By Adeola Ogunlade
The co-Founder of Lighting and Finishing En Vogue, Miebi Ere Jones has called on business owners to adopt partnership model in order to grow their business to an enviable position
Miebi- said this recently at the Grand Opening for Lighting and Finishing En Vogue held in Lekki, Lagos.
The event brought together small business owners, government representatives and stakeholders in the interior decoration sector.
According to her, partnership among business minded persons can be a great strategy for those who want to grow their business and share some of the responsibilities of being an entrepreneur.
She noted that although if running your business with a partner (or two) seems like the seamless opportunity for you to grow your business and revenue, a partnership might be a key solution.
Miebi opined that in partnership, effort must be made to know each other’s strength, make it legal, document and ensure proper accounting system put in place in case of any eventuality.
“We have adopted partnership model which has a legal binding, trust, confident and we believe in God that it will work out well. We agreed to be in this business together and we are happy together. We have other stores in Abuja and Port harcourt. I want friends to go into partnership”, she said.
She stressed that business owners should not be afraid of going into partnership as two heads or more are better than one, business is easy to establish and start-up costs are low, and there is opportunity for revenue splitting, a benefit of particular importance due to consequential tax savings.
She went further to call for the development of inner city business eco-system in Lagos as it will help to create business opportunities in those neighborhoods by reducing firms’ operating costs and expanding markets.
She pointed out that not every business can be on the high street to sell and we hope that government will focus on providing the needed infrastructure in inner roads as it will aid lots of businesses, adding that
She added that the pressure on the high streets is huge which has made rent to escalate but rent will crash if the inner roads are good as business owners knows that wherever they are, they can sell.
“Lagos and Nigeria is an emerging business hub in Africa and the need to create inner street where business can thrive will go a long way in preparing Nigeria for the emerging boom”, she said.
In her words, the Director of Lighting and Finishing En Vogue, Mrs. Barbara Ufuoma Manuel, who was elated about the opening of the store, said that it is a dream come through for the company as challenges in business could be frustrating but we have together as partners remain resolute.