It should be one of the largest gatherings of HR leaders and experts in Africa. And they are here to educate us on career planning, helping us to advance our missions. They come from different backgrounds, industries and domains. They are Tekedia Institute Faculty. Nov 2-6 is Career Week. Yes, now that we have prepared our members on management, innovation, growth, and digital execution systems, we also want to ensure they are prepared personally. Admission is FREE but only our members can ask questions. 

Tekedia Mini-MBA Career Week has been scheduled for Nov 2-6 2020.

This career week is not designed for finding jobs. Rather, it is structured to TRANSFORM workers, founders & entrepreneurs into business leaders and champions of innovation in their companies. Yet, if you have no job, by the time you are done with the series, you will have a path to one! The sub-theme is Nurturing Innovators. It will be packaged under the Tekedia Mini-MBA theme of Innovation, Execution & Growth.

Our knowledge experts for the Week include human resources experts and leaders from MNCs and startups, across industries and global regions; they are amazing.

• Dupe Akinsiun – Head, Leadership & Capabilities Center, Coca Cola HBC
• Nnenna Jacob-Ogogo – Head, Alpher, Union Bank
• Precious Ajoonu  – Manager, Jobberman
• John Wesey – CEO, Psyntech
• Dr Akanimo Odon – CEO,  Envirofly Consulting UK 
• Dapo akinloye – COO, Emerald Zone
• Dr. Fatai Olajobi – Partner, Neo-Neurons Concept
• Dotun Jegede, Senior Partner, Dee Bee Consulting
• Elizabeth (Ayeni) Nyah, Human Resources Business Partner, VDT Communications 
• Capt. Ola Olubowale – Manager, Viva Energy Australia
• Abraham Owoseni.com – Principal Consultant, MindMould

We are making is FREE. But only past and current Tekedia Mini-MBA graduates will be in the zones to ask questions.  We will communicate mechanisms as the date draws closer.

This is a large gathering of HR directors, experts and leaders. They would share insights on how students and professionals can build their careers. They have already produced course materials and some would be speaking live.

Dupe Akinsiun – Coca Cola HBC
Nnenna Jacob-Ogogo – Union Bank
Precious Ajoonu – Jobberman
John Wesey – Psyntech
Dr. Akanimo Odon – Envirofly Consulting UK
oladapo akinloye – Emerald Zone
Fatai Olajobi – Neo-Neurons Concept
Elizabeth Nyah, ACIPM, GPHR, VDT Communications
Capt Ola Olubowale – Viva Energy Australia
Abraham Owoseni – MindMould
Dr. Dotun Moses Jegede – OD Consultant

If you were born in Cape Town or Johannesburg, you need to step out of those two cities to actually visit “Africa”. Yes, Cape Town is as amazing as San Francisco. Living and working in Cape Town does not really mean that you are working in Africa because there is nothing sub-Saharan Africa there, except the geography. That explains why a playbook perfected in Cape Town or Johannesburg may struggle outside those domains.

Shoprite is leaving Nigeria (sure, a court said it cannot leave yet). Now, it has added Kenya in the list. While you can blame Kenya or Nigeria, the fact is this: Shoprite is not selling a market-fit product in these countries. With open markets everywhere, the competition is exceedingly high for these highly structured and expensive retail chains to thrive in sub-Saharan Africa.

That is the challenge for Shoprite, and it may be the reason while it is retreating back to South Africa. It needs to update its playbook because what it has now is not selling.

 South Africa’s Shoprite Holdings said on Tuesday it expected to close or dispose of its remaining two stores in Kenya in the year ahead, leaving the East African country after opening its first store there more than two years ago.

The supermarket chain has been reviewing its long-term options in Africa as currency devaluations, supply issues and low consumer spending in Angola, Nigeria and Zambia have weighed on earnings.

“Kenya has continued to underperform relative to our return requirements,” the retailer said, adding its decision to leave had been confirmed by the economic impact of COVID-19.

Shoprite opened its first supermarket in Kenya at Westgate Mall, Nairobi, in December 2018, hoping to take advantage of disarray in Kenya’s grocery sector after the collapse of Uchumi Supermarkets and Nakumatt, two of the country’s top three retailers.

The decision to leave comes a month after Shoprite said it was considering reducing or selling all of its stake in its Nigerian subsidiary.

Shoprite, with more than 2,300 stores across Africa, reported a 6.4% rise in sales for the year ended June 28, with like-for-like sales up by 4.4% as customers spent more on groceries at its discount Usave and mid-to-upper end Checkers stores.

There is abundance in the future. The possibilities of the future are limited by the finite knowledge of today. Fill your mind with optimism, and a great energy to achieve will come. Greatness comes with awareness and observation. 

But a mind chained in hopelessness is lost, seeing darkness even in the brightest rays of the sun. I challenge you to LIFE. For that to happen, find a way to LIVE your Life, not your friend’s, classmate’s or anyone. But it must be purpose-driven, not tossed around like a feather in a river.

Blossom! The future is full of abundance.

A court in Nigeria placed a mareva injunction on Shoprite a few weeks ago. This week, another has refused to hear the company’s application to lift an injunction barring the South African retail giant from moving its assets out of Nigeria. Mareva injunction  is a legal ordinance that ensures assets are not taken out of a country. 

Alleged business shenanigans triggered that on Shoprite’s assets in Nigeria. A Nigerian company, A.I.C. Limited, had secured a $10 million judgment against Shoprite in a breach of contract lawsuit. An appeal upheld that call; Shoprite has appealed at the Supreme Court for a reversal.

It remains debatable if Shoprite would be leaving Nigeria if that call had not gone against it. The case here is a big lesson for everyone: before you hit SEND, remember that once gone, you can never get it back. Shoprite has to create a new product: shop for the right lawyer; yes, Shoprite, shop right!

Nigerian courts are currently on vacation and would resume on September 28. Only cases of “extreme urgency,” arrest of ship, and fundamental rights cases are to be entertained during the vacation, according to a circular by the chief judge on the federal high court, John Tsoho.

In the suit, Shoprite is seeking to overturn a July 14 “mareva injunction” by Justice Mohammed Liman of the federal high court in favour of a Nigerian firm, A.I.C. Limited.

Why Shoprite is Leaving Nigeria