Seven major Lessons From GE Lagos Garage 2017 Summer Program

ifedayo ojo
Aug 22, 2017 · 8 min read

In 2012 General Electric created the Garages program to reinvigorate America’s interest in innovation, invention and manufacturing. With Garages already up in two other African countries, NeuBridges fought tooth and nail to include Nigeria as the third African country to be part of such rare opportunity.

The Lagos Garage is a hub dedicated to accelerating the impact of Nigeria’s most promising entrepreneurs, through entrepreneurship training, strategy development and innovation.

With over 600 applicants for the 2017 summer edition, and less than 30 entrants, it promised to be a value-packed time. Rightly so, we got more than we bargained for. It was every possible shade of awesome, from comprehensive training to hands-on experience with 3Dprinters and Laser-cutters, to invaluable business insights and training from top-shot industry experts, some of which are Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku of Starta and Venture partner-Africa , Mrs. Ifeoma Uddoh (COO of Sasware), Mr. Ike Eze ( Executive Director at eTrazact) and the incredible NeuBridges co-founder William Treseder and many others.

As much as I would have loved to talk about all the technical jargon I learned from my time at the garage, the program had such a profound effect on my mindset as an entrepreneur. This is why I have chosen to share entrepreneurial insights to reach a wider demography not just the tech space. In no particular order, they are;

1. First Provide Value

Once a User attaches value to your product, getting them to pay for it is so easy, ultimately making them customers. Do not make the mistake of blindly tagging your product a solution to a problem if your potential customer does not see a problem in the first place. It is like selling an ice to an Eskimo ‘to cool his temperature!’

So it is possible that you had a great idea but unmarketable one. Learn to conduct a thorough market research before plunging your resources into developing a product idea or marketing and promoting of your product or service.

Ensure sure your customers NEED it, and they’re willing to pay for it, and the value they place on it is enough to drive business growth. We can provide value by being innovative. Innovation isn’t solely defined by daring acts of technological invention. Innovation instead, is about providing advances that are valued by customers.

2. You are as good as your network

Ever heard the maxim, ‘your network determines your net worth?’ Well, it is as true as it sounds! It is good to have a broad and diverse network. The Future is in connection and not in cash. This, I like to refer to this as the ‘connection currency’. Connection currency will take you farther than cash notes ever will. It’s just invaluable. Unlike cash currency which is limited to national geography or confederation; you can spend your connection currency anywhere in the world. Many Africans especially Nigerian entrepreneurs misuse the opportunity to broaden their down-lines or connection by foolishly asking for money when referred to wealthier or more established entrepreneurs. This is a terrible habit because even though this person succeeds in getting the money he ‘begged’ for, he would have unknowingly truncated the potential network, connection or down-lines that could have led to the seal of multi-million dollar deals and agreements, connections that could have created unlimited access to the tools and information that would ultimately lead to the growth and success of personal brand and businesses.

3. Ideas are Overrated; Execution is the Game.

Ideas are worthless until they are executed or implemented. Of what use is it if one gets a thousand dollars for conceiving an idea (which is even unlikely), when some dude somewhere could be enjoying a billion dollar yearly for executing that same idea excellently. As entrepreneurs we should give greater attention to executing ideas.

Google revolutionized web search as we know it not merely because they had a great idea in fact google wasn’t even in the game until 1988 since the web became in public 1990. Many other search engines had their chance to glory (they had great ideas), but they failed! There was WebCrawler and Lycos in 1994, AltaVista (1995), Dogpile (1996), AskJeeves (1996) which is now called Ask.com. Many of them are unknown today leaving Google as the renowned king of search because the execution strategy (not just the idea) was spot on! Always remember, one thousand good intentions are not as powerful as one action.

4. Have a working Prototype

As entrepreneurs, makers, developers and craftsmen having a working prototype is really important because it enables you to show more and say less. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Showing a working prototype increases your chances of convincing potential investors, partners and even benefactors. Investors want to know what they are investing in so as to save them from making unrealistic fantasies.

5. Collaboration is Key

From cradle up until death we are bathed in the belief that ‘independence’ is the ultimate form of existence. How can this even be when nature itself is a labyrinth of interdependent lives!?

As entrepreneurs, trying to do it all is ‘not so bad’ until one burns out and crashes. To succeed as individuals and entrepreneurs, we must learn to collaborate and synergize with other. This fosters enduring and truly enjoyable success. This is one the most valuable lessons I learnt at the garage. As entrepreneurs, we must learn to give up all sense of ‘self-sufficiency’ and trust people and their abilities even if we think we can do better because building a minimum viable product (MVP) requires a solid team effort.

6. Have a Well-Defined Personal Brand Statement

Something interesting happened at GE Lagos Garage at the close of the program, we were all made to write down our personal brand statements. A very important practice for finding opportunities that aligns with one’s skill(s).

While we were still counting the number of pipes in the ceiling, lol, Williams Treseder (co-founder of NeuBridges, organizers of GE Lagos Garage) came to our aid. He did this using a classic analogy. He described us as tools like Screwdrivers, Hammers, Wrenches, Planes etc.

He said; ‘At any point in time for instance, if there was a ‘need’ to let’s say, knock down a nail into a block of wood, which tool are you a hundred and one percent sure will get the job done quickly?’ We all echoed ‘Hammer!’ This is easy because a hammer has clearly branded itself as a tool for ‘knocking down nails’ and not a tool for smoothing surfaces.

In reality, as individuals and entrepreneurs it is imperative that we spell out who we are, what we do and how we do it. What we do — what service do you offer? what solution do you provide? What pain do you alleviate? Or what Pleasure do you grant?

Stating how well you do this further stands you out of the crowd of similar professionals.

So I wrote my personal brand statement and it sounded like this: ‘I am your go-to-guy if you ever needed extremely desirable and innovative products, concepts and designs.’ From this statement, it’s evident that I am into product design and innovation. So if you were in need of someone to create ‘manufacture-able’ designs for a shoe or gadget for instance you know who to meet. Interestingly, I didn’t just stop at that but I also went further to state the degree to which I do this by using the word- extremely.

Thanks to the internet today, it’s really easy to identify brand. Just search for a ‘keyword’ or phrase on the internet, we’d get results associated with that keyword or phrase. If we searched for a phrase like ‘incredible male sprinter’ we’d immediately get a list of associated names but at the top will be Usain Bolt. This is because Usain Bolt has worked for years on building his personal brand as a sprinter, sorry as the fastest sprinter!

We should communicate our personal brand as much as we can on our social media, you never know who’s watching. It Could just be your next job offer, investor or partner. Craft unique content tailored to your different social platforms. You could communicate the same brand statement but using different approach. Also always keep your personal brand statement as simple as possible so that opportunities and clients, partners or sponsors can easily identify you.

7. Be your own greatest Critic

This is a very important lesson I learnt from a colleague at the garage, Tonye. Freshly into the garage program, I noticed Tonye was always asking people questions about their product idea in an unapologetically cynical manner, so I just concluded that this guy was just a proud cynic. So I decided to get closer to him out of curiosity. After series of dialogues, I realized that there was never a question you asked Tonye about his ‘product idea’ that he didn’t have an intelligent reply to. No question ever caught him unaware. He had developed a habit of always asking and thinking about the worst case scenarios to his idea. He would practically put his own idea in ‘a shark tank.’

Consequently, he would be ready for whatever questions you threw his way, this gave him more than enough courage to stand before any potential investor. This habit is worth emulating particularly for entrepreneurs and startups seeking to find their Minimum Viable Product to or to get funds from angel investors or Venture capitalist. Constantly ensure that you ask yourself questions to validate your idea. Never get overwhelmed in the euphoria of the potentials of your idea that you lose reasoning of how it would work in real life scenario. No wonder Steve Jobs said, Design isn’t just how it looks but how it works.

My experience at the 2017 SUMMER GE experience was definitely worth the while and I am very grateful to the organisers (Ugo, Demilade, Dapo and Wole) for the opportunity. I hope to arm myself with these lessons as I go further in my career.

Apply for the 2017 GE garage Autumn edition if you can. Start here- https://docs.google.com/forms/d/16WccUrGN3JolemIKR5wrvPXKKfoCjh58dsBb5w5aluo/viewform?edit_requested=true

Cheers.

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