Beyond the shores of Africa, when the average person thinks of the giants of entrepreneurship, investment, and management, possibly names like Jeff Bezos, Richards Branson, Steve Jobs, and even people like Sir Alex Ferguson will come to mind. Average jo. These names, over time, have been associated with stories that originally arise from big dreams. Dreams that one day may become a myth for unborn generations. But to us, the witnesses of posterity, we are like insects trapped in the amber of the events of our time. Trace these events and you will find an origin story of a spark of genius that became so bright and hot that little suns were soon born and with them came galaxies. Those galaxies soon had smaller, but not smaller, stars that seem to follow in the wake of the suns they revolve around. In simple words, many witnesses in our generation have come to aspire to be like Richard Branson and Steve Jobs, just to name a few. Many will try, but not all have the necessary spark to carry them to the end; for those who come, their thing will be to become the little stars that stand out from the rest.
These events have shaped the course of history in such a way that humanity’s legacy is constantly changing. All this has been possible as Maya Angelou said, someone, “dared to dream”. But not only to dream, but to dare to dream big!
We then sailed back to the shores of Africa and sailed further on land to Nigeria (arguably Africa’s largest economy). We replay the origin story of the giants of entrepreneurship, investment and management and what you get is akin to a coastline full of jagged rocks, some placed surreptitiously, others placed so that maneuverability is nearly impossible. It is surprising then because we can also boast of having our own giants, the Aliko Dangotes, the Otedola, the Tony Elumelus, to name just a few. In fact, it is an impressive list. One as long as it makes the average African Jo begin to nurture the possibility of a dream, a dream that grows to match any that can be had on any continent and in any part of the world. Like a hurricane, that dream can grow, as well as it should. In a short time it takes shape, a storm as if it rages until it threatens to become a spark, a spark that can equal any other on the face of the earth, that spark of genius. Then the moment comes, the inspiration at its peak, the desire reaches its peak … and in the end nothing happens. There is no spark, not even a waning glow that we can pitifully call a dying ember. Then comes the frustration, bitterness and disappointment that starts another origin story that is directly the antithesis of the previous dream. And behold, the man who cuts corners is born. Some kind of dark sparkle, so to speak. Just as brilliant, but everything an alter ego is and can be. Please note that you are still the same person. The one who dared to follow in the wake of the little suns. The potential star that is part of an ever-expanding galaxy. Now here is a wonder, a kind of reverse flash, a black hole, now determined to absorb as much as it can at all costs and return nothing. All because you dared to dream big?
When it comes to the average statistics on the lifespan of small and medium-sized businesses in Nigeria, the figures are grim. 6 months is the period of time it takes for reality to solve your problem with anyone starting an SME. The environment to start, much less sustain an SME, is almost non-existent!
The harsh reality is that in Nigeria, the so-called famous but not so famous giants have tightened their grip on the few industries that thrive in Nigeria. With darkness on the horizon, Nigeria’s business outlook is as bleak as the clouds gathering for a rain storm. There is little mercy here for those who do not resign themselves to being tough as nails. The irony of that statement as with that circumstance is that even the nails rust, also the dreams of millions of people who once aspired to reach the heavens and build their dreams up to the sky like a tower of Babel challenging even the gods. who run the sphere of Nigerian economy. The vicious cyclical distribution of wealth has actually become a noose designed to strangle the scrawny neck of the dreamer who is the average Jo, or better yet, the average “Joseph.” We all know the ancient story of the Tower of Babel. Where a group of inspired dreamers came together to build the world’s first skyscraper in an attempt to reach out to God or challenge his creative omnipotence. The dream was short-lived, as God brought down the tower over and around them and scattered them with a curse of languages to the four winds of the earth. The lesson, he who dares to defy God, be careful because your dreams in the end will be worth no more than a bitter testament of rubble laid at your feet. That is a similar story to the circumstance of building your dream here in Nigeria. The gods in this case are not to blame if you are foolish enough to dare to challenge them with your big dreams!
The cornerstone in the post-mortem memory of innovation may very well be shaped like the largest economy in Africa. The price paid is so inestimable that one shudders at the thought of the millions, if not billions, wasting as we indulge the bureaucracy with silly political tricks. The comfort of ignorance rusts any dream faster than any moisture, especially those built with the will of iron. Lately, a new trend is beginning to take hold, it is a previously expressed trend, the “black hole attitude.” Increasingly, admiration for this kind of thinking is becoming the norm. It is possible when day by day there is a downward spiral of respect and encouragement to the innovative mind, this downward spiral is fostered by “short-term thinking”, a phrase that becomes more and more corporeal within the last part of the last. year. This phraseology is a term widely used by Larry Fink, who was a securities trader and later co-founder of “the world’s largest money management company, BlackRock, which to date manages and controls assets approaching $ 5 trillion. dollars. is one of the most powerful players in global finance “has been so vocal against this decrepit mentality. He posits that short-term thinking has a negative effect on the innovative mind’s ability to dream. Unfortunately, innovation as a skill is becoming quite unpopular in the business center, organizations and corporations, be it in the public or private sector here in Nigeria. This is aided by “short-term thinking.” As a result, we are creating a generation of monsters who view routine and plagiarism in the workplace as activism. We risk twisting their lives at the expense of posterity’s judgment which, all things being equal, should have acted as a litmus test in assessing the cost of our actions today. However, in the end, the sad truth may be that the very generation that should have acted as a mirror for us runs the risk of being dragged into the quicksand of a misguided sense of superficial justifications, an end for which we are currently charting. the roadmap to his doom and our latest disappearance.
We do not know what the long-term cost of such actions will be or even in what currency the price we will pay will be.
In the end, Larry Fink may very well be the modest messiah. To his detractors, he will not be considered a team player, a term now used to blackmail the innovative mind at the expense of dull dreams. His words, incorporeal as they are, seem to leave a lingering tone in the eyes, like someone who has been staring into a bright light for too long and suddenly looks away. Succinctly, it asks fundamental questions that persist: “What is happening today in Moscow, Beijing or Brooklyn? Why did the market move 0.2%? Banks are the same way: their business revolves around the speed of money. Very few people talking about the long term. ” And the narrative goes on and on, drawing the very tight rope around our necks that will ultimately leave Africa’s largest economy like the Wild West, a wasteland without an oasis of dreams to satisfy the thirst for true and meaningful change. innovation. We run the risk of fighting a battle for the wrong crusade, a crusade that should be a campaign against short-term thinking in an attempt to change the system of decrepitude. Ironically, we can only truly achieve this by adopting a long-term thinking mindset because whether we like it or not, passively or actively, we are all fiducially or directly responsible for the destiny of the dreams of the unborn generations.