only be understood when it is manifested in making real change and impact in society,”

Olufowobi went on to disclose his primary SDG number is 17 and encouraged others to discover their primary social impact number within the frameworks of UN SDG at sdgs.mipad.org

Another highlight of the occasion was the presentation of a free Ethiopian Airlines ticket to the UNGA in New York City to a lucky winner.