In a perfect internet market, the marginal cost of a digital product is zero. But markets are not perfect. And that means you must find ways to deliver great values to users even as the marginal cost tends to near zero.

Why? Customers in the digital space congregate more into an ecosystem when the marginal cost is very low. When you have a low marginal cost, customer growth improves and when that happens, you would experience a positive continuum of network effect where great products trigger more customers, and more customers, compounding better experiences.

In Tekedia Mini-MBA (registration continues here), I have used a metric called Scalable Advantage (SA) to model how fast a company can scale within the internet space. Scalable Advantage (SA) is a nexus with numbers between 0 and 1 which is used to ascertain the organic capacity to grow an enterprise, by examining the inherent elements like marginal cost and external forces, within an unconstrained and unbounded internet economy, where if nearly perfect, all transaction and distribution costs between demand and supply disappear, producing an SA of “1”. At the other end, it is “0” which means marginal cost is rising with volume.

Today, I want to ask you: What is your Scalable Advantage? Does it get towards “1” or “0”? The trajectory will determine how far that business will go. I have a simple chart to help with a video which explains what determines if a business can scale, not just grow. In Tekedia Capital, a company must have at least an SA of 0.7 before we can invest!

Tekedia Capital congratulates our portfolio company, Shoptreo, for launching in the ancestral and amazing city of Ibadan. Ibadan, Shoptreo is in town, and the doors are open for business.

Shoptreo is headquartered in Enyimba City, Aba, and has expanded to Kano and Onitsha. Ibadan is now checked. When we met this team, they were doing less than $10k GMV per quarter.  Today, they do $millions in monthly GMV. I am proud of Emmanuel Jacobs and George Uteh for their operational and execution capabilities.

Shoptreo works with hundreds of shoemakers, tailors, etc, across its core production cities. If you place a bulk order with them, they will source those clothes and shoes. They handle quality control, shipping, etc: “B2B fashion distributors in Ibadan can now access bulk fashion goods directly from manufacturers through Shoptreo, which offers credit financing options to help scale their businesses.”

Tekedia Capital >> we’re building the foundations of the next Africa through entrepreneurial capitalism.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has responded robustly to what it terms the “predetermined, reductionist, derogatory, and denigrating” portrayal of Nigeria’s economic situation by foreign media outlets, specifically respecting a recent scathing New York Times (NYT) feature on President Bola Tinubu’s government.

The article, titled “Nigeria Confronts Its Worst Economic Crisis in a Generation,” has been described by Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, as a “jaundiced” narrative reflective of foreign media establishments’ broader negative bias against African nations.

In the strongly-worded rejoinder, Onanuga accused the NYT of painting an unduly grim picture by focusing on the adverse experiences of some Nigerians amidst last year’s inflationary pressures, without adequately acknowledging the positive measures being implemented by the government. He argued that the report’s selective focus on economic hardship overlooked the “ameliorative policies” introduced by the central and state governments to mitigate these challenges.

“The report is at best jaundiced, all gloom and doom, as it never mentioned the positive aspects in the same economy as well as the ameliorative policies being implemented by the central and state governments,” Onanuga remarked.

Onanuga noted that President Tinubu inherited significant economic difficulties, describing the situation as akin to managing a “dead economy” that required urgent interventions to prevent collapse. Among the critical measures taken by the Tinubu administration were the abolition of the fuel subsidy regime in May/June 2023 and the unification of multiple exchange rates. These steps were deemed necessary to restore fiscal discipline and attract investment.

“For decades, Nigeria had maintained a fuel subsidy regime that gulped $84.39 billion between 2005 and 2022 from the public treasury in a country with huge infrastructural deficits and in high need of better social services for its citizens,” Onanuga stated.

The presidential aide defended the government’s reforms, acknowledging the initial turbulence they caused, including the naira’s depreciation to N1,900 per dollar.

“President Tinubu had to deal with the cancer of public finance on the first day by rolling back the subsidy regime and the generosity that spread to neighboring countries. Then, his administration floated the naira,” he said.

However, he expressed optimism that stability was being gradually restored, predicting that the currency could recover to N1,000-N1,200 by the end of the year. Onanuga cited increasing foreign portfolio investment, a Q1 2024 trade surplus of N6.52 trillion, fresh loans from multilateral lenders, and significant investment commitments as evidence of renewed investor confidence stemming from the reforms. He cited the recent World Bank’s $2.25 billion loan and other loans by the AfDB and Afreximbank, as evidence that Nigeria has become bankable again.

While acknowledging that food inflation remains a significant challenge, Onanuga detailed the government’s efforts to boost domestic agricultural production. These measures include fertilizer subsidies, incentives for dry-season farming, and various state-level interventions. He asserted that these policies would soon tame inflation, particularly food inflation.

Onanuga also highlighted that Nigeria is not alone in facing a cost-of-living crisis, noting that similar issues have impacted Western nations like the U.S. He assured that the Tinubu administration is diligently working to reverse the country’s economic woes and expressed confidence in overcoming the current difficulties.

“Our country faced economic difficulties in the past. Just like we overcame then, we shall overcome our present difficulties very soon,” Onanuga concluded.

This robust defense is not new for the Nigerian government, which has a history of issuing swift rebuttals to negative foreign media reports. For instance, in October 2021, The Economist published a scathing cover story about the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. The piece highlighted numerous governance failures, including insecurity, economic mismanagement, and corruption. The Presidency quickly responded in a rebuttal titled, “Economist’s flawed anti-Nigeria cover”, defending its record and dismissing the criticisms as biased and unfounded.

“The Economist is correct: Nigeria faces multiple threats. They confluence now not because of this government; but on the contrary, it is this government which is addressing them concurrently, and simultaneously – when no other prior administration sought to adequately address even a single one,” Garba Shehu, Media Adviser to President Buhari, said.

Despite these rebuttals, the Buhari administration failed to address the issues raised by The Economist. The continued insecurity, economic challenges, and corruption during Buhari’s tenure have contributed to the current economic difficulties Nigeria faces today. Many Nigerians view these rebuttals as a diversion from substantive action, leading to skepticism about the current administration’s ability to deliver real change.

The Presidency’s rebuttal to the NYT report underscores the administration’s frustration with what it perceives as biased reporting by international media. It also reflects the broader narrative of resilience and optimism that the government wishes to project amidst ongoing economic challenges.

However, the consistent pattern of defensive responses without addressing underlying issues, as seen during the Buhari administration, raises concerns about the effectiveness of these rebuttals. Many Nigerians are hoping that the Tinubu administration will not follow in the same footsteps and will instead take concrete actions to address the country’s economic challenges.

Question: I enjoyed your article on how to develop to become a Board Observer or a Board member. Would it be possible to share more cases including in the United States?

My Response: This is the original piece here . In the US, such opportunities exist. Social Capital, founded by Chamath Palihapitiya, did me a great favour when one of its startups, Brilliant, invited me for a two-day working visit in their Silicon Valley office. They read my article in Harvard Business Review, and reached out to me; I had joined Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and they flew me from Pittsburgh. That visit was impactful; there is a lot more you can do outside the classroom! It removed a veil on what a teacher could do in this world.

On getting opportunities, broadly, I will say that one of the first phases remains my webinality. Yes, when you write, people know what you know and how you think. In other words, there must be a mechanism for people to know what you know. That means giving people the opportunity to recommend you in your absence. 

The following are some suggestions on how to build a professional online persona. It is establishing your web personality (webinality) to explain that person you are.

Presence: Open at least one social media or blog account.

Specialize:  Define an area of interest and build around it. A five-minute online search should reveal what you represent. You need to differentiate yourself and showcase your core skills and unique capabilities to potential hiring managers.

Accuracy: Always remember that once that post goes online, you may not control who sees it. If you lie on your accomplishments, your classmate or co-worker is just an IP address away from challenging it. Make it accurate – always, otherwise, you will destroy your persona.

Comprehensive: While blog should be short, once in a while, develop comprehensive articles in your field and post them online. It could mean expanding a class project you worked on, adding more contents, and fully proving your expertise. Half-baked contents will not take you too far.

Judgment: What you post or share online defines who you are. Your profile defines you – values, interests and reliability. For employers, they want reliable team leaders and you must not offer less in your web personality.

Vertical Integration: Seek to connect with people ahead of you professionally while building a horizontally network.

Generosity: Share and exchange good ideas. Invite people to your network and be generous to promote good ideas from others. Write professional reviews on books, journals and articles. In no distant time, people will reward you.

Policy Matters: If you are working, ensure you adhere to policies on using the company’s name online. There is a threat that you could be a source of data leakage that can hurt competitiveness. Your profile must not be another portrait of your employer – you must be wise to separate both, where necessary.

Continuity:  Professional online branding is a continuous work-in-progress that requires constant tune-ups of networks, contents and profiles. It must be constantly nurtured.

Do not think being excellent is the only element; you must make sure people know you know a “thing”. More so, even if you decide to contact some companies or CEOs for opportunities, if you have records which they can independently verify, quickly, via your blog, etc, on your capabilities, you will reduce the inertia on the decision making.

That said, please note that there are not many available Board Observer slots, and that means you must not be troubled if you cannot get a YES immediately. The key is to stay focused, and continue to showcase your capabilities. Over time, you will have a lot of invitations that you may not have time to accept. Good luck.

Connect Higher And Offer Yourself for a Board Observer Role, to Advance Professionally