Ep1: Introductions, discussing ‘Packaging’
Welcome to the maiden edition of our podcast – The Afropreneur Show. The Afropreneur Show is all about Entrepreneurs doing business in Africa. Our aim is to celebrate Entrepreneurs, highlight […]
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Ep2: Are Free Services Compulsory for Budding Entrepreneurs? Lemi Ghariokwu Speaks
Hi Afropreneurs,
Welcome to Episode 2 of The Afropreneur Show. On this episode we tracked down [highlight1]Lemi Ghariokwu[/highlight1] (you can read all about him here) and had a ‘lengthy discussion’ with him on his life as an entrepreneur.
The theme for this episode is based on the subject ‘[highlight1]Are free services compulsory for Budding Entrepreneurs?[/highlight1]’
Lemi believes that one can offer free services as a startup, this will help you establish a relationship and help spread your services/goods via word of mouth. He also believes that each entrepreneur should design a pricing strategy that will cater to a broad section of your customers.
As usual, we debated the ‘free service’ issue in the studio and settled with the following:
- You do not need to always give your products/services away for free all the time. Technology has made it easy to showcase your works e.g Social Media.
- Not all industries require that a startup give out free service(s).
- When you constantly give away your goods/services for free, you lessen the value of what you sell.
- Your time is your most valuable resource and it becomes wasted every time you offer your goods and services for free.
- If people don’t value your services it will affect your pricing. Learn to brand and sell yourself, make people see your value. People negotiate based on perceived value.
“Your Certificate is not the paper you get from school, it’s the results you can deliver” – Lemi Ghariokwu
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Post comments (4)
Ebuetse Mercy on June 23, 2016
This is awesome! I haven’t listened yet but reading an overview of what Afropreneur is I am excited about it already…I am off to listen.
admin on June 24, 2016
yaaay! We are sure you’ll love it.
Oladunmade on July 18, 2016
For a start-up (especially those offering services, as against physical products), free service of some sorts is inevitable; you just might not take note that you have just given out a free service. For example, a 30-day demo trial for software is free service, the small perfume sample bottles are free, even the MC-ing for one hour and then seeking to charge for the other hours was still free for the first hour!
Social media has really helped a lot though, and every entrepreneur should be maximizing its benefits for his/her business. However, i advise to not shy away from offering free service here or there when starting up; if you are certain your service/product offers value and there’s no way people won’t still come back for more, then the free service still remains one of the most effective ways of getting the word out there and acquiring potential customers (the pricing scheme is then what is left to be handled). Do not get stuck in a free service vicious cycle though, know when to say NO to offering free service/product!
Great job guys!
admin on July 19, 2016
We totally agree with you! Keep on listening and sharing your thoughts 🙂