As Nigeria’s secret police and politicians celebrated attacking Sunday Igboho’s home and arresting Nnamdi Kanu, Toyota was commissioning an assembly plant to sell more cars in Nigeria. Left and right, you can see a massive disintermediation playbook from Ghana as companies position themselves there to serve Nigeria.

Like I noted the other day, if Twitter suspension in Nigeria becomes permanent, Twitter will suspend its voyage of opening an office in Ghana because that office which listed some jobs requiring local Nigerian languages was designed for the Nigerian market.

As Ghana rises, which is good, I call on the Nigerian government to pay more attention to AfCFTA. My position during the debate of joining AfCFTA remains: ‘Nigeria should SIGN but must make sure the “rule of origin” clause is strong. We cannot afford goods produced outside Africa to be repackaged in a treaty member state and then shipped to Nigeria at a low tariff that is exclusive to member states.’ Yes, once AfCFTA takes off, expect revenue from Customs to drop which could be a double whammy for Nigeria: you used to make money from the duties, but today, you get nothing.

We need to do to Toyota Ghana what America did to Toyota Canada – expressly remove any North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) benefits on the cars. That is why a Toyota car costs more than $6,000 in United States to what you get it in Canada where most are made for the US market.

Nigeria needs visionaries because in this age, we are being faced with asymmetric challenges, and to overcome, we need our leaders to be proactive with the fierce urgency of now.

Our President Should Sign AfCFTA Free Trade after Strengthening “Rule of Origin” Clause

Just like that, they are pioneering a new economic sector: space travel. Yes, Sir Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, just announced that he would be going to space on July 11, beating Amazon’s Jeff Bezos who is expected to enjoy the ride later in the month (July 20). You get it: the billionaires now have a new passion and they are trying to normalize it. Simply, if you think you have “change”, you need to travel to space. By the time these trips are done, credit card companies and banks in America and Europe will start financing space travel as another dimension of vacationing. Go to space and pay the bills over 12 months. And this card admits into all airport lounges and offers two space travels per year!

Gboom, in a presidential election in Nigeria, one party will challenge an opponent if he can be allowed into space, and that opponent will then have to make that trip, to confirm that he is not a wanted man in space. Two months later, a Nollywood  diva will book the “space” for a wedding reception, elevating what currently holds which is to do a wedding reception in mid-air Air Peace. That one surprises me: to show affluence, you put people in a plane and take off mid-air, fly around for 45 minutes, so that the commoners will know you are loaded.

Notice that no one wants to visit my village in Abia state where they can be better entertained by the best people created. Of course, the village is not asking for a $28 million ticket for a trip to come. That is what one man (or woman) plans to spend to feel the space.

They are living tomorrow! I wish ALL safe travels.

Sir Richard Branson, the founder and CEO of Virgin Galactic, announced a surprising plan to travel to space on July 11, beating Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to it.

Virgin Galactic, the space subsidiary of the Virgin Group, has been working on Unity rocket plane in the US for about 20 years now, in a push to fulfill Sir Branson’s long-held dream to touch the space someday and to make way for others to do the same.

This comes after the US Federal Aviation Administration in late June gave Virgin Galactic permission to take paying customers into space after a successful test flight in May.

The announcement has added to the culminating space frenzy kicked off by SpaceX founder and CEO, Elon Musk. Since May last year, when SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft leaped on a Falcon 9 rocket from the Launch Complex 39-A at Cape Canaveral in Florida, marking a new era of commercial spaceflight, the billionaires’ race to space has intensified

Sir Richard Branson, the founder and CEO of Virgin Galactic, announced a surprising plan to travel to space on July 11, beating Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to it.

Virgin Galactic, the space subsidiary of the Virgin Group, has been working on Unity rocket plane in the US for about 20 years now, in a push to fulfill Sir Branson’s long-held dream to touch the space someday and to make way for others to do the same.

This comes after the US Federal Aviation Administration in late June gave Virgin Galactic permission to take paying customers into space after a successful test flight in May.

The announcement has added to the culminating space frenzy kicked off by SpaceX founder and CEO, Elon Musk. Since May last year, when SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft leaped on a Falcon 9 rocket from the Launch Complex 39-A at Cape Canaveral in Florida, marking a new era of commercial spaceflight, the billionaires’ race to space has intensified.

The aim has been, among others, to develop commercial spacecraft services that anyone who can afford it would hitch to the edge of the earth or the orbit.

“I truly believe that space belongs to all of us,” Branson said. “I’ve always been a dreamer. My mum taught me to never give up and to reach for the stars. On July 11, it’s time to turn that dream into a reality aboard the next @VirginGalactic,” he said via Twitter.

Sir Branson will be journeying alongside employees of Virgin Galactic, Beth Moses, Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor; Colin Bennett, lead operations engineer; and Sirisha Bandla, vice president of government affairs. Dave Mackay and Michael “Sooch” Masucci will be the two pilots up front.

Last month, Blue Origin, Bezos’ space company, announced the winner of a $28 million auction to ride alongside Bezos on the New Shepard rocket on July 20. Bezos also announced he would be accompanied into space on 20 July by Wally Funk, a female aerospace pioneer, who was denied the chance to be an astronaut in the 1960s due to her gender. The 82-year-old will be the oldest person ever to travel to space.

However, the cost of the trips has varied with each of the space companies. In January, a trio of American real estate investors, a Canadian investor, and a former Israeli Air Force pilot teamed up to pay $55 million each to be part of the first fully private astronaut crew to journey to the International Space Station (ISS), on board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule early next year.

Virgin Galactic has sold tickets to about 600 passengers at a price between $200,000 and $250,000 each, although the company expects it could increase its prices substantially for the first commercial flights.

Blue Origin said its ticket pricing is yet to be determined, but Bezos expects his company will price flights on New Shepard in comparison to competitors. Analysts expect its flights to cost as much as $500,000 for a brief up and down that includes several minutes of weightlessness.

The reason for the differences in pricing is because the three competitors have developed quite different technologies, offering varying flight altitude. SpaceX offers orbital trips, including to the ISS, reaching an altitude of over 400 kilometers above the earth, while Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin offer suborbital, which reaches an altitude of about 100 kilometers above the earth. Virgin Galactic launches its rocket ship from an aircraft, reaching an altitude of roughly 55 miles (88km). Blue Origin launches its New Shepard rocket from the ground, with its capsule soaring to about 66 miles. The orbit services thus justify the wide pricing gap between SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin.

Despite the cost, the space commercial transport services has been dubbed the fastest-growing part of the luxury market, holding a future multi-billion dollar sector.

CNBC reported on Cowen and UBS recently conducted surveys of high net worth individuals and their interest in suborbital tourism. Cowen’s survey found suborbital flights have a total addressable market of about 2.4 million people among individuals with a net worth of more than $5 million.

UBS surveyed more than 6,000 high net worth individuals specifically on flying with Virgin Galactic. About 20% of those UBS surveyed said they are “likely to purchase a ticket on a spacecraft within 1 year” of the company beginning regular flights. That number increases to between more than 35% “after several years of safe operation,” UBS said.

With the increasing interest in Space travel, a new multi-billion dollar sector has been born. The global space economy is expected to be worth at least $1.1 trillion in 2040, if the current trend is sustained, According to Forbes.

The best strategy is NEVER lose hope: tomorrow is a promise. Those days in FUTO, we skipped meals. Then, in days, after receiving the first paycheck, the past became history. Never doubt the promises of tomorrow. Do not feed your mind so much with Abuja. Find the energy to do productive and creative things. Like in the acres of diamond, think of  the periwinkle: you must crack it to get the cryolite, the precious gem. #believe

The cryolite is a precious gem. Some of the finest types are made from periwinkle. But that only happens when the animal shell is cracked.

Many who rose to the mountaintop like Nelson Mandela experienced the cracking of their shells. But instead of the agonies of pains, they released abundance and hope, elements of societal priceless gems, which changed the destinies of people.

The key is this: do not give up because the NEXT chapter could be awesome.

Join me to thank Femi Akintunde , CEO of Alpha Mead Group for funding all the current Final Year students of Industrial Engineering department of the University of Ibadan, their lecturers and all current executive members of the Industrial Engineering Students Association (IESA) to Tekedia Institute CollegeBoost. Let me also thank Mr. Akintunde for sending dozens of Alpha Mead team members to Tekedia Mini-MBA. 

Across Africa, more students are getting real-market business education in Tekedia CollegeBoost. We provide a platform where executives from great local and global companies teach. The impact is huge across campuses.

Tekedia CollegeBoost is an Advanced Diploma in Business Administration designed for students in colleges. It involves an 8-week program which could be broken into two semesters or taken in one semester, depending on the arrangement with the school or group of students. This course is only offered to a group of students.

We wish Mr. Akintunde and Alpha Mead open markets and territories for funding the Future. Thank you.

(Source: LinkedIn)