A mental health expert, Victor Bamisaye has warned that 49% of all entrepreneurs are at-risk of at least one mental illness or the other.
He revealed that a whopping 72% of entrepreneurs suffer some kind of mental health issue.
In his analysis while speaking with entrepreneurs in Osogbo, Bamisaye noted that 30% of entrepreneurs tend to suffer from Depression, 19% from Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity (ADHD) Disorder, 12% suffer from substance use while the remaining 11% are diagnosed with bipolar.
In his words, “A recent study by Michael Freeman stated that 49% of all entrepreneurs are at-risk of at least one mental illness. The same study also proved that entrepreneurs are: 2 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts. 2 times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric ailments.”
Detailing how entrepreneurs can step out of these barriers, the expert listed “realistic business plan, balance effort and reward expectations, keeping a community of support; outsourcing where necessary and emancipation from religious bias,” amongst others as part of solutions.
During the chat, Abimbola Akinyemi, said research conducted on industrialization in Osogbo metropolis of Osun State, identified “lack of access to capital, poor road network, lack of suitable training, high taxation, unfair competition, government policy inconsistency, low and dwindling purchasing power, weakness in organizational marketing and information as some of the challenges facing entrepreneurs.
According to him, the community discovered that most SMEs die within their first five years of existence and another smaller percentage goes into extinction between the seventh and tenth year thus only about six percent of young companies survive, thrive and grow to maturity.
“In our research, it was recommended that it is necessary to “assist SMEs in providing effective marketing and distribution channels of SMEs products to penetrate sub-regional global markets. This is the rationale for the Osogbo Entrepreneurship Chat 1.0 to help Entrepreneurs scale their businesses and live healthy lives.”
Akinyemi noted that the aim of organising the program was to help entrepreneurs make effective financial decisions, to build businesses that are customer receptive to help business owners lead quality and mentally healthy lives.
