Interview – Entrepreneur Focus – Chidozie Ukaigwe

Mel @ Lucidry — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:03:17 +0000

Interview with Chidozie, a young London Entrepreneur and co-founder of BiWhizz. Lucidry managed to catch up with Chidozie, a young London entrepreneur. We found time to talk about entrepreneurship and got an insight into one of his many upcoming ventures; Lots of detail and tips in there – enjoy!

Hi Chidozie, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. Could you tell us a little about yourself, what it is you do and anything else!?

Well I am a budding entrepreneur, the current co-founder of BiWhizz.COM which has not launched yet. I took a GAP year from the University of Westminster to concentrate on building BiWhizz. I currently work on building the platform from a conceptual, business theoretical and research perspective. This means I am constantly building schematics for ideas and tools for the platform, alongside my partner. We have a third partner who is a developer who makes the ideas a reality.

I always ask myself in all business situations, what can be done to better this marketplace, product, service whateverChidozie

Well, we are having a chat as you’re an entrepreneur. Where do you think your desire to innovate, be independent and enter business comes from?

My desire to be innovative comes from my desire to challenge the status quo and change systems that are in place. I always ask myself in all business situations, what can be done to better this marketplace, product, service whatever. To be independent stems from the aforementioned point, I cannot change or challenge the status quo effectively if I am shackled down to a 9-5, brutal I know. My partners and associates know I am a stubborn as an entrepreneur and business professional; however I am better as a person. How I came into business was merely choice, there was three areas I really did excel in, that was Football, History & Business Studies, Business studies got the nudge.

Dharmesh Shah has described entrepreneurship as a ‘genetic defect’ that either makes you very happy or miserable! So far, have you landed on happy or miserable?

Honestly within this academic year, it has been miserable, Mr Shah is right, business really is polarized, black or white, happy or sad, and there is no middle ground. However the people that do know me understand I am a fighter, and as you know we are due to launch in April and that really does speak volumes about our progression and overcoming the obstacles. Business is an emotional rollercoaster, one day is good, next day is very bad, but to honest fellow entrepreneurs, I love it! All of it!

I also feel that the best entrepreneurs continue to learn new characteristics to continue being successful.Chidozie

The UK is seeing an unprecedented rise in entrepreneurship, even despite the economic conditions that we are still in. An ever increasing number of people are taking the ideas they have and actually turning them into something tangible.. Why do you think entrepreneurship is on the rise?

The rise of entrepreneurship is due to a number of issues, first thing is that people find it much more ‘cooler’ to be an entrepreneur, going on your journey, trying to go the distance; as naive as that sounds I generally find people feel much more proud to say that they have their own business.

The second issue is definitely due to the low level of risks, and the fewer or cheaper barriers to enter into certain industries, I believe the rise of the internet and the Google Generation has definitely played its part.

The third and final issue for me is that as a nation we are becoming much more confident in starting up a business, the confidence is strengthened by shows such as Dragon’s Den; I think people have strong feelings and affiliations to such shows that enable them to execute such confidence in their ideas even at the embryo stages.

Do you feel anybody can be an entrepreneur?

At the start of my entrepreneurial journey I first thought anybody could be an entrepreneur, I am an eternal optimist you see. However due to experience, lessons learned and advice, I feel that not everybody is cut out for this. I believe there are a number of fundamental characteristics needed initially, No#1 and my most important; having the confidence in your own ability to execute. I also feel that the best entrepreneurs continue to learn new characteristics to continue being successful.

Could you tell us about one BiWhizz; which is of your current projects? What it’s about and how it came to being?

BiWhizz is a business networking and management platform. We are dedicated to the development of entrepreneurs and small businesses in the UK. The platform is based on principles, technologies and applications from social media / networking and project management. The sum of the parts creates a holistic platform offering budding entrepreneurs and small business a unique online environment to conduct their business. BiWhizz today came out of an evolution of a pre-existing idea we had a one year and a half ago; of just a basic business network. As time went by and our knowledge base increased from a market perspective and technological one, we realised that we could do so much more, especially for the budding entrepreneurial community and the UK SMB industry.

the same way how a business owner may need to open up a business bank account, we want them to feel they need to open up/use a BiWhizz account.Chidozie

Not many web 2.0 applications / internet based start-ups have done well, on an international level. Excluding the goliaths of companies like Skype and Spotify. What do you hope will make BiWhizz different?

Initially our aspirations are currently within the UK SMB Industry, therefore we are not taking a detailed look into international markets, as a platform like BiWhizz is not an ‘end user’ type service, or a ‘one size fits all platform’. BiWhizz will be different because it will be an enterprise specific platform, therefore all features/tools built within the platform is there to enable an entrepreneur or business owner to fill out business specific requirements and much more. We believe that within Britain’s Tech space there is no real enterprise orientated platform and BiWhizz can fill this void.

Where do you see BiWhizz being in one year, three years and 5 years from now?

Our ultimate goal is for BiWhizz to become integrated into the UK SMB Ecosystem; to elaborate, the same way how a business owner may need to open up a business bank account, we want them to feel they need to open up/use a BiWhizz account. We have tried to shy away from thinking 3-5 years ahead of time, as markets change, technology changes and there too many confounding variables at play. In saying that, our main focus for the next 12 months from the point of launch, is to grow the platform in regards to users and to strengthen our technology and main areas of the platform. We are due to discuss the main areas of the platform on our pre launch site.

Being a web platform, it’s a very technical start-up. What problems have you come across and how have you addressed them?

The main problem we have come across is how to update the platform, in regards to bringing into new technology, tools and features. We have built three versions of the BiWhizz, one is the actual platform you will see at launch, and the other two are in concept and schematic phases. To be honest we are still brainstorming strategies, we want to be able to update the platform extremely fast and get it up to the version already designed. I believe we have addressed the issue by acknowledging the issue and tackling it on a daily basis, this is a problem that will not be solved in a week but more over the course of a month or two.

When will we get access to a beta?!?!?!?

Our good friends at Lucidry will be one the first establishments to get a crack at BiWhizz in beta phase, however to stamp a date on it is quite difficult. March next month is the preferred month to initiate beta and BiWhizz will keep Lucidry informed of all progressions and set dates as and when it happens. Lucidry could offer this opportunity to its readers, as we are currently doing on our pre launch website.

Thanks for taking the time today Chidozie. How can people interested in yourself and BiWhizz get in touch with you online?

Thanks for having me, it has been a pleasure to talk to Lucidry and been a great pleasure to talk to your readers and fellow entrepreneurs. To get into contact with me or BiWhizz, we have a lot of contact information on our pre launch website, as well as access to join our Twitter movement and our Facebook group. If users are looking for more info/opportunities about BiWhizz or personal wise please do use our contact us form on the pre launch. Thanks Again

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Review – Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner

Mel @ Lucidry — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:44:12 +0000

The book Freakonomicss by Steven D.Levitt and Stephen J.Dubner is one that has received critical acclaim and attention. I managed to get round to reading it a while back and it doesn’t dissapoint.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

An excerpt from the book’s back-cover synopsis:

The answer: Freakononomics. It’s at the heart of everything we do and the things that affect us daily, from sex to crime, parenting to politics, fat to cheating, fear to traffic jams. And it’s all about using information about the world around us to get to the heart of what’s really happening under the surface of everyday life.

My Opinion of the title

Although billed as an economists’s musings; it is a very accessible title and the book could ven be classified as general interest. The book, for anyone looking for an entertaining read, will like it. In a nutshell, the book takes a look at all sorts of things in society.

Levitt’s topics run the gamut, from racism on ‘The Weakest Link’ to parallels between the KKK and real estate agents to the reason why drug dealers tend to live with their mothers, and he attacks all of his questions with ingenuity and tremendous skill. According to the book, economics is really the study of incentives, and so using this kind of angle, the book comes up with answers to why things work the way they do.

Personally, I put this book up – as I think more than the exact examples it examines, Freakonomics leaves you with a certain attention to detail. I notice, interpret and approach situations in a different. Looking beyond the obvious and past explanatiosn that are spoonfed on a plate. A phrase I have often heard is:

Correlation does not imply causationUnknown

and I hoenstly only full appreciate its meaning after reading Freakonomics. A great title that offers entertainment but something more for those that are willing, at the risk of sounding cliche – to think outside the box. A book that’s hard to put down, I’m sure many readers will enjoy it. Also recommend The Sixty-Second Motivator for a more simplistic explanation of what motivates people and gives them incentives to do what they do.

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Interview – Entrepreneur Focus – Chidozie Ukaigwe

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Review – Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner

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