Last year, I was in the peerless Federal University of Technology Owerri Nigeria (the very best university in Africa; forget the ranking by whoever), some deans and HODs suggested that we find a way to bring current students to our work. The dons are right; we like technical graduates from Nigeria’s federal universities.

I may be biased since I went to FUTO; we hire largely from the federal universities of technology. We like the school curricula where you can enter and get out with three degrees in one. I graduated with Electrical Electronics Engineering with Option in Electronics Computer Engineering. Depending on how you look at it, those are 3 degrees for the work of one. Unlike schools that offer Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, and Computer Engineering as single degree programs, the way FUTO does it helps its graduates: you can look for work in more places, and you seem to know more things without that over specialization at the bachelor level.

Last week, we design-completed an educational version of Zenvus with APIs structured for research institutions like universities. It is going into production and if all works well, we would then find ways to connect schools. With this education version, students can do a lot including modeling their own crop growth models, examining database and testing new algorithms. It comes with batteries designed for 7 years but guaranteed for 4 years. And it has a satellite module in case there is no GSM or WIFI connectivity in the farms.

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I spoke live at Eko89.7fm in the #Mindscope program last week. The topic was 21st Century Entrepreneur -Demands & Opportunities. Here is the audio.

Few months ago, I wrote about a really brilliant young man, Engr Seun. He had done wonders in the magical Computer Village Lagos.

He has no degree. He has a 3-month diploma from UNILAG and a 6-month diploma from NIIT Lagos. But he is brilliant. In short, I could not believe what I saw. It took him 3-4 minutes to dissemble a laptop. He has 15 years of experience in his art.

My local team has kept up with him. We gave him support to build a real business in his art. He is peerless and exceedingly talented. In this trip, despite all the tight schedules, I had made time to visit him. He is making progress.  Now, he has five engineers. Yes, the real engineers (forget Nigerian Society of Engineers). All the five have ONDs. And he added also an OND accountant. Also, the company has been incorporated. I did not ask for any equity. I did not make a loan either. I wanted him to just do well. Hopefully, he would afford to return the money one day. That way, I can send it to another person.

Besides the support, I also offered some business lessons. For 7 of them, I did a one hour cost modeling/strategy training. I explained pricing and why they must commit customers to a minimum fee irrespective of the outcome of the repair. And every repair must be phased in categories. In other words, if you bring your laptop or phone to be fixed, you must commit to pay N2k irrespective of the outcome. Then engineers would start work and based on the outcome, you would be charged more.

Also, if an engineer is working and cannot get the job done in 2 hours, the work should be moved to a new category with new pricing structure. This model is necessary in case they need to expand where Engr Seun cannot be physically present. The pricing model is what would make this a startup, over a one-man business. While local teams (say in Abuja and PHC)  could fix things, there could be some challenging works that must be sent to Lagos. Those could be 2-week jobs which must attract different pricing.

To offer the lesson, I visited a local mechanic job in U.S. to learn how to price this type of labor.

That reminds me of Aba, Oshogbo, Kano, etc where geniuses are left poor because no one can prepare them to price what they do more effectively. In a Harvard Business Review, I had explained that Microsoft invented the PC industry through its elegant pricing which made it possible that you NEVER own its software product even though you have bought it especially for enterprise customers. Yes, if you do not pay annual license, you are essentially a criminal. Imagine if Ford, GM and Mercedes Benz had used the same pricing model on cars. Simply, governments should do better in the informal sector by helping the participants to understand cost and pricing better.

I am proud of my Nigerian English because the only people without accent are the English people. If you want the real English, live in England. Once you are out of England, it is fair game. From America to Ghana, South Africa to China, anyone can speak his/her own version of English. Unfortunately, many do not understand that.  For an African, it is more than accent. Your identity is really what is accented. Yes, your color. Who cares if you speak better English than the Chinese man? For our women, it is double whammy: add the color to being a woman, the odds to success drops in many cities around the world. It is unfortunate that discrimination still exists; it ought to be only in history books by now.

One happened in English ball club West Harm and it is troubling: they think African players have “bad” attitude because they ask to be played. So, they would not hire them. Sure, I am not saying that our guys should cause world war if they are benched, but generalizing a race because of 2-3 players, is unfortunate.

West Ham United have suspended their director of player recruitment, Tony Henry, after he left them open to accusations of racism and potentially unlawful discrimination by telling agents in the transfer window that they don’t want to sign any more African players.

After being confronted by Sportsmail, Henry made the shocking admission that West Ham do indeed want to limit the number of African players because ‘they have a bad attitude’ and ’cause mayhem’ when they are not in the team.

[…]

“West Ham United will not tolerate any kind of discrimination,” the club said in a Thursday statement.

West Ham is not seeing the players; the club is seeing Africa. The players were not arrested for robbery. They did what most sportspeople do: they lobby for playing time. The transfer window exists partly to help accommodate players who can be shipped to other teams because they are revolting for low playing times. The loan scheme in the game addresses that also. Those existed before each of African players came to England to make a living. Yet, teams buy them, cut their time, and when they ask for freedom, it is mayhem.

Sometimes, I wonder why we see. If not, no one would know who is black, white or red.

I recall a day when a young lady of African descent was to speak in a technical conference I had attended. As she walked to the podium, practically everyone was leaving the room. We were three of African descent in the conference. Her talk was not professionally relevant for me. By the time she turned after climbing the podium, her eyes were on tears. I told her “hold on”. I ran and grabbed the other African. Then came back, and told her to present to us. It was a fair talk; her confidence was already decimated. But she finished. Then the room got back to full-capacity for the next talk. Her problem was double: she came from a historical black school and she was a woman. All the things she did right, in her world, to have gotten her paper accepted, were thrown out by people that saw her color. Yes, we have eyes so that we can discriminate!

Good people, I just accepted an invitation from the Lagos Business School, made through the Director of Programmes, Dr Uchenna Uzo, to speak in the School as follows:

Date: March 10, 2018

Venue: LBS, Ajah, Lagos

Time: TBD

As always, it has to do with technology, business and innovation. I will share more details as they become available.