This question is often debated by budding entrepreneurs who want to research and determine if their new chosen path is worth the risk. Truth is, there is no real definitive answer to this question. Like in various other countries, the system works for some and eats some alive. The best way to tackle this question would be to consider some factors that directly affect entrepreneurship and find how said factor relates both to the Nigerian system and choice of business.
Numerous factors exist which affect entrepreneurship and vary vastly with each market. This article will only focus on what it considers the key factors affecting entrepreneurship in the Nigerian market. These include: Economic factors, Cultural factors, Basic Amenities (education, electricity and transport), Technological Advancements and Political factors. Each factor would be assessed in length on how it currently affects the Nigerian entrepreneur.
On that note, let us begin:

ECONOMIC FACTORS:

The state of the economy will always play a huge role in the possibility of entrepreneurial success within any given area. The official World Bank rankings for 2016 had Nigeria at 26th out of 195 countries for Gross Domestic Product (GDP, a scale to measure developed and developing economies). Statisticstimes.com projects a small drop to the 28th position in 2017 which are not too bad if we are being honest. The problem with these numbers however, is that they fail to truly reflect the harsh economic conditions within the country and the effects it has on people. The 2017 GDP projection could actually be a lot worse following the recent happenings in the past year. Failure to properly diversify the economy by the past and present leaders and continuous reliance on oil has made it difficult for any other industry to flourish. A lot of businesses and brilliant ideas outside the oil industry get shut down just because the state of the economy does not support growth or the ability to attract proper investment due to high risk involved. Two of the affected industries which are largely overlooked and would be of great benefit to the Nigerian economy include tech and agriculture. A potential merging of the two would place Nigeria on the path to becoming a developed country as it would move most of the labour into the tertiary (service) sector of the economy. The harsh economy though, has seen a rise in entrepreneurial numbers within the country as most people now depend on what is locally referred to as a "side hustle" (which translates to having a secondary source of income) to sustain their living standards.

CULTURAL FACTORS:

Nigeria has always been a traditional society where people have a hard time accepting new things or succumbing to changes. While this is good for already established entrepreneurs, it can be a nightmare for budding and/or struggling entrepreneurs. In a place like Nigeria, the problem is not just having a good quality product which is better than the product of the “big boys” but also convincing people to actually give said product a chance. There are ways to tackle this though, like giving out free samples, TV/online ads etc. but you have zero guarantee that even if your product is liked, the consumers will not find some excuse to return to their comfort brand. Smaller brands attempt to combat this by reducing their prices greatly which always poses a risk if demand for their version of the product stagnates. This is one reason you see a brand suddenly rise only to fizzle out abruptly because the current business model was unsustainable considering expected vs actual demand.

BASIC AMENITIES:

According to the spectator index twitter account (@spectatorindex), Nigeria is ranked vs other countries in basic amenities as follows:

Road quality: 127th
Airport quality: 125th
Electricity supply: 132nd
Education system: 120th
Security: 127th

This shows how woeful the government has been with regards to treating its people rightly. As an entrepreneur, these are red lights when it comes to business growth. It is known that better educational quality encourages innovation and acceptance of change to drive development. Education at 120th being the highest ranked on this list is appalling. A lot of businesses rely on electricity in one form or another and lack of stable or even manageable power means business owners have to add generators and fuel costs to their budgets. Businesses also rely on transportation but as majority of us know, transportation of goods in Nigeria is extremely hectic. You have to consider the poorly maintained roads, possibility of robbery, and possibility of extortion by the police; to name a few obstacles. Even air freight is a hassle as you have to consider poor airport quality as well as heavy extortion by border officials. Even when you do overcome transportation and electricity issues, you have to worry about security because the country is not short on robberies and kidnappings.

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS:

As mentioned earlier, embracing tech would do wonders for Nigeria as a whole. Unfortunately, this embrace is still in its early stages and has a long way to go. In business though, there are a lot of positives regarding tech integration. We have numerous software in the Nigerian market that handles payment, delivery tracking, inventory keeping, financial info, trends, etc. which are all very important tools for entrepreneurs. The problem, however; is that most of these tools are still quite expensive and not readily available to the small business owner with limited capital. The positive side to this is that as the country further embraces tech, more competition will arise and prices will go down therefore increasing affordability.

POLITICAL FACTORS:

LOL. Where do we start on this? According to the spectator index twitter account (@spectatorindex), Nigeria is ranked 130th vs other countries in trusting politicians. It is actually surprisingly high considering the amount of looting and constant corruption by the so called "Elected officials". Business-wise, they make it difficult as well with some policies they implement as well as refusal to review outdated practices which would make entrepreneurship a lot easier, starting from an overhaul of the registration process to an improvement of current incentive programs or if those are too much, at least provision of basic amenities. Most policies they refuse to implement or overhaul are direct sources of income for them which is why nothing has changed positively and we are in constant decline. Unfortunately, we as a people keep allowing politicians take us for a ride and till we vote in the right person(s), political factors will most likely negatively impact the average entrepreneur. From the factors discussed above, one can assume that Nigeria is a horrible place for entrepreneurs and if we are looking at it solely from a logical point of view then it probably is. However, entrepreneurship is not solely based on logic (even though logic is a huge part) but also on other things like hard-work and perseverance, genius innovation and luck (yes luck is more important than most people would like to believe). I would say this though, it takes a brave person to look at the current state of things and still want to enter entrepreneurship but those are the people most motivated to succeed. Entrepreneurship is all about embracing risk and pushing through difficult times. Ultimately, it would be a lot easier to push if the country were better than it is now but we all realised this long ago.

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