I will be speaking to international press including BBC during the Business Analytics Conference next month in Lagos which I will keynote. As I make it into Lagos for this event, I also want to meet the young people who have signed-on for the Tekedia Business Innovation Webinar. I have asked my colleagues in our business to tell you where we can all meet.

Join me for Tekedia Business Innovation Webinar on Friday March 22, 2019 (repeat, Saturday March 23, 2019). For $15 (or N5,000), you attend and also get access to the exclusive parts of Tekedia.com, reading my book – Africa’s Sankofa Innovation.

Certainly, when I was getting into the job market in early 2000s as a university graduate, things were simply better. Banks did mass interviews weekly that some people had multiple job offers within weeks of graduations. But things have changed since then.

Yet, our governments are working. I am confident everyone understands that Nigeria missed golden opportunities in 1960 to build a solid foundation for sustained prosperity of our nation.

Nonetheless, do not lose hope – there is abundance in the future. It is my desire to meet many of you when I make it into town.  In the midst of these paralyses, Nigeria remains a huge promise:  that is why I am always here sometimes two times in a month from America.

THEME:     Big Data, Analytics and African Development
VENUE:     Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja-Lagos, Nigeria
DATE:       March 5th – 6th, 2019

Why Nigeria Is The Best Place To INVEST

LinkedIn Comment on Feed

1. Comment. Whether Nigeria missed golden opportunities in 60s or not, it’s now immaterial. Of course we can comfortably blame those before us for messing up, but if we do not do anything significant now, in 40 years to come, our own “messing up” would be bigger.

There was no internet in the 60s, and there were fewer graduates then, so while we blame our fathers and grandfathers, our own blame is piling up. It is not enough to excel at individual level, but in our old age, if you cannot point where you contributed towards a better Nigeria and Africa, then be ready to tell your children and grandchildren what you did with your time; and do not tell them lies.

If you blame your father and grandfather for not making enough money, to prepare a better future for you, just ensure that you build empires before exiting; else do not expect even a paragraph to be written for you, on the good side of history.

2. Question: Definitely I agree with you that Nigeria remains a huge promise. Thank you for also pointing out how a bit easy it was for you long ago when you started your career, but it’s not an excuse for young people like us, we still have to push, we have to make a better living and one day be in your position to talk to people, I take my time to go through great people’s (eg you) profile on LinkedIn and I don’t forget to check their graduation year and how they have gradually climbed the success ladder. In as much as Nigeria missed a golden opportunity, it doesn’t stop we young youths to strive and also.make a difference. I will definitely love to meet you…. I gain alot from your post.

My Response: You are already inspiring many – Nigeria admires your courage, excellence and vision. Largely, there is never a better time to plant a corn than now. The fact is this: in my time, we did think those before had it easier. So, that is human nature. Charles Darwin traced it to the “quest” to survive. But yet, things are getting better yearly. In my time, there was no opportunity for a 2-year college grad to receive funding from venture capitalists from U.S. Today, Lagos has $millionaires who are less than 30 years old! The future is always better.

Can we reach 500 participants this weekend? We have 107 registered already. Join me for Tekedia Business Innovation Webinar on Friday March 22, 2019 (repeat, Saturday March 23, 2019). For $15 (or N5,000), you attend and also get access to the exclusive parts of Tekedia.com, reading my book – Africa’s Sankofa Innovation if you register.

The webinar will run for four hours and will cover business, innovation, strategy and African investing opportunities. Two hours will be reserved for questions/answers [we will follow up  via email, post, etc on questions which time will not accommodate]. The essence is to provide tools which can help people find new markets and territories with focus on Africa and specifically Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa. As technology redesigns markets, I break the implications and provide roadmaps during this webinar on how you can win.

Register here

Join Ndubuisi Ekekwe for Tekedia Business Innovation Webinar

I wrote about the exodus of Nigerians to Canada. Today, I am writing on HUGE remittance into Nigeria, from Americas, Europe and Asia. PwC estimates that Nigerians in diasporas remitted back to their mother/fatherlands a whopping $25 billion in 2018. Hello, that is just about the 2019 Nigerian budget! Go figure.

It is a serious issue and one I do not have the moral fiber to discuss since I also resigned a job and left for America many years ago. Yet, because commenting is free, I will go ahead.  There is a big exodus happening in Nigeria right now, and the destination is Canada. When I say exodus, I mean real type like the one described in the recorded Exodus. Lol.

And while the FDI has been yo-yo (not up, not down), remittance increased 14% from 2017 numbers. As always, in global trade and commerce, equilibrium points will keep changing. Yes, as the doctors, engineers, etc leave the shores of Nigeria, and do better in their new domains, they are at many levels building the nation. Any business that is growing at double digit (here 14%) cannot be written away. Sure, we still have to deal with the exodus because a doctor in my village cannot be quantified on remittance dollars because doctors do scientific miracles.

Nigerians in Diaspora sent an estimated $25 billion in remittance to the country in 2018, representing 6.1% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, a PricewaterhouseCoopers Economic Outlook Report disclosed.

Nigeria’s migrant remittance inflow was also 7 times larger than the net official development assistance (foreign aid) received in 2017 of $3.359 billion, while the figure translates to 83% of the Federal Government budget in 2018 and 11 times the Foreign Direct Investment flows in the same period.

I did note here that besides the exodus, Nigeria can WIN – it is partly winning.

So, any illusion that more salaries to workers either in the private or public sector will stop the tide is nothing but trivializing an important matter. Yet, if managed properly, emigration is not all bad: Nigerian diasporas are helping to fund new companies, bringing new capabilities and business networks back home. We need to find an equilibrium point for the competitiveness of our nation.

LinkedIn Comment on Feed

The devil is always in the details. The billions of dollars being mentioned largely go to family upkeep: feeding, hospital bills, school fees, real estate, etc. It is not the money to build road infrastructures, railways, airports, schools, hospitals, energy sector, etc; so the quagmire continues…

If you have two large corporations with minimum of 10000 skilled workforce each, with the supporting SMEs that feed into that, the country and its people will certainly feel the impact; more than billions of dollars sent to families via remittances. Herein lies the problem, to build a great nation requires deep thinking and lots of sacrifices; it was never meant to be straightforward with seemingly easy escape routes.

In the meantime, the beneficiaries of the remittances must remain afloat, while men and women get to work in figuring out how to transform Nigeria.

Nigerians’ Big Exodus To Canada