29-year old Ayodeji Adewunmi first took an interest in the Internet in 2006, while studying medicine at Nigeria’s Obafemi Awolowo University. He spent the next three years learning the intricacies of establishing and sustaining a business before starting his own company, Jobberman.com.
In August of 2009, I started Jobberman.com with two friends, Opeyemi Awoyemi and Olalekan Olude. We decided to focus on the online job space for three reasons: One, the market opportunity considering the ever growing number of people withing the working population was too huge to ignore; two, the increasing rate of connectivity and broadband penetration was telling; and three, the low capital requirement removed all the inertia of starting.
Today, Jobberman is the most trafficked job site in sub-Saharan Africa, with over 700,000 professionals and 9,000 companies and is in a strong financial position with venture backing from Tiger Global. I’ve had the opportunity to play an important role in the company’s growth and development and I’ve learnt and am still learning important lessons around entrepreneurship.
Lesson 1: It is critical to focus on fundamentals
I have a strong bias for large and interesting problems such as unemployment, healthcare and education. As a young entrepreneur, I believe the best way to disrupt the market is to concentrate on unloved, less-followed and therefore less-efficient sectors. It is pointless, for example, to think about building the next Facebook. At jobberman, a major edge for us is the fact that our product is differentiated. Also, we embraced social media earlier, harder and faster than our rivals. Ask yourself the following questions: What is my competitive advantage? What is winning? How will I play to win?
Lesson 2: Entrepreneurs move society forward
Entrepreneurs solve difficult social problems. Culturally, we are risk-averse and lean towards copy-and-paste business models, leaning away from building trans-formative models. We urgently need more copy-and-paste and innovative models in the business world. After all, why waste time copying and pasting when you might well end up being crushed by the competition? I say, dare to be different.
Lesson 3 : You cannot improve when you do not measure
Nothing measured, nothing managed. As an entrepreneur, the only way to survive is to become a learning machine. Relentlessly ask questions and over time you will find that you have started asking the right ones. The more questions, the more data points and the better your understanding of your company and the market or markets you choose to play. Identify the three most important metrics of your business and then ask yourself how you can drive your business’s performance on a month-to-month basis considering these metrics. At Jobberman we track financial and web-based metrics and benchmark ourselves against other leading international players.
Lesson 4: The importance of a solid distribution strategy
Perhaps one of the most difficult questions an entrepreneur faces concerns his or her distribution strategy. This element is often overlooked but is critical across all industries. Only a few companies become large and very successful while others do their best to stay above water, or perhaps don’t survive at all. Distribution is a key advantage and something over which you should obsess. Ask yourself the following questions: What is your market share and what are you doing today to increase that market share? Jobberman for example has three times more traffic and 10 times more jobs than its nearest competitor”
About the author
Ayodeji Adewunmi is the CEO and co-founder of Jobberman.com, a leading online employment marketplace. Adewunmi is a member of the Governance Consultative Group of World Bank Nigeria and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine & Surgery from Obafemi Awolowo Univerisity, Nigeria. Visit www.jobberman.com
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