The 2015 presidential election has come and gone but there are some hard lessons in it for business oriented people, entrepreneurs and managers. As an entrepreneur myself, here are some I could distill:

1. NEVER GIVE UP: Never give up because whatever you do know that, persistence surely pays and has its rewards. Buhari contested four times and made it on his fourth attempt. Recall how many times Thomas Edison tried to make the light bulb work? If they had given up, today will never have happened. Many times in business, persistent failures makes us lose hope or become forlorn. Let the Buhari example be your inspiration today. I repeat, Never ever give up!

2. FLEXIBILITY IS THE NAME OF THE GAME!: In not giving up, be strategic and very flexible. After every failure, examine what went wrong, check your team and be prepared to make necessary changes. Buhari changed his party platform from the ANPP in 2003 and 2007 to CPC in 2011 and then the APC in 2015 which eventually gave him victory. Bottom line? CHANGE is constant!

3. IDENTIFY AND MITIGATE YOUR WEAKNESS; THE Osinbajo FACTOR- No one is perfect but everyone must be honest enough to identify their shortcomings. Buhari identified his weakness as a perceived Islamic fundamentalist. Mitigating it with Osinbajo, a pastor in one of the biggest churches in Nigeria worked magic! It's the same in business. You can't know it all or be it all. Identify your weakness and introduce a mitigating factor to it.

4. PUT THE PEOPLE AT THE CENTER: The people you serve and the problems your business seeks to solve must remain at the centre of your product, services and ideas, never forget. Take a good look at Buhari's manifestos and his promises to the people. Equal distribution of wealth, opportunities, security and the fight against corruption. These are the living reality of people which made Buhari an easy buy. In business, identify problems people can relate to and provide simple solution they can own!

5. COMPETITION IS HEALTHY: The recent elections in Nigeria proves this fact! Doubtlessly, the strong opposition made the ruling party PDP work extra hard in the build up to the election. This helped to increase standards and erase some mediocrity. In business, competition keeps you on your toes. It makes you to continually innovate and remain focused and where there is no more records to beat, set your own standards and beat it!

6. COLLABORATION WORKS! So all the major opposition parties came together, formed a unit and went against the ruling PDP. The success was not only resounding but outstanding. Many times in business people tend to struggle alone. Many times also collaboration helps speed up reaching your goals. Think about this today, don’t be selfish, sacrifice personal ambition for common good and activate new partnerships.

7. FOCUS ON SELLING YOUR PRODUCT AND NOT PUTTING DOWN YOUR COMPETITOR: So you have a competitor? Great! Don't forget that your focus and goal remains the same. Selling your product and services to the best of your ability. Imbibing healthy practices from the competitor and checking out what you can do better shouldn't change. Anything you do, never ever put down your competitor, focus on selling your product or you lose your market share. If you doubt me, ask the PDP

Adepeju Jaiyeoba

Other important notes include:
1.Rebranding...The apc candidate was reinvented with a lot of visual appeal. The graphics were bright fresh and consistent in message.
2. Competitor analysis....They new the weaknesses off the competitor and capitalised on these to creat opportunities for competitive advantage. The competitor also looked to be in disarray in terms of chain of command and multiple and confusing cominication agents. They knew the competition also had a reliability deficit and capitalised on it.
3. integrity...The main man had and still has integrity. He did not have the image of a kleptomaniac in waiting. Nigerians were wary of such kind of politicians. That's why the main tool of the opposition was to try and tear it to shreds or tarnish the image of those surrounding him. It almost worked.
4. They knew their weaknesses too. They avoided thee debates of the main contenders. Even though gej was not a man with the gift of oratory, gmb is probably worse. A debate will have taken gmb to the cleaners.
5. Pdp ran themselves down even if it was not necessary. Madam peace should have been limited to a few minutes well rehearsed spots on the podium. She angered many. She did not add many friends if any.