Ozisco.com – Page 6 – Journey from a village in Nigeria to corporate America™

Connecting global brands to Kenya’s demand

The following post is from the e-book, The Most Interesting Thing About Investing in Africa, which features a series of conversations with entrepreneurs, community leaders, students, executives, and doers both home and abroad driving economic empowerment in several parts of my beloved continent of Africa.

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Mr. Peter Nalika

Peter Nalika leads the Digital PR department at Tellem Public Relations East Africa, a digital public relations company established to help organizations communicate better on online platforms.” He was previously a Technical writer at CIO East Africa, where he reported on ICT innovations, policy development, and product reviews. During his time at CIO East Africa, he interviewed several global technology leaders including Oracle’s Mark Hurd, IBM’s Dr. Mark Dean, Microsoft’s Jean-Philippe Courtois among others.

Investment: Digital Public Relations in Kenya

SITUATION

In the 18th century, spice trading was the main economic activity around East Africa. This was before the Agrarian revolution swept through the world in the 19th century, followed by the industrial revolution in the 20th Century.

The 21st century is experiencing what is now being referred to as the technology evolution. Kenya may have struggled to simultaneously catch up on both the agrarian and Industrial revolution in the 20th Century, but the country feels quite at home when it comes to the technology revolution. Tourists from around the world stream into Kenya not only to see the wild animals, or beaches, but also to see how mobile payments are transforming everyday lifestyles in the country.

Kenya also plays home to some of the startups that are changing the way we do things in the world, by incorporating technology. Small Kenyan firms have developed software solutions that are used to collect information and coordinate response in disasters, while others are exporting automated payment systems to Kenya’s neighbors, and even as far as West Africa. In this era, information technology has become a key component in our daily lives, and I believe it has affected the way we manage our information and data. For the few years I have studied and worked in the fields of IT and Information Management, the power of information and how it empowers different organizations and society structures has stood out for me.

In the future, I see myself enabling my organization and our clients to take advantage of technology as an enabler. This is something I have envisioned long before becoming a Public Relations consultant. Four years ago, as a field reporter working with CIO East Africa, I developed an art of compiling information and news from events through information posted on Twitter, the social network. Thus, my computer and an information network became my virtual pen and paper, enabling me to source a variety of opinions of the topic in discussion from the various stakeholders. At CIO East Africa I further explored social media beyond a tool for just reporting my stories, but tried it out as a tool to distribute my published works. Like a newspaper vendor delivers a newspaper to your door, with social media, I could target my stories especially to the valuable “C” level executives. A tweet tagging them would virtually deliver my story to their computers, or phones, in front of their eyes. Further, social media enabled me to bring new business to my employer through meeting of potential advertisers and striking deals with them. Through messages on these platforms, I was able to position my publication to advertisers and come to a value proposition that suited them, and paid our bills.

I started a Digital Public Relations (PR) company to help organizations communicate better on online platforms. For so many years, many Kenyan organizations have relied on traditional PR to reach various audiences, they have invested a lot of resources (time & money) in press briefings, open-ended editorials and one on one interviews in order to pass a message to the general public. This has since then changed once the country was connected through fiber optic cables, access to the Internet became affordable, and device manufacturers brought in smart devices that allowed people to consume content from online social forums.

Since then, organizations realized the need to use social media as online concierge for their brands, because this is where most people access content. This is when I realized the need to help them strategize and communicate better on online forums. The level of Internet adoption and proliferation of affordable smart devices among Kenyans forced companies to think twice and invest on managing social communities for a two-way engagement and harness reviews about their brand and products.

ACTION

The digital world is abound with opportunities. Not only can a Mandarin speaking Chinese in Shanghai have their tweet to an English-speaking Kenyan automatically translated, resulting in conversation where it was no longer possible, but a firm can have their consumers send a tweet to machine in return for a cup of tea or even can of soda. Social Media further breaks the news cycle. No longer are the roles, such as those of the audience, news-makers and subjects cast into stone, but these can be easily reversed. Clients easily find themselves becoming the news, but with the audience playing the previously unfamiliar role news-makers, say if they like something about the client, or bad news if they are not happy with a client’s move.

It thus requires immense experience and skill to help clients walk this tight rope, and hold their hands, as they become front-runners in the digital world. My task is helping organizations not talk to their clients, but rather, to have a conversation with their clients, with the ultimate aim of having both understand each other better and forge a long-term relationship. We undertake a feasibility study, which involves learning the communication objectives of various clients on digital platforms, and then understanding how online audiences prefer to consume such content before coming up with a strategy and community management plan. We invested a lot on training on the employees to enable them understand how to deliver best practices and models that sell, manage and measure digital communications.

Relevancy is the corner-stone of social content.

But in order for organizations to be relevant online they need to understand what is happening in the online world around them. To do this we invested on a comprehensive social listening tool like Radian 6 to ensure our clients jump onto relevant online conversations. In everything we have done in terms of pulling together online monitoring tools, resources and capacity building, we try to be helpful experts by giving clients more than just managing their online communities. We have venture into business intelligence around their customers to enable our clients monitor various consumer behaviors.

This kind of information has encouraged participatory conversations between the client and online communities which has built engagement among these two parties and given the client’s organization a personal side. However, despite the time and effort we have taken to advice organizations on social forums, there is still some sort of resistance. Most organizations are not willing to engage on social media, they don’t understand the importance of having a level of approachability social platforms give to a brand. This has been a challenge so far in addition to quantifying the return on investment when a client or an organization engages into digital communication.

RESULT

Through various engagements, organizations have restructured how they present their messaging to various online audiences. While these audiences have grown to be passive recipients of online messaging, communities have sprout up and created value by connecting members to each other and not just the brand. We have designed remarkable strategies for brands, and even counties in the Kenyan government, the social media strategies have enabled these organizations to have some sort of unity by harnessing the power of social capital and a high purpose among communities. Measurement planning was also one of our outcomes, it is a necessary element of social strategy, and most of our strategies are deeply rooted in measurement planning that is evaluated against client’s marketing and business objectives.

As a company, our objective is to marry traditional PR and digital integration, being a small outfit we started by assisting our clients to creatively use PR and media engagements and we are determined to build the company into a global player. My goal is to have all our existing clients realize and achieve more value through digital platforms. Digital platforms will enable these clients establish personal relationships with their clients and fans, something that is now possible with little effort. Even as a consultant that is highly regarded by my clients, akin to a captain guiding a ship in the high seas, social media and the digital world have also been, and remains a learning experience for my team and me.

To keep up to date with the latest tricks and best practices, my team and I have attended various digital communication training, both in-house and from our affiliates in South Africa. Going to the future, I am aiming to turn social media from more than just being a communication and relationship tool for my clients, but make the same a valuable business insight tool. Through analytics and business intelligence, I aim to provide insight into Kenyan businesses, such that, based on what people are saying online, they can predict the impact of the same on their brand, and be in a position to favorably react to the same, resulting in a positive impact to the business.

Investment: Digital Public Relations in Kenya

L = 50

I = 25

C = 30

BUSINESS IDEA METRIC (BIM): 105

You can connect with Peter on Twitter: @peternalika

F.I.V.E Questions with Dorothy Dalton, CEO of 3Plus International

Based in Brussels, Dorothy is a Global Talent Management Strategist, Coach & Trainer, and supports gender bilingualism. She is constantly being sought after for her thought leadership on executive placement and career advancement. I met Dorothy when she came to speak to us during one of my MBA classes at École des Ponts Business School in Paris.
She shared insights on how to enhance our online profile to maximize our chances of landing our dream jobs. Her advice and tips were instrumental in helping my classmates and I book interviews with top companies and ultimately, land jobs with these top companies. I’m excited to feature her on the F.I.V.E Questions with an Entrepreneur series.

Briefly describe how you got started. What is the most exciting or rewarding aspect of what you do? What could make it even more exciting or rewarding?

I have two business lines in the HR consulting sector. One is gender neutral and the other is for gender balance. They frequently overlap!

My early career was in Corporate HR in the steel and television industries. None of this was particularly out of the ordinary, although I enjoyed early career success, rising to second in command of a large HR department before I was 30. I decided to move to Luxembourg (with my now ex-husband!) taking a leap with no job to go to. Ladies do not do this today! I joined an office services start-up in the embryonic financial services sector. My interview question was could I “answer the phone.” I said I could, even though I spoke very little French at the time.

Here I graduated from general factotum to become the Sales and Marketing Director.

Sometime later our family relocated to Brussels, where I found an opportunity to combine my newly acquired European sales experience with my HR background in an executive search company. It meant going to the bottom of the pile (again!) to update all my skills. After a few years working for someone else, I branched out on my own, offering international executive search and research services on a global market.

I had qualified as a corporate trainer and coach at the beginning of my career, training with Sir John Whitmore (before he became Sir). When the global recession came in 2007/2008 there was a renewed demand for career coaching. I went back to college and re-certified. I wanted to make sure I was completely current. I then formally added coaching to my service offerings.

As an early adapter to social media, I could see the potential of it immediately. I grew a reputation of being an expert in the field in relation to HR and career issues. I wrote an award winning blog and developed training programs for organisations and job seekers on Personal Branding and job search. I then added training to my repertoire list, completing the circle to my post- graduation skill set.

Coaching women and promoting gender balance is something I have always believed in. I established 3Plus International which supports gender balance in the workplace offering services in recruitment, coaching and training to support organisations who want to strengthen the female talent pipeline.

I love the variety of what I do and how all the elements feed into each other and overlap.

Going forward, I need to write a book – that would be really exciting and rewarding. Currently I am very operational, which I enjoy, but I should make time to step back.

2. Flash back and then fast forward to the present, what has surprised you the most about mastering your unique set of skills and what advice do you have for others looking to master similar skills?

I think what surprised me was the social media element. I just got it. It came easily to me and I was able to pick it up and adapt what I needed to know and reject what I didn’t. I am not a particularly intuitive learner, but was able to play around and understand the basics and even the more advanced aspects pretty quickly.

Truthfully, it’s not that the skill is vital in in itself. It’s not at all. For younger generations it’s in their D.N.A. But what it represents is a mind-set. When I go into business schools and the class sees my age, they are always surprised. But it’s a great marketing and teaching message. If I can get it – how easy will it be for you?

So my advice is whatever is new – explore, learn and try. You never know what will happen. Be open! Be very careful before you rule anything out. I found out that I am very adaptable can re-invent myself. If I can do it – so can you.

I think never being afraid about going back to basics and not letting ego interfere is important. I have done that twice in my career.

3. What is your unfair advantage and what would your best customers or clients say are the main reasons they do business with you?

I don’t have an unfair advantage. I don’t believe in that. All the skills I’ve acquired have been via hard work, flexibility and energy. As a woman in the steel industry you can imagine what that was like! My clients say they work with me because I am efficient, direct and fun. Life is too short not to enjoy what you are doing. For executive search I have strong sales skills, so can coach my team. Having a visible international online profile helps. I rarely have difficulty getting candidates to take my calls.

On the coaching side if I have done my job well, I don’t need to see clients again because they have the necessary skills for life. They know what they need to do. I usually see them for an annual session which is a happy/sad feeling.

4. Reflect on all of the key sacrifices and trade-offs you’ve had to make to get to where you are today. Which of these would you say was the most pivotal and why?

I don’t feel as if I have made trade-offs in the past and definitely no sacrifices. I made a decision to be trailing spouse years ago. But although I exited my HR career, I started a career in sales. I would certainly advise women to be more strategic than I was, which is advice I conveyed to my own daughter when she recently relocated to the U.A.E.

But despite everything, that was possibly the most pivotal moment. If we hadn’t moved internationally, I would have had a very different career path, probably in U.K. based H.R. It has taken me down a very different route where I have learned languages and skills I possibly would have never needed to learn. I have had the advantage of living in a number of different countries and being truly multi-cultural.

I am perhaps making more trade-offs today. Many of my friends are starting to take long trips and vacations. If you run your own businesses you can never check out totally. When I travel, the first thing I ask about in a hotel is not the bed, but the wifi connection! I’m like Miranda in Sex and the City!

5. What is the best piece of actionable advice that you’ve received that not only influenced your decision to launch your business, but also continues to be source of inspiration?

The best advice I would give is centered around self-awareness. Do your inner work. Know yourself, your strengths, weaknesses and core values. Make sure you have cover for the things you are not so good at. Trust yourself and stay centered. If something feels off – it probably is – listen to your gut instincts. Never stop being open to learning something new. That is linked to your faith in yourself and your ability to make the right choices. This fosters consistency, which feeds trust from others. Just because you don’t know about it now, doesn’t mean to say you never will.

My one actionable tip: do your inner work!

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom” Aristotle

Dorothy Dalton Biography

Dorothy works globally in talent management strategy and coaching, covering the whole spectrum of career transition challenges from “hire to retire” in coaching and executive search. An Economist and CIPD Associate, she has placed, trained and coached thousands of men and women in her career, working with leading international companies and organizations. She is a certified Coach (Cognitive Behavior) and trainer including e-learning.
She has successfully combined an early career in corporate H.R. with a stint in European Sales and Marketing before moving into global Executive Search and HR Consulting, running two businesses as an entrepreneur. She has lived and worked internationally throughout her career and has strong cross-cultural exposure.
Co-Founder and CEO of 3Plus set up to support organizations develop their female talent pipelines to achieve gender balance, as well as supporting individual women professional women to advance their careers. 3Plus offers career and leadership and coaching as well as mentoring services. She created the 3Plus eGazine and online resource for professional women with daily posts and the 3Plus Mini-Mentoring event already held in different locations in Europe and U.S.A.
Digitally savvy, with an internationally-recognized blog on career transition and a strong niche-market social media presence (a ranked coach, recruiter and HR influencer on Twitter) Dorothy successfully embraced new technology to combine the best of old-style methodologies with the new. She is a VIP blogger for HR Tech World, speaker and contributor on HR and workplace trends. She is also a visiting career coach for the MBA and Executive MBA programs of top tier business schools.

Connect with Dorothy on LinkedIn and @DorothyDalton

Check out this great interview with Dorothy Dalton on Youtube.

F.I.V.E Questions with John Aisien, CEO of Blue Cedar Networks

I’m excited to launch the “Find Insights Via Engaging™ (F.I.V.E) Questions with an Executive” series. This will complement the F.I.V.E Questions with an Entrepreneur series. Same as the original series, it will feature answers to five unique questions posed to an Executive. Their answers will enable every reader to learn how they advanced in their career, discover how they honed their unfair advantage, and gain from any piece of actionable advice that has continued to deliver dividends. It will be fun, insightful, and inspiring. The goal is that you are able to take away an actionable insight that you can apply to your career, business, or venture and get immediate results.

15-speakers-john-aisien — John Aisien, Photo credit: BlueCedar.com

To launch this new series, I’m excited to introduce you to John Aisien. John is an experienced and result-oriented technology executive, with a track record of leading go-to-market functions or entities within high-growth software businesses. I connected with John a few years ago while I was at Oracle. At the time, John was a VP of Product Management for Oracle Fusion Middleware. After many successful years at Oracle, John left in 2014 to join Mocana, a venture-backed San Francisco based company with a focus on embedded systems & app security, as their President and COO. John is now the CEO of Blue Cedar Networks, which was spun out of Mocana in March 2016.

John’s trajectory is impressive. He continues to rise despite the numerous headlines about the lack of African Americans in leadership positions at tech companies in Silicon Valley. To put this into perspective, a USA Today article in 2014 reported that leading technology companies based in Silicon Valley vastly under-employ African Americans and Hispanics. These groups make up 5% of the companies’ workforce, compared to 14% nationally. The figures are even more alarming when you consider the even smaller percentage of African Americans in leadership positions. Those that achieve this milestone are often seen as superhuman. So it wasn’t a surprise last year when we were all intrigued by the public exit of the only black Twitter engineer in a leadership position. I remember thumbing frantically through my timeline to follow the discussion. #DiversityIsGoodForBusiness

This conversation with John is designed to provide actionable insights; it’s also designed to celebrate him as he paves the way and sets a great example of the art of the possible.

1. Provide a brief overview of what you do. What are some of the most exciting aspects of your role?

I am Co-Founder & CEO of Blue Cedar Networks. We are a new company, a new legal entity, but we are running a long standing business, because Blue Cedar is a spinout from an existing venture funded company called Mocana. For two years, I was essentially running the business that eventually spun out of Mocana into Blue Cedar. I originally became aware of the Mocana opportunity through a mentor and former boss, with whom I had long-standing personal & professional ties. We had worked closely with each other in the past and we successfully built and sold an enterprise security company to Oracle, during the middle part of the last decade. What excites me about what I’m doing right now? Well, three big things. One is the opportunity to not only sell into a market but help to also create that market and then sell into it. That to me is unique and exciting. Market creators generally generate unique returns and experiences. Two, it’s an opportunity at this stage of my career to work with a group of people that I have effectively cherry picked, because we spun out of Mocana together and I hired a good number of them. This brings a tremendous amount of trust and longstanding history between us. One of them & I actually co-wrote a blog about this. The third thing that excites me about what I am doing is that for the first time in my career, I own the ultimate responsibility for generating enterprise value for a company. I’ve been in leadership roles in small and large companies for over 16 years, but this is the first time that as the leader of a company, I’m ultimately responsible for creating enterprise value for the company. So, that’s exciting, and brings with it uniquely different dimensions of responsibility, compared to my previous experiences. One specific example is the experience of running a Board of Directors, with savvy & highly experienced board members.

2. Flash back and then fast forward to the present. What has surprised you the most about advancing in your career and what advice do you have for others looking to take a similar path?

Generally, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the degree of willingness that the vast majority of people have to help. Seriously, you read stories about office political machinations and people not always having one’s best interests at heart. Conventional wisdom creates an image of a very cutthroat, unforgiving corporate world. To be clear, I’m a realist and suspect that there could be some truth in this. And it’s highly likely that I’ve been an oblivious recipient of such bad experiences. But what I have consciously experienced is that the number of times I’ve asked for help from investors (even those who are not investing in my company), from customers, from partners, even sometimes from competitors, and others, and have received that help, has been way greater than my expectations, or conventional wisdom. I would say my biggest takeaway is – ask a lot more regularly than perhaps logic will suggest, because in more cases than not, you are likely to get a positive response from your ask. In terms of advice, I’ve focused on things I know I do well and I’ve been very honest and dispassionate about things I know I don’t do so well. And I’ve optimized my execution towards the things I do well because it has allowed me to stand out in every role I’ve had. Reflecting on it all, I would say that this is the positive side of the ledger, and is perhaps something I wish I had done a bit more quickly in my career. Looking back though, I think I could have achieved this milestone that I have achieved now if I had simply asked for or created the opportunity a bit earlier. I don’t feel ten times more ready today than I was ten years ago. So my recommendation for anybody looking to tread a similar path is – when you get the sense that you’re close to being reasonably ready, you probably are. And then at that point all you have to do is ask, or create the opportunity for yourself.

3. What is your unfair advantage and what would your colleagues or clients say are the main reasons that make working with you rewarding?

I’ve actually thought about this a lot. One has to be dispassionate about answering a question like this. My unfair advantage is probably not what I would prefer it to be. I like to regard myself as a deep intellectual thinker who really understands in very great detail whatever topic or concept I’m required to understand. I still think that there is some truth in this, but others perceive me as primarily a very good communicator, both in written and in verbal form. This is the dimension across which most people would rank me higher than the mean. So it may not be how I would like to see myself, but it’s how others see me. I’ve learned to accept this over time and play towards this unfair advantage. As an example, over the course of the last three months, one of the big things we had to do to spin out and create this new business was intensively reach out, communicate with, and secure commitments from the entity’s founding investors. For this exercise, I played the role of primary communicator, but accepted that there was somebody better than me at representing the underlying concepts behind our technology. So I made sure I paired myself up with our CTO, Kevin Fox, and this combination ended up being way more powerful than me by myself, or my CTO by himself. So the takeaways are: understand your unfair advantage, accept this unfair advantage, and complement yourself with others who have other unfair advantages, to enable you to achieve your objectives.

4. Reflect on all of the key sacrifices and trade-offs you’ve had to make to get to where you are today. Which of these would you say was the most pivotal and why?

There are actually many that as I reflect fall under this category but if I had to select one, I would say it’s the number of times I’ve physically moved in my life, and specifically, in my career. Since 1991, I’ve moved 11 times. Nine of these times with my wife. I moved from the UK to Nigeria as a kid, and then back to the UK, and so on. Don’t worry, I don’t plan to go through all 11 moves in detail! I would say this, each of these moves have been increasingly difficult, particularly as one has gotten older and as one’s family has expanded in size and scope. The last move in particular from the UK to Silicon Valley five years ago obviously ended up being pivotal. If you want to achieve your potential as a baseball player, you want to play in the major leagues. If you want to achieve your potential as a chess player, you want to become a grandmaster. And ultimately for me, having a big objective and aspiration to become a leading technology executive, the best place to flex these muscles and achieve the art of the possible is in the Bay Area, here in Silicon Valley. So the number of times I’ve moved has been a burden on my personal life, but without these moves, it would have been difficult to achieve all that I have to this day. I’m in awe of the depth of family support I’ve enjoyed, and continue to enjoy.

5. What is the best piece of actionable advice that you’ve received that continues to be source of inspiration and further development?

It’s really difficult to select one so I’m going to cheat a bit and maybe select a couple.

A partner of mine at Blue Cedar told me this:

“Every day, you have to feed all three dimensions – physical, intellectual, and spiritual, of yourself as a human being.”

This may sound a bit metaphysical, but I practice this daily and it really works. Every day, you have to feed your physical dimension through some form of exercise. You also have to feed your intellectual dimension by acquiring some net new knowledge that you otherwise didn’t have, or enhance existing knowledge that you did have. Lastly, you have to feed your spiritual dimension. And this doesn’t mean some form of organized religion. It may not even mean religion. So every day I look back on what I’ve done and use these three axes as a compass to judge whether I’m living a balanced life and I can categorically say for me at least, it works. I always find some deficiency across one of these axes, daily, and this daily calendar entry serves as a compass to help me get conscious about the deficiency, and correct it before I go to bed.

Another actionable piece of advice is from my father, a man full of African wisdom. I come from Benin, Edo State (Benin City is capital of Edo State in southern Nigeria). The Benin people have this strong ethos towards the nurturing and establishment of self-confidence. And I’ve begun to practice this a lot more in my life. I’ve been a recipient of this gift from my parents. And now I’m beginning to impart this to my kids, as I’m increasingly aware of its impact on my life. I would say in summary, of all the innate attributes that one can have, I believe one of the most valuable long term is self-confidence. If you’re aware of this and you proactively nurture your self-confidence to maximize its benefits, while ensuring that it doesn’t spill over into conceit or unnecessary bravado, I think you maximize your chances of achieving the most in your personal and professional life.

“A focus on self-confidence, particularly in a crazy world where values evolve very quickly, is a very good way to maximize one’s own inherent value and the value of those around you that you love.”

John Aisien Biography

John graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the University of Benin, Nigeria. He is a chartered member of the UK Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Early in his professional career, he performed a wide range of management training, strategy and IT consulting roles across numerous firms in the UK, including British Aerospace, Anglia Trains, Gemini Consulting and others. He then went on to earn his MBA, with a focus on Finance and Entrepreneurship, from Stern School of Business at New York University. Post Business School, he joined Thor Technologies, which ultimately became a leading enterprise identity and security management software company. At Thor, he ran marketing, product management, business development and strategic partnerships. He led Thor’s re-branding and market positioning efforts. Thor was acquired by Oracle in 2005. After 8 years at Oracle, John joined Mocana, eventually rising to the role of President and COO. He is now the Co-Founder & CEO of Blue Cedar Networks, which spun out from Mocana in March this year.

When John is not leading board meetings and running business operations for Blue Cedar, he is reading for pleasure, or leading the offense for his coed, over 40s soccer team. He is married with two children.

Blue Cedar Network is active on social media. Connect with them on:

Twitter: @BlueCedarNet
LinkedIn: Blue Cedar Network

The Most Interesting Thing About Investing in Africa: Innovative News Platform About Nigeria

Akin Akinboro (left) and Mobolaji Sokunbi (right) are the Co-Founders of The 234 Project

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Mobolaji is a results-driven Marketing Executive and Entrepreneur. In his capacity as a marketing manager, he established a track record of successfully recruiting and training top sales teams, managing a $150M+ sales campaign P&L, and driving innovative strategies across multiple business units. He has a remarkable gift for identifying and evaluating intricate challenges in an organization and successfully communicating solutions and recommendations to senior leadership. His experience spans across notable companies including Dell, Procter & Gamble, and The Southwestern Company. In his capacity as an entrepreneur, Mobolaji consistently makes things happen from a business development standpoint including as the co-founder of The 234 Project. He is passionate about sharing the untold stories of Nigeria’s greatness and publicizing the achievements of Nigerians around the world.
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Akin exhibits a masterful set of skills in his work as an Enterprise Systems Engineer and Entrepreneur. Pertinent to his work as a systems engineer, Akin enjoys bridging the gap between IT experts and non-experts alike. Throughout the course of his career, he has established a solid foundation in product & solution development; and he is very experienced in leading efforts related to solution design, infrastructure architecture & implementation, test & testing frameworks, and project management. This experience has allowed him to excel in a variety of engineering roles with major technology companies such as Oracle and Dell. In his entrepreneurial endeavors, Akin is involved in a number of successful ventures including co-founding The 234 Project. He believes that the future for Nigeria is bright and thus essential to the world. Akin is passionate about impacting lives positively and encouraging others to find sustainable solutions to everyday challenges.

Investment: Online Platform to Tell the Positive Stories of Nigeria | The 234 Project

SITUATION
There are many fascinating things about investing in Africa, especially investing in projects that empower young minds. To that end, Mobolaji and Akin sought to develop a deeper understanding of the growing interest in startups and self-employment among young Africans, particularly young Nigerians. This perceived interest seemed to be buoyed by a number of factors like high levels of youth unemployment, lack of opportunities at more established companies in Nigeria, and the foreign investment shift from BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) to MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey) countries with Nigerian startups at the beneficiary forefront of this shift.

Upon closer examination, Mobolaji and Akin discovered that young Nigerians were not only motivated by economic factors, they were also motivated by the opportunity to live out their own definition of success; and so, working with a startup or being self-employed in Nigeria offered them the best chance to stay close to home and stay even closer to self-actualization.

Historically, many young Nigerians yearned to leave Nigeria for greener pastures in North America or Europe (see Forbes article on Brain Drain). They tended to identify with a skewed version of professional success in life i.e. the “non-African” version. Nowadays, with the widespread use of the internet and mobile phones, more young people in Nigeria opt for a career path which allows them to think global but act local.

In his interview, Mobolaji expressed that he had always wanted to reach out to young Nigerian professionals in Nigeria… “to be a mentor or offer some advice from the standpoint of [his] experience in sales and marketing”. The 234 Project now allows him to take his mentoring to a whole new level– the project is an ongoing investment to tell a different story of Nigeria.

“For some time now, if you ask people, particularly westerners, what they know about Nigeria, you’re likely to hear about terrorism, corruption, the Niger-Delta violence, or those kinds of negative stories; before you hear many westerners and sometimes even Nigerians say anything positive about Nigeria, they probably would have already gone through a list of negative things,” he noted.

In 2011, I was at a stopover in London Heathrow Airport and I met a young man from Katy, Texas (United States). He worked for Shell and was on his way to Port Harcourt, Rivers State (Nigeria). He was reading a thick book about the dangers of living in Nigeria. We got into a conversation about his trip and I could tell he was petrified about going to Nigeria. At that moment, I thought to myself, what if this young man also had easy access to the positive elements of living in Nigeria? Imagine a platform that would have shown him great places to eat and visit while living in Port Harcourt.
-Mobolaji recounts his experience on a business trip

Akin and Mobolaji believe that Nigeria, known as the Giant of Africa, has positive stories to tell– from technology to politics, from politics to entertainment, from entertainment to fashion, there are people making positive waves…

While attending a youth event in Johannesburg, South Africa for the MTV BASE Meets show, First Lady Michelle Obama (wife of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama) was spotted wearing Nigerian label Maki Oh by the young designer Amaka Osake. Michelle Obama took to the stage wearing a chiffon blouse from the Spring/Summer 2013 collection. – Source:africanfashionguide.com

The 234 Project is not in the business of denying that there are negative things to report about Nigeria, instead the project is simply advocating for the other side of Nigeria’s story.

The cinema of Nigeria, referred to as Nollywood, grew quickly in the 1990s and 2000s and became the second largest film industry in the world in the number of annual film productions, placing it ahead of the United States and behind only India. In 2013, it was rated as the third most valuable film industry in the world after generating a total revenue of NG₦1.72 trillion (US$10 billion) in 2013 alone, placing it behind India and the United States.
– Source: un.org/apps/news/story (UN News Centre)

ACTION
Akin and Mobolaji, in collaboration with their global team (a collection of young, brilliant minds), are building out an online platform with global access to tell the positive stories of Nigeria– from positive stories that impact celebrities to politicians, from boardroom bosses to classroom champions. The platform will be used to create and share content.

There are two value proposition pillars that they are keeping in mind:

Stewardship;
Empowerment

Stewardship – they are employing a network of young people in Nigeria to help create the content.
Empowerment – they are then connecting the content they create to action items like raising awareness, project fundraising, and professional networking.

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RESULT
They have implemented some key performance indicators that are part of an ongoing evaluation process to measure the success of the project on multidimensional scale. Notably, in five years, the groundwork is in place to create hundreds of jobs (across different disciplines such as videography, writing, editing, and more).

Investment: Online Platform to Tell the Positive Stories of Nigeria
L = 50
I = 30
C = 40
Business Idea Metric: 120

To learn more about The 234 Project, please check out the online community

The 234 Project is active on social media: Twitter – @the234project | Facebook – The 234 Project | Instagram – @the234project

F.I.V.E Questions with Rachel Hill, CEO of RachelTravels.com

I’d like to introduce you to the elegant, business savvy, and well-traveled Rachel Hill. Rachel left a very lucrative corporate career with Johnson and Johnson to follow her passion and has continued to blaze her path to success. She’s been featured on multiple online publications and recently launched a new venture: i Hired Me, co to provide coaching services to aspiring entrepreneurs. This is the 2nd installment of our Find Insights Via Engaging™ (F.I.V.E) Questions with an Entrepreneur series.

10599690_588556584607271_5703129443369329583_n — Rachel the Tiger whisperer…

1. Briefly describe how you got started as an entrepreneur. What is the most exciting or rewarding aspect of what you do?

After leaving my job in Summer 2014, I decided to take some time to travel through South East Asia solo. I rebranded my blog, www.RachelTravels.com as a ‘journal’ of sorts for my family and friends to keep up with my travels, people I met, my perspective, and some ideas on how to travel authentically but on a budget. Never looked at it more than a travel blog of my thoughts.

I always knew there was a way to create Online Businesses, but never quite knew how to start and what was really out there. As fate would have it, in Thailand, I ended up meeting a young guy from Ireland who was splitting 6 months of the year traveling the world (at the time he was studying Muai-Thai in Thailand) and the other 6 months in Ireland! He told me he had online businesses and connected me with his Mentor. The rest is history from there!

The most exciting and rewarding part about running a travel blog as a business, is all the AMAZING people I have an opportunity to connect with very organically! On top of that, I am sharing my love and passion of traveling the world, especially as a woman of color, with others and showing them how they can easily do it too!

What could make it even more exciting and rewarding is showing and inspiring even more people of color to travel and experience the world abroad!

2. Flash back and then fast forward to the present, what has surprised you the most about mastering your unique set of skills and what advice do you have for others looking to learn a similar skill or discover their talent?

Honestly, I had no idea that being a Project Manager in Digital Marketing would equip me to grow my Brand to this level so quickly. As a Project Manager by trade, being very strategic, analytical and organized comes with the job. But continuing to nurture these set of skills helps in staying consistent, planning out content, and negotiating contracts/ agreements, or even creating product offerings.

My advice would be to continue to cultivate any skill set you have. While I am no longer in Corporate America, it is a priority for me as an Entrepreneur to stay abreast of what is going on in the industry, by investing in Coaches, mentors, courses, training, etc. It is the only way you can become a Master in your craft.

If you’re looking to “discover” your talent, ask yourself questions such as:

What do I LOVE doing that I am always wanting to learn more and more about?
What do people constantly ask my opinion, insights, and advice on?
What truly lights me up on the inside?

Start there and see what you come up with!

3. What is your unfair advantage?

Hmmm. Not sure if this is “unfair”, but I rarely ever meet a stranger. I just love people and can easily connect by being unapologetically, genuinely, and authentically myself. I have found that being unapologetic and vulnerable with my personal and professional experiences really allows potential and current Customers and Clients to trust and identify with me.

4. What is your current favorite and least favorite city that you’ve visited and why?

Favorite City: Cape Town, South Africa – outside of the stunning views, wine country, and gorgeous people, it has such a rich history and culture. While it is not perfect (but what place or person is?!), it was one of the BEST travel experiences I have had.

Least Favorite: Every city I went to in Cambodia! It seemed as though everyone was trying to get over on you and rip you off. Not to mention it was the hottest I have ever been in my life. Perhaps one day, I will give the country another try.

5. What is the best piece of actionable advice you received that influenced your decision to launch your business and has still continued to deliver dividends till today?

”It does not have to be perfect the first time around, just TAKE ACTION!”

Perfectionism is a real thing! Attempting to get everything perfect is only delaying you from starting and making progress. Getting started and taking action NOW is the only way to progress, you can tweak, build, and implement along the way! And 9 out of 10 times, things will change anyway!

******

Rachel is active on social media. Connect with her on LinkedIn: Rachel Hill | Twitter: @RachelTravels_ | Instagram: @RachelTravels

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The Most Interesting Thing About Investing in Africa: Mobile Banking in Nigeria

Amara Udokporo, MHA and Kenny Udokporo, MCE, MCO
***
Amara and Kenny are investors in Net Gold Business Consulting.

Amara-Kenny

Investment: Banking of the People, By the People, and For the People in Nigeria
SITUATION
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spends approximately 34 billion Naira (N34bn) a year to print new paper money due to currency mutilation. To address this critical issue of “cash waste” in Nigeria, CBN introduced the “cashless” initiative as part of an overall policy framework in 2011. The framework identified a number of cashless methods (including checks, ATM cards, online banking, and POS terminal); but the most promising solution, both from the standpoint of dealing with cash waste and pulling the unbanked out of the shadows, has been mobile money. Mobile money consists of a number of money transfer processes but it’s basically an electronic payment system that enables one individual or entity to transfer a specified financial value through a mobile phone to another individual or entity without using a bank account.

Unbanked

ACTION
NETGOLD MOBILE worked with the CBN to register as an aggregator and set up partnerships with CBN-licensed mobile money operators such as eTranzact International, First Bank, and Pagatech. Here’s how the work flows:

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN): Provides general oversight and issues licenses to the Operators.
Mobile Money Operators: Manage the technology platform needed for the financial transaction (eTranzact, First Bank etc.).
Aggregators: Act as the middle man between the Operators and the Agents. An aggregator is a company that is registered with a specific Operator. An aggregator recruits, trains, and manages agents within the platform. NETGOLD MOBILE is an aggregator.
Agents: Sign up users and make a commission on the active users that they sign up. Agents are individuals recruited by an aggregator, and they can also conduct transactions on behalf of their users.
Users: Use the mobile money service to send and receive payments. Registration is usually free.

The daily mission for NETGOLD MOBILE is to break down the banking barriers for the unbanked (many of whom are located in rural areas) while providing job opportunities for agents (many of whom were previously unemployed).

Unemployment Word Cloud

RESULT
NETGOLD MOBILE is making progress in breaking down the following mobile money barriers:

Too Few Agents – By partnering with investors like Amara and Kenny, who have sophisticated professional and family networks that they can tap into, a concerted effort has been put in place to continue to attract more local agents.

Lack of User Awareness – The steady increase in local agents will lead to a steady increase in user awareness. In a survey last year, it was estimated that only 57% of available users knew about the service; but that number is now on the rise.

Agent Income and Business Model – As user awareness goes up, the earning potential for each agent goes up as well. Looking ahead…the good news is that the service continues to improve on key performance metrics and tools to help all the stakeholders involved manage the workflow.

Investment: Mobile Money Banking and “Banking On” the Unbanked in Nigeria
L = 10
I = 20
C = 10
Business Idea Metric: 40

To learn more about this service and get more information on how you can participate, please contact: Amara Udokporo | Kenny Udokporo

F.I.V.E Questions with David McMenomey, Owner of Redemit 1

I’m excited to launch the “Find Insights Via Engaging™ (F.I.V.E) Questions with an Entrepreneur” series. The series will feature answers to 5 unique questions posed to an entrepreneur. Their answers will enable every reader to learn how they got started in their venture, discover how they mastered their unique set of skills, and gain from any piece of advice that has continued to deliver dividends. It will be fun, insightful, and inspiring. The goal is that you are able to take at least one actionable tip from each conversation.

My first conversation is with David McMenomey, Digital Strategist at Redemit One.

1. Briefly describe how you got started and what is the most exciting or rewarding aspect of what you do?

It was early 2012 and my very pregnant wife was at the store getting groceries for the week. I received a phone call that no one wants to get, the kind of call that stops your heart. “David, I am in the line to check out and none of our credit cards are working. Do you know what is going on?” You see at this point, I had been nursing along a startup that had zero revenue for 8 months, in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Every credit card was maxed and we had a baby on the way in a few short months. To say I was desperate would be an understatement…

The one thing I did right while starting my first company was I focused on the digital side of the business. I knew that growing a business online would be better than going door to door as I had done to start my career. So I started devouring Internet marketing training for hours on end, reprogramming the way I thought about marketing and scalability. The 2 trainers I had been listening to were Jeff Usner and Hans Johnson and you will never guess who called me just about a week after we hit rock bottom financially…Jeff Usner. I had met him a few times at some business training / personal development events but didn’t even know he remembered me. He offered me a job in Texas and I took it.

This was the start of my career in the Internet, but I started at the bottom making almost no money. To me it didn’t matter, anything was better than what I was making with what I was currently doing, and I would get to learn the skill I passionately wanted to learn, Internet Marketing.

I worked with Jeff for 3½ years and created multiple online products, marketing funnels, and web properties that made millions of dollars. I received hands on experience, and built valuable confidence and belief in my abilities to take an idea and bring it to life online.

In October of 2015 I was laid off from my work with Jeff’s company as they moved out of Texas and back east to Pennsylvania. After a few months of consulting for companies, I decided to launch my own agency, Redemit One. It was one consulting client who pushed me over the edge to go from floundering consultant, to full-fledged marketing agency. This client, Manny, was a non-profit who had a vision to help kids coping with cancer feel like rockstars for a day. Manny had some great material on coping with cancer, and wanted me to create a marketing funnel to promote it. So I sat down with him and created a lead generation funnel that could not only help more cancer patients, but also bring in new and reliable donors to fund his charity.

This is the type of work that keeps me going. I love taking an existing business and creating a way for them to have predictable, scalable revenue. There is so much misinformation out there about getting rich on the Internet, and I like going in implementing simple, proven strategies that drive revenue. That is what excites me. Creating something like this for a client, then handing them the keys to the system and letting them run with it. I don’t want to be the company that creates a system that is dependent on Redemit One. I want my clients to be able to walk away from me at any point and continue to grow their vision and company. As short-sighted as that may sound, my client’s businesses were never mine to start with, so why should I hold them ransom just because I help them grow revenue in a new area?

2. Flash back and then fast forward to the present, what has surprised you the most about mastering your unique set of skills and what advice do you have for others looking to learn a similar skill?

I think the most surprising part of looking back at my journey in this business is how simple what I do really is. With all of the complex training and courses out there, it is easy to get bogged down and never actually do anything online. The key to learning this skill set is something Jeff taught me, find what works and copy that. You always want to emulate success. There are other smarter, more patient people out there who have tested and perfected a business model Online, so find out what they are doing and do your best to copy that.

3. What is your unfair advantage?

My clients will tell you that my unfair advantage is that I have already been there. I have done it. I know how it looks to start with an idea and turn it into scalable revenue, so every project I take on, I have the end in mind for the client. I also never sell them on their own idea. Most new prospective client meetings are me telling them why their idea won’t work and how a few minor tweaks in their perspective will make all the difference. To me, if the idea doesn’t produce recurring revenue for the client, I will not take the project. It is not worth it for anyone…

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4. Describe the results a potential client could expect when they do business with you and how do you plan to WOW them?

The result a client will see when they work with Redemit One is a revenue machine will be created. They will get a completed mechanism that brings them new leads and converts those leads into money. Pretty simple really. I specialize in lead generation, and that really is the heartbeat of what makes clients happy. They are flooded with new leads who convert to cash. That will motivate any business owner to refer Redemit One. I think what wows clients is that I am not afraid to walk away from taking their business. If I can see at the start that the project is not going to produce results of the client, I am happy to walk away from the money upfront and point them in a different direction, or to a different company for the work. The only thing worse than no clients, is unsuccessful ones…

5. What is the best advice (or quote or insight) you received that gave you the confidence to launch your business?

The best insight I was given to launch my company came from 2 different clients on the same day. I was waffling between the idea of going back to work for a big company and continuing to hone my skills and the idea of staying on my own. Both clients challenged me and asked, “With the skill set that you have and all that you know how to do, how could you go back to work for anyone knowing they could never pay you what you are worth?” The advice I would give any entrepreneur looking to going out on their own is this, never let your ego get in the way of your journey. You have to be able to take an honest step back and evaluate whether you need to continue developing your skill by working for someone, or if you really have all the right pieces to be your own boss.

“Never let your ego get in the way of your journey.” – David McMenomey

Connect with David on LinkedIn.

39 Sir Alex Ferguson Quotes to Ignite the Champion in You

Growing up in Nigeria, you were either a Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool fan. Manchester United was my team back then, and still is. We consumed football for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When we were not glued to the TV screen cheering on our favorite teams, we were in the streets, often barefoot, practicing the skills we had witnessed.

Sir Alex Ferguson was the mastermind behind Manchester United’s successive years of dominance. In his 39 years at the helm, he led Manchester United to 2 Champions League titles, 17 Domestic League titles, 14 Domestic Cups, and 2 Other European titles. I had the pleasure of reading his book, Leading: Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United, and below are 39 inspiring quotes in honor of his 39 glory years as manager of Manchester United.

Listening

“If you are leading people, it helps to have a sense of who they are- the circumstances in which they were raised, the actions that will draw out the best in them, and the remarks that will cause them to be spooked. The only way to figure this out is by underrated activities: listening and watching.”

Watching

“It sounds simple to say you should believe what your eyes tell you, but it is very hard to do. It is astonishing how many biases and preconceived notions we carry around, and these influence what we see, or, more precisely, what we think we see.”

Discipline

“I always felt that our triumphs were an expression of the consistent application of discipline.”

Work Rate

“When winning becomes a way of life, true winners are relentless.”
“In a perfect world I would have filled every team-sheet with 11 men who had as much determination as talent. But life is not like that, and if I had to choose between someone who had great talent but was short on grit and desire, and another player who was good but had great determination and drive, I would always prefer the latter.”

Drive

“For me drive means a combination of a willingness to work hard, emotional fortitude, enormous powers of concentration and a refusal to admit defeat.”

Conviction

“I cannot imagine how anyone, without firm conviction and deep inner beliefs, can be an effective leader.”

Preparation

“…Preparation had a lot more to do with our success than a few fortunate breaks.”
“The way to win battles, wars and games is by attacking and overrunning the opposing side.”
“On our own team, the best players tended to be sticklers for preparation. That’s part of the reason why they were good or great.”

Mentorship

“There is a lot to be said for either picking, or being lucky enough to land, the right mentor. The best ones can change your life.”

Teamwork

“Each player has to understand the qualities and strengths of their team-mates.”

Excellence

“Part of the way you develop excellence in an organization is to be careful about the way you define success.”
“Winning anything requires a series of steps.”

Inspiring

“You don’t get the best out of people by hitting them with an iron rod. You do so by gaining their respect, getting them accustomed to triumphs and convincing them that they are capable of improving their performance.”
“Much of leadership is about extracting that extra 5 percent of performance that individuals did not know they possessed.”
“Unless you understand people, it is very hard to motivate them.”
“Another crucial ingredient of motivation is consistency. As a leader you can’t run from one side of the ship to the other. People need to feel that you have unshakeable confidence in a particular approach. If you can’t show this, you’ll lose the team very quickly.”
“Anyone who is in charge of a group of people has got to have a strong personality….a strong personality is an expression of inner strength and fortitude.”
“People perform best when they know they have earned the trust of their leader.”

Complacency

“Complacency is a disease, especially for individuals and organizations that have enjoyed success.”

Networking

“A network takes time to develop. Part comes through the passage of time, part from the way you treat others and part from reciprocity.”
“It’s easy to forget about the troubles of others but, if you take the time to remember, it goes a very long way.”

Time

“Don’t lie, don’t steal, and always be early.”

Distractions

“I have yet to encounter anyone who has achieved massive success without closing themselves off from the demands of others or forgoing pastimes.”
“If you have two people of equal talent it will be the way in which they marshal their ability that will determine their eventual success.”
“There’s only one way to enjoy a final and that’s to win it. Nobody ever remembers the losers.”

Failing

“At some point in my life the desire and need to win outstripped my fear of failure.”
“There’s some merit in getting defeated – even though I’d never want it to be a habit. Team members who are hungry for victory and take great pride in their performance will be eager to avenge defeat.”

Speaking

“Whether the audience is one person or 75,000, you need to assemble your thoughts, know what you want to emphasize and just say it.”

Boss

“The greatest bosses also take pride in making sure that if employees who have served them well choose to leave, they go on to greater and better things.”

Control

“I just don’t believe that you can get the most out of people if they are perpetually afraid of you.”

Delegation

“My job was to make everyone understand that the impossible was possible. That’s the difference between leadership and management”

Decision Making

“When you are in the football world, and I suspect in almost every other setting, you have to make decisions with the information at your disposal, rather than what you wish you might have.”

Salesmanship

“Any leader is a salesman – and he has to sell to the inside of his organization and to the outside. Anyone who aspires to be a great leader needs to excel at selling his ideas and aspirations to others.”

Compensation

“Bonuses get spent. Medals are forever.”

Negotiation

“If you need one person to change your destiny, then you have not built a very solid organization.”

Arriving

“If you want to build a winning organization, you have to be prepared to carry on building every day. You never stop building – if you do, you stagnate.”

Confidence

“It’s one thing to have confidence in your own abilities. It’s a completely different challenge to instill confidence in others.”

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The Most Interesting Thing About Investing in Africa

by Chuki Obiyo and Ozii Obiyo

INTRODUCTION

What is the most interesting thing that you have done, seen, or heard about investing in Africa? Think about it. Better yet, this e-book gives unique insight into how others have thought about it. From executives at some of the largest companies in the world to young professionals just starting out in their new careers, the topic of investing in Africa makes for a good debate and an even better conversation.

In the course of human history, Africa has gone from the cradle of civilization to the last frontier of the global economy. Ah…Ah…Africa, the protagonist of the first and next chapter in the story of human success? To read about Africa is to learn about our shared origin, and more importantly, to decide on how we get to our shared future. Reading is an investment in time, thought, and action. This book gives you an opportunity to invest in Africa by experiencing the most interesting things others have done, seen, or heard about investing in Africa.

There are so many things to learn about investing in Africa. This book explores some of the most interesting things contributed by people from different backgrounds. Each contributor was asked to answer a series of questions about an African investment project broken down into three sections: Situation, Action, and Result. In turn, we developed our proprietary methodology to analyze each project and we refer to this methodology as the Business Idea Metric (BIM). The BIM uses a weighting scale to evaluate the labor, infrastructure, and capital requirements for an investment idea or project.

For the labor requirement, we look at factors such as low, medium, or high skill and assign a value of 10, 30, or 50 accordingly.

For the infrastructure requirement, we examine factors such as electricity/utilities, construction permits, property registration, transportation, and technology, and attach a value of 10 for each factor accordingly.

For the capital requirements, we consider the amount of capital needed to get the project off the ground from $0-100, $101-1000, $1001-10,000, $10,001-100,000, and over $100,000 and assign values of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 based on the given spend levels.

We have received very positive feedback on our BIM methodology and its LIC (labor, infrastructure, capital) ingredients as a unique way to not only evaluate current projects but to also help prioritize future project ideas for viability. Please see below for one of the investment projects that we profiled from our work. In this write-up, we classify each profile by the contributor’s name (so please continue to watch this space for more project profiles).

We now welcome you to enjoy the reading experience of exploring the most interesting things about investing in Africa.

★★★★★

Wasili Mfungwe, MBA
***
Wasili Mfungwe, MBA is an international market analyst and consultant with expertise in economic research, ALM, stress testing, equity research, and business intelligence. He obtained a Bachelor’s of Social Science Degree in Economics and Sociology (Bsoc Eco) from the University of Malawi, Chancellor College and his MBA from Edinburgh Business School (Heriot-Watt University). He has particular interest in African business development, research, and econometrics.

Investment: Restructuring a corporate loan to promote a public good
SITUATION
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM)– the main electricity generator and distributer in Malawi had a loan with Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) to the tune of MK3 billion (R79 million). The repayment of the loan was hampering the implementation of a program to revamp Malawi’s energy sector in order to provide more reliable electricity, create better non-outsourceable jobs, and improve the lives of everyday Malawians.

ACTION
Standard Bank Malawi Limited stepped in to restructure the loan which ESCOM owed to DBSA. The DBSA loan was secured by a zero coupon note issued by Investec in favor of ESCOM with a maturity value equal to the loan principal. Standard Bank ensured that ESCOM was able to get the highest discounted value for the note which, as part of the restructuring, was being sold before its maturity in June 2019. Standard Bank also advised ESCOM on the various structuring options and negotiated with DBSA and Investec on behalf of ESCOM, discounting the promissory note through its structured sales team and using the proceeds to partially repay the loan. Through its global markets team, Standard Bank built and remitted a total of R37.5 million on behalf of ESCOM to repay the outstanding amount of the loan. Standard Bank’s Investment Banking team structured and negotiated the prepayment with DBSA without any break costs being applied.

“Public-private partnerships should become the rule, not the exception, in delivering services.”
– Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001

RESULT
The transaction has helped to engineer a smooth implementation of the energy sector revamp program. In addition, Standard Bank ensured that ESCOM saved R1.5 million in interest payments per month, leading to improvements in its free cash flow position. The transaction has also helped eliminate forex and interest rate risk for ESCOM.

Investment: Restructuring a loan to a corporation to promote a public good
L = 50
I = 50
C = 50
Business Idea Metric: 150

We want to hear your unique story and a unique story of someone in your network. Send us a note here.

Andela Alumni “Tech-Effect” on Africa’s Youth

Andela is on a mission to revolutionize Africa through technology spearheaded by Africans. This is a big challenge due to the inadequate supply of highly skilled tech talent in Africa. History informs us that successful revolutions require critical thinking, preparation, cultivation, and execution. So for Andela’s Africa tech revolution to materialize, there needs to be supply of local talent and the infrastructure to develop these talent to execute flawlessly.

Even Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is struggling with an adult literacy rate of just over 50% according to UNICEF. Although Nigeria allocates N392B ($1.9B) of the Federal budget to Education, assuming most of the money isn’t siphoned off to enrich corrupt officials, this is still disproportionately low for a country with a population size of over 170M. Moreover, (teacher) strikes at government-owned universities and colleges have become routine that many schools are forced to close for months while the students idle away. The students end up suffering the most from these strikes. And yet, these same students are supposed to be prepared to lead us into and in the future. Do you see the conundrum here?

A typical office at the Andela campus. — Some of Andela’s offices are set up like your personalized living rooms

According to a report by the UN, Africa boasts the youngest population in the world, a figure estimated at 200M aged between 15 and 24. In the same UN report titled: ‘Africa’s youth: a “ticking time bomb” or an opportunity?’ the authors point to the staggering youth unemployment rate as one of the major concerns of Economists. I don’t think you have to be an Economist to be concerned about the potential economic impact of this issue. In Nigeria alone, youth unemployment is well over 50% according to a report by McKinsey. This figure is alarming and does warrant asking if it is in fact a “ticking time bomb”. Remember Egypt?

Lunch time at the Andela campus...jollof rice, fried plantain, fried fish, and chicken was served. — Lunch time at the Andela campus (jollof rice, fried plantain, fried fish, and chicken was served that day)

Andela sees this degree of unemployment as an opportunity which is why the founders are placing big bets on Africa’s youth with their bold approach. The company’s business model, perks, and culture have been detailed in prominent publications such as Inc., Forbes, and Wired. They make for a good read. Read all of them.

Recent Andela Fellows — These fellows are taking advantage of one of the many open-work spaces

During my last trip to Lagos earlier this month, I spent some time exploring the Andela Lagos campus with Iyinoluwa Aboyeji Co-founder of Andela, Ebun Omoni – Director at Andela, and a group of recent fellows (Andrew, Oscar, Blessing, and Adebayo) to experience this revolution unfold firsthand.

I left the campus feeling excited about the potential impact that current fellows could have once they leave Andela to start or join a new tech venture.

Andela recruits some of the brightest minds in Africa with their very selective process and puts them through an intense boot-camp that teaches a combination of computer programming and interpersonal skills before staffing these fellows on projects with clients abroad. The fellows get paid from day one of acceptance, no gimmicks. At Andela, it is much more than being just an amazing programmer, you also have to believe fully in their audacious future of Africa and take a lead role in shaping that future. Five to twenty years from now, many of these fellows will credit their time at Andela as the springboard to their successful venture. As Andela fellow’s technical expertise, business acumen, and confidence continue to accelerate, it will only be a matter of time before these fellows become tech job creators, not only for talent in Africa but talent across the world. I call this the Andela Alumni “Tech-Effect” on Africa’s youth (and the world).

Update as of June 16, 2016: Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, and Priscilla Chan, his wife, through their joint venture (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC) invested $25M into Andela. This is just another validation that Andela is heading in the right direction.

Rooftop ping pong is one of the many perks at the campus

Andela is hiring. Apply at www.andela.co

Andela currently has locations in Lagos, Nigeria and Nairobi, Kenya; with plans to expand across Africa in the near future.

Follow and join their discussions on Twitter: @andela