With or without funding, entrepreneurship is a gradual process- Mr. Felix Tolorunju Idowu

With or without funding, entrepreneurship is a gradual process- Mr. Felix Tolorunju Idowu

Mr. Felix Tolorunju Idowu CEO BraFlix printing media located in Abuja Nigeria, hails from Kogi state is a core Entrepreneur and a philanthropist whose good work has lured the attention of Nassnews for a well deserved award. As regards his Award, Nassnews Correspondents had an interview with him in his office.

Nassnews: We will love to meet you, Sir. Briefly tells us your background and how you came this far?

Mr. Felix: My name is Mr. Felix Tolorunju Idowu , I’m a businessman. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon, I was once in the street, started from the scratch but by the grace of God, I was able to find my way out of the streets. And today, here I am. still moving and aiming higher till the point where I can be able to deliver my own quota to the world at large.

Nassnews: . Let’s talk about your background. How was growing up like?

Mr. Felix: I was born and bred up in Kaduna but I’m from Kogi state. I was raised in a military environment, I went to command secondary school Kaduna then finished my education in Abuja. I’m married with kids and I travel a-lot. I ventured into politics by the means of association, I was a chief protocol officer, a campaign DG to governor candidates. I was a National Youth leader and by God’s grace I’m part and parcel of this government that is in power. So I’m aiming for something bigger than my expectation. Currently, the journey is still on.

Nassnews: OK, let’s talk about entrepreneurship in Nigeria. How easy is the journey?

Mr. Felix: Certainly, entrepreneurship is not an easy ride. But one thing is sure with determination, focus, defined circle, set goals , visions and objectives,getting your blueprint ready and organized and the willingness to keep trying. The Braflix you are seeing today didn’t just start , it took a while, it took perseverance, it took patient, it took determination to get here, it was entirely a gradual process. Braflix started from one shop, it took small jobs, it grew gradually till what you see currently. Entrepreneurship is not easy because it requires personal funding before people can trust you enough to do business and bring better deals. So going through entrepreneurship, you must be fully involved as the builder of the vision in order to get it right. You must be willing for criticism, because you must be criticized, and you have to welcome them, cause criticism gives birth to new idea which might make or mare your business if not properly scrutinized and the most relevant picked, then you work with it, you build a great team, you must be friendly to the team and You define your work ethic. Focus is the major key factor, you must not be distracted. In the course of building entrepreneurship, there will be lots of distractions, a lot of vices, a handful of advice and suggestions. Remember no good thing comes easily, I wasn’t born with a silver Spoon. I grew up from the scratch, but now we are doing government jobs and We have one of the best equipment when it comes to printing. Secondly, you begin to refine your vision, you bring experts on board, you can’t do it on your own, you make out a sharing formula and sign an agreement with them.

Nassnews: Sir. Can you shed more light on what you mean by association as an entrepreneur? Must it be political associations?

Mr. Felix: No. Association in my context means the people you mingle with, abstain from mingling with the wrong people for the right reasons. You build a team of people who will encourage your business, people who can help you explore your idea , fine tune it and bring it up to standard , people who can support you, that’s what association means. There are people who have lofty ideas, but find theirselves within the purview of wrong people who will only trash this ideas, discourage you because they have no clue of what it can amount to. But when it comes to issue of association through politics. Association might not lead you to the direct people in politics but can lead you to someone who will link you up with people in politics, been that we do printing press, our main focus are politicians cause the majorly bring us to the limelight. They print campaign banners, t-shirt prints and other deals. So by way of association with them, we are able to get the right contact. So that’s basically how we’re able to come on board with the political angle. Then for building a strong team, you must not be greedy, always given a token for referrals and contracts no matter how small, which triggers other people to come on board and give us jobs. Braflix will become a global branding network and extend to institute of printing press. We are still working on that , so it’s still under wraps until we get a certain level of expertise from all printing press on board to be a board member of the school. This institute will be a school whereby people who have passion will equip their selves for self future. Where we train people, we buy them machine, issue them a certificate and they begin to fend for themselves. This institute will train people to understand the Internet, to do printing, branding and other things available for acquisition in the institute, there, they will be educated about cyber crimes also. We have done our registration but it’s yet to be launched.

Nassnews: Now let’s talk about Braflix? What are your plans for the development of youths both official and non official ?

Mr. Felix: Honestly, I am good with creativity, I’m naturally wired that way. Answering your question, What I intend to achieve with the youth out there is first, to educate youths on social media crime and why they should evade it, secondly the youths need to realize the damage caused from the dissemination of unverified stories. According to statistics, 95% of Nigerian youth are always on social media every time doing nothing Valid , all they do are the likes of TikTok, twitter, Facebook and so on, discussing and commenting irrelevantly. Most of the Nigerian youth can’t study on social media without been distracted. So my branding team will be having is a conference, we will set up programs that will help us reach out to all the university across the federation with the help of the DG NYSC, National Orientation Agency, Humanitarian, Minister of Education and Youth and sport. Basically what we want to do with this conference is to interact with youths, discuss the effects of social media both positive and negative, we will also Orient the Nigerian police and the society as large, so they don’t ignorantly crown everyone with laptop a yahoo boy. Further more we will orients youths in their orientation camps before their passing out.

Nassnews: OK, Sir, let’s talk about the renew hope of the APC, what is your relationship with National Assembly?

Mr. Felix: First, let me briefly explain my personality and the National Assembly. We are working with the National Assembly in terms branding for legislators. Personally I have a political ambition, and by the grace of God I will contesting for Federal House of Representative by 2027. I also want to contribute my own quota to the development of our country. His excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, made a strong statement and for a man who has been planning his political life for 30years to make the statement “renewing hope” meaning bring back all the hope Nigerians has lost. The country has suffered enough in the hands of different leaders and finally got his excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu who came on board with his own finance to become the president, he has a trailer loads of experience, he has worked with different leaders, He has the blueprint of what some of these leaders intended to achieve but failed. He has empowered so many political allies to be in politics, he has supported senators, governor of different states. Clearly he has good intentions for Nigeria, So my pleading goes out to Nigerian youth to come on board, they shouldn’t just criticize the government, the should as well get involved with politics, make out solutions the little way you can, try to reach out and support the government. Nigeria belongs to all of us and It’s our collective responsibility to make Nigeria work and see the renewal of the President. The hope of Nigeria can be renewed if we put our hands together and renew the hope of our dear country.

Nassnews: how have you been able to support the government so far as a patriotic citizen of the country?

Mr. Felix: I have done well, but not that well. I have been able to do some boreholes within my community,Reached out to some sensitization last year, during the flood last year I gave Bayelsa 400 bag of rice branded BraFlix and I’m not even from there,I reach out to people, I send bags of rice to my community, i dug a borehole for my alma mater, I try with the little I have, which most of the people use NGO to achieve. For me giving to my community is a means of gratitude and I’m going full time into humanitarian service.

Nassnews: What’s your advice for Nigeria in general?

Mr. Felix: One thing is certain, people will always complain no matter what and no one can satisfy everyone. You can only try your best within the system. It’s left for we Nigerians to pick the left pieces and move on. It is our collective responsibility that will create a visible change to fix Nigeria, we should first start from family, let’s train our children to be assets to this country not nuisance, let’s talk sense into our families. Politician should create time to enlighten their family and those within your purview about the government happenings, debunk rumors and clarify their confusion to avoid the circulation of false news from your circle. So let us all come together and make Nigeria a better place , it’s a collective effort.

Thank you Sir.

Lucky Kenedy