I walked into an executive suite of a company. Three male executives with a lady were discussing around a table. As soon as I arrived, the men stood up and extended their hands. We shook hands and greeted. The lady looked up and did nothing. Without knowing her reason, I extended my hand, but she withdrew. Then, one of the men said “Meet our Chairman and our major shareholder”.

Quickly, the lady stood up and then extended her hand to me: I ignored her. I excused the three leaders as I needed to pass an important insight in person to them, while in town. The lady was a contractor to the firm. As I spoke with our team, I watched her looking at her palm – perhaps it has caused her problem.

To cut the story short: the lady no matter her capabilities failed a simple test – authenticity. I said no word but was surprised that she sent an apology via our team. In my response, I wrote:

“Team, she did nothing to me. But consider if that attitude was extended to our junior colleagues especially in your absence. She may show respect to three of you because you pay her bills, but I am nearly sure she does not really have any interest in this business except the bank alerts. Her issue was NOT not greeting me – her major challenge was deciding to act after she discovered who I was. That spirit kills vision as she could denigrate our junior colleagues because she knows better. There is a better person; discover him or her”.

You need authentic people to execute Missions – make sure you have them.

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Whether you call it eye, lip, leg or hand service, it’s a virus that has infested large swathes of mankind, originality and authenticity is obviously a premium.

There is a big difference between compliance and commitment, many people you see around are forced to do the former, while you are watching, but the real deal is the latter; that’s how you separate fake people from the original ones.

We fake love, friendship, empathy, professionalism; in fact, authentic humans are rare breeds, if you have ever met a handful of them, congratulations, you are one of the luckiest people on earth.

Finally, it is now possible that Nigerians will have electricity. Tesla is coming to Nigeria with Powerwall and this could be the inflection point where most electricity problems would disappear, at least at homes. Abia State should offer Tesla state tax holiday for ten years so that Tesla will locate its Nigeria headquarters in Umuahia! I get it – I really want Umuahia to grow. Sure, just a dream.

According to Wikipedia, the Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery stationary energy storage product; it is intended to be used for home energy storage and stores electricity for solar self-consumption, time of use load shifting, backup power, and off-the-grid use

The list price for a new Tesla Powerwall 2.0 battery, which offers twice the storage capacity of the original Powerwall, is $6,700. Supporting hardware adds another $1,100 to the equipment costs, bringing the total to $7,800. Installation can add anywhere from $2,000 to $8,000 to the final bill, notes EnergySage.

Update: It seems Tesla is coming with Powerpack and not Powerwall – read here.

China gained 186,000 millionaires in 2018, bringing the total to 3.5 million, and is now second only to the US in its share of dollar millionaires according to the 2018 Global Wealth Report from Credit Suisse. China is working – hate or love the process but China is evidently working. In 1978, the country’s gross domestic product was $148 billion; today it’s $12.24 trillion, an 8,000% increase. Nigeria needs to invest efforts to understand the China Process because it is a miracle economic engine, not just for men, but also women which command up to 40% of China’s wealth.

China’s economy has come a long way in a very short time. In 1978, the country’s gross domestic product was $148 billion; today it’s $12.24 trillion an 8,000 percent increase.

As China’s economy has grown, so has the wealth of its citizens. Here’s the latest snapshot of the country’s economic development, according to Credit Suisse’s annual Global Wealth Report.

While China had just 41,000 millionaires in 2000, today it has more than 3.5 million.

n 2000, North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific (not including India and China) commanded 92 percent of global wealth. In 2018, that dropped to 78 percent. The cause for that decline was, of course, China, whose own share of global wealth increased from 3.1 percent to 16.4 percent in that same time period.

Source: Quartz

Africa’s leading digital logistics company, Kobo360, which raised $6 million from World Bank IFC in December 2018, is expanding operations into Ghana. Kobo360 is looking for people with experiences in FMCG, supply chain, courier (local and international) and logistics. Many roles would be filled – operations, business development, customer development, technology, etc.

Kobo360 is a tech-enabled digital logistics platform that aggregates end-to-end haulage operations to help cargo owners, truck owners and drivers, and cargo recipients to achieve an efficient supply chain framework. Through an all-in-one robust logistics ecosystem, Kobo uses big data and technology to reduce logistics frictions, empowering rural farmers to earn more by reducing farm wastages and helping manufacturers of all sizes to find new markets. Kobo enables unprecedented efficiency and cost reduction in the supply chain, providing 360-visibility while delivering products of all sizes safely, on time and in full. The Kobo mission is to build the Global Logistics Operating System that will power trade and commerce across Africa and Emerging Markets.

To apply, send your resume/CV to careers@kobo360.com

We would like to have you as a colleague in Kobo360.

Huawei is having a tough season: the U.S. is alleged to be investigating it for stealing trade secrets even as Germany is contemplating banning the company from 5G projects. Moreso, U.S. lawmakers introduced a bill to block the sale of core components to the company. The CFO is still fighting extradition from Canada to U.S.

 A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced bills on Wednesday that would ban the sale of U.S. chips or other components to Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL], ZTE Corp or other Chinese telecommunications companies that violate U.S. sanctions or export control laws.

The proposed law drew sharp criticism from China where Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called the U.S. legislation “hysteria”, intensifying a bitter trade war between Beijing and Washington.

The bills were introduced shortly before the Wall Street Journal reported federal prosecutors were investigating allegations that Huawei stole trade secrets from T-Mobile U.S. Inc and other U.S. businesses.

But the big one is this: Oxford University has suspended new research grants and donations from Huawei, warning students not to discuss “confidential or proprietary information” with the company, notes Fortune newsletter.

Oxford University will suspend all new research grants and donations from Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant accused of posing national security threats around the world.

In an email sent to its computer science doctoral students, the university said the Committee to Review Donations – part of the university’s Council Secretariat – made the decision last week.

“The [committee] met last week and have decided to suspend Huawei as an approved gift donor/research sponsor,” it said.

“This decision will be revisited by the committee in 3-6 months and does not impact existing donations or research projects which have already been agreed and signed, and are in progress.”

Huawei better change nationality to Nigerian to survive this tsunami of paralyses. We will make space for it; otherwise this company is technically going extinct internationally. It needs to fix whatever it has to fix to stop this tide. Period.