Good People, join me to welcome students and the Students Union Government of Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State Nigeria to Tekedia Institute CollegeBoost, a Tekedia Mini-MBA designed for college students. When students come together to go on an academic excursion, you have a reason to believe. Yes, instead of the usual (parties, etc), they want to spend time with us at the Institute to co-learn and co-share towards advancing the continent.
These are brilliant young people in one of Africa’s finest technical universities. They are already well prepared by FUT Minna; at the Institute, we will simply expand their horizons in market systems. They began today with us.
From Tanzania to Nigeria, from Botswana to New York, and beyond, schools, tech accelerators, innovation hubs, etc are making time to come to co-learn with us.
As always, I like to welcome our members, and a ceremony is already scheduled as follows:
Date: Friday, April 30, 2021
Time: 7pm – 8pm WAT
Topic: Building Innovators of Nations and Abundance in Future (presentation and Q/As)
Since Adam Smith wrote his classic, in 1776, the Wealth of Nations, to upend the mercantilist system and set forward the basic foundations for modern classical economics, the world has changed. The core pillars of productivity and division of labour have remained the tenets of firms which thrive. A free market system has provided the cement mortars in states, seeding the pillars for the massive translation from invention to innovation.
The simple difference between a nation like the United States and another like Nigeria is that one is an innovation society while the other is an invention society. There are so many ideas in the latter but hardly enough products and services.
Until nations transmute from being inventive to innovative, they will remain poor. No nation has become rich without that translation. Yes, always remember that most of the pioneers of the most fundamental aspects of physics, mathematics and chemistry died poor. They were bright people – but they ended up poor. Why? They lived in societies of ideas with no products because there was no transduction from invention to innovation.
Nigeria has built a massive arsenal of idea-creators but it has struggled to find ways to deploy those ideas. From universities to mechanic garages, ideas everywhere but NOT a single solution to problems. So, you have a nation with legions of engineers but no water, roads, and electricity.
But this is fixable and it comes down to building the anchors: the anchor is productivity driven by competition. It would be hard for Nigeria to rise if the states are not incentivized to compete. The law of comparative advantages must work in Nigeria for it to rise, and fiscal federalism is the gunpowder that will WIN poverty for Nigeria.
Without that productivity, unlocked through fiscal federalism, Nigeria will remain poor and keep getting poorer!
In physics, momentum is the product of mass and velocity. To build a great business, you need momentum but here the Mass is the size of your business and Velocity is the new basis of competition you are creating in the market. A new basis comes when a company is innovating, making it possible to chart a new pathway in the market. Without innovation, you have only Speed which is simply participating in the market without a direction. In mechanics, you already know that Velocity is speed with a direction.
At Tekedia Mini-MBA, we provide a fundamental foundation of creating a new basis of competition, translating how we serve customers, moving beyond their Needs to expectations to Perceptions. The greatest companies serve customer perceptions, not just their needs. When you focus on meeting the perceptions of your customers, you engineer fandom. Fandom means your customers become fans of your brand. It means you have Velocity, not speed.
Join us in the next edition of Tekedia Mini-MBA which begins June 7 to Sept 1. Our school is big; we have 36 nations represented. Cost is $140 or N50,000 and it is 100% online, self-paced with thrice live Zoom sessions.
Come, let us master the physics of business success at Tekedia Institute. Register to beat the early bird deadline and get many benefits.
Comment: Sir, I like the idea presented in your post. I strongly believe that businesses in Nigeria stand to gain a lot if they employ the scientific approach more often.
May we then make a comparison of two companies and their share of profit in respective markets:
Tesla and Dangote Group.
Tesla, operating with relatively low mass and high velocity, through rapid innovation is maintaining peak momentum within the global automotive industry.
On the other hand, Dangote Group has a high mass due to the number of subdivisions, employees, assets, liabilities etc. which is set to increase further when the refinery comes online.
However it can be said to possess a somewhat low velocity since the format of its business operations is based on a legacy of the industrial age (moving upstream and consolidation of weak points along its supply chain).
The product of its high mass and low velocity yields a high momentum as shown by its pole position in profitability within the Nigerian market.
It seems that different approaches may still yield the same result.
My response: Absolutely – there are many ways to optimize for that high momentum. But the greatest happens when mass is high and velocity is high. Think Amazon.
Code
Description
Cost
MINI
Tekedia Mini-MBA. And WhatsApp School
US$170 or N120,000 naira
MINF
Annual Package: 3 consecutive MINI, and 2 optional capstones.
$340 or N180,000
MINR
(optional) Homework review; faculty will review your homework with feedback.
$30 or N10,000
CAPS
(optional) Tekedia capstone is a research paper, analogous to final college project.
With the big boss not showing up, at least to speak to the nation, do we have any hope that these two men (Senate President Ahmad Lawan, and Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila) can lead the National Assembly to fill the obvious void in national leadership.
Listening to Samuel Ortom , the governor of Benue state, today, I was moved beyond emotions. The words of Niger state governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, were also touching. Essentially, these governors are shouting to be heard – and helped.
The House of Representatives, on Tuesday, asked President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency on security, following the recent sacking of 42 communities in Niger State by Boko Haram.
This was one of the 12 resolutions by the lawmakers following over three hours of executive session.
Femi Gbajabiamila, the Speaker of the House, read the resolutions after the session.
This latest legislative intervention is coming in the wake of the revelation by the Niger State governor, Abuabakar Bello, that Boko Haram terrorists are in control of territories in Kaure and Shiroro local governments of the state.
Also, the lawmakers asked the federal government to recruit more personnel into the military and the police.
I understand that the Vice President cannot do much now. But people want to hear from their leaders as that is part of the job expectations. So, who speaks to Nigerians? Can Lawan and Gbajabiamila hold a town hall on national security if a live citizen-plenary is not possible?
In his contribution, Opeyemi Bamidele, a senator from Ekiti State, asked the Senate to “mandate the leadership of the National Assembly to book an appointment with the Commander-In-Chief on behalf of the 109 senators…because I’m not convinced that Mr President is aware of everything that’s happening.”
“…we need to be able to tell our constituents that we met with the commander-in-chief and this is what is being done,” he said.
The president recently asked the US to relocate AFRICOM from Germany to Africa towards helping to fix the security challenges in the region.
President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday urged the United States to reconsider relocating US Africa Command (AFRICOM) from Stuttgart, Germany, to Africa, nearer the Theatre of Operation, admonishing the international community to support Nigeria and the sub-region in tackling growing security challenges to avoid spillovers.
President Buhari, in a virtual meeting with the US Secretary of State, Mr. Anthony Blinken, said AFRICOM, which partners with countries to counter transnational threats, should be relocated to Africa to strengthen ongoing efforts to check the security situation, with likely effect on other nations.
“The security challenges in Nigeria remain of great concern to us and impacted more negatively, by existing complex negative pressures in the Sahel, Central and West Africa, as well as the Lake Chad Region.
“Compounded as the situation remains, Nigeria and her security forces remain resolutely committed to containing them and addressing their root causes. The support of important and strategic partners like United States cannot be overstated as the consequences of insecurity will affect all nations hence the imperative for concerted cooperation and collaboration of all nations to overcome these challenges.
“In this connection, and considering the growing security challenges in West and Central Africa, Gulf of Guinea, Lake Chad region and the Sahel, weighing heavily on Africa, it underscores the need for the United States to consider re-locating AFRICOM Headquarters from Stuttgart, Germany to Africa and near the Theatre of Operation,’’ he said.
The President said Nigeria will enhance collaborations in all forms, with friends and strategic partners, to work together for greater security for all, which remain the most significant condition for overcoming the existential challenges.
President Buhari congratulated Blinken on his appointment by President Joe Biden, and commended the United States for the decision to repeal the immigration restriction known as the “Muslim ban’’, re-joining the World Health Organization (WHO) and Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
In a move to boost US Dollar supply into the economy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced on 30th November 2020, new rules that allow beneficiaries of Diaspora remittances to receive US Dollar foreign currency either into their USD domiciliary (foreign currency) account or as cash pick-up from bank branches.
The Ethnic South Asian population in Nigeria has doubled roughly every 5 years since 2000 and currently stands at around 64,000 people officially though it is said that the figure may be some percentage higher if ‘undocumented migrants’ were included.
Nigeria has a very small locally born South Asian population. South Asia itself is the main source of migrants. Some come to invest while others arrive having pre-secured an expatriate salaried position. Smaller numbers of ethnic South Asians are inter-Africa migrants, particularly South Africa and Kenya. A yet smaller number are job hunters that have been displaced from expatriate positions in UAE. Globally there are also ethnic South Asians in Europe, particularly UK, North America, Australasia, the Sijori Triangle, parts of the Caribbean, particularly Trinidad, and Guyana in South America, but these generally show little interest in Nigeria as either a migration option or a job market.
Almost from nowhere, an unprecedented outbreak of COVID has happened in India which at least equals the vehemence, pace and penetration of any national or local outbreak in the history of the pandemic thus far.
The last 24 hours has seen an increase in about 350k cases and over 2,200 deaths.
While there are no direct flights between India and Nigeria, Nigeria has ratified a bilateral aviation agreement with India in October last year, and Nigeria was added to India’s ‘travel bubble list’, a COVID sensitive selection of routes and destinations.
Common sense predicates that Nigeria and India would not consider a bilateral aviation agreement unless sufficient air traffic between the two countries pre-exists to warrant it.
Canada and Australia have led with the ban of flights that may involve passengers originating in India while some other countries such as the US, UAE and Saudi Arabia have taken action at carrier level. There is yet no announcement from Nigeria.
The Indian Government is so sensitive about this outbreak, it has appealed to social media, for example, Twitter, to take down comments relating to the rampant pandemic in the country.
Samriddhi Sakunia, Journalistic Student and COVID response volunteer, from Jharsuguda, India, speaking on Al Jazeera ‘The Stream’ Program – ‘Can India Survive Coronavirus ?’
‘Twitter is normally a place where people share thoughts… but right now in India, Twitter is a ‘Help Centre’ … thousands of volunteers… so we can try to arrange oxygen, beds, ICU, ventilators… How do I feel? Right now I feel numb… I cannot sleep at night knowing that there are people outside the hospitals waiting to get a bed… there are people dying outside the hospitals…’ Samriddhi Sakunia on Al Jazeera.
On July 26 last year, the day after National Nigerian Diaspora day, President Buhari thanked the Diaspora for the $25bn sent to relatives. Last year’s Annual Diaspora Remittance exceeded 80% of the yearly budget
This means a significant proportion of the Nigerian population is supported by overseas remittances.
With the delay in official response to the India outbreak, there is a strong chance that new mass viral loading has already happened in Nigeria from South Asia.
Without doubt, if this triggers a new Nigeria wide lock-down, it will immediately halt all forms of direct face-to-face services. The closure of retail banking outlets is a given!
Since domiciliary accounts cannot dispense Naira by ATM, all of these breadline dependents of the Diaspora President Buhari is so grateful to, will become cut off from the remittances that is so much their life-blood.
Unless The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele has some surgical measure that will automatically trigger on the fly seamless continuity of access to their funds for desperate people amid a covid compliant retail banking shutdown…
This situation has all the ingredients of a very Nigerian PERFECT STORM
