Business lessons from GiDiTraffic

Entrepreneurs are solution providers. They see problems as abandoned projects that can βε̲̣ transformed into business opportunities and they provide solutions that you and I have to pay for.

Road traffic is a long-standing problem in Lagos like every other big city with such population in the world. Everybody in Lagos endures this problem but someone has created a huge brand that is generating wealth from our pain.

It is true that eyes that look are many but the eyes that see are few. Until you train your eyes to see the vast opportunities that abound in problems, there is a limit to where you can go in life.

GidiTraffic (or GIDITRAFFIC) is an online social service which started on the 23rd of September 2011. Based primarily on social media, this service employs crowd sourcing as its primary means of providing real-time traffic updates to subscribers on its platform.

These are my business lessons from Giditraffic

Lesson No.1: Giditraffic saw an opportunity in Lagos road Traffic and came up with a brilliant idea to reduce our pain. Have you ever wondered why a lot of foreign investors keep coming into Nigeria despite the negative issues we have in this nation? What we Nigerians are seeing is; bad roads, poor infrastructure, poor energy supply etc, yet these investors are seeing opportunities to make billions of dollars from it. Whatever challenges we are going through as a nation, is simply a potential opportunity and until we train our eyes to see positivity in negativity, we can not maximise the opportunities. Treasures are often hiding in trash. What if Nigeria is in all of this mess, in order for those who have trained their minds-eye to recognise opportunities,to draw from this well of opportunities and provide solution to her problems?Its just my thought

We need great minds in the Education, power, Agriculture and other major sectors of our economy. My questions is this! Are you one of them?

Lesson No 2. GIDItraffic built a great brand with social media. As an entrepreneur and an SME consultant, the major issue or question SMEs ask is: How they can raise finance for these business ideas? From my experience over the years I have come to understand that money is not the reason many have not launched their business idea, but they lack determination and skill.
For you to succeed in life you have to start with what you have not with what you don't have. To get anywhere in life, you have to start from somewhere or else you will get to nowhere.

There is always something you can start with in life. The issue with SMEs is that we tend to focus on what we don't have and neglect what we have.

Giditraffic uses twitter and facebook to solve problems for lagosians. There are many free things around you that you can use to start your business but the question is, how have you been able to identify what you have?Can you use what you have to the advantage of your business? People are afraid to invest in new business ideas, but there is a level you have to push your business to before you can begin to attract investors.

Lesson No3- Success demands Consistency and Focus. Success in life and business doesn't spring up overnight but over-time. Giditraffic built a strong base,he has over 80,000 followers on twitter, achieving these feat within 3 years came as a result of rendering quality service. Many SMEs want to start a business today and want it to βε̲̣ very profitable in few months. It takes time to build a strong and trusted brand. If you can pay the price you will reap the reward.

Lesson No. 4- Giditrafic is known for one thing; Solving our ever-increasing traffic situation in Lagos . For you to be successful in life you must be known for something. Lack of focus and vision has destroyed many SMEs. Don't try to do many things at the same time, especially as a start-up entrepreneur, you may have many ideas but you may not have all the skills, system and resources to do many things as a start-up business owner. When you are known as an expert with one thing it will be easy to do other things. People now ask Giditrafic for other solutions apart from Traffic issues because Giditraffic has been trusted with traffic issues and that has made him a solution provider. Dangote did not go into several businesses when he started, but now his business is a Conglomerate. Be known for one thing and be consistent with it. Establish a good track record, then diversify systematically.

Lesson No. 5- Giditraffic has attracted top brand like Nokia and received awards for the good job done. Diligence in life and business ωιℓℓ automatically attract people and brands to you. Can you grow your business to a level where top companies will be begging to partner with you?

Do something about your idea today

Listen to SME BUSINESS PLATFORM next Wednesday by 3.30pm on inspiration FM as we chat with GIDItrafic.
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Kehind Olagbenjo
Author/ Speaker/ Entrepreneur and SME consultant.
@KOlagbenjo

Infact i must affirmed i love GidiTraffic concept he's making nigerians proud in it's efficient service Rendring when it comes to Traffic situation and i think by that it's ease most lagosians stress and does keep abreasted about a particular area traffic situation' those guys re awesome!

Believe me, this article here is real and impactful! But I must quickly add that anyone going into business needs to be convinced about the success.

Success may not readily come, but with persistence and determination, you will certainly get there. It is a journey, but it really takes lots of hard work to succeed as an entrepreneur.

Thanks once more for sharing the lessons..