Join the man who is nicknamed the blockchain oracle as he breaks down the promises and opportunities of government-backed cryptocurrencies like e-Naira and e-dollar. What are the opportunities? How can we capture value? What do we need to do? Only at Tekedia Mini-MBA’s Tekedia Live; zoom link in the Board.

Thur, July 15 | 7pm-8pm WAT | Digital Currencies: E-Yuan, E-Dollars, E-Naira – Franklin Peters, CEO Bitfxt (Dubai, UAE)

Tomorrow is early bird deadline for the next edition of Tekedia Institute Mini-MBA . Register here.

On Saturday, July 17,  at Tekedia Live, the live version of Tekedia Mini-MBA,  I will speak on “Planning a Career in a New Country”. My presentation will be divided into three phases: before you leave, the early years in a new country, and maturity. I will share some things which worked for me and some lessons learned!

• Sat, Jul 17 | 7pm-8.30pm WAT |  Planning a Career in a New Country – Ndubuisi Ekekwe |  Zoom link in the Board
• [for Tekedia Capital OPEN session, the time is  Sat, July 17 at 4pm WAT and the link is here]

For example, before I left Nigeria, I moved all my academic transcripts to World Education Services with the mindset that if they are there, I will  never have to deal with any Nigerian university for a transcript. So, WES has all, and if I need a copy, I pay it and within days, they deliver.

Why did I do that? Many in then FUTO Alumni Yahoo group were complaining of delays on transcripts. I felt I could deal with that issue once and all while in Nigeria; I am glad I did!

And more tips: focus on earning more per hour and not pushing to work 24 hours in a day! If you double your hourly rate, you’ve halved the time you need to clock in. So, what is the plan to be at 1.5x minimum wage within 2 years, depending on where you are starting?

America, for example, is easy to figure out. I began at $7.25 per hour (Tuskegee University farm automation work study student) but in grad school in Johns Hopkins University, I moved to $23 per hour! The key is this: you need a plan to unlock opportunities.

Register for the next edition of  Tekedia Mini-MBA.

Tekedia Capital offers a specialty investment vehicle (or investment syndicate) which makes it possible for citizens, groups and organizations to co-invest in innovative startups and young companies in Africa and around the world. Capital from these investing entities are pooled together and then invested in a specific company or companies.

We invest in mainly technology-anchored companies and are sector-agnostic which means those companies could be operating in any industry, including finance, real estate, education, health, logistics, etc. The opportunity is open for individuals in Africa, Africans in diasporas, global citizens in any place in the world, investment groups and organizations around the world.

To learn more about Tekedia Capital Syndicate, go here. 

In the last three months, we have deployed $3.5 million in African startups and Africa-operating startups. This is a new age of value creation, a cambrian moment on entrepreneurial capitalism. We want you to party with us. Share this message and come with your friends, associates, colleagues, families, investment club members, etc.

Founders & Investors, You’re Invited To Tekedia Capital OPEN Session – We Invested $3.5M in Q2 2021

Nigeria has a really big challenge on our huge borrowing culture: we are now spending 97% of our revenue just to service debt. The implication is that most of our recurrent expenditures are now financed through loans and that creates a vicious circle, triggering the need for more loans. In other words, if you have to borrow to pay salaries and handle basic things, you will keep spending more revenue on servicing debts. Simply, Nigeria needs a new playbook to get out of the circle if we hope to save to build the infrastructure of the future.

Debt servicing obligations gulped 97 percent of the Nigerian government’s total revenue in 2020, a report has shown.

According to BudgIT, a civic-tech non-profit organisation, of the N3.42 trillion generated as revenue, Nigeria expended N3.34 trillion on debt servicing.

The report said total expenditure stood at N10.01 trillion.

“This means nearly all FG’s salaries, overhead & CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) were financed with loans & CBN support,” the civic group said.

According to BudgIT’s “2020 Budget Implementation Analysis” report released on Friday, N4.65 trillion was spent on non-debt recurrent expenditure.

“In 2020, FG projected a total revenue of N5.37tn; however, the actual total revenue eventually stood at N3.42tn. This represents a 63.71% revenue performance,” BudgIT said.

“The cost of servicing FG’s debt is drowning Nigeria as the cost continues to grow, gulping a total of N3.34tn (97%) from the total revenue.”

The Nigerian government’s revenue from oil however recorded a significant boost of N1.41 trillion, surpassing the oil revenue projections of N1.01 trillion.

With insecurity scaling across Nigeria, the debt problems will remain. The bad guys have moved to even kidnapping emirs, and there seems to be no solution in the near future: “The police in Kaduna State say the Emir of Kajuru, Alhassan Adamu, and 10 others have been kidnapped by suspected bandits in the early hours of Sunday in Kajuru town, headquarters of Kajuru Local Government area of the state.”

The near future looks extremely challenging for Nigeria with all these paralyses; we need to pray for a good landing in the nation. In America, the biggest problem is that companies cannot find workers to hire; in Nigeria, insecurity has made it largely impossible for farm workers to go to their farms, creating a huge crack on future food security.

He was exiled after he survived boiling oil. It was a banishment, a common punishment during the imperial period, to the Island of Patmos (Greece). John was sent to Patmos under the persecution of Roman emperor Domitian. There, John wrote one of the most important Books of the New Testament – the Revelation. 

Domitian was troubled. When boiling oil could not touch John, every attendee in the Colosseum accepted John’s message. From Rome, they sent him to Patmos, about 33 hours on a modern ferry. The emperor did not want to risk another loss of subjects; he could not predict the next miracle. 

It happens in some companies: the most brilliant staff members have strong visions. Many people are threatened. They could shine and the Boards would prefer them to lead. So, to stop them, the simpletons would conspire to send them to far away branches where they would be forgotten.  

Interestingly, like John, those great workers, right in those branches would see great revelations of the companies. That is it – in the wilderness of those far away branches, we can see a future, unbounded by the noise of the headquarters. Like John who saw a big vision of the future more than anyone, we can do great things for where we work or in our sector. John who later served as Bishop of Edessa (Turkey) triumphed: the banishment promoted him to see a bigger world than Rome, and wrote the Revelation. 

Going to “Patmos” is critical in a globalizing world [we hope you go on strength and peace]. When they send you to China, Brazil and Africa [out of New York], or to Kano, Owerri and Uyo [out of Lagos], they may be plotting your path to a greater mission in your call. 

In “Patmos”, men and women have been picked to lead. Do not be frightened if Patmos comes: a successful career could pass through Patmos.