Reading, particularly newspapers, is a pro-success habit that entrepreneurs should cultivate to become smart and beat competition in a time of recession.
Habit creates success
English essayist, Francis Bacon, says “reading maketh a full man”.
Successful entrepreneurs are avid readers. They are people who cultivate the habit of reading books, journals, magazines and newspapers.
The Founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, had a large appetite for William Blake, the eighteenth century poet and artist. Phil Knight, who co-founded Nike, reveres his library that in it you would have to take off your shoes and bow.
Sidney Harman, the founder of Harman Industries, called poets the original system thinkers and often quoted Shakespeare and Tennyson. David Rubenstein, who co-founded Carlyle group, has the habit of reading dozens of books every week.
The co-founder of Facebook, Mark Zukerberg, started a book club called ‘A year of books’ as his New Year resolution in 2015. He says, “I have found books very intellectually fulfilling.”
Babatunde Fashola had his car filled with books such as Planets of slums by Mike Davis; Giving by Bill Clinton; and Economics for dummies by Sean Masaki Flynns, among piles of books and newspapers when he was the governor of Lagos State.
Lagos-based solicitor, Daniel Wajuihian, reads newspapers online as a morning office routine. The Group Managing Director of Ome Associate Limited, Francis Okumagba, has a daily habit of starting his day reading newspapers.
The Chief Executive Officer, Protection Plus Services Limited, Ubong King, reads business specific magazines as a daily routine for business intelligence and newspapers for informative advertisements.
Old, current and reliable
Newspaper has been around since the reign of the Caesars in the Roman Empire to present post-literate society.
Reading newspaper is the most affordable way to get up-to-date information about entrepreneurship. It is cheaper than buying business books or studying for a diploma certificate or degree at a college.
A veteran librarian with the National Library of Nigeria, Ayoola Ajayi, says reading newspapers is beneficial to entrepreneurs. He adds that readers are leaders and those who want to make a difference in their business should be readers.
“Entrepreneurs, who read newspapers get up-to-date information, are abreast of current trends in the international market and government policies and receive updates on stocks and exchange rates. They learn from the experiences shared by other entrepreneurs through interviews and features, and unwind with entertainment news,” he says.
Walk through gold mine
A recent research has demystified the generalied stereotype that if you want to keep something away from coloured people, put it in a book.
The research was conducted in May 2016 in Ikeja Computer Village, a hub of indigenous entrepreneurs said by erstwhile Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, to generate N300bn annually to the economy. Results showed that 91.2 per cent of all 68 respondents were entrepreneurs who read newspapers daily.
Demography showed that with 80.9 per cent male and 19.1 per cent female, 88.2 per cent of the respondents had post-secondary education and 80 per cent were aged between 21-40 years. About 55.9 per cent read print newspapers, while 35.2 per cent read theirs online using devices such as smartphones, tablet computers and laptops.
Results revealed that 88.3 per cent of entrepreneurs read newspapers because they found its information helpful. Another 41 per cent were better entrepreneurs because they read newspaper while 53 per cent said reading newspaper was a source of informal education for them.
No excuse for failure
There is no longer excuse for entrepreneurial ignorance, illiteracy or failure in business. Newspapers deliver business news and market intelligence information on the laps of start-ups and entrepreneurs at a relatively affordable rate.
Everyday, people can develop a compendium of entrepreneurship wisdom by following business specific columns in the newspapers for information, business advice, ideas and inspirations to start-up, manage and sustain any business.
Reading to succeed
Newspaper is not a collage of news but a channel of inspiration waiting to be mined for rich go-to-market ideas.
Prof. Wole Soyinka says, “My horizon on humanity is enlarged by reading the writers of poems, seeing a painting, listening to some music, some opera which has nothing at all to do with a volatile human condition or struggle, or whatever; it enriches me as a human being.”
Some people blame their poor reading culture on biological and environmental constraints. There is no time. They spend hours in the traffic and get to the office or back home stressed up. There is no electricity. Noise pollution is endemic. The weekend is crowded out by social events.
Successful entrepreneurs do not make excuses but create time to read. When life throws egg their way, they make an omelette; if orange, a punch; and lemon, lemonade. Those who cannot read in crisis will use newspapers as sleeping pills in comfort.
Reading a newspaper is essential to entrepreneurial success that Wang Jianlin, the Chinese business tycoon who leads the Dalian Wanda Group, requested his workforce to read a minimum of one book per year.
He says, “Each employee is required to read one recommended book per year.” The ‘Read one book per year’ is a key component of the Dalian Wanda Group’s official mission statement.
