Being an entrepreneur is not working on your own terms like so many people believe it to be, in fact, it requires extra hard work and sleepless night. As indicated in a research by Small Business Administration, only 50% of new businesses survive through the first five years after establishment and only one-third of the 50% are able to survive for 10 years. This study shows that about 65% of new businesses do not survive through the first 10 years. It is not surprising however that a lot of businesses in Nigeria start so quickly, like a sugar rush and fade out almost as soon as they started.

Many entrepreneurs believe starting a business is about having an idea to solve a problem, getting the right hands and skills to execute it and then launching it into the market. Actually it is just that on the surface, but in reality, it is more than that.
Most startup businesses fail because of several reasons such as but not limited to:

Money-Making Mind Set:
Before now, the sole aim of starting any business is to make money. While this is partly true, some other vital part was usually missing. However, some entrepreneurs still rely solely on this as the only reason why they want to start a business. With this mindset, it is only a matter of time before such business fizzles out. Entrepreneurs fail to realize that businesses have changed from being business-centric to customer-centric. Which means, value creation should be the first aim in business, the need to meet a need is the first essence of business. A valuable product or service is like a magnet, when it is able to meet the needs of the customer, it automatically pulls in the monetary value. With the money mindset, entrepreneurs will only see the need to make money above the need to satisfy the customers, forgetting that, if they do not meet the needs of the customer, they not only give room for their competitor to take away their customers, they also miss out on their sole aim, which is to make money.

Lack of Proper Planning:
A lot of young entrepreneurs get so excited about their unique idea, service or product that they can’t wait to be the first to start the business. They are in such a hurry to let their unique idea ‘hit’ the market that they forget to put a lot of work into strategic planning as to how it will be structured. They fail to carry out in-depth research into their target audience to be sure they are the perfect fit for the product. They also sometimes fail to take into consideration the need for right timing, as it will be very useless to sell an umbrella during harmattan season. These among many other things are the basic things some entrepreneurs fail to put into proper consideration before setting out to start a business. Thus they begin to experience some potholes they didn’t foresee.

Lack of Foresight
Foresight is the ability to detect or predict future unforeseen events that may occur. It’s a skill that a lot of entrepreneurs lack. When an entrepreneur lacks the ability to predict unforeseen events that may occur in the business, not only will it be difficult to prevent it, such entrepreneur will also not be ready to face the situation whether good or bad.