It would be a huge mistake to believe that there are countries where there are no poor people. It would also be a great disservice to oneself to believe that poverty can be reduced or eliminated solely through the efforts of political and business leaders. God knows why He made things in double and, in most cases, binary options of positive and negative. He understands why He made certain people leaders at different stages of their lives and others followers. In all of these divisions, He gives everyone something that is completely unique and cannot be found in another person. In most cases, you may be unaware that you have the innate abilities to create and capture value monetarily, socially, and politically.
This is one of the main reasons why the “be yourself” industry is thriving all over the world. It is an industry that relies on inspirational talks, capacity building using do-it-yourself training formats, and books to produce, disseminate, and manage knowledge. People at the lower and middle income levels have really explored the industry in the developed world. However, in the developing world, the industry receives little attention.
A quick trend search in some countries in the global south, such as Nigeria, will reveal that people want to understand issues and challenges that may not allow them to escape knowledge and financial poverty. Regardless of the number of statistical and moral panics about Nigeria’s poverty level, our analysts believe that escaping the poverty net requires serious engagement with players and actors in the ‘be yourself industry,’ because poverty rhetoric has not yielded the desired results over the years.
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According to the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index report, education is one of the tools required to address the problem. The same education is not easily accessible through the formal school of higher education institutions. This suggests that Nigerians, particularly youth, should explore the “be yourself industry.”
The industry’s speakers, writers, and participants (companies) have written a number of books and delivered seminars on a range of opportunities over the past five years. Our analyst, who is one of the players, just published a book explaining how Muslims can generate and seize value using Islamic principles. If reading books, going to trainings, and attending conferences to expand opportunity discovery and exploration are challenging, then using authentic internet sources for self-learning shouldn’t be a problem as long as getting on the internet isn’t challenging. But interacting with actors and players in the “be yourself industry” is still necessary.