Just to thank Eyitayo Adeleke, mMBA for bringing a lot of ideas to Tekedia programs. The day he told me that some learners would like permission to make our t-shirts, I was like “are you sure people will wear the t-shirts?” Fascinatingly, the learner-managed cup-, t-shirt-, hoodie-, and broad merchandize-idea has distributed hundreds of these items.

The biggest delivery was the day he went to Kwara State Government House to deliver a Tekedia t-shirt to the First Lady. She had sent 600 youth from Kwara State for Tekedia Institute to train them on business management. He led a team to the government house, and that is part of our history. See Eyitayo as he handed the t-shirt to First Lady, Amb Dr Mrs. Olufolake Abdulrahman.

I want to thank our Learners for making us feel great by buying these t-shirts which continue to bring us learners. Thanks. How many schools can boast that their learners graduate and are happy to spend their money to buy the school’s t-shirts?

If you need one, contact Eyitayo, I know nothing about it. He does all with our learners, from design to delivery. I thank our learners who spend their money on these shirts for honouring Tekedia Institute in this way. Thanks.

The video pic.twitter.com/35gd2yvKGl

— Ndubuisi Ekekwe (@ndekekwe) April 27, 2023

The proposed Abia State University’s Igba-Boi Centre will have a mandate to train and educate students and the world on the principles of Igba-Boi (the Igbo apprenticeship system), the Igbo worldview business philosophy of entrepreneurial capitalism and prosperity through enterprise, succession planning, retirement, etc.

The Centre will work to uplift and internationalize this Igbo heritage in this age of stakeholder capitalism, and upgrade, codify and modify where necessary the framework, for more international adoption. We expect the world to come to Abia and learn about Igba-Boi, and understand how the Igbos, for centuries, have been practicing what the modern world has called “stakeholder capitalism” as I wrote in Harvard https://hbr.org/2021/05/a-nigerian-model-for-stakeholder-capitalism

(Our expectation is that someone will fund and endow this center, and we do believe in the Economic Transformation team that institutionalizing Igba-Boi in a modern way, where our sons actually go to school, before going into trade/commerce, is going to be catalytic in the knowledge base of the state).

Invest in Abia because #AbiaIsBetter

Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe

Co-Chair, Abia State Economic Transformation Transition Council

I read a particularly unflattering LinkedIn comment on my piece where I noted that I do not invest in undergraduate students building startups, since running a startup (not a small business) cannot be a part-time job! The argument was this: a smart student could maintain good grades while running a company! Good People, there is a clear difference between running a company and working in one.  Grades are not everything!

Understand that companies do not hire you just because you made good grades in school. You are hired because you’ve demonstrated attributes which resulted in a good outcome (good grades). To get good grades, you managed your time, showed discipline to accomplish a purpose, etc. The assumption is this: if you can apply those attributes in a job, the outcome would be good. 

Please understand that the processes to get a good grade are more important than the grade. Most attributes to success are universal while grades are not.  Staying on course with those attributes makes the future predictable even when the grades become irrelevant!

Success in life is not defined by academic grades even though good grades will not hurt. The fact is this: a person can make As in a university-life-phase and still fail drastically in a professional-life-phase. While the phase-exams are different, behind them are clear relationships: process. It is safer to hire an A student than a C student as the A student has demonstrated the ability to set goals (every student desires to make good grades) and accomplished them. The key thing is not the A but the process that leads to the A. Simply, if you hire that A-student graduate, and he/she continues to apply those principles, there is a high chance he can deliver A performance in the company. That also explains the quality and the difficulty of getting that A in a school. One school’s A is another’s C. So, it comes down to processes which are needed for those grades.

To be a founder of  a startup, some attributes which will make you a great staff may not favour you! So, combining school with work, and building your company (a startup, not a small business)  while in school are different things! But even that requires a process. So, the key is mastering the process of what you need to thrive.

If someone asks you the “course” you must make A+ in school, tell him/her: PROCESS.