39 minute read
How HR leaders can adapt to uncertain times Developing Sales excellence during a Global Pandemic Features Five Helpful Insights in Crisis How Change Happens - #ENDSARS NIGERIA
answers to the current crisis the world is facing. However, the negative effects of the crisis on A crisis situation should not take over the objectives of a business though it may necessitate its modification. If you be intentional about it. As you make your plans, ensure that your goals and target audience and all stakeholders (internal and external) are kept constantly in view. Among other things, doing this will make certain that your i n m a n y a r e a s o f b u s i n e s s working policies (remote and physical) – sick leave, annual leave, maternity leave, performance, training, payment. Even as you naturally “self – protect”, lets your people and clients know you are thinking about their wellbeing during this time of crisis. This will go a long way to engender structured trust,
Rosemary Ihuoma is the Principal Consultant for ProDx. ProDX – a training management software solution for corporate organisations. She is an alumna of the Executive MBA (EMBA 16). She can be reached for 5 c o m m e n t s & r e q u e s t s a t support@prodx.org Helpful Insights in Crisis Situation
No one can claim to have all the we can support one another by sharing helpful insights on possible solutions to ourselves and our businesses.
Here are a few takeaways: Be Objective
have to review your business objectives, plans are more unique.
Be Flexible
Crisis calls for a great deal of flexibility management. It is good to review your be sure to conduct a review that clearly Rosemary Ihuoma
loyalty and commitment. These are It is important that while you look to guarantees you access control and
invaluable in business.
Communicate
Now more than ever before, you need to communicate. Ensure that all your employees are in the loop and are all well informed. The COVID-19 pandemic just like any crisis has created a lot of uncertainties, disrupting business plans and strategies and causing anxiety. Consequently, regular communication with your team to keep them consistently informed is one sure way to reduce their uncertainties and manage their anxiety.
Train
Furthermore, providing your people with relevant training will help to direct their attention to achievements and create a sense of fulfilment which is threatened by the crisis. In turn, this will help to keep your people focused and enhance their performance in driving your business goals (studies have shown this). Having a good training management software solution is a great help here. It enables you to train your people regularly, store your own training content and access other training content cheaply. A training management solution is a very essential digital transformation tool for your time and money.
Secure
technology to continue your business operations, you must not forget the need to secure and centralise your business information and data. In this age of data mining, there is a need to carefully access the privacy and data security afforded by most of the digital solutions you use in business for live meetings and/or conferencing. It is always better and more advisable to have your own integrated training management software solution so that y o u r c o n t e n t i s c e n t r a l i s e d , i t every business in these times, it saves
maximum data security.
Conclusively, as a business leader or manager, it is true that you cannot provide a complete solution to every problem - especially in the case of a novel crisis as the coronavirus pandemic. However, your objectivity, empathy, are strong traits that should come through in all your choices, decisions and actions in preparation for the future. These, at the end, are what would matter most in your business and precisely what your people will remember long after the crisis is gone. A crisis always has an end, while your business is a going concern.
How Change Happens -
#ENDSARS NIGERIA
Tunde Ekpekurede
Afew persons have been concerned about the possibility of the current #ENDSARS movement in Nigeria being hijacked by hoodlums. Personally, I differ from this line of thought. As Nigerians we have lived in a comfort zone of pain for so long that it is so difficult for us to even tolerate any small discomfort EVEN WHEN EVERY EVIDENCE POINTS TO THE FACT THAT THE DISCOMFORT WE ARE EXPERIENCING IS THE ROAD TO A GREATER DESTINY.
As humans, we abhor discomfort. In Biblical times, when the children of Israel knew for certainty that Moses was taking them out of slavery, they still told Moses that they would rather stay in Egypt and endure the known experiences under the Egyptian taskmasters. They embraced the fear of the unknown, seeing it as a greater force than the promise of freedom & independence. Yet, if we can learn to embrace discomfort, it is the best thing that can happen to us: as individuals, as organisations, as a nation.
DISCOMFORT is the feeling you get when a woman is about to give birth. It signifies that the child has outgrown the mother's womb. The feeling of discomfort is palpable, but the knowledge of the miracle of a new life sustains the mother's confidence in the face of the discomfort. The activities of hoodlums cannot disrupt the emergence of a new Nigeria. We need to be focused on the goal. The pains are real, the discomfort certain, our vulnerabilities, even surer. But as the statement by Marcia Reynolds highlights above, it is when you are vulnerable that RADICAL CHANGE happens. There is nothing new in hoodlums taking advantage of our protests. The Government has the responsibility to protect all properties, lives, and citizens, including the lives of protesters as the right to express dissent is a constitutional right. When one has been enslaved for over 60 years, it is difficult to remember the sweetness of freedom, and it is this vulnerability that hoodlums seek to exploit. We have seen prisoners who returned to prisons after breaking out of prison, because of the fear of being in the outside world, even when free. We are at a vulnerable moment, but it is a moment that we should LEAN INTO rather than avoid. There is a lot of work needed to unlearn the old, long-lived awareness and solidify a new one, to take us to greater heights. Photo Credit: Seyi Malumi DBM Pictures
Tunde Ekpekurede is an authority in the fields of mental toughness and resilience and has served as speaker, facilitator, and executive coach in these fields for over a decade. He has worked in executive level positions in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, and Nigeria. He is currently the CEO of Learning4Living, a Training and Leadership Development company. He is a member of the Advanced Management Programme (AMP) 12.
When a young baby begins to learn how to walk for the first time, the experience is scary. At this moment we are like little babies, learning to take little steps. There is so much that is unknown and so much that is scary. But that is the joy of what we are embarking upon. Christopher Columbus and others like him set out several years ago to explore territories that they were not even sure e x i s t e d . T h e c i v i l i z a t i o n a n d technologies that we enjoy today came out of the sweat of people who dared to venture into the unknown. Think about the first people who agreed to board a plane, a rocket and all that - putting their lives forward for scientific postulations that were not 100% certain. All growth happens outside of your comfort zone. You can either be comfortable and stagnate or stretch yourself — become uncomfortable — and grow. Change happens when we explore things that make us uncomfortable. We embrace moments that open us to new possibilities. Fear tries to keep us the same. Fear is a form of paralysis – It says DON'T MOVE. “The comfort zone is a psychological state in which one feels familiar, safe, at ease, and secure. You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone.” ― Roy T. Bennett. “Until we allow ourselves to see discomfort as the agent of change it is, we live in fear” – Brianna Wiest. But this generation of Nigerians will not cower in fear. Former US President John F. Kennedy said, “We choose to go to the moon.
We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will organise and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too”.
Tragedy of The Commons
– Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all
Akin Akinbogun
Tragedy of the Commons sounds like something out of Broadway where millions of lights on theatre marquees and billboard advertisements help brighten the night sky and echoes of musical burletta rent the air. But hold that thought! The concept has a much deeper connotation and impact on our everyday lives and may provide some insight into some of the social and environmental problems that have besieged many generations. Tragedy of the Commons is an economic problem that occurs when individuals neglect the well-being of the society in pursuit of personal gains. How does this relate to anything then? You may want to ask. The tragedy of the Commons is an economic problem in which every individual has an incentive to consume a resource at the expense of every other individual with no way to exclude anyone from consuming. It results in overconsumption, underinvestment, and ultimately depletion of a common-pool of resources. As the demand for the resource overwhelms the supply, every individual who consumes an additional unit directly harms others who can no longer enjoy the benefits. Generally, the resource of interest is easily available to all individuals.
The concept highlights the conflict between individual and collective rationality and it is taken from the title of a scientific article written by Garret Hardin (an evolutionary biologist by education) in 1968. The paper addressed the growing concern of overpopulation, and Hardin used an example of sheep grazing land, taken from the early English economist William Forster Lloyd when describing the adverse effect of overpopulation. Hardin was concerned with human population growth and the inevitable environmental degradation resulting from overpopulation. He compared shared resources to a common grazing pasture; in this scenario, everyone with rights to the pasture, graze as many animals as possible, acting in selfinterest for the greatest short-term personal gain. Eventually, they use up all the grass in the pasture; the shared resource is depleted and no longer useful. The Tragedy of the Commons is an accurate description of human nature; we will always opt for an immediate benefit at the expense of less tangible values, such as the availability of a resource to future generations. For more clarity on the definition of the concept, the following will provide more insight: -"Commons" in this sense means such resources as atmosphere, oceans, rivers, fish stocks, the office refrigerator, energy or any other shared resource which is not formally regulated; not common land in its agricultural sense.
Akin Akingbogun is the head of Retail Engineering at OVH Energy Marketing and President of SMP 69 class. Also known as the "Duke of Small talks", Akin is a public speaker, social entrepreneur and writer. Akin's writing can be found at www.akinakingbogun.com
- Hardin used the word “tragedy”, to refer to a dramatic outcome that is the inevitable but unplanned result of a character ’ s actions. He called the destruction of the commons through overuse a tragedy not because it is sad, but because it is the inevitable result of shared use of the pasture. ―Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all The tragedy of the commons may occur when an economic good is both rivalrous in consumption and nonexcludable. These types of goods are called common-pool resource goods (as opposed to private goods, club goods, or public goods). A good that is rivalrous in consumption means that when someone consumes a unit of the good, then that unit is no longer available for others to consume; all consumers are rivals competing for t h e g o o d , a n d e a c h p e r s o n ' s consumption subtracts from the total stock of the good available. So what were Hardin's thoughts? Hardin pointed out the problem of individuals acting in rational selfinterest by claiming that if all members in a group used common resources for their own gain and with no regard for others, all resources would still eventually be depleted. Hardin's essay asserted, without proof, that human beings are helpless prisoners of biology and the market. Unless restrained, we will inevitably d e s t r o y o u r c o m m u n i t i e s a n d environment for a few extra pennies of profit. There is nothing we can do to make the world better or more just. Overall, Hardin argues against relying on conscience as a means of policing commons, suggesting that this favours selfish individuals – often known as free riders – over those who are more altruistic. In avoiding over-exploitation o f c o m m o n r e s o u r c e s , H a r d i n concludes by restating Hegel's maxim (which was quoted by Engels), "freedom is the recognition of necessity." He suggests that "freedom" completes the tragedy of the common. In furtherance to Hardin ' s position, history also illustrates that the destruction of the commons will not be stopped by shame, moral admonitions, or cultural mores anywhere near so effectively as it will be by the will of the people expressed as a protective mandate; in other words, government. Tragedies of the Commons are real, but not inevitable. Hardin proposed government intervention, regulation, privatisation or direct control of the common-pool resource to avert the “tragedy”. He concludes that regulating consumption and use or legally excluding some individuals, can reduce over-consumption and government investment in conservation and renewal of the resource can help prevent its depletion. So let's look at examples of the Tragedy of the Commons:
S o m e s c i e n t i s t s c o n s i d e r t h e exponential growth of the human population to be an example of a Tragedy of the Commons. In this case, the common resource is the planet earth and all its shared resources. The world' s population has reached 7 billion.
Examining population growth as a Tragedy of the Commons illustrates t h a t t h e d e p l e t i o n o f c o m m o n resources isn 't always the result of greed. Just by existing, each person uses water, air, land, and food resources; splitting those resources among 7 billion people (and counting) tends to stretch them pretty thin. To bring this closer home, think about the COVID-19 pandemic. People rushed in panic to buy all sorts of essentials and nonessentials leaving stores out of hand sanitizers, disinfectant wipes and basic food items. Shoppers bought as much as they could and much more than they would ever need. Stores' shelves turned bare and looked like a hurricane swept through as shoppers emptied almost all items. There were reported (and even recorded) incidences of people trading invectives as others packed essential goods while some settled this with fisticuffs. Basically in an attempt to ensure their own comfort and safety, individuals quickly depleted limited supplies of resources. That chaos brings the Tragedy of the Commons right into our faces. Traffic congestion: Public roads are an excellent example of common property shared by many people. Each of these people has his or her own interest in mind — typically, how to get to work as quickly and easily as possible. But when everyone decides that public roads are the best way to meet traveling needs, the roads jam up and slow down overall traffic movement, filling the air with pollutants from idling cars. Turning public roads into private roads or toll roads creates a different scenario. With a toll to pay (especially if the toll is higher during peak-use hours such as rush hour), drivers may consider a less-direct route or choose to drive to work at a different time
Water: Water pollution, water crisis of over-extraction of groundwater and wasting water due to overirrigation. In the wake of the civil disobedience and unrest that followed the #EndSARS protests in Lagos, the vandalising of stores and pillaging of COVID-19 p a l l i a t i v e s f r o m g o v e r n m e n t warehouses around the country echoes the adverse effect of the Tragedy of the Commons.
Other examples include: Air Pollution whether ambient air polluted by industrial emissions and cars among other sources of air pollution, or indoor air. Forests – Frontier logging of old growth forest and slash and burn. Animals – Habitat destruction and poaching leading to the Holocene mass extinction.
Oceans – Overfishing.
These examples reinforce the position where utility maximising (whether forcefully or not) behaviour of few individuals ruins the common for all. It occurs in any situation where benefits are primarily received by one party, while the costs are spread out over many parties.
For a Tragedy of the Commons to occur, the goods must also be scarce, since a non-scarce good cannot be rivalrous in consumption; by definition, there is always plenty to go around and non-excludable.
Goods that are non-excludable means that individual consumers cannot prevent others from also consuming the goods.It is this combination of properties (scarcity, rivalry in consumption, and non-excludability) that creates the Tragedy of the Commons.
Each consumer maximises the value they get from the good by consuming as much as they can and as fast as they can before others deplete the resources, and no one has an incentive to reinvest in maintaining or reproducing the good since they cannot prevent others from appropriating the value of the investment by consuming the p r o d u c t f o r t h e m s e l v e s . Eventually, the good becomes more scarce and may end up entirely depleted.
Controversies & Solutions
Free market capitalism teaches us how to better our lives and those of other people by reaching out and taking, and by d o i n g s o m o r e e f f i c i e n t l y a n d productively. Capitalism is, however, very bad at teaching us when to refrain from taking. That part does not form part of the free market system. Capitalism may contribute a large part of human welfare and progress, but it cannot do so without some external constraints.
Hardin's essay has been widely used as an ideological response to antiimperialist movements in the Third W o r l d a n d d i s c o n t e n t a m o n g indigenous and other oppressed people everywhere in the world.
It has been used repeatedly to justify stealing indigenous peoples ' lands, privatising health care and other social services, giving corporations 'tradable permits' to pollute the air and water, and much more.
It's shocking to realise that he provided no evidence at all to support his sweeping conclusions. He claimed that the “tragedy” was inevitable — but he didn't show that it had happened even once.
Hardin simply ignored what actually happens in real commons: selfregulation by the communities involved. He offered no justification for his opinion that privatisation would save it. The implication is that private owners will do a better job of caring for the environment because they want to preserve the value of their assets. Solutions to the Tragedy of the Commons include the imposition of private property rights, government regulation, or the development of a collective action arrangement. A critical aspect to understanding and overcoming the Tragedy of the Commons is the role that institutional and technological factors play in the rivalry and excludability of resources. Human societies have evolved many varied methods of dividing up and enforcing exclusive rights to economic goods and natural resources or punishing those who over-consume common resources over the course of history.
One possible solution is top-down government regulation or direct control of a common-pool resource. Regulating consumption and use, or legally excluding some individuals, can r e d u c e o v e r c o n s u m p t i o n a n d g o v e r n m e n t i n v e s t m e n t i n conservation and renewal of the resource can help prevent its depletion. For example, government regulation can set limits on how many cattle may be grazed on government lands or issue fish catch quotas. However, top-down government solutions tend to suffer from the well-known rent-seeking, principal-agent, and knowledge problems that are inherent in economic central planning and politically driven processes. Institutionally, this depends on developing some mechanism to define and enforce private property rights, which might occur as an outgrowth of existing institutions of private property over other types of goods. Technologically it means developing some way to identify, measure, and mark units or parcels of the common pool resource off into private holdings, such as branding maverick cattle. This solution can suffer from some of the same problems as top-down government control, because t often, this process of privatisation has occurred by way of a government forcibly assuming control over a common-pool resource and then assigning private property rights over the resource to its subjects based on a sale price or simple political favour. Collective action can be useful in situations where technical or natural physical challenges prevent convenient division of a common-pool resource into small private parcels, by instead relying on measures to address the goods rivalry in consumption by regulating consumption. This also involves limiting access to the resource to only those who are parties to the collective action arrangement, effectively converting a common pool resource into a kind of exclusive good. Bringing this home, our society is sadly awash with conflicts that justify Hardin ' s thoughts as stated in the Tragedy of the Commons. Over the last few decades in the history of many African states, unrestricted access to mining of mineral resources, such as crude oil in the Niger-delta wetland of Southern Nigeria, has caused untold h a r d s h i p a n d d a m a g e s t o t h e environment causing massive loss of farmland and contamination of aquatic marine; thus denying the future indigenes a sustainable source of livelihood. Unfortunately, this has gone unabated for too long and despite media expositions and outcry, the clean-up has been more on paper. This is the same with fishing in the water bodies within the territory of the country. Without recourse to the s e a s o n s a n d b r e e d i n g c y c l e s , fishermen have trawled the waters every day uncontrolled yet over-fishing and selling all sorts of fishes not bred or suitable for consumption. For as long as these pillages and looting continue, Hardin has made it succinctly clear that the depletion of common resources is inevitable. Is this when the import of the Tragedy of the Commons will be appreciated? Well, give this some thought. One thing is clear though, collaborative effort is key to the sustainable m a n a g e m e n t o f o u r c o m m o n resources. Balancing concern for the well-being and interest of individuals with concern for the wellbeing of the group and of the shared environment will create long-term outcomes for everyone.
We must rethink our approach to managing our resources in Africa, especially Nigeria.
Is your company like
Psychological safety is the belief that one will not be criticised, punished, treated unfairly, or humiliated for s p e a k i n g u p w i t h o n e ' s i d e a s , questions, concerns, or opinions. One understands that ideas expressed may not be endorsed, bought into or applauded but will be considered and valuable. It is an environment where there are no repercussions if your opinion differs from that of 'the Boss'. When psychological safety is absent, communicating with colleagues and superiors can feel as if you are navigating landmines. Employees simply do not know what actions or words may trigger an explosion. As a result, it is considered safer and less risky to refrain from speaking - even when it matters than risk an explosion. S u c h a s c e n a r i o h a m p e r s communication and creativity – and discourages feedback. Rather than focus energy on the common goal for the greater good, employees spend time tiptoeing around
Akanimo Ekong assumed landmines, avoiding crucial conversations and interpreting behaviours and actions – rather than c l a r i f y i n g . T h i s p r o m o t e s ineffectiveness and inefficiency. H o w c a n w e c u l t i v a t e a w o r k environment that enhances learning, candour and effectiveness? Here are
some ideas:
Inclusion Safety – enhance the onboarding process to ensure/allow new employees settle in seamlessly and have a sense of belonging.
Learner Safety – promote a corporate culture where people feel comfortable to ask questions, receive feedback, experiment, and own up to their mistakes.
Contributor Safety – explain the 'why', assign the ' what' and delegate the 'how'. Provide autonomy and guidance in exchange for results Challenger Safety – leaders need to master how to increase intellectual friction (idea collision, debate, constructive dissent) yet reduce social friction that may arise.
As the movie '300' ends, we find that despite a history of being formidable in battle, the Spartans lost to the Persians. Something Leonidas was forewarned but failed to heed.
Your company may not 'die', but it will not live up to its full potential if leaders do not 'heed' and deliberately cultivate an enabling environment for the unfettered flow of information. It is simple to implement but has its challenges. It demands leadership c o m m i t m e n t , r e c r u i t m e n t attentiveness, culture alignment and continuous coaching.
So, is your company psychologically safe?
About the Author:
Akanimo Ekong is currently the Founder and Managing Director of Candor Consulting Ltd, an adaptive and authentic Business Consulting firm providing training, employee wellbeing, culture alignment, performance management and IT outsourcing services. Akanimo is a serial trainer, leadership coach, expert recruiter, and mental health counsellor. He is currently the President of EMBA-3. Connect with Akanimo on LBS Connect, LinkedIn or ; akanimo@candor.ng www.candor.ng
What Millennials are Thinking about Investment
Tomie Balogun
‘' I'm not sure I understand why I need to think about my pension now, '' she asked. ''I am a final year student looking forward to graduating and earning an income in a few months. This is all I am thinking about right now. Can you please explain why thinking about my pension is important? '' This was at an event in one of the Universities in Nigeria. I was one of the speakers on the panel, and each of the panelists had shared their personal s t o r i e s o n f i n a n c i a l l i t e r a c y , e n t r e p r e n e u r s h i p , c a r e e r development. The stories we shared inspired questions and this was one of the interesting ones. As I listened to this student speak, I thought her question was typical of the way my generation thinks. I also thought it was a valid question, as she honestly wanted to understand why she should think about a future that was 4050 years away when she has dreams and aspirations for a shorter time period. The other members of the panel and I did our best to provide answers to this young lady on why it wasn't too early to start thinking about mastering money management, and why she needed to seize the opportunity to learn as much as she could from all the members of the panel.
However, for some reason, that question stayed with me. Questions like this might seem unimportant next to the wave of overwhelming information on financial literacy accessible on the internet. Yet, sitting on a panel with other professionals and experts on a rainy day in the south-south area of Nigeria, I realized that questions like that help us get into the minds of the current generation of millennial investors in Nigeria and possibly Africa.
Let's get into their minds, shall we?
An estimated 50% of the current population in Nigeria are aged 30 or less. This group consists largely of millennials who were born between the y e a r s 1 9 8 1 - 2 0 0 0 . A c c o r d i n g t o
Millennials in Africa want a balance: a good mix of short-term interesting investing products and long-term options. We won't mind considering what happens in 40 years as long as we don't miss out on the joys of the present
behavioural experts, millennials are incredibly sophisticated, technology wise. They are also immune to most traditional marketing and sales pitches as they not only grew up with it all, they have seen it all, and have been exposed to it all since early childhood. They are also less brand loyal as the speed of the Internet and influence of social media make them super flexible in fashion, style consciousness and travel.
Prior to the tour of 5 universities, I carried out a survey on 200+ final year students of a university in Lagos and I found the answers to the survey very interesting. When asked the question, “Have you considered investing before?” 90% of respondents selected the option, “I have considered investing, but I do not invest because I do not understand how it works”.
Digging further, it became clear that a lack of information was not the problem. If they really cared to learn about investing, they could simply search the internet for information. I did a google search on how to invest in Nigeria and the search engine brought up 36 million results. So, the problem is not a lack of information. The problem is they don 't see how all the overwhelming information can directly help them achieve their lifestyle goals. Over a period of 2-3 years, I have worked with 4000+ young millennials in Africa who read my weekly emails, attend my investment workshops or read my recently published book on investment clubs, and the rhetoric is similar. On the recent campus tour with Pensions Alliance Limited, I had the opportunity to speak to at least 10,000 students in 5 universities across Nigeria, and after each event, quite a number of the students filled my inbox with the same questions: How can investing help me achieve my goals? How can I start investing right away? They say I don 't really think about retirement because it seems a long way off in the future. Talk to me about financial freedom instead. How can I work, save and travel the world on a budget? How can I pay my bills and still chill? How can I own a house in my 30s and not have to wait till my kids are all grown up? How can I tick off all the
plans on my bucket list? How can I earn passive income? How do I build an investment portfolio that captures my passion for impact, tech, or any other interests? How do I build a business that increases my net-worth? Can you help me achieve this or am I just a statistic for your organization's bottom line? I believe this was that student' s heartfelt question to the members of the panel: how can you help me achieve my financial goals so I can live life on my own terms?
How should this question change the current financial landscape?
The current financial landscape consists of core financial institutions that are innovative with digital technology and some who are largely playing catch up with the industry leaders. We also have a new crop of digital players gaining incredible ground on the local financial landscape in A f r i c a a n d g i v i n g t h e i n c u m b e n t s a r u n f o r customers. However, the question remains, are they all doing enough? The millennial investor doesn't simply want to be a performance index on an o r g a n i z a t i o n ' s f i n a n c i a l statement. They want financial products that help them achieve their lifestyle goals and educate them on how best to achieve financial freedom.
I f i n d m y s e l f i n c r e d i b l y impatient with traditional marketing pitches to simply open a bank account with another financial institution. I own 5 bank accounts, most of which were opened to do an account officer a favour. At first, it seems like a good idea, but after a while, you realise all they need you to do is simply open the bank account and stack up cash to earn interest below the
prevailing inflation rate. Over the past decade, we have seen the traditional financial industry disrupted by multiple technology companies in more developed economies. The use of smart phones for investing services by companies like Betterment, Wealth front, Stash, Acorn in the USA are great examples of how technology is helping millennials move from traditional institutions to digital institutions. These digital institutions offer a simple platform to invest money conveniently in investment options that millennials care about.
In Africa, we have seen significant g r o w t h i n t e c h n o l o g y e n a b l e d industries such as mobile banking and the payments industry. We see this in Nigeria as well, with applications like Piggybank.ng offering automated money saving features and i-invest.ng offering lower price points for millennials to invest in treasury bills. However, we need more of them speaking the millennial language. The millennial language is YOLO (you only live once) and FOMO (fear of missing out). Our lives need to be lit with squad goals i.e. we want to do what our friends are doing, so even if you throw shade, we'll be fine.
Millennials in Africa want a balance: a good mix of short-term interesting investing products and long-term options. We won 't mind considering what happens in 40 years as long as we don 't miss out on the joys of the present. We love our squad of friends, so we 'll collaborate to achieve our goals in a hurry. We want our lives to be lit sometimes, so give us a good outing while you teach us about making responsible money decisions. Basically, speak our language and show us the path to financial freedom so we can hear you loud and clear.
For me, the best part of the campus tour was confirming how different millennials are, in terms of tribe and geographic location, yet how similar we are in terms of our financial language and needs. I am glad I got to experience this, and I am excited about the changes this will bring to the financial landscape in Africa, specifically Nigeria
About the Author
Tomie Balogun is an Investment Expert and a leader within the financial education space in Africa. With over a decade's worth of experience across management consulting, telecommunications and value-added technology, she contributes her technical expertise and extensive experience to creating Fintech products and helping SMEs raise funding in Africa. She is the Founder and current CEO of Vestract, a financial education and technology company that provides financial education to millennials in Africa through the Green Investment club, (Nigeria's biggest investment club) and connects them to vetted investment opportunities through Twelvevest, a Fintech platform. She holds a bachelor's degree in Economics, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Lagos Business School and is an alumna of the Harvard Fintech programme.
#Love
Made in LBS
Uzo Ofoma Chukwuma
After spending 5 years in the c a p i t a l m a r k e t s , M a r t h a Omamegbe sought a fresh challenge. Recognising her interest in entrepreneurship and inspired by the carriage and work ethics of her Mentor and Direct Manager at that time, both alumni members of Lagos Business School, she applied for the Executive MBA (EMBA) programme at Lagos Business School and was admitted into the EMBA 22 class in 2017.
Described by her friends as quiet and reserved, Martha chose her permanent seat next to her friend, Chioma. Unbeknownst to her, a young man named Ugbede Ibrahim also chose a spot behind them. With more than 75 participants admitted into the programme, the class was split into two (A & B) to enhance the learning & networking experience. Martha found herself in the EMBA 22B class, while Ibrahim was in EMBA 22A class. As the programme progressed, the two exchanged pleasantries each time they crossed paths when the EMBA A & B classes had joint sessions. Ibrahim was a pharmacist working for a multinational firm based in Dubai with its African base in Abuja. As strategy and management skills became increasingly more required for his role, he decided to opt for an MBA and considered Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, England. However, he could not find the time to take off work and move to England for the course. He realized that he could get the same world-class education at LBS
Amidst the heart-dampening events that shaped most of this year, a story of friendship, discovery & love emerges…
and applied for the EMBA course. (In hindsight, Ibrahim now appreciates his choice even more, noting the relevance of the LBS experience in the African context).
Opting for the exchange programme at IESE Business School, the two coincidentally booked the same Emirates flight to Barcelona, Spain. Upon settling in, they were neighbours, another coincidence. Martha was living with her cousin, Ono, who they both discovered to be a mutual link between them; she was Ibrahim ' s very good friend and classmate in EMBA 22A class. It was during the trip Ibrahim noted Martha ' s humble, peaceful & calm disposition; her humanity and passion for advocacy; traits that Ibrahim admired and sought in people he could consider as close friends.
Based in Abuja, Ibrahim would travel to Lagos for the programme which was usually scheduled for weekends. However, in 2019, when classes were done, he also made work trips to Lagos and found time to visit his new classmates & friends. On one of such
trips, Ibrahim decided to call Martha to ask if they could hang out while he was in town. Although Martha was happy to hear this, she was caught up with an official in-house training in Satellite town and could not come out to see him. Undeterred, Ibrahim, who was not used to that area of Lagos, found his way to the training centre to see her. This was the beginning of a closer friendship and as time went by, Ibrahim would meet up with her on different occasions with her friends and family.
As their responsibilities grew and demanded more attention from them, the pair kept less in touch, sending each o t h e r m e s s a g e s o n d i f f e r e n t milestones. However, an opportunity came for them to meet again, this time in Abuja. Martha took some days off work to travel to care for her friend who was in the hospital. She decided to check on Ibrahim and called, informing him that she was in town. He came to the hospital to see her, got her lunch and offered her a ride back to where she stayed. Throughout her stay, Ibrahim graciously picked her from the hospital in the evenings and dropped her at the airport on her way back to Lagos. During these trips, the pair got closer and found that they shared similarities in their life perspectives and family background. During the send forth dinner organised for their class in November 2019, the pair agreed to attend and celebrate the end of their programme with their fellow classmates. Not too long after, Ibrahim mustered up the courage to ask her for a relationship that would lead to marriage. Martha hesitated; it was unexpected, and she needed time to think about it. For their graduation in December, they also made plans to celebrate together with friends and f a m i l y . A f t e r t h e i r g r a d u a t i o n ceremony, Ibrahim asked her again. M a r t h a t h o u g h t a b o u t t h e i r conversations, his character & personality. She took into cognizance the fact that two of them had passed through a one-of-a-kind grooming experience at LBS, one she believed can never leave anyone the same after it. She knew she wanted to be with someone who was self-driven and of like mind to grow with; Martha accepted Ibrahim's proposal. Ibrahim and his family planned their visit to Martha ' s family during Christmas of the same year, only to discover that Ibrahim's hometown, Idah in Kogi State, is a ten-minute boat ride across the River Niger to Agenebode, Edo State, Martha's hometown! It was a remarkable coincidence. Upon meeting her parents, Ibrahim's proposal was heartily accepted, as he impressed them with his values and background. But the story did not stop there, Ibrahim still surprised Martha with a romantic proposal on Valentine's Day, 2020. As the pandemic began in Nigeria, the couple slowed their wedding plans until there was an ease in the lock-down.
On Friday, August 21, 2020, some of the couple's classmates found their way to Agenebode in preparation of the wedding ceremony. By the next day, the hashtag #LoveMadeinLBS started to trend on the WhatsApp platform of LBS A l u m n i A s s o c i a t i o n ' s ( L B S A A ) Governing Council, thanks to the EMBA 22 class president, Efosa Aigbe. The governing council made up of LBS Dean, President of the LBSAA, other Executive members and all LBSAA class presidents, was excited for the couple, congratulating the couple and the class.
The story that started as a journey of self-development, culminated into a beautiful union based on shared values a n d a l i f e - c h a n g i n g l e a r n i n g experience at LBS. Now a new story begins… and this time, the road will be travelled not by one, but by two-inone….
Congratulations Ibrahim & Martha!
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Alumni Happenings
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3. 4. Virtual Reunion of 2010 Classes - AMP 22 CEP 19 EMBA 14A EMBA 14B FTMBA 7 OMP 13 OMP 14 SMP 37 SMP 38 SMP 39 Virtual Reunion of 2010 Classes - AMP 22 CEP 19 EMBA 14A EMBA 14B FTMBA 7 OMP 13 OMP 14 SMP 37 SMP 38 SMP 39 EMBA 22 Precovid meetup MAP 8 EXCo Elections
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5. MBA 12 Class meeting 6. OMP 4 Session with Agada Apochi, CEO Unified Payments 7. Northern Zone Meetup - Abuja 1 8. Northern Zone Meetup - Abuja 2 9. Election Season LBSAA takes to the vote 1 10. Election Season LBSAA takes to the vote 2 11. Election Season LBSAA takes to the vote 3 12. OMP 22 Session with Professor Yinka DavidWest 1 13. OMP 22 Session with Professor Yinka DavidWest 2 14. OMP 4 Session with Agada Apochi, CEO Unified Payments
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