Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I need a business advisor?
Investing in a new business environment overseas requires expert guidance.
Cost-benefit of engaging this business advisor is $50,000 basic, but a successful investment could yield millions of dollars in profit over the years.
Woolworth presumed, based on Shoprite’s success and entered the Nigeria market, Shoprite had succeed 100%, but Woolworth failed 100%, they thought they could walk into the Nigerian market based on what they know from other parts of the world, but failed.
Every country is different than others.
Wal-Mart, the most successful retail operation in the United States, failed totally in the largest and best European economy…Germany, after losing one billion dollars in the process of ending their German market experiment with so much failure.
Cultural misunderstanding is one reason, and another reason is that the company gave the job of masterminding Wal-Mart Germany to an American who does not speak German.
Some businesses need only government approval to succeed because their market is already defined and customers waiting, like in oil and gas, electricity, transportation, natural resource mining, etc. However a grocery store, a hotel, a coffee shop, a cell phone manufacturer will need a business advisor to provide a very detailed step by step analysis and up to date market information for a newcomer investor in a new territory.
Nigeria also has government regulatory agencies that oversee business for standards and performance, for example NAFDAC for food and drugs, SON for product standards, CBN for banking, NCS for imports, NCC for telecommunications, and several other agencies.
This business advisory service has identified the need of a Canadian-Nigerian bridge builder to bridge the gap between Canadian companies who want to maintain Canadian values and ethics in their businesses established outside Canada. The bridge builder role is missing in bilateral chambers of commerce coming from foreign countries because the chamber members are usually citizens and residents of the target country only and are not versed in Canadian values and ethics.
Could I obtain same information from an embassy instead of a business advisor?
Not quite the same information, both services are different. the embassy staff are good at what they are trained and required to do, but however the embassy staff do not have the day to day full time experience of running a private business as an entrepreneur, their job is more in the office than in the field.
Good at their job, the embassy staff could provide you with basic generalized data from their computers, but only a business advisor can provide you with customized data specially processed into information relevant to your own unique business, based on his own full time research and feasibility studies carried out on your request, enabling the business advisor to interaction with market forces, competitors, and the whole trade environment hands on. That is the difference between both services.
Is business advisory worth the cost of the service?
An American company in the retail chain business paid $2 billion to buy shares in another company already existing in an African country located in the southern hemisphere, over a year ago and they have not made any visible impact on the continent as their brand name is still overshadowed by the other brand they purchased. It would have been cheaper and wiser to spend a thousand times less dollars by using a business advisor, keeping their brand identity, and investing in a fast growing fresh Nigerian market than in the saturated economy they chose to spend $2 billion without much to show for it up till now.
What is the cost of using this business advisor's services?
Please see Services page on this website.
What is the career background of this business advisor?
Please see About page on this website.