Dear Fahim Saleh (CEO Gokada),

I’m writing this piece to you so you’d know I care about your brand and I have decided to openly share strategies I feel will help Gokada scale.

I must first say that I am impressed that you had to quickly shut down Gokada because of different reasons, and it was a very wise move. Some of the reasons I think which were not all stated are;

1. Competitors
2. The regulatory policy
3. Technical issues.

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about how it is safer for start-ups to swim in blue oceans and not red oceans because red oceans are bloody. Yes, in the red ocean, it is a battle of money, and who can endure pains for long and who has the better strategy. 

Quick analysis – Bigi Cola penetrated the beverage industry through price and is planning to match even with Coca-Cola and Pepsi. That’s a risky move like I analyzed. The reason is simple: in trying to defeat a bigger competitor, you don’t play a price war. You’d go bankrupt. Coca-Cola can declare a price war against them by reducing its price. Coca-Cola owns Fanta, Coke Zero and other brands; it will not die for doing price war.

Let me quickly take everyone back to how Microsoft dominated the computer industry owning 99 percent thereabout back in the 90’s. Bill Gates played a game of price and won even though he was charged to court by other companies for taking almost all the customers and giving them crumbs. He played monopoly. I love monopoly.

Now back to the problem on ground, I was quite happy when I heard about the money you raised and I felt, well, Nigeria is having a good turn only to see news about another ride hailing service O’Ride. For some months now, I have been seeing O’Pay all over Facebook, and I didn’t know it even had anything to do with O’Ride. I am not against any startup, but this is my letter to you and what I think.

O’Ride has the money, ten times more than you raised so it’s very impossible to go heads on with them, and I believe they even have more bikes out there. Can we talk about analysing many things, and see if you need to build a blue ocean strategy and come back fortified. Let’s consider some things: I call it the GOKADA STRATEGY.

This strategy was developed by me in less than twenty minutes, although it took a lot of time to finally put it down on paper. So we have a major bully in the market O’Ride and we have Max.ng as well. What are the key things to write down on board as we strategize? Remember, I’m offering this service openly and can go deeper from here.

1. Price: I saw on facebook a few minutes before I began writing that you can get a ride for fifty naira with O’Ride. Now, I am not so aware of how much a Gokada ride will cost but I’m sure it will be more expensive. Let’s analyse the psychology of consumers in ride hailing.

The average Nigerian has seen okada as a cheap form of riding and as a “not well to do” person mode of transport. Let me explain further.

We have Uber, Taxify and the normal Lagos Danfo. A person in the middle class will prefer to take Uber for Danfo seeing it gives this sense of class to him. The same with the top class people.

Danfo bus is not an option for some middle class and low class people. 

However, when it comes to bike riding, there’s no class attached to it. Both the top class and the low class see bike riding as bike riding, provided the bike is a neat bike.

Why am I taking my time to let you know this Fahim? It’s because the price war cannot work if we try this approach. O’Ride charges fifty Naira or thereabout and Gokada charges more, everyone will go for O’Ride because there’s no way it distinguishes the poor from the rich. The rich man will not say he will go for Gokada because they charge five hundred Naira and O’Ride charges fifty naira. It’s a bike.

The rich will always want to show off that is why besides comfort being a consideration, they will still use Uber because of class. However, riding a bike has no class, so why still spend so much money when I can always get cheaper ones.. If it’s price, we’d lose customers.

2. Convenience: Well, here’s something we can focus deeply on. Both ride hailing services offer convenience with their bikes to customers so I am not referring to the customers angle. I am talking about the part of the riders themselves.

Of late, I have seen O’Ride in the streets of Akure where I reside and I also have seen Max.ng. One way or the other, I am yet to understand what Max.ng is doing in Akure, and the business model, seeing that Akure is a city with people who do not see time as a commodity. The road network is always free. Here’s what I mean: Akure is a city with many government workers, less holdup and simple road networks as well as middle class earners. So what business model could Max.ng be operating on seeing an average person in Akure choose a normal bike even if there’s just a ten naira difference between that of Max.ng and a normal bike? They are not in a hurry like Lagos, places are easy to locate, so having a ride hailing service here is off point except the bikes run at the same price as normal bikes. So, what is the business model?

Same way Uber cannot work in some cities like Akure. One way or the other, I feel they ran because of O’Ride. Funny enough, O’Ride is also here and I was surprised to see them everywhere, and people using it.

Now back to convenience, I have not used this ride services before, and I don’t know how it works, but I noticed there is a mobile app. How easy has it been for the riders to use the mobile app. Matter of fact, how convenient is it for them using phones and riding a bike at the same time.

Here’s my point, “if” a mobile app is what is being used, then there is definitely a need for a better strategy for convenience. I saw a bike man this morning with his android phone trying to swipe even as he was riding. What came to my mind was that he was trying to use the mobile app. He was from Max.ng.

3. Safety: The riders are well trained, fine. But how safe is using a mobile device while riding. I do not think it is safe. Matter of fact, it is very risky.

I saw a Max.ng rider trying to navigate his phone with his left hand and at the same time ride. Every ride hailing service is defaulting in this so here’s a chance for Gokada to take the lead. There’s a unique selling point here and I will love everyone to read my piece on unique selling point. Firstly, Fahim, you’d need to make sure all your riders are locals and if you want to make technicalities easier, you get bike men that have been in the business in such areas for some time.

Why did I say that?

One of the burdens locals who have spent some years in such a location will ease off is the fact that they will not need to use navigational to get to locations. While that’s just a light issue anyways, Gokada needs to find a way that will help the riders use their mobile devices to navigate without having to be distracted. They could hire a good product development team that will help connect the Google AI navigator with the helmet or whichever way they can come up with.

While they do that and fix it, it becomes a strength and a unique selling point. Once that is fixed, send creatives advertising agencies to create ads on how unsafe riding are without such a feature and why Gokada should be the choice. Dwell on this as a selling point. Safety should be a selling point.

4. Brand Addiction: Why do we use Facebook everyday or Instagram and not some other apps? The apps have some things that make them addicted.

So far so good, I haven’t seen any distinction between these bike services except for the fact that they have different colours so it’s difficult to bring up a brand identity, talk less of a brand addiction. Gokada needs a unique selling point and it is very hard to come up with one but very possible.

What unique selling point will do is that it will help in the game of heart vs hype. I wrote a piece on that and I emphasized that heart always wins in the long run. What does a bike do other than ride?

This is where we need to do a detailed study on the customers and this will be very deep. At this point, I will love to be pessimistic that I don’t see the Red ocean a good place for Gokada.

Gokada should create a blue ocean. Creating a blue ocean will help Gokada create a niche for themselves. Should Gokada just be a ride hailing service or ride hailing service for working class or for the street or for those who want safety? It must carve out a niche.

Fahim, I wouldn’t want your strategies to be to combat O’Ride. Work on how you can fix the technicalities. Besides, I don’t want to talk so much on how you can partner with fintech start-ups as Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe suggested. That will be on another day. I really believe Gokada can come back better.

Cheers to them.

Ajayi Joel

Human Resource department is always considered to be a puppet of management. HR seems to be losing its relevance day by day in the corporate world. Everyone assumes HR departments should know everything about underperforming employees. I completely agree. 

However, we must always remember that HR doesn’t own the company. They only implement company policies which they also act on. HR are humans that can make mistakes. They have families too. They go through emotional and struggles just like everyone else. Yet, they show up at work and manage employees wellbeing. 

I read Michelle Jesus’s story. She talked about her experience in the corporate world laying more emphasis on HR departments. According to her, she was underperforming at work because she had a mother who had just turned widow. So she had to be juggling work and seeing her mother who had just lost her husband, leaving her mentally and physically drained. 

Michelle said, ”I had a widowed mother who was still shocked about the death of her husband (my father). I told our HR to excuse me for some hours during a meeting I wasn’t even needed. She refused. Instead, she sat me down and told me to tell my mom to “move on and be independent” and I need to set my priorities right. I was speechless for a moment gauging her sincerity. In the end, I told her if my mom tells me to resign, within a heartbeat, I’ll leave.”

Looking at Michelle story, everyone will blame HR for being heartless, but the truth is – the company’s policy is responsible for everything. ”Missing Empathy” in the corporate world is not HR’s fault. Stop blaming HR departments. Blame top management. They implement those policies HR act on. 

HR are the reflections of the company’s policies. Top management most of the times will never admit their mistake. Statistics show that up to 60% of people leave managers, not the job. This example is a stark reminder that there are people in positions of responsibility for the success of others who have forgotten about helping those in their area of responsibility to be successful. 

Once a manager sees a person only as a disposable, replaceable resource, that can’t help but affect the view of everyone working under that person. And the effect is what we see in a large percent of people not engaged at work. Care about employees as people. Invest in your people like you never want to lose them and watch for a reciprocal effort to perform, to be loyal, and to be productive. 

Employee recognition, engagement and reward programs have a real purpose and when used wisely can codify and support stronger manager/employee relationships. However, it is hard to come by in the corporate world. HR can’t show employees empathy because top management won’t show HR departments empathy as well. Everyone is under pressure. Bringing results is all that matters. 

Instead of blaming HR, the values of the organisation should be questioned. If a person can not understand the pulse of his/her direct reportees and need HR to tell how his team is feeling or need HR to inform him about them. Then the organisation culture is in question and the responsibility lies with all leaders on the Top not HR.

The challenge is that in most of the organisations, people think and interpret that Culture is some creation of HR which is a misconception about culture. Blaming HR departments, in this case, is a reflection of the shortsightedness of the leaders of the organization.

Organizations need to revisit their values and need to develop a culture which is displayed in the behaviour of the people of the organization.

On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari, directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to immediately restrict forex access to any sort of food importation. The president made this known while hosting All Progressive Congress (APC) Governors for Eid-el-kabir in his home town Daura. He said Nigeria’s foreign reserve will be conserved and utilized strictly for the diversification of the economy, and not for encouraging more dependence on foreign food imports bills.

“Don’t give a cent to anybody to import food into the country.” He said.

That sounds similar to many other steps that have been taken by the CBN recently, only that it didn’t involve everything food, and it’s not taking orders from the president. Many believe that the recent statement of the president is an evidence that the Federal Government sees importation as a serious threat to the growth of domestic products, even when there is not enough domestic products to go round.

President Buhari noted that some states like Kebbi, Ogun, Lagos, Ebonyi and Kano are already taking advantage of his administration policies on agriculture by going into rice farming which is yielding good results for them. He therefore urged other states to plug in to ensure food security.

He also praised the efforts of the FG so far, saying that it has yielded hunger quenching results.

“We have achieved food security, and for physical security, we are not doing badly.”

President Buhari said he is happy that young Nigerians, including graduates are now seeing agriculture as part of entrepreneurship, and many have been publishing testimonies of good return on investment. An evidence he said should spur others to join the quest to feed the nation.

The president assured that incoming ministers will be trained to effectively work to achieve the targets and goals of the APC-led government. And there is going to be close monitoring through the office of the Secretary General of the Federation (SGF).

The APC Governors who were in attendance pledged to do their best to implement policies that will work out well for Nigerians. They said their party had been repositioned after the 2019 elections, to work for the benefit of the majority of Nigerians.

However, Nigerians have condemned the president’s statement ordering the CBN not to give anybody a cent for food importation, saying that the CBN is an independent institution that should not take orders from the government. Some urged the FG to always follow due process when trying to implement any policy, even though it is in the interest of Nigerians.

There is also complain that Buhari’s administration is insensitive to the plights of Nigerians to come up with such an idea at this time when most Nigerians are dying of hunger. According to Poverty World Clock, over 91 million Nigerians have been plunged into multidimensional poverty since 2015, and are living below the poverty line of $1.90 per day. A situation that many believe that the current economic policies cannot improve. And the ban of food importation could only make it worse since Nigeria does not have the infrastructural capacity to produce enough food that will bridge the demand gap that the food import ban will create.

“In order to succeed, you must first survive”. I have seen several people use this quote and attribute it to Warren Buffet; so I will reference him. This post is addressed to wantpreneurs and young entrepreneurs as well, and it is a practical approach to the reality of entrepreneurship that many people have not been told. So, you get to run up and down doing the wrong things because you have not built for yourself the right mindset. It will cost you a whole lot if you want to dabble into entrepreneurship without having foreknowledge of what it is all about.

1. Entrepreneurship Is Not For Everyone: There has been the whole noise all over social media that entrepreneurship is now the new profession which is actually not correct. The story goes in a way that the economy is bad and that the only way to be guaranteed success is if you venture into entrepreneurship. That is not true. The first lesson I want you to learn before I proceed to the next is that you should have it at the back of your mind that it isn’t for everyone, which means it’s not something you find yourself in, rather something you make a decisive effort to be in.
2. Be Ready To Face Risks: The honest truth is that not everyone is actually fit to face risk. Risk means trying out something when you’re not sure of its outcomes. Fine, you may have prepared all the business plans, and it all looks like everything will turn out fine. However, there will always be a five percent uncertainty in the achieving of such moves, and that five percent is capable of ruining you. That means that it’s either you back out or continue. What you must ensure is that you make calculated risks and not assumptions. They seem similar but are actually different. Calculated risk means you are partially aware of the consequences of any move you make but you make it because it is a step to your progress while assumptions has no research behind them. Matter of fact, this will not happen once or twice and may sometimes lead to the loss of your finances, but you keep moving.
3. Survive before you succeed: This lesson is golden and in a continent like Africa where there is no life support for entrepreneurs, it is paramount that you have a constant source of income. Yes, a safety net. By safety net, it means that you have something to fall onto when you go bankrupt. It could be your parents wealth or another access to assets. You cannot build a billion dollar company on an empty stomach which means that you need to take on jobs. I perfectly understand that there will be time conflict and how you can manage them and that it means you might not have all the time for 9 – 5 jobs. However, you need to get gigs, per time jobs or work during the day while you build at night.
4. Have a long term mindset: If there’s anyone who should have a long term mindset, it should be entrepreneurs. Firstly, you need to take off the mindset of fast growth or overnight success. It has never in any day of history happened where an entrepreneur succeeded overnight. The reason this piece of advice is priceless is that it will shield you from all forms of pressure from the society. The pressure to want to quickly show off your success. There’s no shortcut to getting to make millions, the only shortcut is that you need to wait for your fruits to ripen before you pluck them. People don’t eat unripe fruits and if you try it, they wouldn’t return to you after discovering you tricked them.
5. Understand the habit of spending: This is not a poverty mindset piece of advice. This advice will save you from going bankrupt before you start. If your goal for going into entrepreneurship is to show the fancy cars and expensive wristwatches, chances are that you may never get to really be a successful one. This mindset is actually the poverty mindset in itself because you will want to show gratification based on material things. This means that your first profit, your little income will be spent on showing how successful young are. Entrepreneurs have a different mindset to building wealth. They do not see wealth as the cars at the garage or the expensive suit in the closet; wealth to entrepreneurs is based on values that are not yet seen and cannot be quantified.

You necessarily don’t need a car unless the car can help you move from one point to another for your business success. You don’t need a new pair of suits if you are not having another meeting to attend with that new investor. The social media has painted success in entrepreneurship as standing in front of expensive cars and jets which is actually fake life. Success in entrepreneurship is actually the amount you have net disposable income. The amount you earn is totally different from the amount you are worth. Your car is simply equal to cash at hand except the car on its own produces money, then it becomes an asset.

I have experienced all these and I know this is part of what defines an entrepreneur. With this mindset, you’re not far from success.