The weakest link in MultiChoice’s DStv business is defending itself from Netflix. Netflix was picking some of its best customers in South Africa. Also, because Netflix was not under the high voltage searchlight DStv was subjected as a local operating company, by regulators, the cost was not optimized to compete against  the global juggernaut which does not need to open many African locations to do business in the continent. No matter how you look at it, DStv was going to struggle for years to manage the problems from Netflix.

Fast Forward your decoder: DStv parent company, MultiChoice,  has signed distribution agreements with Netflix and Amazon. This is a very strategic one by the South African company. Yes, it is better you have your enemy closer than losing sight of him or her. Netflix comes home to DSTv and from there both will enjoy  mutually beneficial relationships.

MultiChoice has signed a deal with Netflix and Amazon to bring the streaming services operated by these companies to its Explora decoder.

The company referred to this transaction in its annual results for the year ended 31 March 2020.

In the South African division of its annual results presentation, MultiChoice Group referred to a number of initiatives that it had implemented to improve retention in the country.

These included the following statement:

Signed deals with Netflix and Amazon to integrate service onto new Explora decoder.

Of course, there is one outcome for customers: higher costs with better products. Netflix needs subscribers and can give DStv a percentage of the cuts while it focuses on dealing with the competition in the U.S. from Disney and others which are coming. The African voyage was becoming a huge distraction looking at the revenue that was coming from the continent. But now that DSTV has done it, Netflix can put its focus on where it matters most: Europe and North America.

From fair play perspectives, this deal should not stand. But the problem is that DStv does not have a competitor which anyone would like to protect. So, you just allow it to keep enjoying the free plays. Turn on your decoder, and start watching ‘The Domination by DStv”. But it would help many people in our low-bandwidth Africa.

Another collaboration… it may be favourable for countries where internet service is still expensive. Also, the cost of subscription and streaming is expensive for an average person resident in countries where internet is not freely available. Pay your DStv subscription and you see movies from both Netflix and Amazon..[on TV]

He is a business preacher – telling companies to run sustainably for them to live long. From stock exchanges to multinational corporations, governments to startups, etc, he has preached one message: disruptive sustainability innovation.

A member of the United Nations Major Group on Business & Industry, a member of the United Nations Advisory Group on Business and Human Rights, he has played roles in many sustainability initiatives around the world, from the banking sector to the extractive industries.

He holds some of the most prestigious sustainability certifications: Professional Evaluation and Certification Board (PECB), ISO 26000 Social Responsibility,  ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Lead Implementer, etc. He is presently serving as the President of International Network for Corporate Social Responsibility (INCSR). He holds a postgraduate degree in International Human Rights Law from Birmingham City University UK.

Eustace Onuegbu, a Tekedia Institute Faculty, will lead a session on Disruptive Sustainability Innovation for Long Term Business Growth during Tekedia Mini-MBA which begins June 22. It is an Ubuntu moment for man, woman, environment, shareholders, stakeholders, governments, etc. How do you innovate when doing good? Register and find out from Eustace.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Understanding the Key Sustainability Concepts

• Corporate Philanthropy
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Corporate Digital Responsibility
• Environmental, Social and Governance
• Corporate Sustainability
• Sustainability

3. Three Stages of Change Leading to Innovative Disruption

Stage 1. Recognising Corporate Social Responsibility

• Seven Core Principles for Integrating Social Responsibility

Stage 2. Integrated Sustainability Management Systems

• What is Integrated Sustainability Management System (ISMS)
• What are the benefits of implementing an ISMS?

Stage 3. Developing New Business Models

• Small and Medium Enterprises
• Four Requirements
• The Quest for Sustainable Business Model Innovation – Corporations
• New Approach S-BMI
• Limitations of Current Mainstream Approaches
• The Characteristics of a Sustainable Business Model
• The Ten Properties to Articulate the Goals of S-BMI

In the piece on Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki and Adams Oshiomhole, I used the word “chi”. In my context, ‘chi” is your personal god. This is consistent with what real scholars have written. In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe wrote, “At most one could say that his chi or personal god was good”, ‘When Okonkwo was young, he won the title of “greatest wrestler in all the land,” and the others didn’t attribute that to his personal strength or hard work, but to his chi.’ (See more references below)

That chi is different from Chineke which is the Almighty God, Jehova, God, Chukwu Abiama,  Chukwu Okike, God of Abraham, in the modern Christian Igbo Nation. If you substitute chi with Chineke in my piece, you get tripped. Like I explained, living in the village and observing tradition, humans can become “chi” to others.

Igbos name Nnabuchi – my father is my god. We name Nwabuchi – my child is my god. Practically, in the domain of Edo politics, Adams could be chi to Obaseki.

Note that I did not use “Chineke”. Yes, Nwabuchi cannot mean “my child is my God Almighty”. Humans are chi to people but never Chineke. If you have read the 1978 report of the first Igbo Convention, led by venerable Igbo Scholar, Prof FC Ogbalu, and the 1983 convention with support from Tony Ubesie – the author of Isi akwu dara n’ala and Ukwa ruo oge ya o daa – you will see that chi is personal.

More so, the writings in Okike which Achebe edited, the use of chi is not at the same level as Chineke.  Chinua Achebe consistently used chi in small caps when referring to chi, the personal god .  The chi influenced Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart. Achebe was disconnecting it from the Almighty God (Chineke) which if you go back to the Igbo Bible has been used in Upper Case; the Anglican Church put efforts in 1913 to standardize things when it produced the Union Igbo Bible.

Quotes In Book

“That was not luck. At most one could say that his chi or personal god was good.” Pg. 27

When Okonkwo was young, he won the title of “greatest wrestler in all the land,” and the others didn’t attribute that to his personal strength or hard work, but to his chi.

“He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry, sandy beach, panting. Clearly his person god, or chi was not made for great things.” Pg. 131

After being cast out of his clan, Okonkwo is related to a fish out of water, doomed by a chi that “was not made for great things.”

” The saying of the elders was not true– if a man said yea his chi also affirmed.Here was a man whose chi said despite his own affirmation” Pg.131

A person’s chi does not always agree to what the person may think is right, and the chi acts upon it’s own will.

 

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Rasheed Adebayo, a Tekedia Mini-MBA Faculty, will lead a session on Process Improvement and Operations Management, beginning June 22 for the next edition of Tekedia Mini-MBA.

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Every Nkwo day in the ancestral Igbo week, elders would gather to drink palm wine and discuss the state of the village. The palm wine tapper does not sell his drinks on Nkwo day. All his works are brought for his brethren to consume free. Because most palm wine tappers die on the job, he is basically paying for the wasted man hours his brethren would put looking for him. Of course, new tools have reduced fatalities for wine tappers.(Some communities use other Igbo days like Eke, Orie, and Afo.)

In those gatherings, we would stay by the side, listening to the wisdom of the elders. We learn the idioms, axioms and history. Most always warn the men from the city: “NEVER fight your chi”. The ‘chi” is the personal god. If you look, they are telling them this: never disagree with your master because destinies work through him. That is how boys become conditioned into obeying their masters with absolute fiat, no deviation, during the Igbo Apprenticeship System. Your destinies are tied to others because you do not live n a vacuum.

Yes, in Edo State, Governor Godwin Obaseki was fighting his chi – Adams Oshiomhole, APC Chairman. Today, Obaseki has been disqualified by the party. “The implication is that Obaseki will not be on the ballot as APC flag bearer for governorship election of Edo State”. He can decamp for another party!

Many of us saw it coming: they threw his UI education, and the university came out that he graduated in 1979. But it is irrelevant. You can be disqualified in Nigerian politics for being alive.

Governor Godwin Obaseki has been disqualified from contesting in the primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2020 election.

Mr Obaseki was disqualified by a screening panel constituted by the party to clear contenders for the party’s ticket ahead of Edo State governorship election later this year.

The governor’s disqualification, which was hinged on allegations that he had a problematic academic certificate, seemed expected.

Mr Obaseki has been locked in an open and bitter contest against Adams Oshiomhole, the party’s national chairman whose influence looms considerably over Edo politics

APC Gives Reasons

This is the reason APC gave for disqualifying Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki in its primaries for governorship in Edo State (on click). The HSC one,  if true, is solid. However, the NYSC one is not that strong. Yes, the NYSC misspelling of Obaseki’s name could have been easily rectified since the University of Ibadan confirmed that he did graduate there. 

Personally, I would not have expected anyone to have skipped NYSC during the time period being considered. – Nigeria was at the peak and life was good. There was no need for a prior- visa to enter London. You just buy a ticket, and the airline would give you a visa. And when in London to watch Liverpool play Everton, you could decide to visit Yankees in New York. Right there, you will get a visa to the U.S. on your Nigerian passport. Jos, Plateau state, was the Cape Town of that African era. The marks remain if you have lived in Jos, with Hillcrest, Gomwalk Blvd and other domains designed for foreigners.

Nigeria sent 637 students to Tuskegee University on scholarships as it was not a big deal to study in the U.S. than it was for UNN and UI. The Naira was stronger than the dollar and the Nigerian economy was firing on all cylinders. Your village was still creating graduates of FSLC (primary education) because that guaranteed a good life. So, for someone to skip NYSC would be extremely uncommon!

Of course, crazy things happen:  a guy was politically knocked down in Osun state over WAEC even though he was born into wealth. You wonder – did they not send him to school in the midst of that wealth? So, who knows if Obaseki was real on that HSC.

“Mr Godwin Obaseki: Though, His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki in his nomination form claimed to have obtained a Higher School Leaving Certificate from an Institute of Continuing Education, Benin. It was observed however that no educational certificate such as HSC is known in Nigerian educational system. Even then, the same HSC was never presented in the course of the screening exercise. The aspirant admitted that he has never collected it.

“The attestation from the Institute of Continuing Education, Benin from where the alleged HSC which was indicated in the field of attendance as obtained is of no consequence, as it only attests that Obaseki was a student of the Institute. So what we had was like an attendance. It was just attendance, it was not a result.

“Although, the Committee received a petition on his University of Ibadan Bachelor of Arts Classics certificate which he submitted to INEC in 2016 when he first contested as governor, the committee on further probing was presented with an original certificate issued by the University and the original was sighted.

“On the NYSC certificate dated 6th August 1980, the committee observed that he bears the name ‘Obasek’ Godwin. While this may be an error on the part of the issuing authority, we observed however that the aspirant has not taken any step ever to have the anomaly corrected by the issuing authority.

“In our interaction with issues raised, we concluded that HSC was defective. The NYSC certificate and the fact that the aspirant took the party to court, the above aspirant, His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki, therefore, is not eligible to participate in the election.

LinkedIn Comment on Feed

On the connotation of chi – the personal god, we are having a debate on LinkedIn. Partly, I explained.

As I have explained to xx and xx, the confusion here is equating chi – the personal god to Chineke, the Almighty God, Jehova, Chukwu Abiama or God of Abraham. In Igbo nation, there are names like Nnabuchi – my father is my god, Nwabuchi – my child is my god. Contextually, those do not mean “my child is my Almighty God” or my father is my Almighty God.  I did not write that Oshiomole was Chineke to Obaseki but people equating chi and Chineke got tripped.

Understanding Chi and Chineke