Babatunde Fajimi
Babatunde Fajimi
Small business owners should realise that their success or failure to win customers 
and build sustainable brands in the market is dependent on their focus or lack of it.
Jack of all trades
The other day, an enthusiastic businessman was ushered into the elegantly furnished 
office of a chief executive in the city.  They had previously met at a social event and
 the latter invited him to make a presentation to her general managers to 
determine his eligibility as a service provider for their procurement.
He said he was good at his trade. He confidently explained that he was also a good ‘multitasker.’ He wanted to help the company reduce its expenditure on procurement by half and improve turnaround time.
The audience was excited. The presentation was going on well until he announced himself as “importer, exporter and general contractor”. Locked in gaze, the audience could not hide their disapproval of his profile mismatch.
The contract was awarded to a start-up of procurement specialists. The “importer,
 exporter and general contractor” was advised that he was not successful. When the 
chief 
executive met him again two months later, she advised him to find a 
direction for his business 
and focus on a core competence if he wanted to succeed in business.
Rule of small businesses
Small businesses cannot be all things to all people. They should have specific 
expertise in a particular trade or line of business that seeks to meet predefined
 needs of 
their target markets.
Their inherent nature and size configure them to concentrate on a narrow 
segment of the industry though specialisation, customer focus, cost 
advantage or differentiation.
They do not have deep pockets as well. It is financially prudent to deploy available 
resources to concentrate on serving a defined market. This is focus. It is the 
guaranteed path to capacity development, effective service delivery, profitability,
  growth and sustainability.
It may be easy to put together a business plan and open shop for business but 
what brings the customers and keeps the business open is the ability of the 
entrepreneur to remain focused in spite of distractions and poorly timed diversification.
Small business owners who taste little successes and rush to diversify spread
 themselves too thin. They will dissipate scarce resources to chase future clientele 
which may 
make them go bankrupt instead of being beneficial to their brands. The early
 to market strategy is an opportunity and not a rush to hurriedly destroy the brand.
Focus enhances growth
When XL Africa Group started in Victoria Island, Lagos in 2003, its group CEO, 
Charles Nwodo Jr, was mindful of its market entry, penetration and focus strategy.

concentrated on building a strong pan-African brand that can compete with similar 
companies anywhere 
in the world.
He spent the first two years serving its captive market, developing and perfecting 
a business model able to support its future expansion, building the capabilities of 
the going concern and horning the competencies of the workforce by coaching and 
grooming young managers.
He resisted premature diversification and protected the company from distractions 
to get involved in businesses outside their core competencies. This discipline of focus
 yielded anticipated dividends.
After three years, the business exploded. The young managers were unleashed 
on the market. They were hungry for results and went ahead to dominate the 
outsourcing industry in Nigeria and across the Anglophone West Africa.
Within a decade, the start-up has grown into a conglomerate with subsidiaries,
 significant investment and milestone footprints in the services industry in the country.
The discipline of focus
Focus in business requires discipline and mindfulness to stay the course and 
keep at bay distractions. This involves deliberately activating positive energy and 
engaging 
in attitudes and activities to constantly keep small business owners and their businesses 
in perfect harmony with their core competencies.
At the same time, they should be on guard to identify and eliminate personal,
 perceptual, emotional, cultural, systemic and environmental distractions.
Entrepreneurship can create happiness and personal fulfillment. The pursuit of 
pleasure and small businesses curtails the effectiveness of the entrepreneur.  Small 
business 
owners have a responsibility to discipline their taste for luxuries, even when they are can afford them.
Unproductive long hours erode personal accountability and fritter away 
valuable time resulting in the unprofitability of small businesses at the end of the day.
Stakeholders such as government agencies, host communities, families, 
employees, customers and competitors sometimes make unrealistic demands
 on small businesses.
source: PUNCH.