I wrote a piece on building relationships with “influential people”. I am now avoiding the use of the word “rich” as people were asking me how they could meet people on Forbes’ list (Forbes is a magazine which publishes lists of wealthy people). Apparently to some people, if a name is not on Forbes, the person is not rich. So, let us go with influential.

Now, the entry from Francis: the piece was yo-yo but one comment was simply brilliant. Francis as usual bailed me out, and I want to put that insight here. He explained what I wanted to put across in a more elegant way. Here is his comment on how to connect with influential people. Note that influential does not always mean bags of money (let us avoid that confusion).

It’s not just applicable to asking for money, same goes for asking for job when you have not demonstrated capabilities or shown brilliance; thereby leaving your potential benefactors to do the thinking and then figure out where you can be useful. So much work for busy people…

When we discuss perception demand or creating new demand, even new markets; the lessons aren’t meant for businesses and institutions alone, but for individuals to extrapolate or particularise as well.

When you are very good at something, and have a chance to meet a rich man, go ahead and create a job role that never existed before in the organisation. The phrase: NO VACANCY is meant for ordinary or average people. When you show brilliance and demonstrate capability, men and women will be jostling to create opportunities for you.

Do not ask for money, do not ask for job; just convey competence and value, other things will be circling around you.

I agree on this perspective – it is the element of the Perception Demand I have shared in this blog.

Stutern, an online platform that trains and connects young talents with employers in Nigeria for internships and entry-level jobs, has published a report. The title of the work is The Nigerian Graduate Report (2018). There are many great insights in the piece, including the fact that Covenant University produces the most employable graduates in the nation and MBA sets you faster in Nigeria than PhD.

Also, it turns out that PhD/doctorate is not even an escape from unemployment in Nigeria. But let me add that if you do have a PhD in any accredited university in ENGINEERING and you are looking for work in Nigeria, send your CV to my community manager. I will get you at least 3 good interviews before October ends.

I can nearly confidently write that Nigeria has 100% employment in Engineering PhD. Of course in other areas, I do not know. Yes, the biggest risk in many Nigerian universities offering engineering doctoral programs is lack of PhD Engineering graduates to hire. And they are not producing even more since it takes average of 8 years now to get one in the nation; 11-year duration is typical!

Stutern has produced a starting point and I do hope others will build on it. The report can be downloaded here.

Do not ask a rich man to give you money. Rather, ask him for an opportunity to help him make more money. If you have a habit of asking rich people for money, they will cut you.

But if you have a habit of coming up with ideas to help them make more money, you will join the inner circle, and they will reward you. Relationship building with people at the top demands many nuances: do not hit the send button on impulse. Focus on one thing at a time and make the email very short.

When in their presence, do not talk too much – focus on listening even if you think you are very knowledgeable. From that listening, you will get their priorities and see how to position yourself for opportunities. But when they want you to talk, take over the moments.

You do not have to be working for these men to be working for rich people. There are many around you there. (source: wealth gorilla)

Always remember – the best time to win hearts for opportunities is when there is no opportunity. Develop a capability at least in one specific area so that when the moment arrives, the inner aides will call for you. I promise you, one job with them can cover all your toils for a year. But they want quality and I mean absolute quality because before them you are nothing but a number. Where you fail to deliver, you are out. That wealth was not built by assembling failures.

That you have a man’s business card does not mean you have a relationship with him. The key is to understand the small frictions he has, and then architect a roadmap. A durable business relationship that is asymmetric in nature can only work when there are benefits: you must offer something of value to the other person. Yes, just as companies accumulate capabilities, you must offer something of value to build and nurture that relationship.

If you do business in Nigeria, do not take for granted the opportunities in Anglophone West African countries. Their bureaucracies are lighter compared to what we have in Nigeria. I mean it – you can get something done fast in some of these countries than in Nigeria.

Anglophone Africa includes five countries in West Africa (The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, and the most populous African country Nigeria, as well as a part of Cameroon) that are separated by Francophone countries, South Sudan, and a large continuous area in Southern Africa and the African Great Lakes.

When our representative in one West African country shared a letter written by a Minister of Health on a product, I was surprised that he got that letter within two days. My conclusion was that the minister wrote the letter without using an aide. Certainly, that is not possible in Nigeria with all layers of bureaucracies.

But to enter these markets, do not go and open offices. My suggestion is simple – look for reliable local partners and be generous with the benefits. Strategic partnership will improve your scalable advantage.

To thrive in business, especially in Africa, where our markets are extremely heterogeneous, requiring huge marginal costs for scaling, across disparate territories, you need to develop a mechanism to partner with others. With partnership, you would reduce the burden of massive operating capital, mitigate new market exposures, reduce operating risks and typically move faster.

Do not just spend all your time in Abuja – think West Africa, at least, as things happen faster there. Lagos is a good place but you need to be really good to thrive in Lagos. I mean it – Lagos is a center of excellence and it is one of the most competitive markets in the world. If you are average, Lagos is not going to cut it for you. Largely, it is irrelevant what you (legally) do in Lagos. Provided you are good, Lagos will reward you!

For West Africa, outside Nigeria, there is one main issue, though; the deals are never as big as the ones Nigeria offers. Yes, they do things with moderation.