If there is one thing that women in tech love to do, it is to shake up the industry and to genuinely create things that are both entrepreneurial and innovative. Nigerian techpreneur, Ommo Clark, is one such industry game-changer, building a software house, iBez, that creates not only proprietary software products that help to solve local challenges, but also develops and showcases local tech talent.
iBez provides bespoke application development services and proprietary software products to businesses, and have quite a number of innovative internet based businesses offering various services to consumers. Some of their products include: Schools Network Integrated Programme (SNIP), Project Management Integrated System (PMIS), Hotel Motel Solution, Handy Jacks, Lets Share, Exchange BBPin, and so on.
According to Ommo, “My entrepreneurial journey has been a roller coaster, full of ups and down, highs and lows. I didn’t know how to run a business when I first started out, even though I had been working in the corporate world for a while. I thought as soon as I built my systems, told people about the, and put some flyers out there in the marketplace, that people would flock to utilise my services – the reason being that because I had a great product that is badly needed but it didn’t happen this way.”
Anybody can do whatever they set their minds to do.
After many months of struggling and living from hand to mouth she had to make some hard choices, either dust up her CV and go look for a job or keep pushing on. Ommo decided to give things another go after she heard in a TV programme that there’s no shame in retreating to re-group so she decided to take a few steps back to move forward.
Before starting in business, you have to research and plan – remember, not all great ideas make good businesses.
She had to learn how to plan and structure a business for growth because even though she runs a technology business, a business is still a business and needs to be structured properly.
She had to put the right processes in place, understand the financials and really put herself out there as an entrepreneur.
As part of the initial struggles she faced, Ommo said “As a technology person, its not easy for me to market and sell, but as a business owner, its expedient that I sell. Now we’ve turned a corner, though we are still working on getting our cashflow to where we want it to be. We have a number of clients and companies currently using our applications, and we are working on growing this user base daily.”
Knowing the difficulties women encounter daily, especially as it pertains entrepreneurship, Ommo advises women who are planning to launch a business to never conform to gender stereotypes. They should get rid of any self limiting beliefs they hold and do what they are passionate about.
In her exact words, “Don’t do something just because other people are doing it and making money from it – do it because you are passionate about it and are good at it.”
“Before starting in business, you have to research and plan – remember, not all great ideas make good businesses.
You should surround yourself with good supportive people that will always give you the best advice, support you, and push you to be the very best you can be.
Anybody can do whatever they set their minds to do.”
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