Scaling Your Business with Chukwuka Monye

Chukwuka Monye's passion for development in the African Continent led him to establish Ciuci (pronounced See you see) consulting with two objectives to provide advice to businesses in Africa and to develop locally-based human capacity amidst a challenging educational and economic environment. He has led the eleven-year-old firm which focuses on strategy and consumer intelligence to become one of the leading business advisory firms in the African Region. He is developing innovative programs to make small businesses bankable, he is an execution minded coach and an orator who speaks at different events around the world especially as it concerns youth capacity development and entrepreneurship. He is also an innovation strategist who helps with development and is a consumer intelligence expert.

Below is a summary of the interview Scaling Your Business with Chukwuka Monye

Chukwuka while speaking from his experience said that emerging markets have similar characteristics and problems everywhere regardless of the country they originated from. He explained further saying that it was important for people to understand such issues for what they are, as it will help them address it. When asked how business owners could nurture loyalty amidst their customers, he said that it was only through transparency and saying the truth about one's product that anyone could build trust amongst their customers. He advised business owners to learn when to move on from business opportunities regardless of the emotional connection they might have from creating and nurturing the business.

When asked how one could effectively track information from customer behavior, he recalled how one of his clients had created questionnaires based on his advice and how the data had helped them in relating to their customers better. He advised that businesses should always be abreast of their core capabilities and others before they make the move to scale up.

Chukwuka said that it was important for any business to first be fueled by passion, this he said was a key ingredient in the triangle of business success; with competence level and market coming after. A caller called in to the show soliciting for advice on how he could manage his failing businesses. Chukwuka responded advising the caller to look into the type of products he was marketing and to check if it was the right season for the product and to make certain that the product was attractive.

He revealed matter-of-factly that it had taken him 2years to figure out his identity as he was good at so many things and so he had to find the one that could be marketable. He went further to say that it was discipline and consistency that had kept him going all the time.

Replying to a question about getting investors and clientele, he explained the importance of putting out a compelling package with a good story and passing it through the right investment firms. He maintained that once the package was attractive enough, there will be no problems. He revealed that once there was a convincing selling point around an idea, there would surely be investors who would step forward to provide the necessary funding. He reiterated further saying that a business idea must have quality and be extremely attractive if it is to attract investors.

Concluding, he stressed on the need for unflinching focus when building a business. He said that a jack of all trade mentality was not advised when one is looking to build a long term business. He shared that his belief stemmed from the knowledge that there was a higher being that would help him think differently and come up with solutions that were not common.