Nigeria as a developing country possesses a lot of opportunity in it that majority of the country’s population can’t see; they see the problem not the opportunity. But there are some exceptional individual who decided not to ignore the problem and focus on the opportunities the country has to offer.
These guys have been really successful in all different kinds of industry, the music, engineering, business, sports and many more.
One of these young entrepreneurs is Abdulhafeez Babatunde, a final year student of University of Ilorin. and the creator of www.bbfmarketplace.com.
Brief chat with Abdulhafeez Babatunde;
FS: Tell us about yourself and your brand
I am Abdulhafeez Babatunde, a final year student of the department of Biochemistry, University of Ilorin. BBF Marketplace is an online classifieds website that aims to assist student entrepreneurs across Nigerian tertiary institutions to reach a larger audience with their products and services. Although currently in University of Ilorin only, plans are already in place to expand the brand across other institutions.
FS: What was your inspiration for starting up the business?
Being a student entrepreneur, one of the major difficulties I experienced(and still experience) is publicity.You might provide the most brilliant service or top-notch product, but without good publicity, nobody knows about it and it seems the product/service never exists till it slowly crawls to its death. With over 60% of Nigerian students engaged in extraordinary entrepreneurial activities, I felt a platform was needed to help showcase this ingenuity to the world.
Q3: When, where and how did you start your venture?
BBF Marketplace started as a subdomain of betabyfar.com(Now defunct) which I managed with my cousin, Lukman. We felt we were limiting ourselves by ‘just blogging’ and decided to appeal to a social problem; showcasing young Nigerian entrepreneurs to the world! Eventually, it was decided upon to make BBF Marketplace a stand-alone project and voila!
Q4: What are your milestones/success?
Well, we are a start-up and hence haven’t really had milestones but we look ahead. Worthy of note however, is the fact that we are the first ever online classified website for students in Nigeria.
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Q5: What have been your major obstacles?
‘Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals’. As such, our eyes are fixed on the goals we want to achieve and although finance and marketing are challenges we are currently experiencing, we are determined to overcome them.
Q6: How has social media helped your career?
Social media has played an integral role in my professional, academic and even personal career. From the networks to the impact. I really can’t overemphasize its relevance.
Q7: Word of inspiration to others who want to start up a business?
Personally, I always enjoy saying this; ‘Understand the difference between passion and distraction. I also love this quote from Steve Jobs: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
Q8: Your contacts – web, email, phone number(s), social media handles.
E-mail – abdulhafeez.ola@gmail.com,
Phone Number+2348168454990
Facebook: Abdulhafeez Babatunde
Twitter and Instagram: @mista_oba
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