Question: “Ndubuisi, who is the Richest Man in Abia?”
My Response: It is very unlikely to know the richest person in Abia State because in many Abia communities, tradition is not to recognize you because you are rich in money, but because you turned boys into men. So, the ideal question should be “ Who has raised more boys to become men, and girls to become women?” With that, you can get answers in communities.
In some communities, before you are allowed to speak in the village square, you must begin by pointing to people you have helped, before elders will yield the floor for you to speak. So, your money means nothing if none has benefitted from it.
In Ovim, one of the “richest men” ever lived remains Dr ENC Ukpabi. He earned a PhD in Geography in the United States before 1960, and was the first indigenous dean in University of Nigeria Nsukka. He was so amazing that his house was basically an Ovim house.
He supported men and women to the extent that during Church baptism when people were asked by the Reverend to name their “Saviour”, some actually named Dr Ukpabi. Yes, they felt that he was the messiah! Of course, the Bishop will ask them to return to catechism and prepare for another Exam so that they can pass for baptism. And Dr was a very rich man even though he did not have a big bank account.
Scale that mindset across most Igbo communities. Yes, people build companies and break them, awarding market shares to future competitors. I explained that in the Harvard Business Review via the Igbo Apprenticeship System to the global world on stakeholder capitalism.
“Thanks so much for your work here. I like how you’re setting up the idea of stakeholder capitalism at the start while introducing the Igbo IAS…” The online version should be out by next month. The core construct is to present the Igbo Apprenticeship System as a thesis for the world as the conversation continues on stakeholder capitalism, not just shareholder capitalism.”
Indeed, the ancestral Igbo worldview was centuries ahead of the global push for stakeholder capitalism, in that view, you could get the idea of the richest person in your world.
