Go to school, study hard,make good grades and you will get a good Job.
Growing up, I know just like me, most of us must have heard the above statement a lot especially if you were being raised by a Nigerian parent.
Due to the rate at which unemployment is increasing in Nigeria. This statement has been challenged from different angles. The major way in which this statement has been challenged is by encouraging young people to start their own businesses.
Today on social media and off social media,people are now trying to compare education with business, infact most folks have come to agree that what our parents told us about going to school,graduating with a good grade and getting a Job is totally wrong, they say there are no jobs and even if there are jobs, your financial future cannot be guaranteed working for someone else.
Today, everyone is screaming "start your own business, business is a way to financial freedom, create your own employment and don't wait for the government". Infact, one church I know is currently running a series on how to start and grow a business,is that what the church is meant for? Well, let me not digress.
There are two sides of a coin and I have always considered myself to be a disruptive thinker, I love to look at situations or handle issues from both sides or from two different perspective. In my opinion,business is good! but why are advocating for the right thing the wrong way? Why are we trying to compare business and education or rather why are we trying to make business look more important than education?
If you say what our parents told us about going to school, getting good grades and getting a job is totally wrong, then you are in a way trying to play down on the value of education.I have heard some folks say Bills Gates was a drop out and he is the owner of Microsoft, but they forget to say that Bill Gates later went back to school to get a degree.
For me, what our parents told us about going to school, making good grades and getting a good Job is not totally wrong neither is it totally right. Going to school and getting a job is a choice,doing a business is also a choice. It's totally wrong to present doing a business as a second choice or a narrow escape for not getting a Job,which is what most people do.
Business is a passion, not everyone has passion for business or can manage a business, not everyone wants to go through the stress of owning a business. My dad never liked business or had what it takes to manage a business, between the time he lost his first job and the time he got his second job, he started a business that never thrived even till today. This shows that for a business to thrive, passion is key. Bill Gates was known to have always loved computers even before he dropped out from school.
My pastor has been singing start your own business like a song in my ears and to the ears of everyone around him,gosh! He dint even ask me if i want to own a business or if I had what it takes to run a business. That he loves business does not mean everyone around him should love business. This is what am talking about,another wrong way of encouraging a person to do business.
My final words...
We should not undermine the value of education because we want to encourage young people to own their businesses. An educated person has a greater chance of managing a business well than an uneducated person. That the rate of unemployment is high does not mean that there are no Jobs,people get employed everyday.
Owning a business is good,being an employee of a company or the government is not bad either, it really depends on a person, their passion and what they can handle. Whether you want to own a business or you want to be an employee, love what you do and be good at what you do and you will definitely stand out.
It's passion that makes way for financial freedom and not necessarily business because if you are not passionate about running a business, the business will not thrive and you will not be financially free.
Thanks for reading!
Would love to hear your thoughts on this!
