APWEN trains women on entrepreneurship

More than fifty women were recently trained on how to start and sustain a business in Lagos by the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN).

The training which also aimed to strengthen businesses and produce superior outcomes among women had in attendance women from different professional background including APWEN members.

Speaking at the event which was the first in its series, Oluremi Hamid described business as a process of identifying a problem and finding a way to solve it in such a way that benefits both parties.

Hamid further explained that at the core of every business is a collection of five interdependent processes which she said include: value creation; marketing; sales value delivery and finance.

Talking about market research, she had it as an organised effort to gather information about target markets or customers.

“It is a very important component of business strategy. No small business can succeed without understanding its customers, its products and services, and the market in general. Competition is often fierce, and operating without conducting research may give your competitors an advantage over you,” she said.

Enumerating five major core human drives that have profound influence on human decisions and actions, she said they include; drive to acquire, bond; learn; defend; and the he drive to feel.

“An unmet need in any of the above 5 will make a market to be formed to satisfy that need. It is important to articulate how your product satisfies one or more of these drives.

“All forms of value are not created equal. Perceived Value determines how much your customers will be willing to pay for what you’re offering. The higher the perceived value of your offering, the more you’ll be able to charge for it, which significantly improves your chances of succeeding,” she added.

Speaking earlier, President of APWEN, Felicia Agubata said due to lack of employment and non sufficient paid employment in the country, the need to train members become necessary.

“Seeing that we are in the 21st Century, not everybody will get the paid employment therefore there is need to think outside the box, and give them requisite training that help members to start up a small business that will grow and become a big enterprise,” Agubata said.

According to her, “It is not good we train only girls in engineering but there is need to train also women in business entrepreneurship in order for them to diversify, during and after retirement, and it will assist the women to excel in what they do.”

Chairman of the Business Committee members of the association, Fumilayo Kadiri, lamented the high rate of unemployment in the country and added, “with the way the country is going and where we are today, as citizens there is need for us to look at what we can do, pull ourselves out and as an Individual I don’t believe foreigners can build Nigeria for us, but we ourselves”

Also she stressed the need for adults to join hands with the young ones and develop the country especially in the area of business.

“Although there is poverty in the land and the number of unemployed people is huge, we need to join hands with the government to create jobs, as well”, she said.