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As if being an entrepreneur was not hard enough, being an entrepreneur in Nigeria is really difficult. They face many challenges. First is the fact that Nigeria does not have Paypal. That alone makes it really hard to do transactions online. Second, there’s the challenge of power instability. However, today we have an interview with a young entrepreneur from Nigeria who is crushing those obstacles. Onibalusi is the blogger behind YoungPrePro.com and he will talk about how he brings in thousands of dollars in revenue each month.

Q. First off, can you tell us about yourself.

Thanks so much for the interview opportunity Jack, it is really an honor.

I am Onibalusi Bamidele a 17 year old Nigerian entrepreneur. I own the blog YoungPrePro.com and I make thousands of dollars online monthly. I have also been featured as one of the top 30 young bloggers making money online.

Q. How did you get into blogging?

It all started in 2009 when I first heard about the concept of making money online, I spent 20 hours at a stretch trying to figure out how to create my first website, which I successfully did, but after months of serious hard work I couldn’t make a cent. I knew I was doing something wrong so I decided to take a different approach, which was when I came across an article on blogging by Steve Pavlina which changed my life forever.

The major change I made was focusing more on giving people great value for free without expecting something in return instead of just trying to sell them without giving them a reason to trust me. After 8 months of making use of this approach I started getting significant results.

Q. What kind of challenges do entrepreneurs face in Nigeria?

Nigeria isn’t the best environment for an entrepreneur, especially if you have little to no income source to keep yourself running. For example, I use a generator almost 24 hours a day due to the power instability in the country and the Internet connection service in Nigeria isn’t that fast but very expensive. There are a lot of challenges for entrepreneurs in Nigeria, but really, they is no excuse for not getting started.

A generator being expensive or not depends on your definition of expensive. I bought mine for 53,000 Nigerian Naira which is approximately $340 and I also spend around $200 to maintain it every month. That isn’t really expensive for me at this stage, but it isn’t really what everybody can afford.

Concerning the startup capital to start my business it was around $20 the first month and around $10 months after.

Q. How exactly do you bring in revenue through your blog?

My main aim for my blog as far as making money is concerned is to build it to a stage where I am highly respected online and when I get enough traffic to make an impact (say 100k visitors monthly), after which I will launch my own information product teaching others how to do what I do.

I currently make money online by offering my services to others. In most cases it is writing, but I have recently started my guest blogging consulting service to supplement my income.

Q. Now I know that Nigeria does not have Paypal. How are you able to get around that issue?

I don’t use Paypal.

The day I started getting results was when I realized that my business shouldn’t depend on one individual or entity. Paypal don’t support Nigerians but they are not the only way to make and receive payment, and things are even becoming easier now that a lot of cool companies with better features are supporting Nigerians (depending on what you need them for). Two great companies that makes it easy for Nigerians to sell their services/products online are Plimus (free) and 2Checkout (paid).

My current client pays me directly to my bank account so that even makes everything easier. Collecting my money directly to my bank account is currently the best way to get money online as a Nigerian.

I presently use my Mom’s bank account but I’ve just created an account (children’s account) in my name but that can only be operated by my Mom.

Q. What kind of personal challenges have you had to face and how did you overcome them?

Not having support from people closer to me when I just started. I wouldn’t say that is much of a challenge since I really don’t care. As long as I believe in one thing, even if the whole world don’t believe in it I will work at it till I achieve success.

Another challenge is sometimes dealing with critics but I easily get back in mood by reassuring myself I can’t get support from everyone.

Q. What’s been your biggest success and what did you learn from it?

My biggest success was getting my first and current client, with whom I have now made over $20,000 online. What I learnt from it is that no matter what you do, be consistent with it and success will come.

Q. What kind of advice would you give to young entrepreneurs who are starting out building a blog?

Look for one thing you’re really passionate about and focus on it until you get results.

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