Markets are magnificent, but they are not perfect. They leak value through frictions—information gaps, mistrust, logistics bottlenecks, price opacity, poor user experience, and weak coordination across value chains. A firm is society’s organized response to those frictions. That is the mission of firms: to transform market frictions into profit and prosperity. When a company removes a friction, it captures value (profit) and creates value (welfare). Both can flourish together.
In that sense, innovation is not entertainment; it is an instrument. It is the disciplined redesign of how demand and supply meet—through better products, superior processes, stronger platforms, or smarter policies. Growth, then, becomes the reward for consistent friction-removal at scale. And strategy is simply the allocation of scarce capability to the frictions that matter most.
In the Igbo Nation we say, “Onye kwe, chi ya ekwe.” When you commit, your chi (personal god/destiny) aligns. In business, commitment is expressed through capabilities—people, processes, capital, tools, etc —accumulated over time and deployed with precision against a chosen friction.
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The market smiles when your product/service removes its pain. And when the market smiles, growth compounds, categories form, and societies rise. That is the calling. That is the craft. That is the mission of firms. Hahahahha
Tomorrow, we begin: The first lecture of Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 18.
Sat, Sept 20| 7pm-8.30pm WAT | Innovation, Growth and the Mission of Firms – Ndubuisi Ekekwe | Zoom link
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