How a Former Factory Worker Built a $7 Billion Fortune

How a Former Factory Worker Built a $7 Billion Fortune

Zhou Qunfei, founder of Lens Technologies, is the most successful self-made female billionaire in the world. Why don't more people know her?
 
BY BILL MURPHY JR.
@BillMurphyJr
 

Zhou Qunfei. IMAGE: Chen zhonghao -

She's the most successful self-made female billionaire in the world, and comparatively few people have ever heard of her. Meet Zhou Qunfei, school dropout (by economic necessity), former factory worker--and founder and CEO of Lens Technologies, the world's leading manufacturer of touch screens for companies like Apple and Samsung.

Zhou, 45, who grew up in a tiny village in China, lost her mother at age 5. Her father was nearly blind after an industrial accident. She dropped out of school at age 16, rose through the ranks at work, and ultimately launched her own glass-refining company, which went public earlier this year.

Zhou has a pretty low profile for a woman with a fortune estimated at between $7 billion and $10 billion, but she was profiled recently in both The South China Morning Post and The New York Times.

Here are some of the keys to her success.

1. She refused to accept less than she wanted.
Zhou did well in school, but she had little choice but to set aside her dreams of becoming a fashion designer. Instead, she dropped out at age 16, to go to work in a factory, "making watch lenses for about $1 a day," according to the Times. It was hard work:

I worked from 8 a.m. to 12 a.m., and sometimes until 2 a.m. There were no shifts, just a few dozen people, and we all polished glass. I didn't enjoy it.

Despite the fact that she needed the work and that there were many others lining up to replace her, Zhou wrote to her boss after only three months, thanking him for the opportunity but saying it wasn't enough for her. Instead of letting her go, her boss promoted her. This brave move turned out to be step one on her long road to immense wealth.

2. She thoroughly understood her business.
Because she'd started on the factory floor and risen through the ranks at her first employer, Zhou thoroughly understood every step of the lens-manufacturing process before she launched her own company. Even now, with a work force reported at between 60,000 and 80,000 employees, she's known for walking through her factories and paying close attention to process.

"She'll sometimes sit down and work as an operator to see if there's anything wrong with the process," one of her general managers told the Times. "That will put me in a very awkward position. If there's a problem, she'll say, 'Why didn't you see that?'"

3. She bet on herself again and again.
Zhou left her factory job to launch her own manufacturing firm with a total of $3,000 that she and relatives had saved. This was the first of 11 business she started, according to the SCMP, most of which ultimately failed.

"Twice I had to sell my house to pay my employees' salary," she said.

In fact, it wasn't until 2003 that she had the opportunity to really make her company successful, which leads us to--

4. She said yes to opportunity.
Zhou's expertise was in manufacturing glass lenses for watches, but it was the rise of the newest generations of smart phones that really enabled her success. In 2003, she was contacted by executives from a major mobile phone company, asking whether she'd be willing to retool her company to make screens for phones.

(The timing on this is a actually a little unclear; the Times says it was Motorola in 2003; the SCMP says it was China's TCL Corporation in 2001. Regardless, Zhou jumped at the chance.)

"I got this call, and they said, 'Just answer yes or no, and if the answer's yes, we'll help you set up the process,'" the Times quoted her as saying. "I said yes."

5. She worked incredibly hard.
There's a saying in the Hunan dialect that describes Zhou, her cousin (who serves on her company's board) told the Times: ba de man. It means "a person who dares to do what others are afraid to do."

Yet Zhou apparently demonstrates a rare combination of initiative and diligence. The Times described her work habits as "lean[ing] toward the obsessive."

Her company's headquarters is at one of her manufacturing plants in Changsha. In her spacious office, a door behind her desk opens into a small apartment, ensuring she can roam the factory floor day or night.

6. She maintains balance and humility.
Despite her great fortune and success, the Times described her as exuding both "charm and humility," remaining silent during meetings, but commanding attention when she does speak up, and admonishing a subordinate for failing to sit up straight during one meeting.

"I'm not qualified to be a high-profile person," she was quoted as saying in the SCMP. "I think it's important not to get carried away when you are successful--and not to let yourself feel gloomy when times are bad."

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DAILY FRAUD AT MM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TOLL GATE IKEJA LAGOS.

DAILY FRAUD AT MM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TOLL GATE IKEJA LAGOS.

Ordinarily, I will be the last person to write about fraudulent actions that do not affect me directly. This is because I am used to seeing corruption in organisations and it is usually traceable to the tip of the pyramid.

What is Financial Fraud?

Financial fraud can be broadly defined as an intentional act of deception involving financial transactions for purpose of personal gain. Fraud is a crime, and is also a civil law violation.

This writeup is to bring to public notice the daily financial fraud that takes place at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Toll gate. I have watched this act with so much dismay for many years and it got me worried about the future of this country. People do not care anymore about the good of all. This is why we hear of different kinds of financial crime daily. From kidnap and robbery, to advance fee fraud and baby factory.

I am encouraged to play my part in the fight against corruption because I believe we now have a national leader who detests corruption. President Buhari is known for his high level of integrity and going by his recent body language, I do not think he is ready to change that stance.

"Evil thrives when good men do nothing" ~ Unknown.

THE MAIN ISSUE
It is estimated by this writer that a ticketing officer (TO) goes home with an average of N50,000 cash daily, N1,500,000 monthly.  This is not a salary or allowance nor is it a genuine income.
Ticketing officers at MM International Airport Toll gate are having a swell time making money illegally from the government purse by not remitting to the authority the entire revenue collected at the toll gate. This people keep about 45%-65% of the total amount they collect daily. This is fraud!

HOW IS THIS DONE?
My study has shown that many drivers do not wait to be issued a ticket for the toll fee paid and when ticket is not issued,  the money goes to a private pocket. Sometimes drivers delay to ensure the printer brings out a receipt and then drives off without collecting the receipt. Again,  such receipt is sold to the next driver behind. All the ticketing officer needs to do is to tap the keyboard twice and bring out the old receipt that was kept beside the printer that is usually shielded from the driver's sight.
I have experienced this times without number. You will just notice that the time on the receipt is about 3-5 minutes earlier than your own time.
There is a particular key the TO is expected to tap on the keyboard  for a receipt to be issued depending on your kind of vehicle as price varies. Once you pay,  they tap the wrong key, the driver zooms off and the money is pocketed.
This is done with so much impunity on daily bases.

WHAT EFFRONTERY?
I have confronted these guys many times and the reaction has always been the same.
One of the several times I confronted a ticket officer for giving me an old ticket, she was so bold and without fear. The conversation went thus;

Me: excuse me, how come you didn't tap the keyboard before giving me a receipt and the receipt is 3 minutes earlier?

Ticketing officer : Oga that is your receipt abeg, mcheew (she hissed ).

Me: But the time is obviously different?
(already the driver behind me is pressing his horn...pon pon!!!!!!)
A supervisor walks close and asks "what's  the issue?" she tells him and the next thing he says; " oga dey go, you are causing traffic."

This writer is of the opinion that a staff of an organisation will not be so bold in committing fraud openly without a level of management direct or indirect approval.

Investigation revealed that the toll fee collection was outsourced to a private firm.

EFFECT OF THIS CRIME ON THE ECONOMY

Nigeria economy is presently nosediving and this is due to many reasons. Corruption in govt. Global economic issue, lack of foresight by passed leaders etc.  The economy is so bad that every penny generated will go a long way to affect the bottom line.
It has been said that our economic woes became critical due to the widened leakages created by various players especially since 1999.

Simply put, any money that enters the pucket of these thieves, means less money for the federal government.
We have a government which needs every penny it can get to implement it's electoral promises, hence, the need to play our part in supporting such government.
I have done my part in exposing this evil.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Wherever you notice anything wrong, do what you can to challenge it. Do not seat and complain.
In this particular case, always ensure you wait and take your correct receipt whenever you pay for public good. This will go a long way to force them to remit as much as possible to government.

Just in case the authority cares to change the status quo, there should be a mitre to read how many times the bar is raised, a cctv to record activities, a card with chip for those who use stickers. This will help in no small measure to curb fraud in toll gates around the country.

My experience.

Let us have your comments below.
You can also respond to upwrite.ei@gmail.com or on facebook

Issues, Challenges and Prospects of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria - Part 1.

Issues, Challenges and Prospects of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria - Part 1.

Small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) are generally regarded as  the  engine of  economic  growth  and  equitable  development in  developing  economies.  They  are labour intensive, capital saving and capable of  helping  create  most of the one  billion  new jobs the  world will need  by the end  of the century.  They are also perceived  as the  key to  Nigeria’s economic  growth,  poverty  alleviation and employment  generation.

In today's world, information is the most important tool for success. Without the right information, you cannot amount to much, both in business and in life.

I have studied the Nigerian economy and have come to the conclusion that there can never be any advancement without the significant contribution from Small and Medium scale Enterprises.

I have studied SMEs for many years and have noticed  the struggle they go through in Africa. It is an established fact that 90% of startups in Africa, folds up within 5years. The infant mortality rate of our Small scale businesses is a sign that we have a longer way to go than we had envisaged.

Taking Nigeria as a case study. Let's look at the challenges facing SMEs and how it could be tackled.

After Nigeria’s independence in 1960, much emphasis has been laid on the growth of small and medium scale industries as a  means of reducing the incidence  of poverty  and unemployment in the country. Since the adoption of the  economic reform programme in 1986, there has been a decisive shift from grandiose, capital intensive and large scale industrial projects  based  on  import substitution to small scale industries with immense potentials for  developing domestic linkages  for sustainable industrial development.   Apart from  SMEs potential for  self-reliant industrialization  using local  raw materials, they  are in  a  better  position  to  boost  employment,  guarantee even distribution  of industrial development  and  facilitate the  growth  of non-oil  exports. M O. Agwu 2014, states that  SMEs employ 22% of the adult population  in developing countries while Asibor hilary 2011 observed that  small firms  are major source of  employment  opportunities for  a wide cross-section  of the workforce:  the young, old part-time workers and the cyclically unemployed.  Kombo,  etal, submitted that  “SMEs  have  contributed greatly  to  the growth  of  Kenyan  economy, accounting for 12-14% of GDP, through creating employment  opportunities,  training entrepreneurs,  generating  income  and  providing  a source of livelihood for the  majority  of  low income  households in the  country”.   Hence,  promotion  of such  enterprises in developing  economies like Nigeria will  bring about great  distribution  of income  and wealth, economic  self-dependence, entrepreneurial development and a host  of other positive economic  uplifting  factors. SMEs are veritable  engines  for  attainment of  national  objective  in  terms of  employment generation at low investment cost, development of entrepreneurial  capabilities  and indigenous technology.  They reduce  the  flow  of people from  rural to  urban  areas and can easily be  established with  minimal  skill.  They also contribute substantially  to the country’s gross domestic  product, export  earnings  and development of  employment opportunities. 

Challenges faced by SMEs

Financial Problems: About 80% of Small and medium entreprises are stifled because of poor financing and  other  associated problems  [14]. The problem  of  financing  SMEs  is not  so much the  sources of funds  but  its accessibility.  Factors identified inhibiting  funds accessibility are the stringent conditions set by  financial institutions, lack  of adequate collateral and credit information  and cost  of  accessing  funds [15]. Harper [16] believes that  the  capital shortage  problem  in  the  small firm  sector is  partly  one, which stems for the uneconomic deployment of  available resources by  the  owner-managers.  This view was shared by Ihyembe [17] who claimed  to have seen  businessmen  take loan  for expansion  projects only  to  turnaround to  marry  new  wives, acquire  chieftaincy titles or buy houses abroad. Bruch  and Hiemenz  [18] in  a  study  of  SMEs  in  Asia  observed  that financing working capital  needs was  the  most  frequently mentioned  problem.  Binks and Ennew [19] expressed  the view that  the  funding problem of SMEs is  primarily due  to  the behavior of  banks and imperfection  of  the capital  markets.   Management  Problems:  Lack  of trained manpower  and  management skills also constitute  a major  challenge  to  the  survival  of  SMEs  in  Nigeria.  According  to  West  and Wood [20], “…90% of all  these business failures result from lack  of experience  and competence.”  Rogers [13], also  added that inefficiency  in overall  business management and poor record keeping is also a major feature of most  SMEs; technical problems/competence  and lack of essential and required expertise in  production, procurement,  maintenance, marketing  and finances have  always led to  funds misapplication, wrong and costly decision  making.

Inadequate  Basic Infrastructure:   Government  has  not done  enough  to  create  the best  conducive environment for the  striving of  SMEs,  the problem  of infrastructures ranges from  shortage of water supply, inadequate transport systems,  lack of  electricity to improper solid waste management. Nigeria’s underdeveloped physical and  social infrastructures create  a binding constraint  to SMEs growth, since;  they  heavily  rely on the  inefficiently provided state  infrastructures  and cannot afford  the cost of  developing alternatives [21]. Socio-Cultural Problems:  Most Nigerian  Entrepreneurs  do  not  have the investment culture of  ploughing  back  profits.  Bala  [22] stressed that  the attitude of a  typical  Nigerian entrepreneur is to invest  today and reap  tomorrow. Also, the socio-political  ambitions  of some entrepreneurs may lead to the diversion  of valuable  funds and energy  from business  to  social  waste.  The  problem  of  bias against  made  in  Nigeria goods is significant.  Most Nigerians  have developed a high propensity for the consumption of foreign goods as against their locally made  substitutes. Strategic Planning  Problems:  SMEs often do not carry out proper  strategic planning in their  operations. Ojiako  [23] stated that  one  problem  of SMEs is  lack of  strategic planning. Sound planning is a necessary input to  a sound decision-making. Location/Economic Problems:  Market stores are  dominated  by  absentee landlords who  charge  exorbitant  rates. The  ownership  of  market  stores by  politicians is crowding real  small-scale  operators out  of  the market. The high  rents  charged by  store owners  on good locations  have  forced  real small-scale  operators into  the streets or at  best into accessible places [24]. Also, domestic economic  problems of deregulation  and removal of protection  as  well as the global financial  crisis have been  detrimental  to SMEs.
Poor Accounting  System:  The accounting system of  most  SMEs lack standards hence, no proper  assessment of  their performances. This creates  opportunity  for mismanagement and eventually leads to  the downfall of  the  establishment. Multiple taxation:  This  has become a  major problem  especially  given  the role  of  tax consultants and agents  hired by local  governments.  They  are  often crude in  their operation, excessive in  their assessment  and  destructive in  their  relationship  with  the production  process.  They  tax everything in their  bid to generate revenue  without considering the net effect to  household incomes and employment.
Unstable policy environment:  Instability in government  policies  have caused  some SMEs to  collapse. One of such  policies is  that of the 1980s  when government specified that  cocoa should not  be exported in raw or unprocessed form after a specified deadline. Many  SMEs  had  to  import  machineries  only  for government  to  reverse  this  policy.  This negatively affected so many  SMEs in the  cocoa industry. The present  high  mortality rate  of  SMEs in Nigeria is awful  to contemplate and constitute danger to  the entire economic  system. It represents serious financial  pressure on  the  nation’s economy  as  well  as a  waste  of valuable  resources.  The business  owner should always  consider challenging situations  and be  prepared to meet  them with preplanned strategies [25]. The survival  of  SMEs is only possible through a systematic analysis of the problems  they  are facing  and  mapping out appropriate strategies of overcoming them,  through  a proper understanding of  the business environment [26]. For  a business to survive in unfriendly environmental  conditions  it should adopt  a strategy that utilizes  its strengths to exploit opportunities while avoiding its weaknesses

Nwoye [28], argued that strategic changes  might take place in  a firm without  initial formulations,  such decision could be informed  by expansion strategy,  preference to  cash sales policy, innovation  strategy, change  in production  techniques,  local  sourcing  or use of  alternative materials, backward  integration and merger. Thus, any entrepreneur  who wants to succeed must identify  business  opportunities,  be creative, visionary, daring, risk taking, courageous and sensitive to changes in the business environment.

We shall elucidate on the way out of these challenges in part 2.

Let us have your comments.
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1.Lalkaka, R. (1997). Support Mechanism for Small Enterprises in Transition  Economies,  World Association  of Industrial and Technological  Research  Organizations. 2.  Fissaeha, Y. (1991).  Small Scale Enterprises in Lesotho:  Summary of a  Country wide Survey, Gemini Technical  Report,  No 14  Washington D.C,  Development Alternatives Inc. 3. Fabayo, J.A. (1989),  “Small-Scale  Enterprise Development Strategy: A Critical Option  for Long-Term Economic Progress in Nigeria”.  The India Journal of Economics.Vol. 58(1):159-171. 4. Kombo,  A.  et al (2011). An  Evaluation of the  Impact of Risk management Strategies on  MicroFinance Institutions’ Financial Sustainability: A  case of  Selected Micro finance institutions in  Kisii Municipality, Kenya. Educational  Research,  Vol. 2  (5):1149-1153. 5. Aremu, M.  A. (2004). Small Scale  Enterprises: Panacea to  Poverty Problem in Nigeria,  Journal of  Enterprises Development, International  Research and Developme  6.  Aremu,  M.  A. and Adeyemi,  S.A. (2011).Small and Medium Scale Enterprises as A Survival Strategy for Employment  Generation in Nigeria.Journal of  Sustainable Development, Canadian  Center of Science and  Education. Vol. 4(1):200- 2006. 7. Basil, A. N. O.  (2005). Small and Medium  Enterprises  (SMES)  in Nigeria: Problems  and Prospects, Ph.D. Thesis.St.  Clement’s  University. 8. Beckman,  J.  (1983). Entrepreneurship and the Outlook of American. New York:  Free  Press 9. Osamwonyi, I.O.  (2009). The Nigerian  Economy, Edo  State Unemployment and the  Role of Entrepreneurship in Osamwonyi I.O. (ed) Training Manual For Participants of  Graduate Entrepreneurial Scheme, Osatech Group  Consulting. 10. Rajesh, K.  S., Suresh,  K.  G., &Deshmukh, S.  G.  (2008). Strategy  development by  SMEs for competitiveness: a review.  Benchmarking: An  International  Journal, 15(5): 525-547. 11. General Statistics Office. (2007). Small and Medium  Enterprises in  Nigeria. 12. Uzor, O.O.  (2004).Small  and Medium Scale  Enterprises Cluster  Development in SouthEastern Region  of Nigeria. Institute  for World  Economics and International Management, 5-15. 13. Rogers, B.A. (2002). Funding of SMEs: Sourcing of Funds and Problems LimitingAccess, ICAN journal.  Nigerian Accountant  Vol. 35 No. 1 January/March. 14. Fatai,  A.  (2011). “Small and Medium  Scale  Enterprises in Nigeria: The Problems and Prospects”.RetrievedJanuary15fromwww.thecje.com/journal/index.php/economicsjour nal/article/.../8. 15. Adepoju B.A. (2003). An  appraisal of the factors inhibiting entrepreneurial  undertaking in contemporary Nigeria: a  case  study  of SMEs in Kano  metropolis, Nigeria.Journal of Business  Administration,  Dept. of  Bus  Admin,  UNIBEN.Vol.5,  No.2,  July. 16. Haper, M.  (1984). Small Business in  the Third  World,  John  Wiley & Sons. 17. Ihyembe, R.H. (2000). Financing SME: International Perspective. The Nigerian Banker,   Journal of the Chartered Institute of  Bankers of  Nigeria,  20-27. 18. Bruch, M.  R. and Hiemenze, U.  (1984).  Small- and Medium-Scale  Industries in  the  ASEAN Countries: Agents or Victims  of Economic  Development? West View Press, Boulder. 19. Binks, M  .R. and Ennew,  C.T. (1996).  Growing Firm and  Credit Constraint, Small-Scale Business Economics,  17-25. 20. West;  D and Wood, G.  (1972). Financial  Management.  U.S.A.  Hayuton Muffin Company. 21. Tendler, J.  and Amorim,  A.  M.  (1996).  Small Firms  and their helpers: Lessons on  Demand. World Development.24  (3): 407-426. 22. Bala, J.J.  (2002). The  Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission  and prospects for investment by  Small Scale  Enterprises with  the  new democratic dispensation  presented at the seminar on the Strategies  and Policies for the support of Small Scale Industries in Nigeria held at  Abuja in May. 23. Ojiako,O.F.(2000) Problems of Small-scale Enterprises in Nigeria. The Business Administrator,  UNN,  Enugu, Vol.  15. 24. Osamwonyi, I.O (2005). Production management  for entrepreneurs in  Inegbenebor ed. Fundamentals of  Entrepreneurship,  Department  of  Bus Admin,  UNIBEN  with Malthouse. 25. Nzelibe, C. G. O (1996). Entrepreneurship and Management of Small-scale Business. Enugu: Optional  Publishers. 26. Irwin, S. (1991). “Strategic  Management of Small and Medium  scale  Industries”. Business Times, Lagos. September 16th. 27. Ansoff, H.  I. (1981).  Business  Strategies England Penguin  Books Limited. 28. Nwoye, M.  (1994).  “Small  Business Enterprises”. (How to start and succeed). Benin  City, Benin Social  Series for  Africa. Enlarged  Edition.

Bruno Oaikhinan- From Banker to Entrepreneur - Pro Hair stylist.

Bruno Oaikhinan- From Banker to Entrepreneur  - Pro Hair stylist.

Entrepreneurs with Integrity EI had a chat with Bruno Oaikhenan CEO Bruno’s Place.

There is a day, seemingly like any other when everything changes. It is the day you make the decision once for all, to walk a new path; to go after the goals that until that moment have only been hazy dreams. It’s the day you resolve to become the person that you’ve always wanted to be and lead the life that you are capable of leading; the day you say enough, to the things that have long held you back. That’s the day that actually turns your life around.

For Bruno Oaikhinan, it was the day he resolved to roll up his suit and turn his back on the life he has lived for 14 years. The day he decided to shun every possible excuse and run after his passion and long time dream with every determination and hope.

He had worked for more than a decade as a banker, climbed substantially through the ranks; yet all the while, he knew something was not just right. He wasn’t one born for a 9-5 work routine, or one cut out to occupy a permanent spot behind a desk and a computer. His call was totally different; somewhere in the fashion world, as a hair stylist.

Bruno’s career change was in no way cataclysmic; instead it was a well calculated and deliberate shift. Despite his grinding work routine and family demands, he made a commitment to hone his skill and he pursued it relentlessly.

“I remember those days that I would have to wake-up in the mid-night, and I had this baby-toy that I used to learn with. You can imagine that I would go to work early and I come back late in the night. I would then put on my generator and used it to learn how to make hair, and by the time I would be through with the practice, I would wake-up the next day and go to work (in the bank). That alone shows the interest I have for the business. I did all that and nobody knew.” He says in an interview with The Nation.

He also got an instructor who would go to his house each week to teach him. Soon, the years of tutelage paid off, as he became a pro- hair stylist. Now, the next step would be to find a mentor, one who has advanced in the field and whose goals and experience where not so different from his.

He found Bobby of Bobby’s signature. And like he wished, Bobby had all the experience both as a mentor and a hair stylist with the right sense of humor.

“The first time I went to his office and told him I wanted to learn, he almost fell from his chair, because that day I was wearing my suit. Immediately he said, you a banker, and burst into laughter. So, he decided to teach me free of charge. That was how I started.”

In June 2012, the relationship soared from a protégé-mentor relationship to a successful business partnership and within a short period, the duo set up two flourishing outlets in Magodo and Omole, Lagos State.

What are the challenges you encountered at the start?

I didn't have much challenges. This is because I took my time to plan very well before I ventured. So I have little fund to kick start without running up and down.

In a short time, Bruno moved some steps further to establish another outlet, somewhere in Opebi Lagos, this time, in his own name. His reason was clear; “I just decided to give it another name so that I will not put all my eggs in one basket.”

Building a successful career in the fashion industry has always been something Bruno longed for even as a child. Growing up, he remembers using a blade comb on his hair and years later how his face would light up with keen interest each time he accompanied his wife to the salon. He would sit calmly, making observations and noting what areas needed improvement.

Today, Bruno Oaikhinan has become a force to reckon with in the fashion industry.

His passion and dedication has seen him taking giant strides and breaking new grounds. His latest feat was setting up a hair salon he named Bruno’s place in Ikeja Mall in Lagos – a middle-class area in Nigeria’s commercial capital.

He decided to take the risk when he realised that despite the country’s economic climate, people, women most especially would always be ready to spend so much on their hair.

“Whether they are poor or they are rich, whether there is crisis – people want to look good,” he explains to BBC.“This is the biggest mall in Lagos right now and we have a lot of activities going on right now – Nigerians, we like enjoyment. People can come to the mall to shop and while they are shopping they can keep their kids in the salon to do their hair,”

Are you worried about competition?

"This is the first and only salon in the Mall in Nigeria. I'm not just a
stylist or running salon business, I'm a platform for upcoming
stylists. I'm the face of a Living brand, start up coach, chief
inspiration officer. I'm the new Normal in Entrepreneurship Boldly
declaring the God factor in business."

Bruno Oaikhinan has caught a hold of his passion and he just won’t let go. No, not again!
My advise for those who wish to become entrepreneurs;
1. Have a sellable story 2. Convert your purpose or calling into a product or service. 3 find the right platform 4. Be passionate.

“I am fulfilled in it; because it is something I enjoy doing. I find so much joy when I hold woman’s hair. I came into the banking world just because I wanted to make money, I knew from day one that I could not last as a banker because I have passion for fashion. I knew there is something inside of me, I am a creative person, and banking was just like a platform for me to make money. I can’t say I am making as much money that I made in the banking industry but I have so much time, and if you convert that time into money, I can tell you that I feel fulfilled in life than when I was in the banking industry.”

JUST DON’T HAVE THE TIME…

JUST DON’T HAVE THE TIME…
Millions of successful entrepreneurs and network marketers started
their business during their spare time. How often have you heard,
“I’d like to, but I just don’t have the time”?
There are 168 hours in every week. Where does the time go? Let’s
take a look:
56 Hours Sleeping
42 Hours Eating, Commuting, Family Time, Etc
40 Hours Working
30 Hours - Spare time - Enough time to pursue your dream!
You can either spend those 30 hours of ‘spare time’ on
entertainment or use them to pursue your dream.
KICKING THE ENTERTAINMENT HABIT…
What separates the wealthy from the masses?
• The masses spend their “spare time” on entertainment.
• The wealthy spent most of their “spare time” building a business.
This is the great divide between the haves and the have-nots.
According to studies, the average person now spends over 5 hours
a day on entertainment. Entertainment doesn’t always have to be
television, it can be scrolling through Facebook on your smart
phone, binge watching multiple episodes of a show on a tablet,
watching sports, playing videos games, etc.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t enjoy any entertainment, but do so
in moderation. Entertainment shouldn’t eat up nearly a third of your
waking hours each day.
Don’t do that.
How much is the “entertainment habit” costing you? $10,000 a year?
$100,000 a year? A million a year? More? What if kicking the
entertainment habit could make you wealthy?
START A BUSINESS IN YOUR ‘ SPARE TIME’…
Fact is, if you want to be wealthy, you’ll probably have to start a
part-time business. You don’t have to quit your job right away; in
fact, you probably shouldn’t. One of the best ways to minimize your
risk is to keep your full-time job while you start building your
business during your “spare time.”
As Jim Rohn would often say, “Work full-time on your job and part-
time on your fortune because profits lead to fortune.”
Do that.
Then you can say, “Right now I’m working part-time on my fortune
and full-time on my job, but it won’t be long until I’ll be working
full-time on my fortune. Can you imagine what life is going to be
like?”
Eventually you’ll say, “My part-time business did so well that I was
able to quit my full-time job. Now I can use those extra hours to
build my business bigger.”
BUY BACK YOUR TIME…
If your business creates a passive income, it can help you to ‘buy
back your time.’
Passive income (also referred to as residual income), is an income
received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it.
Intellectual property income like royalties from a book, an album or
licensing a patent; interest income; property income; or income from
a business that no longer requires much direct involvement; these
are all examples of passive income.
Many people are now realizing that a network marketing business
can be started in their ‘spare-time’ and, if built properly, can produce
a great passive income for them.
What does ‘buy back your time’ mean? It means the weekly passive
income created from your business more than covers the income
you were earning by working for someone else. The passive income
literally ‘buys back’ all those job hours for you. Since your business
earns you a passive income, you no longer need to trade your time
for money.
TURN ‘FREE TIME’ INTO ‘FREEDOM TIME!”
Most people say they have ‘no time’ to pursue their dreams. Yet,
most people spend about 5 hours a day of their ‘free time’ on
entertainment.
Some people use that ‘free time’ to start a part-time business.
Eventually, when their business allows them to quit their job, their
40 ‘job time’ hours become 40 ‘business-building’ hours. And over
time, by leveraging their business into a residual income, they
replace their ‘business-building’ hours with an extra 40 ‘free-time’
hours! Combined with their existing 30 ‘free-time’ hours, they now
have a total of 70 ‘freedom-time’ hours every week!
Freedom Time: When you have both the time and the money to live
your dream life.
With a passive-income business, your 168 hours every week could
look like this:
56 Hours Sleeping
42 Hours Eating, Entertainment, Family Time, Etc.
70 Hours FREEDOM TIME!
HOW ARE YOU SPENDING YOUR ‘SPARE TIME’?
We all have the same 24 hours each day. Beyoncé, Richard Branson,
Oprah, Elon Musk, along with every successful entrepreneur and
Network Marketer all have the same 24 hours each day. It’s your
choice how you spend your “spare time.” Choose wisely.
# NoExcuses # artjonak

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Entrepreneurs-With-Integrity/1593186634288502

Coca-Cola sends a message with label-free cans

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Entrepreneurs-With-Integrity/1593186634288502

Coca-Cola sends a message with label-free cans
Coca-Cola is one of many international brands to couple marketing with social activism.
Coca-Cola is one of many international brands to couple marketing with social activism.
Story highlights
Coke has introduced a version of its iconic red-and-white can in Middle Eastern countries
The back of the cans bears the message "Labels are for cans, not people"
(CNN)Coca-Cola wants everyone to imagine a world without labels. And as an example, the beverage company is dropping its own.

Coke has introduced a new version of its iconic red-and-white can in Middle Eastern countries for Ramadan, the Muslim holiday that ends July 17. The new red cans feature Coke's signature dynamic ribbon but not the words "Coca-Cola" and are intended to promote open-mindedness and tolerance.

The backs of the cans bear the message "Labels are for cans, not people."

An accompanying video underlines the idea behind the campaign. Prejudices can be formed in mere seconds, so the company brought together six men to discuss their lives in a dark room. As the group talked, they shared opinions about what the others looked like, only to have those preconceptions shattered -- one was a cognitive psychologist with face tattoos, another a clean-cut heavy-metal rocker -- when the lights came on.

This push is part of Coca-Cola's larger "Let's take an extra second" campaign.

Though it's creative, what Coke is doing is nothing new to the marketing world.

The brand is one of many to couple marketing and social activism, though results have been mixed. Starbucks faced backlash this year when it asked baristas to discuss race relations with customers for its "Race Together" movement.

Companies such as Dove and Nike have capitalized on social advocacy. Dove's "Real Beauty Sketches" went viral in 2013 by addressing issues of female self-esteem. A forensics artist drew two portraits of a woman, one from the woman's own description of herself and the other from someone else's, to show that women are more beautiful than they perceive.

Nike empowered people to "Find Your Greatness" with an ad featuring a young boy jogging to be healthy.

One of the most famous social-good ads was "Dumb Ways to Die," an animated music video about all the preventable ways a person can put their life at risk. The campaign is linked to increasing safety on railways in Melbourne, Australia.

Even the 2015 Super Bowl, where ad space is generally reserved for slapstick humor, became a platform for advocacy with a slew of "dad-vertising" commercials that thanked fathers for their love and commitment.

Critics debate whether these are genuine acts of social good or mere marketing ploys that associate a brand with feel-good campaigns. Also debatable is whether a limited-time campaign can have enough impact to change perceptions in the long term. Regardless, the wide-reaching influence of huge brands can bring new attention to the situation.

The inspiring story of how Slot’s founder, Nnamdi Ezeigbo became a billionaire!

The inspiring story of how Slot’s founder, Nnamdi Ezeigbo became a billionaire!

started with sales and repairs of computers’

MD/CEO, Slot Systems Limited, Nnamdi Ezeigbo is a symbol of the indomitable Nigerian spirit.  The Umuahia, Abia born entrepreneur who founded the technology company that sells original phones and mobile devices in 1999, has since become the ‘clear’ leader in the sector.

EWI Team called at Slot’s Ikotun, Lagos office on Thursday , July 2, 2015.  And before our team left the home of quality mobile phones and devices, the humble, amiable and hard working hi-tech mogul shared the exciting and inspiring story of how he made it to the top.

Engineer Ezeigbo also revealed what separates Slot from its growing competitors, among others…

slot1Are you not excited that Slot is ranked the most successful phone accessory sales company in this side of the world?

It feels good to know this, especially the fact that people appreciate what you are doing.  We set out as a company to give value and it feels good to know we are doing just this.  Our customers are happy that Slot is increasing their mobile experience.

What exactly is the vision of Slot?

The vision of Slot is to add value to people’s lives.  Mobile technology has moved from just what people use to receive calls and exchange SMS.  It’s now a life tool, people live with their phones.  Their phones do everything for them.  You just rely on your phone.  From browsing to planning your work and programme, the phone is now indispensable.  You connect with the world.  So, Slot wants people to buy and use these mobile devices with peace of mind.  Customers are sure of what they are buying.  You are sure of the source.

How far has Slot been able to achieve this?

To a great extent.  You started by adjudging us one of the best in the market.  That means we are getting there.  We have a lot of loyal customers.  Go outside of Lagos, people in Port Harcourt, Abuja, Owerri and across the country are excited about Slot.  They can practically go to sleep, knowing they bought their phone or any other mobile device or gadget here.

So, that’s what separates Slot from the others?

It’s about customer confidence, consumer loyalty.

How profitable has it been?

We now have 43 outlets across the country.  So, it has to be profitable (laughs).

What has been the major challenges, so far?

The challenges are quite enormous.  We are in a very unstructured economy.  We have a big challenge with fake products. But because of our commitment to quality, given the right experience, it also became an opportunity for us because people began to see the difference.  Even before phone manufacturers began to give warranty in Nigeria, Slot had started doing that at its own risk and cost.  Somebody comes back with a faulty mobile device, you replace it at your cost.  Without the manufacturer giving you any support.   They weren’t ready to invest much here being an emerging market.  We give you the right product at an affordable price and we stand behind you.

Related to the issue of fake products is your relationship with Standard Organisation of

Nigeria (SON) and other regulatory agencies?

We have a fantastic relationship with SON and other regulatory agencies. Interestingly, I was a member of the National ICTC Policy Drafting Committee.  So, I have been right there at the forefront of charting the path and creating the proper policies for this sector.  We also have a fantastic relationship with the Ministry of Communications.  As little as we are, we recently brought National Communications Commission (NCC) to Lagos to interact with stakeholders.  The meeting was with NCC’s Head of Monitoring and Enforcement.  He was at Protea Hotel to parley with phone manufacturers and key stakeholders in the sector.  It was a forum to meet each other.  Though we are not phone manufacturers, we support regulatory agencies since we are players in the sector.

So, despite the not-so-cordial relationship with some of your colleagues in Computer Village with SON, you still have a fantastic relationship with them?

The simple thing I can say is that Slot is an ethical company.  We believe in standard and quality.  Every sector must have standard.  A sector without quality benchmark is dead.  So, we have good relationship with all regulatory agencies because of what we believe and practice.

Many are clamouring for Slot phones.  When are they getting phones manufactured by Slot?

(Laughs) Good question.  But Slot is all about marketing consumer mobile products.  Slot will continue to work with manufacturers to improve their quality so as to give consumers the best.

Let’s go a bit personal, how did business start for you?

We started in 1998.

What did you study?

I am an Electrical Engineer. I did my NYSC at Guinness Nigeria Plc.  I wanted a job with an oil firm but when I couldn’t get it, I had to go into private business.  I started with computer sales and repairs.  When working on the systems, I would always ask my customers to slot the cards in the computer.  And that was how they started calling me Slot.  I was selling and repairing computers until the GSM revolution when I joined this sector.  By that time, it was dominated by the telecoms companies who were selling phones and accessories at very high costs.  So, I saw an opportunity and started selling phones at affordable prices and because customers were satisfied with our products, they started trooping in their numbers.  Though the phones were of high quality, we still offered a warranty behind them.  That was the culture Slot introduced to the market.

So, where is the business headed?

It’s clear.  We want to have our footprints across Africa.  We want to dominate the market.

If you are in the position to advise the Federal Government, what are the basic issues you would want changed in favour of entrepreneurs?

There are too many things working against us.  It would be good for us to start manufacturing phones here but we lack the basic infrastructure.  From the road to power and security, it would sure take time to address these issues.  And if you ignore them, you would produce products at a far higher production cost.  Hence, you can’t compete.  What about access to funds?  If you go to China, government set up manufacturing centres.  Can you find that in Nigeria?  Here, entrepreneurs rent the place and produce their products at a competitive cost.  You just pay rent and move away and return when you want to produce again.  What about security?  Where do you start and where do you end?  You can’t just address one problem.  It is a multi-faceted challenge.  Nigeria should take advantage of the growth in the mobile sector to grow our economy.

What’s your staff strength?

400 plus.

And they are well paid?

That’s why I’m here (laughs).

You regularly run sales promos, are they real?

The most beautiful thing about Slot is that we are straightforward.  The people who win these promos are real.  You can verify their claims.  The girl that won the other time was a fresh graduate of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Ogun State.  The one that won the last one, Mary works with Ecobank.  They all won cars.

In what other ways are you giving back to your customers?

We do that in many ways.  We now have a Slot Loyalty Card.  Once you have that you can buy our products anywhere in Nigeria and get a discount.  Even members of your family can also be part of it.  We just finished the pilot. It would soon roll out.  We have also started online sales from Slot.  You get the same quality and after sales services.

What’s the cost of delivery?

N500 within Lagos.  Sometimes, we do free delivery.  The home delivery system has been set up.  We even do pay on delivery.  You only pay if you are satisfied.  Another difference is that the guy who delivered your product also has the technical expertise to address any issue you may encounter at the point of delivery.

What are the most sought after devices right now?

Smart phones.  People want to do everything with their mobile devices. 

Drop your comments and share.

I'm a self-made millionaire, and here are the 10 best pieces of advice I can give you about money

I'm a self-made millionaire, and here are the 10 best pieces of advice I can give you about money

Steve Siebold

About six months ago my wife and I decided to turn our North Georgia summer retreat into our full-time residence.

We decided to make a few changes to the property now that we would be living in it year-round.

As I was getting into my car one morning, three of the workers paused from what they were doing and stared me down.

I stopped and asked if everything was ok and one of the men said, "It's not fair. You have this beautiful home and a nice car while we are stuck doing hard labor for just a little more than minimum wage."

I approached the men and we ended up speaking about building wealth for more than an hour. I shared with them that life wasn't always this good, and at one point I was $50,000 in debt and didn't know how I would climb out of it. The men shook my hand and thanked me for sharing my insights.

Fast forward to this morning and I was again about to get into my car. A man driving a truck down the street stops in front of my house and yells, "Mr. Siebold, I took your advice and started my own company. I have five employees working for me and business is booming. My family and I are experiencing freedom like we never thought possible."

He continued, "Please share your words of wisdom with others."

So moved that this man turned his life around, I'm now going to take his advice and share the takeaways from that conversation six months ago:

1. In a free market economy, anyone can make as much money as they want.

2. Your background, highest level of education, or IQ is irrelevant when it comes to earning money.

3. The fastest way to make money is to solve a problem. The bigger the problem you solve, the more money you make.

4. Don't listen to the naysayers who tell you that life is supposed to be a struggle and that you should settle and be grateful for what you have.

5. Expect to make more money. For this one you have to think big. $100,000, $500,000, or why not $1 million?

6. Lose the fear and scarcity mindset and start seeing money for all the good things: freedom, opportunity, possibility, and abundance.

7. Being rich isn't a privilege. Being rich is a right. If you create massive value for others, you have the right to be as rich as you want.

8. Don't wait for your ship to come in. You're not going to be discovered, saved, or made rich by an outside force. If you want a lot of money, build your own ship. No one is coming to the rescue.

9. Stop worrying about running out of money and focus on how to make more. Constantly worrying about money is no way to live. Dream about money, instead.

10. Stop telling yourself that getting rich is outside of your control. The truth is that making money is an inside job.

Just like the man working at my home six months ago who was frustrated over his finances and held a grudge against the rich, you too have the power to change your financial situation around. Maybe you've been living in debt for years or maybe you've just dreamed of having more; it's all possible if you make the decision and really set your mind to it.

Steve Siebold is author of "How Rich People Think," and a self-made millionaire who has interviewed more than 1,200 of the world's wealthiest people.

How to Grow From Great Idea to Profitable Business in 3 Steps

Becoming an entrepreneur is easier than ever. In the U.S., more than 600,000 new businesses are created each year. Sadly, about half of all companies go under before they turn 5-years old. To beat the odds, you need to think differently about what it means to run a profitable enterprise. Simply starting a website, creating your first product or getting a trademark is not enough. Fortunately, the secrets to success are not all that complicated.

Here are three quick tips to help you validate, pivot and grow your next startup.

1. Validate: Determine if the market exists.
To know whether your idea will work, first promote a landing page and invest in product development later.

Last year, serial entrepreneur and marketing expert Noah Kagan challenged himself to launch a business and earn $1,000 in under 24 hours. Kagan wanted to prove to so-called "wantpreneurs" that “there's no reason you can't start your business today.”

At the end of the challenge, Sumo Jerky was born. With $3,030 in sales with a cool $1,135 in profit, Kagan surprised the naysayers. Using just a domain, a newly crafted landing page, and a lot of hustle, Kagan built a profitable startup before he even produced his first product.

Other entrepreneurs can mimic his approach by brainstorming business ideas, selecting one or two to pursue, then developing a quick and easy landing page to measure consumer interest. Next, spend a few hundred dollars in paid advertising (on Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.) to drive leads. Once you’ve validated your idea (either through a large-enough email list or product pre-orders), invest in delivering the goods or services you promised.

2. Pivot: It takes courage to change.
Albert Einstein is famously attributed with saying, “The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”

There will likely come a point when you need to give up on your original idea. When your business plateaus, be prepared to move on. Entrepreneurs can be stubborn but to be successful, you need to muster up the courage to drop your first vision to pursue something better.

In an interview with Business News Daily, James Reinhart, CEO of thredUP, shared nine steps for a seamless pivot:

List your company’s strengths & weaknesses.

Initiate a company-wide conversation.

Call out threats and opportunities.

Consider alternative business ideas.

Think about the implications of each option.

Earn your team’s support.

Convince customers this is the right thing.

Strategize and execute your plan.

Stay lean and flexible

Remember that failure is always an option. Sometimes, it is the most noble one. Entrepreneurs who can shift their priorities to tackle bigger and better challenges have a greater chance of building hugely successful businesses. Companies that stubbornly do the same thing over and over again become irrelevant.

3. Grow: Agonize over opportunity cost.
Often, the smartest business decision seems reckless. That is because the best entrepreneurs regularly divert resources away from a "good thing" to pursue initiatives they believe will be a game-changer for their company.

If you could spend $100 on ads and generate $100 in profit, why wouldn’t you? Most people would and, in fact, they’d try to spend $100,000 to earn an extra $100,000. It’s practical and it’s profitable. But strong leaders realize when a "good thing" can be even better. They think about the long-term opportunity and invest their money in ways that will produce the highest return possible.

When we launched Amerisleep, it was a retail operation with lots of local customers and healthy margins. Six months after we introduced our ecommerce site, we closed our flagship location even though our revenues were strong and the store was profitable. Believing that the Internet would revolutionize the way people shopped, we focused exclusively on perfecting the customer experience online. At the time, other business owners mocked us for taking such a big risk. Looking back, it was one of the best decisions we ever made. We couldn’t have scaled as quickly as we did if we were locked into multi-year leases for our showrooms.

For us to grow faster, we had to be willing to sacrifice stability and short-term gain to free up cash so we could invest heavily in ecommerce. Although retail was profitable, it was a costly distraction. To scale a massive business, entrepreneurs need to carefully consider their opportunity costs and spend every dollar wisely.

3 Truths Wise Entrepreneurs Learned the Hard Way

3 Truths Wise Entrepreneurs Learned the Hard Way

Whenever we encounter the story of a successful entrepreneur, we wonder how they got to where they are. Success -- whatever success means to you -- isn't a mystery. Success, also, isn't something we have to be skeptical towards.

Maybe it's society's conditioning, or maybe it's negative experiences in our past, but many entrepreneurs are skeptical of what is possible in their business. When you are doubtful of success, you can't get to a place in your mind that allows you to take the necessary action. You have a defeated mindset that will keep you stuck.

Wise entrepreneurs aren't skeptical because they have learned these three truths through hard work and unwavering focus. They have mastered the "basics" and have a long-term vision for their business. Here is what they know, but don't talk about.

1. You can't wait for permission.
When it comes to any big change in life, too often we wait for permission. We wait for validation or an influencer to tell us it's OK to do what we want to do. We do the same thing with important decisions in our business. We wait for circumstances that may never fall into place. If you wait for permission, your business will not grow.

Wise entrepreneurs realize no one will ever give them permission. They understand if their business is going to be successful, they are the ones that have to do something about it. They have to take action without waiting for all the stars to align.

2. You should set trends, not follow them.
It's an easier path to copy a successful entrepreneur. You see it works for them and figure you can get the same results if you do what they do. Everywhere you look, especially in the online world, you'll see carbon copies of successful entrepreneurs.

Wise entrepreneurs don't want to be like every other business owners. They don't accept commonly spouted advice as "law." They don't want their business to be the clone of someone else. They look for new and original ways to reach their present and potential customers.

Wise entrepreneurs model success, they don't copy it. They see what works and how they can add their unique spin. In a world full of the same, people are looking for what stands out.

3. Saying 'no' frees you.
By nature, we are people pleasers. We want to say 'yes' to requests, especially if we think they'll help our business. We say "yes" to requests and end up working for free, or worse, wasting our time on things that don't help our business.

When I started my business, I coached 127 hours for free. I was told free coaching would lead to testimonials and eventually, business. It didn't. After all that time, I learned that people don't respect what they get for free. When money is spent, they have skin in the game and take action.

Wise entrepreneurs are more likely to say 'no' before they would think about saying "yes." They value their time and realize it's the most precious part of their business. In saying "no,'' they leave room for the things they care about and will benefit their business.

Before you say "yes" to anything, evaluate how it fits into your plans and life. Time is the one thing we'll never get back, so it should be spent wisely.

You can build a business and life you love without waiting for permission and following traditional advice. Learn to value your time and say "no'' when you have to. In the last three years, my online business has grown from side-income to a six-figure a year business that supports our family living in Maui, Hawaii.

Life is short and time is the one thing we'll never get back. Treat your time accordingly, especially in your business. Learn these three truths and take action on the kind of life and business you want to have.

By KIMANZI CONSTABLE
CONTRIBUTOR
Author, coach, blogger at KimanziConstable.com

Nigerian-born Washington University scientist Samuel Achilefu wins annual St. Louis Award for his cancer-seeing glasses

Nigerian-born Washington University scientist Samuel Achilefu wins
annual St. Louis Award for his cancer-seeing glasses

As head of the Washington University optical radiology laboratory —
where researchers study how to use light to improve diagnosis and
treatment of disease — Samuel Achilefu heard from surgeons
frustrated by the difficulty of removing every remnant of a patient’s
cancerous tumor.
Before surgery, imaging tests involving big, high-tech machines can
create detailed pictures of a person’s cancer, Achilefu said, “but
when a patient is in the operating room, it’s like walking in the
dark.”
Achilefu wondered, what if he could take imaging technology and
make it wearable like night-vision goggles used in the military so
surgeons could see the cancer while they are operating?
The technology would be extremely difficult — some even thought
impossible — to miniaturize and make functional and wearable for
hours. But after dedicating five years to the project, Achilefu created
cancer-visualizing glasses that were successfully used in surgeries
for first time last year.
On Wednesday, the Nigerian-born scientist won the prestigious St.
Louis Award for 2014 for his work in creating the technology, which
could affect the outcomes of cancer patients across the world.
At the awards ceremony, Achilefu, 52, told the crowd his work was
driven by the question: What if? “ ‘What if’ is really telling us that we
should not be focusing on the problem,” he said, “but the potential
solution for it.”
Foster pride
Achilefu is the 87th person to receive the annual award since it was
established in1931 — the worst of the depression years — by
prominent philanthropist David P. Wohl. The shoe company owner
anonymously founded the award to recognize a St. Louis area
resident who “performed such a service as to bring greatest honor
to the community.” Wohl hoped to foster optimism and pride in the
city he loved.
Award committee president David Kemper, chairman and of
Commerce Bancshares Inc., praised Achilefu for “putting St. Louis in
the spotlight for advancements in optical imaging technology that
have pushed the boundaries of cancer treatment.”
Even under high magnification, it’s nearly impossible for surgeons
to tell where a cancer tumor ends and healthy tissue begins. To
make sure they remove all the cancerous cells, surgeons remove the
tumor and neighboring tissue. The samples are sent to a lab and
viewed under a microscope. If the surrounding tissue contains
cancer cells, a second surgery is performed to remove even more
tissue. Among breast cancer patients, about 20 to 25 percent who
have cancerous lumps removed require a second surgery.
The glasses were used for the first time during a breast cancer
operation on Feb. 10 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and have since been
used on more than two dozen people with breast cancer, melanoma
or liver cancer.
A commonly used contrast agent is injected into the patient’s
tumor. When viewed with near-infared light, the cancerous cells
glow blue. Tumors as small as 1 millimeter in diameter (as thick as
about 10 sheets of paper) can be detected.
Breast surgeon Dr. Julie Margenthaler is encouraged. “Imagine
what it would mean if these glasses eliminated the need for follow-
up surgery and the associated pain, inconvenience and anxiety,” she
said.
Achilefu started his research into the eyewear using funds from the
university and the Department of Defense’s Breast Cancer Research
Program. He assembled a team that included engineers and video
game specialists to further refine the glasses. After successfully
using the technology in rodents, his team received in 2012 a $2.8
million federal grant, paving the way for use in patients. The results
will soon be used to seek FDA approval of the device so other
surgeons across the country — who have already been calling — can
start using it.
Try very hard
In 2001, Gill Jost, former chair of the radiology department, was
searching across the country for an optical chemist to lead the
laboratory at Washington U. It turned out, the best candidate was in
St. Louis. Achilefu had since 1992 been working here for
Mallinckrodt Inc., rising in the ranks as a star chemist.
As one of the top five students in Nigeria, Achilefu won a
scholarship from the French government to study at the University
of Nancy. He excelled and went on to earn his post-doctoral degree
at Oxford University.
He came to St. Louis at the urging of his mentor, who was hired by
Mallinckrodt to start a new research department. Despite being
recruited by research institutions across the world, he chose to stay
in St. Louis when he made the switch to academia. Married with two
young children, Achilefu said he had come to love the city and see it
as his home.
Jost said what makes Achilefu a great scientist is not only his
diverse expertise in chemistry, cell biology, biomedical engineering
and even genetics, but an intense curiosity that makes him delight in
any challenge.
Achilefu also fosters that same determination in those who work in
his lab. “It’s such a joy to watch how he nurtures people,” Jost said.
His team is always pushing the boundaries of what is possible.
Achilefu is also seeking FDA approval for a promising new contrast
agent he helped develop. The agent selectively enters cancer cells
anywhere in the body and stays there for up to a week, causing all
different types of cancer cells to glow the same. The agent could
help deliver toxic drugs directly to cancer cells, avoiding healthy
cells altogether.
While the St. Louis Award recognizes a significant contribution by
the winner, Achilefu said it was more about acknowledging values
that can shape the city’s future.
“I’m fortunate to be at an institution where this is encouraged,” he
said, “and to be a part of a community that encourages people to try
very, very hard.”
2015 ...increase your value!

http://m.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/nigerian-born-wash-u-scientist-wins-annual-st-louis-award/article_db835312-9a05-588a-a7b5-7fdf28653805.html?mobile_touch=true

Don't Let the Fear of Your Idea Being Stolen Hold You Back

Don't Let the Fear of Your Idea Being Stolen Hold You Back

Stephen Key

I am truly amazed by how afraid some inventors are. They fear that someone is going to steal their million-dollar idea. They assume that every company is eagerly lying in wait, ready to rip them off.

This ugly point of view rears its head everywhere I look, from conversations on LinkedIn groups to YouTube comments. These entrepreneurs are quick to declare that companies will steal your idea. Why would they pay us for our ideas, they ask.

This thinking is not only annoying and counterproductive, but also simply untrue. I have been licensing my ideas for over 30 years. I’ve submitted hundreds of my ideas to companies without any trouble. For the past 13 years, I’ve been teaching inventors how to license their own ideas. Not one of my students has ever had their idea stolen.

Knowing how the game is played is a lot more beneficial than trembling with unfounded anxiety. Being concerned and careful is smart. After all, it’s perfectly legal for a company to try to work around your idea. You must account for that!

Many companies have embraced open innovation. These companies are actively seeking out product ideas from inventors. The reason why is simple. At the same time that a company is able to lower its internal R&D costs, it magnifies its chances of finding its next great idea. Reviewing inventors’ ideas costs next to nothing.

Do you know what does cost companies, though? Ripping off an inventor. The bottom line is that it’s not in a company’s best interest to steal ideas. For one, what company wants that kind of negative press? There’s also the potential of a lawsuit. Finally, stealing an inventor’s idea effectively closes the door on open innovation.

However, let me be clear. It’s our job to protect our ideas effectively with intellectual property. I’m not naïve. There are companies out there that will definitely try to work around your idea if you give them an opportunity to. These companies haven’t truly embraced open innovation, which is their loss. You can protect yourself from these kinds of companies by filing intellectual property that stops workarounds.

Stop giving in to your fear and follow the steps below to protect yourself instead.

1. Do a thorough prior art search.
You can hire an outside firm to do this, but you should also search for prior art yourself, because it’s you who must become an expert. Familiarize yourself with all of the relevant intellectual property that has come before you. Find your innovation’s uniqueness.

2. Learn about manufacturing processes.
There are many ways of doing this, including watching YouTube videos and visiting manufacturing facilities. How will your product be made? What are all of the ways it can be made? You need to know. Designing a product that cannot be manufactured is a grave mistake. You may need to hire an engineer to work with you. Make sure to have anyone you discuss your invention with sign a non-disclosure agreement and a work-for-hire agreement.

3. Study up.
Read your industry’s trade magazines. What new materials are being used? Where is the industry headed? Consider attending a tradeshow and/or a seminar. You need to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening.

4. Be selective about what companies you choose to work with.
Is the company inventor-friendly? Has it licensed an idea before? Are there any lawsuits or complaints that come up when you Google the company? Do your homework.

5. Maintain a paper trail.
Put everything in writing.

6. Don’t give anyone a reason to try to work around you.
If you ask for too much up front, the company will be less inclined to work with you. Be reasonable.

7. Think ahead.
When I write my own provisional patent applications, I try to steal my idea from myself. I think, if a company were to steal this from me, how would it? I think about manufacturing processes and materials.

Don’t let fear control your actions. Take responsibility. We’re entrepreneurs, after all. Risk is inherent.

20 Inspiring Quotes on How to Build a Successful Startup

20 Inspiring Quotes on How to Build a Successful Startup

THOMAS OPPONG

Startups have always been hard. Even when you think you are putting in your best, it may not be enough to pull it off. Truthfully, most people fail. But don't give up on your dream just yet. If you really believe that you have something amazing to share with the world (and there is a market for it), go for it. Don't be discouraged by the number of times you have tried and failed, but be inspired by the number of people who have failed and bounced back as successful entrepreneurs.

Here are some of the most important insights from amazing founders on building a great startup.

1."User experience is everything. It always has been, but it's still undervalued and under-invested in. If you don't know user-centered design, study it. Hire people who know it. Obsess over it. Live and breathe it. Get your whole company on board."
–Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter

2. “No growth hack, brilliant marketing idea, or sales team can save you long-term if you don’t have a sufficiently good product.”
–Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator and co-founder of Loopt

3. “The product that wins is the one that bridges customers to the future, not the one that requires a giant leap.”
–Aaron Levie, co-founder of Box

4. “The last 10% it takes to launch something takes as much energy as the first 90%.”
–Rob Kalin, co-founder of Etsy

5. “Mistakes will not end your business. If you are nimble and willing to listen to constructive criticism you can excel by learning and evolving.”
–Meridith Valiando Rojas, co-founder and CEO of DigiTour Media

6. “Make your team feel respected, empowered and genuinely excited about the company’s mission.”
–Tim Westergren, co-founder of Pandora

7. “Make something people want” includes making a company that people want to work for.” –Sahil Lavingia, founder of Gumroad.

8. “As an entrepreneur, you have to be OK with failure. If you’re not failing, you’re likely not pushing yourself hard enough."
–Alexa von Tobel, founder of LearnVest

9. “Unless you are a fortune-teller, long-term business planning is a fantasy.”
–Jason Fried, founder of 37signals

Related: 10 Quotes From Entrepreneurial Icons That Will Inspire You to Crush 2015

10. “The strategy is to first know what you don’t know, the tactic is to grind, and the value is to remember: there are plenty of places to innovate.”
–David Friedberg, founder of Weatherbill

11. “Even if you don’t have the perfect idea to begin with, you can likely adapt.” 
–Victoria Ransom, co-founder of Wildfire Interactive

12. “Micromanage the process, not the people.”
–Joe Apfelbaum, co-founder of Ajax Union

13. “The secret to successful hiring is this: look for the people who want to change the world.”
–Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce

14. “Bad shit is coming. It always is in a startup. The odds of getting from launch to liquidity without some kind of disaster happening are one in a thousand. So don’t get demoralized.”
–Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator

15. “Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that.”
–Anthony Volodkin, founder, Hype Maching

16. “If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”
–Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors

17. “I think not focusing on money makes you sane, because in the long run it can probably drive you crazy."
–Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram

18. “We must learn what customers really want, not what they say they want or what we think they should want.”
–Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup

19. “Don't start a company unless it's an obsession and something you love. If you have an exit strategy, it's not an obsession.”
–Mark Cuban, serial entrepreneur and investor

20. “Sustaining a successful business is a hell of a lot of work, and staying hungry is half the battle.”
–Wendy Tan White, co-founder and CEO of MoonFruit

Failure hurts, but it's your response to it that matters.

7 Startup Habits Worth Keeping No Matter How Big Your Business Grows

7 Startup Habits Worth Keeping No Matter How Big Your Business Grows

ALICE DEFAULT

Your startup is not meant to be a startup forever. Eventually, it’s meant to become a larger company with a more sustainable plan of action. And as you move further along that road, you will undergo a lot of changes.

Most of these changes will be for the better. No more working from coffee shops or living rooms, no more late nights fixing bugs, larger teams and more resources, less financial insecurity, more customers and the ability to plan the future better.

But there are also things that helped your business move forward that you shouldn’t try to change. These things defined your culture and strengthened your team when you began. They will still work for you, even when everything else is growing.

Here are the seven startup habits that you should never lose.

1. Experiment and take risks
Since startups don’t really know what will work for them, they are constantly experimenting, trying out new things, tracking and iterating on the things that work. As a larger company, there is a big chance that you will already have figured out things that work for you and things that just don’t. That is no reason to stop innovating or experimenting on new things as the market around you evolves.

Coca-Cola, for example, splits its advertising budget in three. They use 70 percent of it to do things they know work well, 20 percent to try things that are a bit more risky or iterate on past successful experimentations, and the last 10 percent to go for crazy experiments on that could fail completely. This enables them to stay on top of advertising innovation as the largest beverage company in the world while ensuring they’re not risking everything.

2. Keep mixing and matching jobs
Remember when there was only three or four people on your team? Everybody had to wear several hats. Multitasking in your company remains a great way to boost innovation and enhance team collaboration as you grow. Someone who understands what their colleague’s job is really like, and what he or she does on a daily basis, can work better with them.

Have your customer service people sit in on product meetings, mix marketing and sales, invite your engineers to do customer support. Companies like Amazon or Freshbooks have all their employees, whatever their job title or spot in the organization, do customer support on a regular basis. It keeps them focused on the things that really matter.

Related: The Case for Making Sales Reps Frontline Marketers

3. Have lunch and coffee together
This isn't trivial. Finding moments to talk with your team outside of meetings is crucial to your business. Going through an agenda can be long, annoying and a limit on the exchanges that spark creativity.

Lunch or coffee breaks are the perfect opportunity to brainstorm on new projects or challenges while catching up on what everyone is working on. You will create a better understanding inside of your company of each person’s job and role. With better understanding also comes better cooperation and better company culture.

At Evernote, the entire top management team takes turns at the office coffee shop making drinks for everyone. The weekly schedule is shared so that everyone can have a chance to catch up with any top management over a drink.

4. Stay close to your users
As a startup, your first users are always really dear to your heart. You cherish them and follow all of their ups and downs on your product. But as you grow, the risk is that you stop caring about them so much. Your first customer will always mean something to you, but do you feel the same about your 1,000th customer, your 10,000th, your 100,000th?

Make sure you never lose focus that your customers are the reason why your business is growing. When it launched  in 2009, inDinero started to take a few hours every week to call every single customer who churned the previous week. Five years later, they still do it to make sure they always stay connected with their users and understand what’s working or not for them.

Related: How to Attract (and Keep) Your First 100 Customers

5. Stay transparent
Information usually flows easily inside of a startup. Because there are not many of you, it’s easy for the CEO as well as for the employees to regularly catch up with everyone and stay on top of everything that’s happening. This gets harder and harder as a company grows.

To face this, companies like Stripe and Buffer have chosen to go for full transparency with shared email addresses and displayed dashboards, letting everyone have access to all the information they need at all times. Buffer’s metrics, salaries, and revenues are actually public for everyone to see. No secrets are kept and everyone can be fully involved in the mission of the company.

Regular team meetings are a great way to share information in both directions, from employees to CEO and CEO to employees. Google and Zappos have weekly or monthly team meetings where the entire company is invited to join the CEO for AMA sessions. All questions are permitted.

6. Keep things simple
As your company grows, you will have access to more resources, hire more employees and have more customers asking you more and more things. In this case, the temptation is high to keep adding on to your product with new features and additional use cases. However, the simplest products are usually those who will win over customers. Before adding this new “never-seen-before” plug-in, remember when you were keeping it simple. Ask yourself if it’s really necessary.

The team at Box, for example, is always sure to simplify their product as much as possible, from customer signup to in-app experience. They believe that staying clutter-free is what customers are looking for. This doesn’t mean that their product does less, it just means that complexity is hidden as much as possible from the end-user.

7. Stop planning, start doing
Startups often need to make do with what they have, which usually is not a lot. This pushes them to do instead of think. This lets them adapt quickly to any new situation, allowing them to move faster than larger companies.

Of course, as companies grow, more thorough planning becomes necessary for everything to run smoothly. You’ll have more people to manage, more projects to run and more people to report to. But this shouldn’t take you away from actual “doing”, “making”, “building”.

To avoid over-thinking things, the growth team at Hubspot put in place a very effective growth process to track all their actions. Now that it’s up and running, they only allow themselves one meeting on Mondays to plan the week ahead. All the other days are exclusively focused on doing.

In the end, it’s all about finding and keeping the habits that work for you. That starts by never forgetting the things that worked for you when you were small and got you where you are today.