Leadership Workshop Series
The Grit and Grind of Entrepreneurship
What it takes to keep building when the money is tight, the applause stops and the market shifts
Taught by Dr. Kolawole Ojo, Chief Executive Officer
Watch a 94-second preview
Forty-six staff to eight: what grit looks like after an unpaid contract
A working entrepreneur's account of what building a business actually costs, and the five grit zones every founder passes through.
About this course
This course comes from a GEPA leadership workshop led by a management consultant and serial entrepreneur with twenty-four years in business. It is an account of what building a venture actually costs: the grit that keeps a founder building when nobody is applauding, and the grind of showing up daily to solve problems piece by piece.
The speaker teaches from his own history rather than from theory. A government contract that went unpaid and took a company from forty-six staff to eight. A supermarket in Jos that sold nothing for three months. A training business launched on fifty thousand naira after a bank manager told him he did not need a loan. Around these he sets out five grit zones: the blurry vision, the capital crunch, the lonely leadership lane, the feedback furnace, and the market or trend shift.
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The last part of the session is a short question and answer with the workshop audience. Two questions are put to him: how to decide whether to pivot or hold on when money is going in and traction is not coming out, and how to put structure and systems into a small startup, from registration through team composition to marketing.
It is written for energy professionals who are running a venture, planning one, or carrying entrepreneurial responsibility inside an employer's business. You should finish with a clearer test for whether your idea meets a need, a way to budget on money you hold rather than money you expect, and a rhythm of quarterly evaluation and rest that keeps the grind from becoming burnout.
What you will be able to do
- Tell the difference between a problem you can solve and a need the market will pay for
- Explain what grit means in practice and name the four qualities the speaker said it rests on
- Identify which of the five grit zones your venture is currently in and what it demands
- Build a quarterly rhythm of rest and evaluation so the grind does not become burnout
- Budget on the money you already hold and expand only with what actually arrives
- Lay out the basic structure of a startup, from legal form and registration to team, market and marketing
Who this course is for
- Energy professionals running a business alongside or instead of a salaried role
- Early-stage founders in their first two or three years
- Employees carrying entrepreneurial responsibility inside a larger organisation
- Consultants and service providers deciding whether to persevere or pivot
Curriculum
Course structure
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2 lessons
Module 1
What entrepreneurship really is
The speaker's opening frame: what entrepreneurship costs, why an entrepreneur meets needs rather than simply solving problems, and why the journey never runs in a straight line.
- Meeting a need, not just solving a problem Free preview 6 minutes
- The journey is a detour, not a straight line 3 minutes
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3 lessons
Module 2
Grit: the character that keeps you building
What grit is, the four qualities it rests on, and what the grind looks like on the days nobody is watching.
- Grit is what is left when the applause stops 3 minutes
- Four qualities, and the discipline of the grind 3 minutes
- The reality of the grind, and a supermarket in Jos 6 minutes
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2 lessons
Module 3
Surviving the grind
The two things the speaker says keep an entrepreneur upright over years: planned rest, and people who celebrate progress rather than only results.
- Build rhythms of rest 4 minutes
- Choose people who celebrate progress 3 minutes
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4 lessons
Module 4
The five grit zones
The speaker's map of the stretches every founder passes through: the blurry vision, the capital crunch, the lonely leadership lane, the feedback furnace and the market shift.
- Zone one: the blurry vision 4 minutes
- Zone two: the capital crunch and being resourceful 4 minutes
- Spend what you have, expand with what you expect 4 minutes
- Zones three to five: obscurity, feedback and the market shift 4 minutes
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3 lessons
Module 5
Staying grounded, and questions from the floor
The speaker's five strategic takeaways, followed by the two questions the workshop put to him: when to pivot, and how to put structure into a startup.
- Five strategic takeaways 3 minutes
- Question: pivot, or keep going? 6 minutes
- Question: putting structure into a startup 4 minutes