You cannot have enough of this village boy from Ovim, Abia State. Bear with him and keep sharing your precious time by reading him – thanks. So, I go now: I have started initial work on my Business Person of the Year for 2019. In 2018, Herbert Wigwe of Access Bank won the award, for orchestrating one of the finest deals in the Nigerian banking history, by swallowing Diamond Bank, for largely nothing.
In 2019, I have come to admire the Chairman of Air Peace, Nigeria’s leading airline. Sir Allen Onyema occupies a very strategic position in the Nigerian economy because if supply chain & logistics is commerce, Nigeria runs on Air Peace.
His position has strengthened with his gesture of sending his planes to pick his fellow citizens who are planning to escape xenophobic attacks in South Africa. Sir Onyema offered to evacuate these Nigerian citizens and that process has started. If you read carefully, he is acting like Nigeria to his fellow citizens. That is the zenith of a business mission.
Mazi Onyema gets extra 18 points in my excel and right now is leading with 11 points. The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, drops to second place. Mr. Adesina has impressed me by making agriculture a business through well crafted messaging and structural initiatives AfDB had undertaken under his leadership.
There are others. But who wins? We have three more months for this village boy to announce his 2019 Business Person of the Year.
After years of graduation, many former students can still remember teachers who impacted their life with words of encouragement in and outside the classes. Such teachers are usually celebrated when opportunity arises.
This piece provides insights about two professors who have been making significant impact in Nigeria and outside the country in the last few years. Ayobami Ojebode and Ndubisi Ekekwe are two distinct professors from different fields contributing to personal and societal growth.
The duo share similar humble background. Professor Ayobami Ojebode grew up in Igboora, Oyo state, while Professor Ndubisi Ekekwe was born and bred at Ovim in Isuikwuato Local Council of Abia State. According to many sources, the two places are rural communities in Nigeria. While Professor Ojebode had a high affinity for English Language and literary studies during his childhood education, Professor Ekekwe developed interest in Integrated Sciences. These subjects eventually became the fulcrum of their professorial sojourns in arts and engineering respectively.
From personal life to the elevation of the society they found themselves, these great Nigerian professors have either undertaken greater ventures singlehandedly or in collaboration with their colleagues and students. After several weeks of mapping many sources, analysis shows that these professors are good in capitalizing on strengths of individuals and society as well as engaging in humour to diffuse pain points towards collective goal realization and sustainable development. Not only these, their philosophy of leaving the comfort zone has really paid off.
For instance, at a recent forum, Professor Ekekwe hinted that in the early days of their career young people can connect their passion to actualize their purpose and mission. “There would be challenges on the ways – deal with them and stay on track. Unless you are aware and very observant, you may not notice that a skill you may have cherished has expired. So, your antenna must be sharp to ensure while pursuing the vision, you are attentive to the realities of markets and shifts. And finally, it is important you define your career fulfilment. Yes, you may be made to work for someone while your friend is cut for starting things. That your friend is a founder does not mean you have to leave your progressing career in a bank to start a company.”
Professor Ojebode’s skill in identifying people’s strengths and exploring them for the benefit of everyone is better understood from Kamorudeen Salaudeen, one of his students, who says: “I can’t forget his Introduction to reading class in 100 level, a course that linked reading and writing together in an applied fashion through weekly summary exercise. The bundle of skills acquired in the course has connection with all branches of communication studies. This is just one of his functional teaching techniques.
Theory and research are both trouble spots to all students, not only of communication. Ojebode has the key to their simplification. Those who read should still remember how “Quick Walk through Research Methodology”, a study material he wrote and distributed free to his students, Kamorudeen Salaudeen, ex-student and lecturer at Fountain University, said during an interview.
As a tech genius, Professor Ekekwe has many incredible world class inventions. Despite being a village boy, he has met and still dining with global political and business leaders. With his applied communication researches, Professor Ojebode has met and still engaging with the people at the top, middle and bottom of the pyramid in Africa and other continents.
Over the years supporting their country’s growth has been the focus of the professors. While Professor Ekekwe continues searching for the right processes, products and people to fix paralyses in socioeconomic and political aspects of Africa, Professor Ojebode has searched for voices and given a template for the actualization of the real development during his inaugural lecture.
Based on their contributions, these professors have been celebrated by people and communities. With his strategy of combining academic activities (as adjunct lecturer) with the identification of frictions in the society, mapping and analyzing people’s appreciations of Professor Ekekwe would take a thousand years.
Demystifying Ojebode’s Celebration
However, to further substantiate our hypothesis -what great university teachers do and how the world celebrates them-, we asked a few former students to tell us about Professor Ojebode’s indelible impression on their lives. From their responses, we found a total of 651 words used to describe Professor Ojebode’s teaching and human relations capabilities, which ensured success for everyone. Analysis shows 50.9% connection of the level of happiness of the ex-students and lexical density. Analysis suggests that the level of happiness with the use of specific words (see chart for each comment) among the former students increases when they expressed how he changed their life.
Source: Infoprations Analysis, 2019
Professor Ojebode is an inspirational teacher. He is a man with immense cranial powers. He uses a combination of wit and humour when he teaches. There is no boring moment with Professor Ojebode. Most importantly, he has the milk of human kindness flowing in his veins.
Tunji OLA, PhD Candidate
Source: Infoprations Analysis, 2019
Professor Ojebode is indeed a rare gift to academics worldwide and to budding scholars like us. He is a very good teacher who teaches to impact knowledge by all standards. He knows research methods like the back of his hands and he was the one that spurred my interest in research from my undergraduate days till date.
Oluwasola, Omolola, Department of Communication & Media Studies, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti
Source: Infoprations Analysis, 2019
His human relations appears ethereal in nature. That is because, at times, one wonders at the personal aura surrounding his person. I have met him on a number of occasions when I had thought he was not hearing me, but gave perfect answers to my questions. Again, his pedagogy is unique. He often teaches rather than lecturing.
Last Semester, he came into the class (CLA701) and told us that considering the serious nature of what he wanted to teach that day, we all were looking too happy, so let us all try to be sad (and he frowned, adopted a mournful look, and walked from the lectern to the end of the lecture-room, and back to the lecture, before announcing) what he wanted to teach was “Causation”, an issue that had made innocent people to be unjustly punished! That was the way he tested our” Entry -Behaviour “as a seasoned-Teacher! A whole lot to say, and write, about him! Best wishes to him, this day of his glory, and always!
Kayode Adebayo, PhD Candidate
Professor Ojebode’s teachings are result oriented, well explained, interactive, and humorous. The humour assists the teaching to be memorable.
Moshood Ajibola, Area Manager, Globacom Nigeria Limited
Source: Infoprations Analysis, 2019
If you abhor a course and think you can never get it right, Professor Ojebode will dissect it to your level whenever he teaches the course. His humour and scholarship (vast reading) make him distinct in knowledge management. His office is always open for discussions. When he speaks, you will surely demand more.
In the area of research, he is not a static applied researcher; his studies aren’t for shelf-deco. His choice of research topics, innovative theories and designs always make me yearn for his papers. Our Yoruba people will say, “Ise yen yé ?- You understand the job.” “Ise research yen yé Prof.”
I give him 100%. It is not an exaggeration to say his person is not from this world! Ojebode will never be angry at you; he feels happy seeing you grow. The moment he believes in you, just don’t fumble; he will always be proud of you. I am really indebted to him because his referrals have opened many opportunities for me. Honestly, Professor Ojebode is a rare bred! Most of us, his students and mentees, desire to take after him in many areas of life.
Ajetunmobi Umar Olasinle, ex-student
Source: Infoprations Analysis, 2019
Professor Ayobami Ojebode is a great teacher. He is a man of good character and with so much simplicity. Aside that he taught me, he supervised my B. A project. His teachings are simple and very difficult to forget. On my career path, by so much grace and privilege I have played host to Professor Ojebode on my radio show and the memory is well treasured.
Opeyemi Lawal (nee Ojabanjo)
Source: Infoprations Analysis, 2019
Professor Ayobami Ojebode is a teacher and researcher per excellence. He is always there to encourage you to strive for the top. For him, the top can take everyone so instead of removing the ladder like some others do, he rather duplicates ladders.
Seyi Omotayo, ex-student
Source: Infoprations Analysis, 2019
Ojebode, Ojebode, Ojebode! A teacher of teachers. He is a thorough and painstaking researcher. You are a model to me and the rest of class ‘010’. You gave me a privilege of working with you on ‘Arugba’ by Tunde Kelani. Indeed, you are an all-round communicator.
Paul Kolawole, ex-student
Source: Infoprations Analysis, 2019
Additional information by Rasheed Adebiyi, Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State.
The future of shopping is immersive. As the customer experience shifts towards a personalized augmented one, various brands and startups are leading in this redesign.
Obsess, a startup recently launched a virtual shopping mall that will allow customers shop online by exploring virtual boutique stores. The stores which are created in Computer Generated Images product offerings include beauty, fitness, travel, wellness and more. Consumers can surf the stores through their smartphones, view 3D rendering on products and leverage Augmented Reality to visualize them in the real world.
French beauty giant L’Oreal will offer Chinese consumers the ability to virtually test lipsticks, eye shadows and other products from Armani Beauty through their smartphones and also take screenshots, save photos as well as share images to social media platforms via AR technology from L’Oreal’s Modiface on We Chat.
Walmart has filed a patent to offer its customers an immersive shopping experience at home that will allow them to wear a pair of VR glasses paired with sensor laden gloves that detect shopper’s movements and provides real time feedback while smart robots at it’s remote fulfillment centres will react to shopper’s virtual movements and pick and pack items. Its smart shelves are equipped with sensors to monitor inventory in real time and can detect when a product is removed, changes in temperature, moisture, etc.
Nigerian Luxury hotels, E-Commerce stores, Automotive, Fashion and Beauty, Health and Fitness outlets will have to redesign their customer experiences to a personalized, experiential, immersive one as the customer of the future will not need to be physically present at their locations to experience and purchase their products. Just imagine customers of Olori cosmetics, a proudly Nigerian brand for the African woman, and Innoson Motors, Jumia and Konga, testing their latest products as well as shopping in AR.
What values do you think can help you stand out? Thinking right? .. Ok let me help you with these three values that can make you stand out. Do you stand out of the crowd, or you just follow what’s in vogue? Is there that special trait in you people look up to? Is there any you wish you can build up? Values are what make us unique in our own way, it makes us stand out and respected by others. Have you ever imagined a society without morals and values, where people are left to their will? How safe would such an environment be? I will be discussing three very important values that make you stand out in every aspect of life in this article, they are as follows: Integrity, hardwork and patience let’s get to it. I will be delving into what these three values actually are, how you can imbibe them and instances you might have carried out the better part of them without even knowing you did, so as to encourage you to continually strive towards getting better.
Three Major Values
1. INTEGRITY
Integrity is one very important value one should have. According to these words by Bob Marley “The greatness of a man is not how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively”. How do you know you have integrity? Do you maintain the same standard when no one is watching or you act with high pose and integrity only when people are watching? There are several instances where you can display true and sincere level of integrity, I will be mentioning a few in this article:
WORK: We all have different roles at work, let’s take for instance you are in charge of a grocery store, you have at your disposal figures you can manipulate and pin it down on the accountant or any other worker, your true test of integrity comes to play when you refrain from such act and do what is right not minding the benefit that came with cheating.
Your true test of integrity comes when you are faced with tough decisions and refuse to compromise no matter the circumstances. Or have you been ever tempted to implicate an innocent colleague at work all because you can’t stand them, and your conscience pricked you and you restrained from it. Do you keep to time and do whatever is given to you with full seriousness. Being at the right place, doing what you have to do give you high regard amongst your colleague at work. When people cannot trust anything with you, then there is a serious question on your integrity, people are naturally more drawn to people that are reliable, reliability and integrity of individuals have been tested over time. Little do some people know that characters at first are like strands, they later become cables, the acts you do daily becomes a part of you with time, also with business associates can they trust you, can your partners in business trust you with their funds and investment.
INTEGRITY AS A SOCIETAL NECESSITY: Have you ever considered driving carefully always and how impactful that would be, a lot of accidents today in the society resulted from reckless driving or drunk driving. Do you obey traffic lights? , One would wonder what impact proper driving has to do with the society at large, can you count how many families has been put in mourning as a result of deaths caused by rough drivers or drunk drivers. Also volunteering in the society, of course we have part time volunteers that help with the less privileged or elderly ones or injured in the society, but there are some individuals who are very consistent in the volunteering act, reward or no reward, they selflessly carry out the act to give back to the society at large, that in itself is integrity. Doing simple acts like helping elderly ones cross the road, constantly using the trash bin when on the streets, giving out helping hands to the poor and needy around you are simple acts of kindness and integrity. Going shopping and taking what is not yours because the shop owner is not looking is not only theft but lack of integrity. The society as a whole accords great respect to people with high level of integrity. Take for instance you are a mayor in your community, will you siphon funds meant for community development to enrich yourself, have also learnt true test of integrity is known when you are in power, as you can do and undo.
INTEGRITY IN THE HOME SETTING: When kids offend parents, its normal to scold them, but there are times we go to the extreme in scolding them and end up hurting them, its takes integrity for parents to apologize to their kids when they hurt them, and when they do that’s real maturity. Apologizing to our loved ones when we offend them prevents hurts and rancor and that’s a true sign of love, it truly takes integrity to sincerely do that. This act allows the kids to easily open up to their parents and foster children – parent relationship. Couples owning up to their mistakes and accepting correction takes courage and integrity, it depicts selflessness and humility. These not only help keep the relationship going, it helps the couples feel more real and sincere with each other. The home setting is a very integral unit of the society; children can learn true integrity in character from their homes, thereby making them better individuals when they get out there, breeding them up with the right values is a necessity.
2. HARDWORK
Hardwork is the necessity for success that cannot be argued anywhere, I have not seen any great man or woman who got to the heights they were, without hardwork. If there is any value you must possess to enable you stand out, it should be hardwork, it not only earns you admiration amongst those around you, and it guarantees you success. But as much as hardwork is a very good value to have, I strongly believe in intelligent hardwork, it is one thing to work tirelessly on a task without focus but with so much energy and it’s another to divert such energy into the task with so much focus, the results are definitely glaringly different. Another point of note is consistency, when you are consistent with your acts of hardwork and sacrifices; it opens greater doors of opportunities for you in life.
Most people fail in life as a result of laziness, though not many even realize they are lazy. Continually giving excuses to complete tasks, been pessimistic and always procrastinating are real signs of laziness, while hardwork depicts the exact opposite, greater heights and opportunities are attained with hardwork. The truth is, if you make hardwork a necessity, you gradually begin to see yourself improve in your endeavors in life and it finally becomes a part of you. As Colin Powell rightly said, there are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation; hardwork and learning from failure. There is no shortcut in life; short cuts can shorten your life. We all have dreams, but not everyone eventually achieve theirs, you can continue to dream and fantasize about your goals and visions, the earlier you set out to it with action and focus, the faster your achievement rate.
Back in my high school days, after the final semester in my second year, I realized my grade points skyrocketed, so I asked myself what I did differently that year as against the previous one. I realized I stayed up at night to study, reduced partying and joined some extra tutorial classes, maximize my time and schedule, it showed more effort, better results, since then I decided I was always going to give my best to whatever I find myself doing as that was the only way I could be outstanding. Hardwork does not kill, instead it makes you better and more efficient.
3. PATIENCE
Patience is a very rare virtue. Its takes a lot of courage and perseverance to be patient on anything in this life but it pays on the long run. Patience reveals a lot of things to us as time passes; it proves a lot of things with time. You can claim to truly love someone, but only time can tell if you do, as there would be trials and temptations only patience can tell if the love would last, that’s why there seems to be lots of divorce cases today, a lot of couples have lost the needed patience and perseverance necessary for marriages to work, or for relationships to thrive, they don’t seem tolerant of each other any more. Most times we give up on our dreams, not knowing how close we are to breakthrough, because we gave up and were not patient enough. This virtue helps you to continually rise up after failure, knowing full well, that with every next attempt, success is close.
Patience and perseverance is truly the key to renowned success. Patience continues to keep hope alive and that all would work out well finally. We can’t live through life without ups and downs, it is been patient that shows we truly have high moral standards, because when things get really uncomfortable, that’s what we need to pull through. We are in a generation, where we want what we want almost immediately, we don’t normally have the patience to wait, but been impatient causes you to make bad decisions, causes unnecessary worry and stress, take acts or steps that might put you in danger and its very harmful to your relationship and person. Patience is self – control in itself and helps you to control yourself around others no matter how excited or angry you are at them, this helps to preserve your relationship with others. It prevents you from jumping into conclusions when matters arise, you develop an in-depth listening ear and this helps to make the best of decisions.
Great things take time to materialize, let’s take for instance you want to start up a commercial liquid wash company, you don’t just snap your fingers and everything comes to be, you start with a planning process, procurement of materials and buildings, technical trainings and a lot more, it could take years before your ideas come into reality, several years later when you are invited to a business morning talk show on Television and you are asked how you got there, or what the journey was like, you can proudly tell your story and the challenges you might have encountered so far and the lessons learned along the way. If you lack this value, you can inculcate it, by practicing it, refusing to vent and lash out at any discomfort encountered, keeping hope alive and never giving up on your dreams is one way to make patience an attribute you possess. From today henceforth, promise to take life easy and live each day at a time.
CONCLUSION
These three values mentioned above can help anyone stand out in the society or in any situation today. Make integrity a part of you, be the change you want to see in the society it all starts from you. Hardwork and diligence can never be replicated in any form, you can only achieve your dreams if you focus and continually work tirelessly without giving up towards it. Patience like I said earlier in the article, continually breeds hope, it not only gives you calmness and peace of mind, it eradicates needless worry and stress, have at the back of your mind that life is full of its challenges and we can only overcome if we are truly patient, the hurdles would be surmounted and you will definitely smile again ask yourself this, of all the worry you put yourself through, what solution has ever come out of it.
To stand out amongst the multitude you have to always and continually be of the best behavior. Living a good exemplary life requires lot of discipline and commitment and these values mentioned in this article is a must have for anyone. The bottom-line is every of our actions should be impactful and with high standard of moral and values, we never know who is looking up to us, this helps to pass the right message across especially to the upcoming generation. Live a life that counts, be a plus to your generation.
Prosus NV, from South Africa’s Naspers, is now a $133 billion company. The South African company which owns a chunk of a Chinese company went public, sort of, in Europe, creating an entirely new tech conglomerate valued at $133 billion. South Africa’s Naspers put its international holdings, including ownership stakes in China’s Tencent, Russia’s Mail.ru, and Germany’s Delivery Hero, into a vehicle called Prosus, which listed on the Amsterdam exchange on Wednesday. Its price immediately shot up 25% (Fortune).
Shares in an internet conglomerate that is the largest shareholder in China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. soared Wednesday, after listing its assets under the name Prosus NV in Amsterdam—instantly creating a rare European tech giant.
Prosus, which is made up of the international internet assets of South African holding company Naspers Ltd., gives Europe significant exposure to a fast-growing, consumer-facing tech company.
To understand why this became necessary,read this piece where I explained that African investors do not have the capacity for big firms like Naspers. So Naspers was forced to go to Europe to find an exchange that can effectively price its properties. The company remains in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange but that is marginal now.
Africa’s largest company by market cap, Naspers, has a big problem: over-capacity and over-concentration of its shares in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). When one company accounts for 25% of the total value of an exchange (from 5% just few years ago), that firm has a big problem. Why? The stock will tank because market forces will cease working for it, as most pension funds and institutional investors will not buy the stock to avoid over-concentration in a single company. These investing entities do have asset diversification guidelines and risk models they follow.
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So, Naspers has to have plans if it wants to keep adding value for investors. And it does: it will float its shares in the Euronext Amsterdam, assembling all those clusters of empires it holds in Russia, China and beyond in one entity thereby reducing the cage on the small JSE: “Naspers now intends to spin off its 31% Tencent stake, plus its investments into platforms such as Russia’s Mail.ru and Germany’s Delivery Hero, into a new company with a primary listing in the Netherlands and a secondary listing back home in South Africa”. Naspers will retain 75% of this new firm which is planned this year and the rest sold to global investors.
By moving it to Europe, Naspers has “unlocked” additional billions of dollars compared to when it was struggling at about $120 billion in South Africa. This comes down to my point that all exchanges in Africa should fold into one so that we can have more liquidity to stop this type of migration from happening. I am very sure that no one in Europe will be against this corporate migration – hope they will be kind in other areas!
Meanwhile, do not blame Naspers – this is free enterprise; blame African leaders.
