In this video, I discuss the elemental component of great modern digital empires. These firms do not focus on the needs of customers, they go further. Yes, they work to invent new “needs” and then build moats around their customers, making them impenetrable by competitors. Many years ago, I had used Apple to illustrate this shift in a Harvard Business Review article. Become a monopoly through pure open market forces by creating new markets within markets. Yes, taste the gross margin joy of being a category-king. That is the only way to survive in the digital space.
The Leading (Tech) Business Model Emerging In Nigeria, Africa
Data is the new oil, they say. But the acquisition of data, well before the refining phase, is not easy. Data at scale is enabling new business models across industrial sectors. Around the world, one business model has been tested, and it is evident that the hypothesis has been validated. Aggregation and integration at scale – the Aggregation-Integration Construct (AIC)- is the business model of the 21st century. Most emerging Nigerian and African technology companies are riding on that. At the global arena, the AIC powers more than 90% of the top 10 leading technology companies. If you want to start a technology business today, in Africa, and it does not have the inherent elements of aggregation and integration, think again. In this video, I present this Construct using examples from many sectors.
Medcera Support Services to Healthcare NGOs Across Africa
If you are an NGO working in the broad medical/healthcare sector in Africa, we want to pass the message that our Medcera technology is available to support your mission. Medcera is our full intellectual property, and we can customize, adding any feature you need. If you are working say on polio and need specific ways to collect records in the field, let us know; we would work to help in Medcera. We already have Encounter in the Medcera physician portal.
We only require one thing: everything must be done under the supervision of a licensed physician who must implement necessary patient privacy as stipulated by the local law. Medcera has ways to make such happen but the lead physician must design the controls in the practice/facility admin account.
Medcera is a cloud-based electronic medical record / health record system with both patient and partner management engines. It delivers services and is engineered to become a healthcare operating system for Africa.
Besides, Medcera can put your brand in a sub-domain. For example, you can have HealNGO.Medcera.com, and from there, your team and others can relate on your mission, powered by Medcera technology. From login to customizing your presence, we ensure you have the technology you need to execute your mission.
It launches Aug1, 2018. Some images from the patient module.
Contact Team: medcera@fasmicro.com
Mr. President, Nigeria Needs National Chief Information Officer
Over the last few years, I have made a case that Nigeria should create an office of the National Chief Information Officer (NCIO). From software licensing to harmonization of technology policies, I believe that it would save Nigeria money. Imagine if all software purchases by the Federal Government for Nigeria are acquired by one office and then shared by the MDAs (ministries, departments and agencies).
We would save money, fixing the problem which exists today where every unit of government acquires its own software. It is very painful reading Nigerian tenders. You see waste because no one is harmonizing simple acquisition of technology assets.
Here, I am using software licensing as an example; the benefits extend beyond that. I had suggested for anyone who holds the title of the DG of NIMC (National Identity Management Commission) to be upgraded to NCIO since NIMC has been focused on consolidating the disparate datasets across the nation.
What is happening in telcos is happening in Immigration, Drivers License Office and clusters of entities across Nigeria where they continue to capture biometrics. I do think that Nigeria may need to redesign the Acts that govern NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency) and NIMC (National Identity Management Commission) to deal with many pressing issues on technology and data management. If we collapse them as one, we can have an Office of Chief Information Officer, for Federal Republic of Nigeria; call it National Chief Information Officer (NCIO). The present Director-General of NIMC can assume that office as NIMC has more roles in the consolidation of the disparate databases in Nigeria, and certainly more strategic than NITDA.
Adapting from a similar role in U.S., the CIO will be the administrator of the electronic government evolution in Nigeria. The position will be appointed by the President and will oversee national technology spending, federal IT policy, and strategic planning of all national IT investments. The NCIO will be charged with establishing a government-wide enterprise architecture that ensures system interoperability, information sharing, as well as maintain effective information security and privacy controls across the Federal Government.
But it seems this campaign is not just about me. Dr. Yele Okeremi, the president of Institute of Software Practitioner of Nigeria (ISPON), is making the same case. I think we need to do it by not necessarily creating another bureaucracy but my elevating and restructuring an already existing bureaucracy.
You have once canvassed for the establishment of the office of Federal Public Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the Presidency. What would be the role of such an officer at that level since we have the Minister of Communications?
My position on the office of a CIO General of the Federation remains unshaken.
The office actually is different from the office of the Minister of Communications Technology.
Firstly, we need to understand that the job of a minister is to ensure that the programme that has been set out by the government of the day is achieved by working with the bureaucrats; while the CIO General should be responsible for the technology strategy of the country.
The CIO General should be responsible for harmonization of all government technology initiatives to ensure cohesion and reduce duplication and conflicts.
The CIO-General will be the custodian of all technology deployed by the federal government and part of his responsibilities will include issues like cyber security, and, indeed cyber sovereignty of the country. This should be a career and not a political position.
Yes, the NCIO will help to harmonize projects, removing duplication as I have noted in the software licensing. He/she will be the person that will see the execution of all government technology projects to closure. The NCIO will be the custodian making sure that all government projects are aligned and well integrated to the national vision.
Mr. President, make it happen – we need a National Chief Information Officer in Nigeria.
Your Nigeria’s Biggest Startup Competitor
As a Nigerian startup founder, do not be too fixated with your fellow enterprise-competitors. It is very likely that typical competition is not the reason why you are not doing well. Focus on executing the Mission at hand with necessary adaptation when markets call for it. Yes, that a competitor has raised more money and added more product features should not throw you off-balance. You must take note, and plan ahead with that awareness. I can assure you that in Nigeria with our largely infant industrial sectors, if you stay focused and just get things done, you would be fine. And what you have now may not be too bad.
Your biggest competitor in Nigeria is Lack of Execution. If you compete against your Lack of Execution and win, you would thrive. People buy anything in Nigeria. Your enterprise-competitors will do well. You would also do well. One “good” thing in Nigeria is that our market imperfections make scaling anything hard; so, no one can out-scale you with reckless abandon overnight. That ecommerce company is big in Lagos but has no presence in Owerri. Simply, that you have won in Kano is irrelevant in Aba because of the heterogeneous nature of our economy. That you overcame in Uyo does not mean anything in Lagos. One key reason is that despite the web, most sectors in Nigeria run on atoms and not really bytes. That could change but that is the state today.
The path to onboard many Nigerians into the financial systems would involve reaching them at the levels they are, right now. It may involve thinking less of bytes and more of atoms. Yes, human-platform banking over digital-platform banking.
So, get out and begin to EXECUTE. Do not spend too much time just thinking about your competitors. Think more on how to get what you want to do get DONE. The app may not be 100% ready, get it out into the market. The last I checked, they are still building Facebook, Instagram, etc, and will continue for years. Just have a MVQ and hit the markets.
The deal is this: the construct of quality has no meaning until the price of the product is put into considerations. I always ask entrepreneurs to build for the Minimum Viable Quality (MVQ) bounded by the product target price which market will respond. You can build rockets to fly around the world: that is an engineering possibility. But does that make a business sense if no one can afford it? Ask the makers of Concorde for answers.
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A product Minimum Viable Quality (MVQ) is that version of a new product which allows a team to sell the maximum amount of products to customers with the least effort and at the best optimized price even when delivering value. That is where you need to build as you launch your product, and even at product maturity, do not deviate from it.
In Nigeria, we are in a moment. The world is believing – there is no reason to wait any longer.