Economy
How to Effectively Manage Multiple Businesses Same Time
By Anton van Heerden
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a question that most of us heard by the time we were four years-old, with the expectation that the answer would be a single profession or career.
But times are changing fast and many people are now rejecting the idea that they should choose to define themselves by only one job for life.
Many young professionals and entrepreneurs are embracing the idea of pursuing multiple professional interests in search of better earning power or more personal satisfaction.
Becoming an accountant doesn’t mean that you need to give up your dream of running a restaurant on the side; taking on a job as sales rep doesn’t stop you from earning some cash pursuing a passion such as freelance writing.
Serial entrepreneurs who move from one business to the next are becoming more common; so are entrepreneurs who run more than one business at once.
Sage research shows that 94 percent of young entrepreneurs in Nigeria and 82 percent in South Africa expect to start more than one business in their lifetime. The most common reason for wanting to do so is that they believe they have so many great ideas to share with the world.
If you’re an entrepreneur, there are many reasons to start up a second (or third or fourth…) business.
For many people—and this is often true for African entrepreneurs—one business isn’t enough to cover their living expenses. They might need to run a taxi service and offer part-time maths tuition to make ends meet.
It could be that your existing business has hit its maximum growth potential, so you could get better returns by investing your cash and time in a new venture. Or you might want to diversify your income streams to reduce your financial risks.
Alternatively, you may simply want to pursue a passion project that allows you to spend at least part of your workday doing something you love.
Managing multiple business interests can be tricky and demands great discipline.
At the Sage Summit this year, we learnt that there are many well-known people such as Ashton Kutcher who are involved in multiple businesses other than just being an actor. Such business owners whether big or small have one common trait – passion.
Here are a few ideas about how you can juggle multiple business interests:
Bed down your first business before starting another
Starting a new business venture has a major strain on your time and your money for at least a few months. If you try to start two businesses at nearly the same time, one or both will suffer from the lack of focus. Be careful of overcommitting yourself when you have limited capital, time and energy to spend. Ideally, your first business should be stable and providing you with a constant income before you try to launch the next one.
Be choosy
The problem that many entrepreneurs face is not a shortage of (seemingly) good business ideas and opportunities, but an excess of them. Pick your projects carefully and dedicate enough resources to them to give them a good chance of taking off. But also be brave enough to walk away when a side project will not be a success.
Hire a talented team
If you want to run multiple businesses, you’ll need to accept the fact that you’ll need to delegate more of the day to day operations to your team. It’s important to find people who you trust and work well with so that you can be comfortable leaving them to get on with it while you’re busy elsewhere. It can work well to share skills across your businesses and work with the same external consultants.
Get advice about how to structure your businesses
When you decide to diversify, you’ll need to look at the right structure for your different businesses. It might make sense to simply add your new line of business to an existing company, or to treat it as an associate, or to set it up as a completely new company. Discuss the pros and cons with your financial and legal advisors, with a view to minimising risk and optimising cost efficiencies.
Share infrastructure and skills where you can
Don’t double up on skills, services and infrastructure when it isn’t necessary. For example, you might be able to share an IT backbone, receptionist and an office between two or more businesses. As an extension to this thought, if you’re thinking about expanding into a new business or market, why not look at ideas that can leverage off the skills, infrastructure and assets you already have in place?
Be a time management and multitasking master
Use IT systems to save you time—ditch the spreadsheets and use proper accounting and payroll software, for example.
Learn to prioritise: perhaps focus on sales first, then marketing and admin.
Make time first thing in the morning or at the end of the day to take care of admin and email when there is no one else in the office to distract you.
Schedule your time carefully.
Outsource low value tasks or delegate them to juniors.
Closing words
Take South African serial entrepreneur Shezi Ntuthuko for example, who says that being an entrepreneur “does become easy after the first 10”. It takes hard work and human sacrifice to turn a dream business idea into a way of life. It is the entrepreneurial spirit that makes the difference all over the world.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed flat on Thursday, December 12 after it ended the trading session with no single price gainer or loser.
As a result, the market capitalisation remained unchanged at N1.055 trillion as the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) followed the same route, remaining at 3,012.50 points like the previous trading session.
However, the activity chart witnessed changes as the volume of securities traded at the bourse went down by 92.5 per cent to 447,905 units from the 5.9 million units transacted a day earlier.
In the same vein, the value of securities bought and sold by investors declined by 86.6 per cent to N3.02 million from the N22.5 million recorded in the preceding trading day.
But the number of deals carried out during the session remained unchanged at 21 deals, according to data obtained by Business Post.
When trading activities ended for the day, Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 1.7 billion units sold for N3.9 billion, Okitipupa Plc came next with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc was in third place with 297.5 million units worth N5.3 million.
Also, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 108.7 million units worth N89.2 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units sold for N5.3 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N14.79 or 0.9 per cent to trade at N1,534.50/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,549.29/$1 on Thursday, December 12.
The strengthening of the domestic currency during the trading session was influenced by the introduction of the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.
The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN; publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira at the official market.
Equally, the local currency improved its value against the British Pound Sterling by N3.91 to wrap the session at N1,954.77/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,958.65/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency gained N2.25 to sell for N1,610.41/€1 versus N1,612.66/€1.
However, in the black market, the Naira crashed further against the US Dollar on Thursday by N10 to quote at N1,680/$1 compared with Wednesday’s closing rate of N1,670/$1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market majorly corrected after earlier gains as US President-elect Donald Trump reiterated his ambition to embrace crypto assets, but a bond market rout dragged risk assets lower.
Mr Trump said, “We’re going to do something great with crypto” while ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, reiterating his ambition to embrace digital assets in the world’s largest economy and create a strategic bitcoin reserve.
Alongside, the European Central Bank trimmed its benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points and in its dovish policy statement hinted that more rate cuts were likely to happen.
The biggest loss was made by Cardano (ADA), which fell by 4.9 per cent to trade at $1.10, followed by Ripple (XRP), which slid by 4.1 per cent to $2.33 and Dogecoin (DOGE) recorded a value depreciation of 2.9 per cent to sell at $0.4064.
Further, Solana (SOL) slumped by 1.8 per cent to $225.89, Binance Coin (BNB) slipped by 1.3 per cent to $746.92, Bitcoin (BTC) declined by 0.6 per cent to $99,998.18, Ethereum (ETH) crumbled by 0.5 per cent to $3,909.43, and Litecoin (LTC) dipped by 0.3 per cent to $121.52, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The oil market slumped on Thursday, pressured by an expected increase in supply, supported by rising expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut.
The International Energy Agency (EIA) made a slight upward revision to its demand outlook for next year but still expected the oil market to be comfortably supplied, with Brent crude futures losing 11 cents or 0.15 per cent to trade at $73.41 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures declining by 27 cents or 0.38 per cent to finish at $70.02 per barrel.
The IEA in its monthly oil market report increased its 2025 global oil demand growth forecast to 1.1 million barrels per day from 990,000 barrels per day last month, largely in Asian countries due to the impact of China’s recent stimulus measures.
At the same time, the IEA expects nations not in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Allies (OPEC+) group to boost supply by about 1.5 million barrels per day next year, driven by the US, Canada, Guyana, Brazil and Argentina – more than the rate of demand growth.
On Wednesday, OPEC cut its demand growth forecast for 2024 for the fifth straight month.
The IEA said that, even excluding the return to higher output quotas, its current outlook is to a 950,000 barrels per day supply overhang next year, which is almost 1 per cent of the world’s supply.
The Paris-based agency said this would rise to 1.4 million barrels per day if OPEC+ goes ahead with its plan to start unwinding cuts from the end of next March.
Next year’s surplus could make it harder for OPEC+ to bring back production. The hike was earlier due to start in October 2024, but OPEC+ has delayed it amid falling prices.
Meanwhile, inflation rose slightly in November increasing the possibility of a US Federal Reserve rates cut again as the data fed optimism about economic growth and energy demand.
Support also came as crude imports in China grew annually for the first time in seven months in November, up more than 14 per cent from a year earlier.
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