''... I was able to
learn a great lesson-when you need something people tend to avoid you but when
you don't need anything and seem to be making profit, they tend to become your
best friend.''
I have seen many
young Africans living outside the continent always complaining about the lack
of infrastructures, security and all sorts in Africa but never thought of taking a step
and seeing the opportunity in the difficulty.
I love every bit of
this sentence, when I listen to Ola Orekunrin's interview; because it is
something I usually say to people around me, ''be a person of influence'',
anyway that's by the way.
I have this feel
that anything healthcare is definitely going to be expensive so the more I
think of what this lady has done, the more I'm thrilled by her achievement. The
truth is, the excitement of entrepreneurship is in solving problems; but
wanting to solve a capital intensive problem without having no-money or little
money sure wouldn't even be close to exciting.
So what has Dr. Ola Orekunrin done with Flying Doctors , they basically provide air ambulance service in
Nigeria conveying critically ill patients to where they can get suitable level
of care, the closest air ambulance Nigerians could get before now, was either
from South Africa, Kenya or Uganda. Which is quiet surprising bearing in mind
the wealth in Nigeria.
To venture into this, you need many things going for you, after
crossing the capital hurdle, you will need the personnel to make this
functional, and most of all, the patronage. Convincing companies and the
government is definitely no mean feat, talk less of convincing moderately
wealthy Nigerians- which when it comes to do with health, they do not like
taking chances, they prefer going with trusted hands.
Ola Orekunrin has a touching story of the inspiration that led to
Flying Doctors, she said her sister fell ill while she was on holiday in Lagos,
and they needed an air ambulance service to take her back to England, and they
closest one they could get was in far away South Africa and while it was
getting organized her sister died. After discussing with a couple of friends
she decided to go ahead and set it up, seeing it was lacking in Nigeria. This
explains why, even with the difficult conditions, she has still ventured into
this, and achieving good success.
As many will know, starting a business in Nigeria isn’t for the
faint-hearted. Ola Orekunrin, and in 2009 at 23 years of age, she started by
selling off her few belongings, and in no time she ran out of money, but she
still weather the storm, and was able to secure license for operation,, get the
leases for aircrafts, and was able to setup a team of people to work with; a
team of people that weren’t paid salary, but just believed in the dream and
worked based on sheer inspiration.
Note
To Self: This is one of the lessons I’ve learnt in business, to always work
with people who believe in my vision). When she started they were doing 1
flight every 3 months, which wouldn’t have meant there wasn’t enough income to
run the business. But has more people became aware of Flying Doctors, the
frequency of patronage increased to around 2 flights every week, and now they
have moved into their own place and now rented a hangar and they aren’t even 3
years in operation yet.
Ola Orekunrin believes one of the keys to running a business is to be
blessed to have the right people around you that can help translate your vision
to reality.
Deolu
Adesanya: Shares the opinion of an enterprising mind. He believes
in Africa. Most of all, He believes in YOU. He loves o regularly speak and
write about the private sector and sustainable development countries. he is a
PHD researcher in Entrepreneurship at the University of Leicester. He also
carries out business consulting services. He is a Christian. He blogs regularly
for CreativityTurf.com
