Nadu Denloye, PhD, and Deepankar Rustagi spilled all to Startups at CFA’s Startups Hangout

The much talked about June edition of the CFA’S Startups Hangout came up on Friday, June 23, 2017 and it lived up to it’s billing. The attendee Startups really had their times worth at the event from insights given by the two distinguished and successful Entrepreneurs that spoke at the occasion,  Deepankar Rustagi, Co-Founder, VConnect and  Nadu Denloye, PhD, Co-Founder, Telnet and Director, CDNet Ltd/Gte.

First to speak was Deepankar Rustagi, Co-Founder, VConnect, who stated that many people talk about the challenges of SME’s, but very few people do anything about it. He said that this was one of the reasons that VConnect was started in order to be of assistance to SME’s. Deepankar went on the state that the Social Media has various channels and businesses should always know which of the channels works best to promote their business. He reiterated that technology should be used to simplify things, reach out to ones target customers/audiences. So they can patronize. “Technology is not difficult to implement. You don’t have to be techy to operate your Facebook or WhatsApp. We are not scared of what to do, we are only scared of what will happen”, he stated.

Deepanker gave the attendee Startups, 8  things to imbibe when building a digital strategy and these are:

1. a) Visibility.
2. b) Accessibility.
3. c) Highlight your differentiation.
4. d) Be focused.
5. e) Understand your target market and not the entire population. (Reach out to the right people).
6. f) Choose what channel of social media to promote and sell your products.
7. g) Create a good and impactful Customer Service.
8. h) Measure your results.

In closing, Deepankar offered all the attendee Startups that attended the June 2017 edition of the CFA’s Startups Hangout, free registration for listing on VConnect.

The second Speaker, Nadu Denloye, PhD,  Co-Founder, Telnet and Director, CDNet Ltd/Gte, stated that, over time, the world has changed, but then, it has not really changed. ” The “What” and the “Why” of business has not changed over the years, but the “How’s” have changed”, she explained.

Dr. Denloye gave the elements of growing a business as:

1. a) Turning an idea into a product or service.
2. b) Turning your employees into your disciples by training and treating them well.
3. c) Transforming a customer to a partner.
4. d) Aligning your long-term objectives with those of your investors.
5. e) Scaling your business upwards.

Dr. Denloye went on to state some things her team at Telnet did right as follows:

1. a) Started small and growing the business gradually.
2. b) Each team member knew his/her strengths and weaknesses and stuck to concentrating on his/her strength.
3. c) Staff were developed and trained.
4. d) The company walked its talk by saying what they can do and doing what they said.
5. e) The company was constantly re-working itself through innovation of its products and services and forming effective partnerships.
6. f) Breaking into other businesses with new brand names and with financial backing.
7. g) Building transparency and culture of professionalism with customers.

One mistake she said she and her team made but, had to quickly correct at Telnet was that they kept putting in money without looking at the bottom line.

Some other strategies that Dr. Denloye advised the Startups to imbibe include:

1. a) The fact that your personality reflects your business, hence, you are the change you want to see in your business.
2. b) You have to seek knowledge and seek it early.
3. c) The challenges of business are ever present, so, you have to keep on solving challenges, no matter the size or level of your business.
4. d) Build your business for succession by training a successor to effectively take over from you.

“Your mindset, the attitude you put into your business, is what makes your business what it is and not where you graduated from”, she concluded.

The June 2017 edition was sponsored by VConnect.com, DC Hub and TAMS.

TAMS also made a presentation on the services it renders in the field of Human Resources from recruitment to retirement, etc., which the Startups can patronize in running the HR department.

Kudos also to the Media Partners of the CFA’s Startups Hangout, Nigerian CommunicationsWeek, Guardian Tech and CFAtech.ng for spreading the awareness of this unique opportunity for Startups to learn and grow.

Watch out on https://startups.cfatech.ng/ for details of the July 2017 edition of the CFA’s Startups Hangout which also promises to be excited and educative to our growing Startups.

CFA is the Founder, www.CFAtech.ng & Co-producer/Presenter,Tech Trends on Channels Television