Naira Diary Session With Just Ibe: Just Is Set To Help 20000 African Startups In 2020

Just Omomo Ibe is a business strategist and a work-life balance expert. She helps individuals, especially women, identify the various opportunities in their business to make more profit and create a balance between their work and personal life so they can chase their dreams and make money while at it. Her company, The Just Ibe Company helps African startups create a consistent flow of revenue.

In our Diary Session this week, Just Omomo Ibe shares her stories, her motivations, plans for 2020 and lots more.

Welcome to Naira Diary Session.

Naira Diary: So who is Just Omomo Ibe?
Just Ibe: Just Omomo Ibe is an entrepreneur whose focus is helping African startups create a consistent flow of revenue, and her singular goal in 2020 is to help 20000 African startups create a consistent flow of revenue in their businesses. She is married to her high school sweetheart, and she is a mother of three beautiful children.

Naira Diary: How did the idea for your business come about?

Just Ibe: It was born out of pure passion and discovery for my talents. So it got to a time in my life where I was looking for what’s more, what’s next. At every point in life, there is always a lather you get to and you will say, where is the next thing? That’s was when I started doing self-discovery and I realized that I have been speaking and teaching all my life right from when I was young. I have represented my school in different levels of competitions – speaking, debating and all of that. But I didn’t know they were skills one could turn into a business.
The idea came when I realized that people were making money from the same thing I’m naturally gifted at; that’s how it started.

Naira Diary: Did you need money to start, if yes, how did you raise funding for your venture?

Just Ibe: What I needed to start was money for training, capacity building and planting myself in the right network.
So what I did was; I identified myself with the top 10 players in the industry I was going into. Then I identified their programs that will be of help in setting up my venture. Inadvertently, I was getting into their circle and enjoying their supports for my business.
So yes, I needed to raise capital, but it wasn’t a large capital. I spent about N400,000 just trying to get trained on the skills I needed to run my venture.

Naira Diary: What kind of culture exists in your organization, and how did you establish it?
Just Ibe: We are customer-centric, and we are focused on solutions that give our customers a 360 degree turn around. In our company, we don’t create solutions because we want to make money, rather, we create solutions with the customers in mind. We ask questions like, how do we move a customer from point A to B without them having to take any other program?

So one of the things we have figured out in the industry is that people break down products into different bits so that when you take one, you keep coming back, and that’s not a wholesome experience for the customer, and most time the customer gets frustrated trying to implement the different tiny bits and pieces. 
But for our company, the culture we are focused on is that every product is transformational for the customer. Simply put, we are focused on business transformation for our customers. And we don’t hide the fact that God is at the centre of everything we do for our company. 

Naira Diary: How many hours a day do you work on average? Can you describe your typical day?
Just Ibe: As an entrepreneur, there is no limit to the amount of time you can work especially if it’s something you are passionate about. A lot of times even when work is officially closed, you still get an idea of what you can do for your business or customer, you don’t postpone till the next day, you fly with it. There’s no ending to how long you can put into work to make your business or your customer grow. 
But typically, the official work hours are from 9 am to 6 pm. But for me as the CEO, most times the work extends to several odd hours

 Naira Diary: What are your motivations?
Just Ibe: I’m a self-motivated person because what drives me comes from within. Aside from what drives me coming from within, I love to see successful people taking that giant stride because it reminds me that I’m also great and I need to push.
Basically, I’m very uncomfortable with the status quo, I’m very uncomfortable with average, and I’m uncomfortable with normalcy. So these are the things that push me every day to do things that a lot of people won’t think of doing.  

Naira Diary: In one of your interviews, you said that “innovation keeps you in the business long after your competition has gone. How do you generate new ideas and stay innovative?
Just Ibe: Frankly, I’m an unapologetic Jesus girl, so I will say that the majority of my ideas come from the holy spirit.
Also, I make it a point if the duty to read. I read and study what my foreign counterparts are doing so I’m not creating ordinary solutions, rather I’m modelling what works Internationally.

Naira Diary: How do you define success?

Just Ibe: Success for me is replicating my results in other people’s lives in a way that we are moving a country, a sector, a community forward. Meaning, how many people can I create so that they also have the kind of results I have or more, and all of us can join in moving our nation forward.

Naira Diary: What is your favourite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
Just Ibe: Waking up to bank alerts and seeing people grow from struggling to gliding.

Naira Diary: If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
Just Ibe: Quite frankly, I wouldn’t have any other way. I have made so many mistakes; mistakes are there so you know how else not to do it. And It makes up the entire experiences that you have and it helps you bring something better to the table especially when you are dealing with other entrepreneurs. 
So if I have to start over again, I will still love to keep my failures and experiences. Those failures today are the reasons I’m writing my book- I have outlined all the mistakes I  made, and the things startups should not do. So yes, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Naira Diary: What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?

Just Ibe:
1 Learn how to develop a relationship with God for clear directions.
2- Know how to execute

3- Sales

Naira Diary: What entrepreneurial tricks have you discovered to keep you focused and productive in your day-to-day busy schedule?
Just Ibe: I have found the kind of learning method that works for me and I stick to it- I’m an audio or audiovisual learner, so I’m either listening to an audiobook or watching a video.
So I’m not killing myself trying to read one book when I know that it’s not my best method of learning.
One of the things that keep us entrepreneurs stuck is that we don’t identify how we assimilate because in order to grow we need several skills to grow and most of those skills you will have to learn them. And your method of learning, if you don’t understand it quite on time, you will find out that you are picking up materials but you are not doing anything with them because it just does not connect with who you are. 

So one of the assignments I want every entrepreneur to do is to find out the kind of learning method you enjoy the most and deep into it, that way you can even be jogging and learning, or you can be watching a movie and learning, you can be driving and learning or gisting and learning; just find out what works for you and just be doing it. 
Another thing that helps is journaling. Every day write your tasks, your to-do tasks and before the close of business go through it and be sure of the things you have done.

Naira Diary: What business-related book has inspired you the most? (or, What is your favourite book?)
Just Ibe: “Soar” by TD Jake’s and  “Awaken The Giant In You” by Tony Robbins.

Naira Diary: What key activities or areas would you recommend entrepreneurs to invest their time in?
Just Ibe: Reading and studying

Naira Diary: What inspired your book “OWN YOUR HUSTLE”?
Just Ibe: It was inspired out of the need to help 20,000 African Startups create CONSISTENT FLOW OF REVENUE in their business.

Order the book here http://Justibe.com/own-your-hustle

Naira Diary: What piece of advice would you give to university graduates who want to become entrepreneurs?
Just Ibe: So this is what I can say to them: The key to growing any kind of wealth that is sustainable for young graduates is to find your purpose. In as much as we might want to sugarcoat it and call it entrepreneurship, it’s to find their purpose. That is, what is the one thing that God has created you to do that you can do better than anyone else right now even when you have not enhanced your skills? What you should now do is enhance the skill, find out if it’s saleable and what steps you can take to sale it. And most importantly, find yourself a mentor. A mentor is the gap between where you are today and where you want to be, especially a mentor who has walked the path that you are trying to walk. Find that person, connect with that person, intern with that person, serve the person if need be, pay for their programs if need be, and gradually you will see yourself plotting the graph from where you are to where you want to be.

Naira Diary: What should we expect from The Just Ibe Company this year?
Just Ibe: An African tour training startups and equipping them with all the tools needed to grow their business.

Naira Diary: How can entrepreneurs register and be part of the training?
Just Ibe: They can register via the link below

Justibe.com/start

Naira Diary: Share your website URL and social media handles so our readers can connect with you.

Website: www.justibe.com

Email: INFO@JUSTIBE.COM

Phone: 0808 590 1597