The world is changing and it is getting smaller. Today, you can live in Lagos and run an American company that operates a U.S. bank even though you have never visited America. With Stripe Atlas, we have seen digital entrepreneurs that live in Kenya, make money across Africa and everything flows into a U.S. bank. Stripe took the world since it made it possible for entrepreneurs to easily incorporate a U.S. company, set up a U.S. bank account, and start accepting payments with Stripe from any global customer.

As a reminder, Stripe Atlas is a service that helps you start a global business from absolutely anywhere on the planet. For only $500, and in timely fashion, they incorporate your company in the USA (Delaware, for obvious reasons), they help you open a Silicon Valley Bank account and the Stripe account linked to it.

But that operational efficiency which is possible in the digital space does not easily exist in the physical domain. Today, there are cases where African entrepreneurs cannot just do deals with North American companies because the Americans are not vast in dealing with people in Africa. Simply, even though they may be interested, they do not know where to start. And because we do not have the physical equivalent of Stripe Atlas, opportunities are missed at both sides of the Atlantic.

Now a Nigerian-founded company in Texas wants to bridge that gap: BHL Solution is a brand which offers top-notch procurement and supply chain services to clients in U.S., Canada and Mexico, serving mainly African clients. BHL Solution value proposition is this: where the U.S. firm you want to partner on a project may not return your call or email from Africa, you can hire BHL Solution to represent you to talk to that company on your behalf.

BHL Solution is an industry-leading management consulting company in North America. We’re a global brand with a stable relationship with major companies in different sectors. Our team helps top executives to reach well-informed decisions, turn those decisions into actionable plans, and realize sustainable results they require. BHL Solution has been doing this for years; using a result-driven approach; we have been providing impeccable services with more than economic importance to our clients in Nigeria and Africa, at large. The results we achieve are not only bespoke and holistic but also practical and sustainable.

Our partners we work within all industries are leading professionals who have extensive knowledge and experience in conception and commercialization of any kind projects. Other than these, we equally work with project managers, health personnel, pharmacists, designers, engineers, inspectors, technicians, system integrators, and construction managers with an ultimate objective in mind — to help you get top-quality solutions to your business needs.

Being a U.S. firm, the chance of getting the deal finalized will improve since the U.S. firm will naturally like to deal with another U.S. company. Largely, this is a physical intermediation where it makes it easier for the African firm and the American one to reach equilibrium point more efficiently on time.

Using innovation as well as technology, BHL brings visibility and transparency in the process as it does many services including sourcing and coordination of material delivery to provide complete support to clients’ projects and operations.

BHL Solution Services

BHL Solution is a full-service project management and supply chain solution provider in USA, Canada & Mexico for African firms. It is a third party service provider for Nigerian and African firms that want any service done in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. Some of the services include:

• Negotiating contracts
• Soliciting Bids
• Finding Business Partners/OEM, Service Provider, Manufacturer
• Attend Client Meeting
• Run any Errands
• Inspections and Site Visits

Negotiating contracts: In business, “you don’t get what you deserve; you get what you negotiate.” With this understanding, we can handle the process of negotiating your contracts expertly and use our bargaining power to win contracts with exceptional values and benefits for you. Our team is knowledgeable and has experience in representing you professionally in negotiating your contracts.

Soliciting bids: BHL helps you or your firm request for proposals from manufacturers, vendors or service provider after every condition that is prerequisite to bidding is submitted. At BHL, we study every project you intend bidding for in detail to understand its terms and conditions. Moreover, then, tender a winning bid for the project after taking into consideration your input. We know how to win new clients and projects for you persuasively, which will come with favorable terms for your business.

Taking care of any logistics work: In logistics, we take care of the detailed organization and implementation of your operation. Our logistics team has the technical expertise to manage the flow of things between the point of origin as well as the point of consumption with a view to meeting the requirements of your customers or company. Our logistics management approach is a part of supply chain management for planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, useful forward and reverse flow & storage of your goods and/or services, and related information that lies between the point of origin and the point of consumption in a bid to fulfill your customers’ requirements.

Finding business partners/OEM, Service Provider, Manufacturer: We have the right experience and exposure to source for business partners, OEM, service providers, manufacturers for your business operation. You can trust our staff to meet and exceed your expectations. We can get you the needed partners and providers you can work within realizing your set objectives.

Client meeting: We can help you schedule a meeting with your clients. Our teams of pros can also attend the meeting as your representatives. In doing so, we will participate in your client professionally and amiably and handle every detail discussed in the conference well.

Errands: BHL can help you run errands. At any phase of your project execution, our team is readily available to assist you in getting any material or information you need. We can also help in conveying your information/package from one point to another.

Inspections: Whether you are designing a project, a product, or a process; you will need the service of trusted, reliable and independent examination to ensure that the high standards and the legal obligations you anticipate at each stage. We have an extensive connection with partner firms offering a range of top-rated inspections services that will assist you in reducing risk, in controlling quality as well as quantity, and in fulfilling every requirement across various markets and regions. These inspection services are very professional, cost-effective and add value.

Site visits: In any project that you are executing, we can help you visit your manufacturer or vendors. We do site visits, carry out an inspection of the current progress made on the project, and report back to you. This service can come handy in helping to complete your projects smoothly and successfully under budget and lead time.

Selected Industries

BHL works across industrial sectors, some include the following:

• Oil & Gas: The vibrant energy market of North America has brought about new opportunities for oil and gas firms that show a sense of urgency and have the agility to quickly make their move in a decisive manner on nascent market trends. As the next-generation consulting company for oil and gas companies worldwide, BHL provides a balanced approach for business consulting and technology solutions and services.
• Business Consulting: BHL is committed to assisting you transform your business in a collaborative manner. As a top company, you have to keep adapting to latest changes in any form. Such changes could be about transforming your firm for making a judicious use of new opportunities in the market; giving a response to latest risks and regulations or restructuring to enhance the efficiency of your business operations.
• Project Management: BHL Project management services will assist you in developing your capability to deliver repeatedly and consistently change initiatives to time, at the right cost as well as quality. We can enhance performance throughout your organization by offering assessments, tools, frameworks as well as people for raising capability for delivery and performance.
• Engineering Services: BHL Solutions offers innovative and cutting-edge engineering services to clients across the globe. These services focus on technical know-how, on our creative engineering staff committed to the success of our customers. Some of the areas that enable us deliver advanced solutions to companies include proprietary simulation models, in-house research, internal databases as well as studying of operational technologies.

• Information Technology: The world is IT driven and for any company to survive in the 21st century there is a need to incorporate IT. At BHL we have passionate and result driven IT experts ready to meet your corporate IT needs. From networking to programming, we have got the best talents in house. We also do IT maintenance and procurement.
• Construction: BHL has a rich history of collaborating with top construction and building products companies in the world. We have partnered with clients across many global as well as regional construction markets. We have the resources as well as technical know-how for undertaking any kind of construction jobs. We work smoothly with labor organizations and government agencies. In partnership with our clients, we create tactics and strategies which will bring about results across those market conditions that are both favorable and unfavorable.

BHL Solution ensures you get the right service providers for your needs and budget in North America. To reach out to BHL Solution, click here.

This post is part of our discovery series where we examine some companies that facilitate global trade between Africa and the world.

For the applicants, you could have noticed that the Lithuanian government is using real-time coding to assess Nigerians who can participate in the nation’s advertized 12-month placement opportunity. I know it is “frustrating” when they are not paying attention to your nicely formatted resume.

Lithuania, a European country, is providing a year work placement opportunity for Nigerian techies (Digital Explores) to deepen their digital skills. They match you with some leading technology companies for one year. Digital Explorers from Nigeria can choose the type of training they receive, and the company they will work in, all with a supportive and encouraging team of Nigerian and Lithuanian experts by their sides.

Look deeper – you will notice that humans are not doing the grading. Yes, they are using software to actually do the hiring, making sure that no human element shifts the fairness and competition equilibrium.

That is how modern and competitive societies work – the lesser the involvement of humans, in some activities, the better. Doing that removes biases which humans carry along in abundance.

Then imagine if the Federal Government of Nigeria can replicate that model as it looks for the best in this nation in CBN, Customs, NPA, NITDA, etc. We cannot because we are designed to be non-competitive under the federal character commission model: no matter what happens, all regions of the nation must be represented irrespective of any level of capabilities that exist regionally. Largely, competition in Nigeria is regionalized and not nationalized because under the federal character structure, you are simply competing to be the best in your region or state.

So, if you are in a class of ten participants where only three are needed for an important national assignment, and the top five participants are from one state, Nigeria will likely take the #1 from the state and then move to #6 for the second and so forth. So, the first five people are actually competing in-state and not national since the best in that state wins the slot. That is what happens in the selection of ministers where each state must have a representative even if there are more qualified people in other areas.

With that structure, there is no incentive to evolve locally and regionally because the slots are guaranteed irrespective of the preparedness into them. And to ensure such a system is maintained, competition is thrown out of the door, pushing brilliant and ambitious young Nigerians out of the nation.

For this Lithuanian program, be assured that the people that will leave Nigeria to Lithuania are people who are competent to thrive in that nation for this initiative. It motivates anyone that fails to go and work harder instead of just waiting that whether head or tail, my spots are guaranteed. With that unfortunate guarantee, incentives to improve die and the nation loses steam to compete regionally and internationally.

The message is this: continue working on your coding skills. Lithuania is looking for coders. The best test is coding test – and nothing more. If you do not make it this time, go back and work harder, and hopefully you will succeed next time. That is how nations are built.

[Apply] Lithuania Offering One Year Work Placement for Nigerian Techies

Have they figured out Manchester United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer? In American football, most new coaches have flashes of brilliance. Give them 10 more games and the trajectory will evolve: the yo-yo coaches will fade while the legends will emerge. The fact is this: by the time game strategists watch 10-15 tapes, they can deconstruct any manager’s strategy on the pitch.

Manchester United lost to Arsenal in Premiership last week, and just added another loss to Wolves in the FA Cup. Sure, this should not cause any panic to ManU fans. And it must not diminish the transformation that Mr. Solskjaer had engineered since he replaced the chosen one – José Mourinho. Yet, the fans and the club owners should hope that the man has deep “strategy reserves”.

The Red Devils slumped to a 2-1 loss at Wolves on Saturday night and they could have no complaints about the result after a strangely subdued showing. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign as Manchester United manager suffered its first irreversible setback on Saturday as a sluggish performance saw them suffer an FA Cup exit at the hands of Wolves.

By Nnamdi Odumody

In October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that governments would have to take rapid, far reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society to avoid disastrous levels of global warming. The global scientific authority was unambiguous: at the current rate of warming, the planet will reach the crucial threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels as early as 2030.

The impacts which include stronger storms, more erratic weather, heat waves, floods, food shortages, rising sea levels, desertification, shrinking lakes and rivers, and large scale disruptions to migration patterns will be felt across ecosystems, communities and economies worldwide.

According to the IPCC, to ensure we maintain a 50-50 chance of limiting warming to around 1.5 degrees Celsius this century, CO2 emissions need to be lowered by 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

IKEA’s Innovation Lab Space 10 has unveiled a project ‘’SolarVille’’ which will redesign access to clean energy. Solarville is an ambitious and realizable vision for the future. It is a working prototype of a miniature neighborhood completely powered by solar energy. Built to a 1.50 scale, some households generate their own renewable energy using solar panels while others automatically purchase excess electricity directly from the producer using blockchain technology. The result is a model of a self-sufficient, community-driven microgrid system where people trade renewable and affordable energy from one another based on their individual needs.

As we went through the tour, one of the items got my brain firing. They have built this hand hair dryer that could buy the cheapest electricity using blockchain. In the dryer is a blockchain node via Internet connection which links it into an ecosystem. As you use the dryer, it would be combing the world, looking for the cheapest electricity. Once it finds, an AI bargains, and closes the deal. You would not even know. Yes, you would continue to dry your hair while the agents of bits and bytes do their jobs!

About 1.1 billion people around the world still have little or no access to electricity. It’s almost an expensive task to reach these people with centralized energy networks today as doing such is not economically optimized.  Consequently, those locked in energy poverty continue to remain in that state.

Solarville aims to solve that problem through the combination of technologies such as solar energy, micro-grids and blockchain, opening new opportunities for off-grid systems, and allowing people to leapfrog traditional grid electricity infrastructures.

The Federal Ministry of Power, Works & Housing, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, and Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trader should work out modalities which will make it convenient for embedded power providers to utilize the abundance of renewable energy in Nigeria to provide access to electricity for millions of Nigerians rather than the dependence on gas-powered Independent Power Plants which remain expensive and vulnerable to disruptions in gas production from the Niger Delta. The model of SolarVille may even work better in Nigeria since we have the abundance of solar energy in the nation.

The best time to audition for a job is when there is no advertised job.

-Ndubuisi Ekekwe

How to Get a Job in This Era