Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Steps towards starting a hotel business

BY ADEMOLA ALAWIYE



Steps towards starting a hotel business
The inability of owners to run hotel businesses successfully in the country has left many of the hospitality centres not functioning well. In this report, ADEMOLA ALAWIYE writes on steps to follow for profitable ventures.

Running a hotel business can be very lucrative; however, the competition in this sector is usually very severe. Not only should someone aspiring to start a hotel business have a large amount of capital to start this kind of business, he should also expect a significant amount of time to pass before pulling in crowds of customers to your hotel. It takes planning, patience and hard work to start a hotel business. Experts say some of the decisions to make to ensure that the business is run well will include the following:

Nine Things Successful People Do Differently


By Heidi Grant Halvorson
Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Watch out! Fraudsters on the prowl

With people regularly losing their earnings and investments to scammers, experts have come up with tips on how to avoid becoming a victim. 

A few years back, a young man named Kennedy (not real name) attended a seminar in Port Harcourt on the importance of investments. He and others like him were told to stop expending their money and learn to put some of it to work in order to boost their finances in the future. The key speaker was particular about investment in stocks.
Kennedy was inspired and at the end of the seminar, he approached the ‘expert’ for advice on how to go about buying shares. The expert was willing to help, and in two installments, Kennedy transferred N500,000 to him for the purchase of shares of some top companies in the country.
The expert kept Kennedy updated about the progress of his investment for over a year before becoming incommunicado. It took a trip to Lagos for Kennedy to realise that he had been defrauded. At the purported address given to him by the expert, he found out that it was a residential building. Of course, the residents made it clear to him that there had never been a stockbroking firm in the area, neither had they ever heard of anybody by the name the expert gave him.

Shopping Mall Investment: Case Study - Shoprite Retail Store in Ibadan City

A Punch Newspaper Report


Shoprite
A breath of fresh air seemed to have hit Ibadan city with the opening of Shoprite retail store on Thursday, June 27. Shoprite, located beside the famous Cocoa House, the city’s tallest structure, in Dugbe, attracted thousands of residents on its opening day on June 28.
The size of the crowd that thronged the mall made it the biggest attraction in the city. Various jokes also hit the social media about the crowd of people that greeted the store on its opening day. A famous joke says 102,000 people visited the store on that day, with only about N35,000 made from sales. Many, the inventors of the jokes claimed, were at the store to window shop and take pictures.
However, the situation had not changed much after one week. There was a large crowd of people milling in and out of the mall, filling up all the spaces within the store.
But so were the cash points; shoppers queued up at the 17 main cash points and the additional two points at the kiosk section, giving the cashiers no moment of rest on the job. Business owners, civil servants, students and even school pupils in uniforms made up the crowd, buying notebooks and other school items.
But in general, youths and middle-aged persons seemed to make up the bulk of people at the store, Saturday PUNCH observed.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Making money from entertaining children

Unemployment made me discover my talent in children entertainment —Adigun Oluwaseun Fidipe, CEO, Sydney Kiddies Entertainment, Ibadan
ADIGUN Oluwaseun Fadipe, Chief Executive Officer, Sydney Kiddies Entertainment, had to brush up his latent talents in children entertainment in a bid to survive because he could not secure good employment after his graduation.
The graduate of Social Studies Education from Lagos State University (LASU) said: “After some years, I got a federal teaching job and was earning N13,000 which could not pay my bills. As a result of the poor remuneration, I decided to explore my talent and flair for children, thereby considering children entertainment business.
“Because I did not have enough capital to start, I used the influence of one of the teachers in the school where I was teaching to get some loans, which I used to purchase the basic equipment needed to start children entertainment.
“The grace of God, my talent and my flair for children entertainment industry had continued to make my company the toast of parents, schools and organisations not only in Oyo State but in the South-West. I have about 20 guys working for me, while I rent out my costumes and mascot, among other equipment to colleagues in the industry.”
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Make millions entertaining children
DO you find younger kids’ perspectives interesting and often funny? When you see older kids horsing around, do you sometimes get the urge to join in? Do you love working with children and do you know how to work a crowd? If your answers to these questions are yes, then, starting an entertainment business for kids could prove both fun and rewarding.

Making money from coordinating traditional weddings - Being an Alaga Iduro or Alaga Ijoko

 

Traditional marriage coordination earns me fame and fortune —Kehinde Akande, CEO, Kennifex Communications
THE gift of Kehinde Akande, the Chief Executive Officer, KenniFex Communications, Lagos in chanting ewi and electrifying every event, making it historic and memorable led him to one of the foremost Alaga Iduro (Traditional wedding co-ordinator) in Ibadan, Mrs Bisi Totoola of Bisto Productions, in the late 80s during his university days.
“I, alongside my brother, Handsome Tee, was following Bisto Productions to express our gifts in chanting ewi and also to fend for ourselves. Along the line, I started learning the art of co-ordinating traditional weddings. Her expertise in the art triggered my interest in it, so I gave my all to learning and mastering the trade, while she practically brushed up the potentialities in me,” Akande said.
The graduate of Political Science of the University of Ibadan, disclosed that considering his gender, people were first sceptical about his ability to perform well as traditional wedding co-ordinator, “but later gave me a chance to display my expertise in the trade. And the first presentation has continued to usher in many more.
“Interestingly, many people now prefer men to women in the profession, as the fact that men can expertly do women’s dominated profession continued to attract interest.
“My decision to explore the profession is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made as the profession has simply earned me fortune and fame,” Akande added.
He noted that the profession is highly lucrative and dignifying, especially to those who have the potentialities and clearly understand the language of the profession.
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Make millions for co-ordinating weddings 
Wedding is one of the events that people place much value on, hence they are willing and ready to go the extra mile to ensure that it is well-packaged and spiced up with so much fun and fanfare. One of the people that infuses fun in wedding is the coordinator of the event, especially during the introduction and engagement ceremonies.
The dynamism in the art of co-ordinating traditional weddings makes the business a money-spinning one for those who practically understand the language of the art.