This morning I want to share on the kind of thinking that could
lift a nation out of a recession. Nation building is a collective
responsibility, it's not just the obligation of the leaders. We perhaps have
too many observers and critics than labourers and grinders.
In my view many people are talking, very few are sincerely
building, that's why we have many wrong people managing very sensitive areas of
our nationhood, because the right people only want to talk they don't want to
be involved, these wrong people have the paper credentials but lack moral and
ethical credentials to deliver impressive results. Many of us are willing to
talk and criticise, very few are sincerely willing to join the work. Dear
friend, what are you doing for Nigeria? Our 170 million population size may
actually be a disadvantage when the majority of us have a sense of entitlement
without a sense of responsibility to our nation.
The second to the last statement of our National pledge says
“and uphold her honour and glory”. Dear friend, how are you upholding our
honour as a nation? How are you bringing glory to Nigeria?
True honour and glory of any nation has to do with good success,
outstanding results, unparalleled performance and masterpiece creativity in
enterprise and social initiatives.
As a Nigerian, what are you doing, what are you building, what
are you developing that is world class in nature? What are you investing your
mind and time in that the rest of the world would have no choice but to copy?
I've hear many people complain that the environment is not
enabling and it frustrates creativity, but on the contrary, adversity births
creativity and innovation. Necessity is the mother of invention. When strong
people are deprived and pressured, they don't give up or surrender, they
release the juice they carry on the inside. When people are too comfortable,
there is no drive or natural motivation to do anything phenomenal, that's why
globally, it's the trend for foreigners to build the society of comfortable
nations out of desperation to send something back to their own struggling
families back at home. Indigenes of comfortable nations hardly contribute much
in national labour but they enjoy the most.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have copied and imitated;
played second rate and even have our relatives abroad build many advanced
societies for far too long. I think it is time for us to develop faith in
ourselves; love, appreciate, create and promote our own style and put it out
there for the whole world to appreciate, marvel at and copy.
Isn't it obvious that advanced nations are not interested in
what they already have and their own style? They don't want us imitating them,
they are interested in our own style, that's what they're willing to pay for.
You can't be better than them at their style. Check out our music industry, for
many years we imitated their style of music, style of dance, their lyrics and
beats and they never reckoned with us; the moment we learnt to celebrate our
style, thanks to Kennis Music and other great thinkers of that era, the
industry began to grow rapidly and today Nigerian music style is loved and
respected globally and the artiste are really making waves and regularly
exporting new indigenous style of music. Today, world superstars are eager and
proud to collaborate with Nigerian artiste. The uniqueness of our style, our
beats, our lyrics and language cannot be ignored, just like the Jamaicans did
with reggae long ago – it is ours, not an imitation.
Haven't you observed that even in rap music, the rappers using
local dialect are more popular and selling faster than those trying to imitate
foreign accents and style? Local is juice, local is fun, local is attractive,
local is marketable. To uphold the honour and glory of Nigeria, we need to
invest our minds and energies in developing our own and making it world class;
not imitating foreign styles and playing “we too can do it”.
After qualifying and being certified as a management consultant
many years ago, my priority has been on start-ups. A critical ambition was to
support start-ups and fledging businesses grow strong and healthy and
ultimately export their products and services to other nations of the world –
drawing in foreign exchange for Nigeria - becoming truly multinational. Instead
of chasing after foreign investors, Nigerians should become foreign investors.
Those were my thoughts.
In this many years of practice, extremely few of my clients have
actually considered the possibility of expanding their businesses beyond the
shores of Nigeria to other African countries much less Europe, Asia or the US.
When I suggest this possibility to them, they look at me funny,
as if it's a strange thing.
For many, their minds can't see beyond Lagos or Nigeria. They
don't think to sell internationally, yet international is part of their
business name. (Laughs)
I eventually came to realise it's a mindset thing. Many Nigerian
business owners are not really passionate about building a business, they are
driven more by making money. For them, the business is to make them rich,
that's all. Asking them to invest in business expansion even within the country
is something they don't want to hear.
To their mind, if they keep re-investing in the business, how
would they have money to buy that expensive SUV or build their dream house in
that exotic and fancy neighbourhood? How will people know they have arrived?
Rather than invest and expand the business, they'll rather spend on themselves
and their vanities. Consequently, in less than 10 years, a fantastic business
with global prospect and potential is dead, because of the mindset of the
Nigerian owner.
Every now and again, I consult for foreign businesses looking to
do business in Nigeria. When we meet, they are more interested in the
possibility of growth and expansion within Nigeria, not immediate gains. An
interesting experience I usually have is their penchant for research and data.
They seek after numbers, they want a measurement of the market size, growth
trend and potentials for further growth. They want to know and understand the
lifestyle of their target audience. They want to know how they think, their
habits, their behaviours, their routines, how they earn and how they spend and
what they spend mostly on.
For some of these, I have data and information generated by my
Research Company. If the research material is as old as even 6 months, these
foreigners think it's a bit obsolete and they want a fresh research
commissioned. These guys are willing to spend on research. They want to get it
right, they want to build a strong and stable business enterprise based on
facts and real intelligence.
On the contrary, a typical Nigerian business owner prioritises
where he would make his money from and how fast. To ask a typical Nigerian
business owner to spend on research is to offend him or her. They largely think
it is unnecessary, they think it's a waste of time and money. Thus, most
Nigerian businesses are built on plans and strategies based on assumptions and
speculations according to the wish of the owner and consequently the business
may not grow and suffer a wreck whereas the business of the expatriate is
growing in leaps and bounds; the same consultant, the same environment. The
Nigerian business owner would then blame this failure on the government and the
harsh business climate and the foreigner keeps growing his market share and
profit gradually within this same environment.
The mentality of a typical Nigerian business owner is what he
can get, grab and gain and how fast, “owo ni koko”.
For most foreign owned companies, it's how they can gradually
grow and expand through a proper understanding of the market and the customers.
It then appears most foreign businesses want to be established within the
Nigerian market profitably, most Nigerian business owners however, want to milk
the Nigerian market and the people quickly- My submission from my experience.
Ladies and gentlemen, I think the rate at which our indigenous
start-ups die should be worrisome. If businesses owned and managed by
Americans, Europeans, Asians and other Africans are thriving in Nigeria despite
the adverse situation and our locally own businesses are dying, we should take
a second look at why. It may not just be a matter of enabling environment.
Ladies and gentlemen, to grow this nation, we must imbibe the
patience and maturity real business growth requires. No growth is overnight, we
shouldn't expect our businesses to deliver billions in revenue or profit
overnight. Voracity and impatience will kill any business quickly no matter the
prospect and potential.
Ignoring also, the rules of today's business success in areas of
research, customer profiling, customer service, competition, collaboration,
planning, strategizing, business culture, business structure, vision,
branding, employee management, process efficiencies and long term goals will
keep mitigating our indigenous GDP growth preference.
Growing Nigeria and the economy is a function of active and
constructive individual thinking, patience, tenacity and wise contribution.
Yes, the government has got critical roles to play but we can't ignore our own
roles if there would be great results soon.
When
you choose to build a business, please build it to last; don't feed your
voraciousness, meet the needs of the market and you will be rewarded with so
much for so long in the long run. Let's do things right, let's think as
builders. Let's build businesses indeed, not just be busy people.
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