Friday 18 September 2020
BUSINESS DAY
19
MONEYINSIGHT Autochek, owned by former Cars45 CEO acquires Cheki FRANK ELEANYA
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utoChek, a company set up by Etop Ikpe, the former CEO of Cars45 has acquired Cheki’s holdings in Nigeria and Ghana. Prior to the acquisition, Cheki, a vehicles’ marketplace, was owned by Ringier One Africa Media (ROAM). The new platform is expected to relaunch before the end of the year. The story first reported by AimsGroup and confirmed to BusinessDay by Etop Ikpe, noted that Autochek plans to use technology to transform the automotive buying and selling experience for African consumers, by creating a single marketplace for consumers’ automotive needs, from sourcing and financing to after-sales support and warranties. Ikpe told BusinessDay that the move for Cheki aligns with its vision to address obvious lapses in the automotive industry. One of the lapses comes from the fragmentation of the industry which he says is responsible for the gaps in car owners in Nigeria. By dealing with this fragmentation, countries like India are able to scale and contribute significantly to the country’s economy. In India, the manufacturing of the automotive sector alone contributes 30 million jobs. 35 percent of manufacturing
GDP in India comes from the automotive industry. “If you trace it back, you find out that in the 1970s Nigeria was manufacturing over 300,000 vehicles. We had Range Rover, Leyland, automotive factories were manufacturing batteries, windscreens, and wipers. And you begin to question and say “What happened?” this is a sector that provided a lot of value and technical competence. What has happened?”
For most Nigerians, a big obstacle is an access to car financing. Currently, only one percent of people who bought their car did so through credit for financial institutions. This is not for lack of capacity on the part of the banks to finance vehicles. Ikpe says it is largely because the banks are too busy running every process of the financing. This only complicates the process and makes it even more impossible for many more people
to buy cars. Another obstacle is the lack of maintenance support and not much is achieved without efficient car maintenance. “These are the sectors that we are aiming to solve. If we can bring all these sectors together, then people can have a better buying experience. People cannot finance a car if they do not have a guarantee that the car they are spending money on is going to be maintained not by road-side
mechanics who depreciate the car,” he said. Following the acquisition, ROAM, the parent company of Cheki has since transferred ownership and operational control to Autochek. I the coming weeks, all Cheki Nigeria and Cheki Ghana outlets will be rebranded under the Autochek umbrella. Autochek would also absorb Cheki Nigeria and Cheki Ghana teams, including its current CEO, Chimezie Okonkwo.
Entrepreneurship comes with psychological, social hurdles to scale over STEPHEN ONYEKWELU
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ntrepreneurship, that mode of the spirit which requires being a self-starter, self-motivator and an innovator comes with a fair share of hurdles to leap over, obstacles to overcome and tests to pass. Some of these psychological and social hurdles obstacles are listed below and how to deal with them. Fear Fear heads the list because it is one of the most subtle of all. It is one of the most common obstacles that stand in the way of intending entrepreneurs who want to float a business.
Fact is fear exists because of uncertainty. The less one knows about the outcome of something, the more afraid they are. This is why the fear of failure is the biggest fear of all when it comes to starting a business. The fear of failure is so powerful and domineering that more than 95 percent of people who have brilliant business ideas cannot act on these ideas because they’re too afraid to fail. Truth is successful entrepreneurs get afraid too. The difference: they do not let fear stop them. “I felt that fear when I quit my job and a steady salary to pursue my business dreams. www.businessday.ng
I had a 4-month old baby and my wife wasn’t working at the time. Although I had faith in my business dreams, the fear of failure scared the life out of me” said John-Paul Iwuoha, author of 101 Ways to Make Money in Africa and CEO Smallstarter. com, a business website. Fear can be conquered and one of the best weapons against fear is action. To take bold and positive action in the face of fear helps an intending entrepreneur take control of the situation and fear will almost always take a backseat. Perfection When it comes to business and entrepreneurship, getting start-
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ed is always better than being perfect. Look at it this way. Starting a business is like learning to walk. An apt analogy is a baby learning to walk. It does not wait until a perfect time, and then suddenly starts to walk. No. Most babies start by crawling, and then they learn to stand, and then make several attempts at walking. This is how life, nature and business work. Unfortunately, many people want to check all the boxes before they start a business. They want to raise enough capital to rent an office, hire staff and build a great looking website. They want to start at the perfect time. They want to start big, or not start @Businessdayng
at all. Big mistake! Unworthiness Have you ever felt like you do not have enough talent, education, experience, connections, riskappetite or luck to become an entrepreneur? That is the power of unworthiness at work! Many people buy this big fat lie, and that is why they never come around to becoming entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs come from all kinds of backgrounds. Your level of education, family background and physical qualities do not matter. What matters is your belief in yourself. Only you can decide to be worthy of entrepreneurship.