It was alas narrated: A 3rd class student who built a military grade drone for the Nigerian Army could not be employed by the Army because the condition of service does not permit the military to employ a 3rd class student!

Another sad one in the series of “sad tales in the Nigerian labor market.” And it beckons the question: what matters in the Nigerian labor market, certificate or skills?

A job vacancy for a driver once listed Honorary National Diploma (HND) as the required qualification. Another opening for a cleaner listed O’level certificate. An applicant for a bartender posting was required to tender some certificates, and the list goes on. In fact, it cuts across every field of employment not just white collar jobs.

The certificate-based judgement of one’s ability to fulfill a task has become the basis for efficiency and inefficiency in Nigeria. People who possess the ability to do jobs effectively are denied the jobs because they don’t have the certificates. Those who have the certificates and lack the needed skills are employed to the detriment of the jobs.

Others who have neither the skill nor the certificate have secured jobs the easiest way they can – certificate forgery. Because in many places, that’s the only thing that counts.

The number of certificate forgery cases in Nigeria is increasingly alarming, even among public office holders. Many have been sacked by courts because of certificate forgery. Since 2012, about 5 000 teachers have been sacked over certificate forgery. And that has put a challenge on where qualification for jobs actually lies. Is it on the ability to perform the needed task or possession of proof of school attendance?

The Presidential Petition Tribunal (PEPT) recent ruling on the qualification for the most important office in the country has, in a way, discredited the certificate norm that has ruled the labor market for so long. If the president doesn’t need a certificate to rule a country of 200 million people, why should a (drone maker) graduate be denied employment just because he has a 3rd class?

It is nothing but stigmatization that empowers the under-skilled, and relegates the skilled to wastefulness, all to the detriment of effective labor force.

In developed countries, employers look for skills and abilities: they always ask: what can you do? What skills do you have? And that’s what matters most. A popular quote of Bill Gates comes to mind here:

“I failed in some subjects in exam, but my friend passed in all. Now he is an engineer in Microsoft but I’m the owner.” Bill Gates.

The things that may contribute to lack of certificate, low grade or class will not hinder the skill or the ability that one possesses. And it should not hinder the opportunity to practice what one knows.

Something big is coming. I want you to hold that training budget intact [do not spend it yet] because I will run a workshop in coming weeks under a partnership with Vanguard Newspapers. I promise you that it would be SUPERB. The location is Lagos – the centre of excellence. I will co-learn and co-share with the participants on the mechanics of business as we walk through innovation, growth, and digital.

The official announcement is coming next week. We have all the emails of those that have indicated interest. Please continue to send intents to my team.

You need to attend this program. It will be a like a mini-MBA. Tell your supervisor, director, MD or your company HR that you will attend. They will find the resources to make it happen.

A new generation of Nigerian companies are emerging; it is a continuum. We had an amazing decade in the early 1990s when some of the finest banking institutions in Nigeria today were founded. In the 2020s, a new generation of companies will be ready with fierce competitive power to redesign the architecture of the economic system. The 1990s belonged to the banks, 2000s gave us voice telephony, and 2010s is providing mobile internet at scale.

The decade of the 2020s will unleash digital application utility where many opportunities will fuse across sectors in our economy. I have noted that 2022 will be the inflection point as immersive connectivity opens a new dawn in Nigeria. Yes, from mobility to agtech to edutech, new species of companies will emerge. But for them to rise, a clear path for exit for financiers and investors must be provided. The Nigerian Stock Exchange has an opportunity to make that future happen. I have proposed Pure Direct Listing (different from NSE’s current direct listing) as an additional option for going public especially for tech companies in the nation.

Pure Direct Listing is simply doing an IPO without underwriters. With this process, the companies list and sell directly to investors without any need for underwriters. That will remove the burden of sourcing underwriters which complicates the whole process. While there is a risk to retail investors, I am confident that in this internet era with massively degraded information asymmetry, we can push these companies to disclose in ways that analysts and investors can independently verify their fundamentals. 

Today, there is another way we can even get these investors to keep our companies in Nigeria or take them public in the Nigerian bourse. One way is to move into pure direct listing in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) [Please note that the Direct Listing as currently done in NSE is not equivalent to a direct-listed IPO in my context. The NSE one is largely for dual-listing where a company can directly list if it is already listed somewhere else. To differentiate, I have called the one designed for IPOs and new companies Pure Direct Listing.]

In the past, I have listed ways to deepen the Nigerian Stock Exchange liquidity paralysis especially in the technology sector.

Nigerian Stock Exchange Should Adopt Pure Direct Listing for IPOs

I’ve got breaking news here – Nigeria’s ccHUB has acquired Kenya’s iHub. Across all metrics, these two are Africa’s most reputable impactful tech hubs. iHub has a heritage with Ushahidi invention, and ccHub is simply the category-king tech hub in Africa. Over the years, Bosun Tijani, ccHUB CEO, has created an operating system for the mechanics of tech-anchored community building and market innovation at scale.

Companies like ccHub is one of the reasons why Accenture was out-competed in Nigeria; Accenture packed its bags and left Nigeria. You see a tech hub without knowing that ccHub is a player in innovation consulting, people management, programme management and community development. 

As it rises, most traditional consulting companies (including foreign ones) will struggle in tech advisory services in Africa. Clients are looking for entrepreneurial consultants who are entwined at both the downstream and upstream levels to help them fix frictions. What ccHub does at scaled-level is exactly what my practice does for clients we work for in the continent.

We run companies, and we consult for firms. We make sure there is no conflict as we deliver fresh perspectives based on daily challenges we see in markets. I have called it Co-Creation Advisory: an advisory service where the paying customer is part of the consulting team with the consultant a potential paying customer to the client. At the end, you create what you will like to pay for! That is the way it is looking, especially with the new species of companies and their evolving business models.

The Press Release.

Co-creation Hub (CcHUB), the leading technology innovation centre in Nigeria, has acquired Kenya’s iHub for an undisclosed fee. The deal will see iHub’s team become part of CcHUB’s wider central support and strategy network, whilst retaining its name and senior management structure. CcHUB’s co-founder Bosun Tijani continues as CEO across both locations. As part of the acquisition, CcHUB will now make key hires in innovation consulting, people management, programme management and community support, as it looks to strengthen its pan-African network and mobilise its far-reaching resources, network and relationships to accelerate the growth of technology innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa.

An industry first for the African tech hub community, the acquisition of East Africa’s most prolific and reputable technology centre is the next step for CcHUB as it continues its mission to connect entrepreneurs, technologists and public bodies across the continent. The move comes just seven months after CcHUB expanded into Kigali, Rwanda, with the launch of its Design Lab – the first creative space in Africa to focus solely on product design and technology innovation.

‘Bosun Tijani, CEO at CcHUB says, “We are long-time admirers and collaborators of iHub – a world-class community of developers, entrepreneurs and business people who have been instrumental in growing Kenya’s extraordinary technology ecosystem.”

“CcHUB’s mandate is to build a formidable innovation ecosystem with a deeply rooted network, cultivating strategic partnerships and practical industry know-how that can support entrepreneurs in building thoughtful, relevant and scalable solutions. We believe we can only do this if we are intentional and proactive in how we scale and grow our reach, not only across Africa, but also internationally. This is the reason behind our acquisition of iHub and we continue to be bullish in our combined efforts in creating hundreds of thousands more opportunities for businesses across Africa”.

Launched in 2011, and partnered by international companies such as Google for Start-ups, Facebook, Oracle and organisations including Omidyar Network and Ford Foundation, CcHUB is Africa’s first open living lab and pre-incubation space, home to technologists, social entrepreneurs, government bodies, tech companies, impact investors and more. Arguably one of the most prolific tech hubs in Africa, the Lagos-based hub has built a vibrant community of over 14,000 people and has incubated and provided support to a portfolio of over 120 early-stage ventures, providing solutions to social problems with technology including Lifebank, Riby, BudgIT and WeCyclers.  In 2012, CcHUB played a major role in converging key stakeholders to deliberate and action ideas that led to the emergence of one of Africa’s most organic technology clusters in Yaba, Lagos.

iHub, launched in 2010, is home to internationally-recognised companies such as BRCK and Ushahidi, as well as start-ups such as Zayride, Eneza Education, Taimba and Optimetriks and has seen over 500 companies receive business support services, 100+ of which have gone through incubation and accelerator programs.

Nekesa J. Were, Managing Director for iHub adds, “Over the past 9 years, the iHub has been a catalyst for regional tech acceleration and a role model for innovation hubs across emerging markets. To-date, over USD40m has been raised by iHub startups in early and growth stage financing and iHub portfolio businesses have contributed over 40,000 jobs to the East African economy. Their products have impacted millions.

“CcHUB has an unrivalled track record of building out a dynamic tech ecosystem which extends past Nigeria. Similar to us, they have been committed to delivering impactful support services, at scale, supporting tech and business communities and driving social capital for economic prosperity in Africa. In short – they share our mission to make businesses and the business environment on the continent, better for all. We are very excited to work with them to support entrepreneurs transforming our communities”

Erik Hersman, CEO BRCK and founder of iHub adds, “Bosun and I have known each other since the beginnings of the tech hub explosion across Africa, and we’ve always made sure that the CcHUB and iHub had a good relationship. A decade later, it’s exciting to see the evolution of the space, and to have two of the largest and most impactful hubs consolidate and provide an even larger target for the tech communities they represent, as well as the businesses, investors and media who work so closely inside the ecosystem.”