Think wealth, think value: The inseparable duo

Domino's pizza,the world class pizza-making system promised to be " there in thirty minutes hot,or it is free", being the first in home delivery. That is value. Microsoft, the giant software maker made it possible for programs to run on personal computers accessible to individuals. Another value delivered. Facebook, one the latest and best media of social expression, is currently among the most active interactive tools worldwide. Yet still value.

The list is endless. Fortune 500 companies, multi-nationals netting billions of dollars in annual revenue, employing thousands of people, and metamorphosing into friendly brands all have a common base. That common base is value.

Value when viewed from an enterprise point of view has two perspectives. One is the rules and principles that an enterprise operates by, and the other is the creation of solutions to people's needs. These two outlooks are complementary, but that which comes first in an enterprise order is that of filling needs. That is our focus here.

If you do not have what people need, you cannot succeed at enterprise. The mother of all successful business is an initial needs assessment. This process of assessing needs should be continuous as it is the life blood of any venture that wants to survive the times. My next post would be pointing at this needs assessment process. To understand the gravity of needs assessment, it might just be the reason for your existence.

Here we want to establish the fact that you can start at nothing to create wealth. The driver of enterprise is neither money nor connections, rather, it is value creation. "Start wit what you have" is what I've heard for the umpteenth time.

The basis for discovering value is love. If you can pay attention to someone else's problems with a keen desire to help out, you will strike your infinite intelligence in proffering solutions. Once you continue to brood over a problem, your mind has capacity and capability to think out a solution.

Bearing other people's burden and emotional stress in waiting for their packages to arrive upon ordering for products or expecting a mail, Frederick W. Smith caught the vision of having people wait just one midnight for deliveries. This birthed FedEx Corporation, the first in overnight package delivery. Due to the solution he desired to create, he attracted millions of dollars from investors, bank financing and family. Howard Rothman, co-author of Companies with a Conscience wrote that- Federal Express did give us what we wanted, when we wanted it.

Value comes clothed in form of a product or service eventually. The process is as simple as finding a problem, proffering solution and building wealth.

Sometime in 2007, at a conference, I met the first and master franchisee for McDonald's in South Africa, Peter Moyanga. I was shocked in the course of our discussion to hear of these certain young guys that had built a franchise system out of just shining shoes. They are in airports all around the city, whereby travelers would just have their shoes shined on the spot while they stand. That is just value in effusive display.

Sit tight as I unearth the value creation process in my next post. Once again, I would dare to say that value is the sure fire way to prosperity.

Quest for knowledge.

Next to my personality is an undying passion or quest for knowledge. This informs my sacrifices in investing in knowledge conscientiously at an unusual age of 13.

First was my attitude towards having a stellar hold on the English language. This was done by reading wide and noting new words, then writing them out with their meanings and the context in which I found them. This is like a prime stage in your quest for knowledge. It is a firm understanding of the language of the sources from which you wish to acquire knowledge.

The first major book I read was a book I borrowed from one of my old friends. It was 'Know your limits, then ignore them' by John Mason. That book blew me out. I wrote out a lot of points from the book that I have always fallen back to. I also went on to read 'The Miracle of motivation', also at that my friend's house overnight. He has a portion of his wardrobe in which he stacked books. Standing before those books at any time then used to challenge my wits. I didn't let this challenge end there, but I went on, alongside my brother to start buying books.

Since I embarked on that knowledge ride, I had since read over 65 books till my late teens. I also went on to learn the dynamics of Customer Relationship at 19 professionally, which was one major huge investment. I had many other things I would have used the money on, but I chose knowledge.

One final word, "Choose to pursue knowledge, for reading makes a man".

Introducing your guide to young entrepreneurship

I remember when as a 15 year old, I represented my school alongside a few of my school mates at a self improvement seminar. It was an explosive one indeed, which happened to be one of the handful of seminars I had started attending since I was 13. I can never forget one of the mantra all around the auditorium, in the magazine and program outline. This simple but hard-truth mantra was Genius when young is divine. To understand it better, I like to break it with a comma-"Genius when young, is divine"

This points to the fact that starting any meaningful venture while young, whether intellectual, economical, physical or spiritual is golden. We cannot exhaust the list of young entrepreneurs around the world who have gained stardom in the current age and ages past. From Mark Cuban to Mark Zuckenberg, Bill Gates to Michael Dell, Jeff Bezos to Jerry Yang, Akianne to Ashley Qualls, just to wit. Some of these started being enterprising while in high school, some others dropped out of college, because its walls could not accommodate their blown-up minds. Actually that is what it takes to be Enterprising Young. You know, people calling you crazy, you rejecting some jobs because what is inside of you is bigger in the long run than what they have to offer now, or you offering to work for free because of what you can learn.

All the dynamics of young entrepreneurship are what we will be demystifying together in this blog. We will analyze the lives of young entrepreneurs around the world, study the lifestyle of those contemporary business giants who started early, probably when they were your age.

I can assure you that as you follow and contribute to this blogosphere, you will build the best morale you can muster to start out early in honing your skills, being the best at what you do, and building mega-million businesses. This blog also seeks to build a community of young great thinkers who are actively relating and sharing daily enterprise and entrepreneurship experiences. So, we would be glad to be your companion by following us on twitter and joining us on facebook. You can also find me on those social networks as Jesse Axton Onomiwo.