THE EARTH, MAN, LIFE; CYCLE

…Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday… that’s all there is to the life we live on earth. Seven (7) days, and it’s a cycle; so we have to do it again.

Each day, we have an opportunity to do something different on a day we once lived in. Simply put: in the past one month, if you were alive then and still alive now, you would have lived in 4 Mondays. You would have witnessed 4 Sundays (if you are a Christian and you go to church, you would have gone to church 4 times). You would have observed 4 Fridays (translating to 4 Jumat if you are Islam).

Deriving the best out of our lives and living each day as a happy being is borne out of what we make off each day. We live in a world where we go back and forth. We live in a world where nothing is really new. We live in a world of Déjà vu.

We cope and avoid a state of insanity by getting involved in diverse activities. Try we may, but the fact is ‘we have to face each day knowing that we are in a cycle’. The Earth rotates around its own axis. It rotates with us in it. The truth is that at the end of the day, we are all on a conveyor belt of life. You will come and go. We are at different portions of the conveyor belt. We drop at different points.

…Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday… that’s all there is to the life we live on earth. Seven (7) days, and it’s a cycle; so we have to do it again.

You Win: Ponzo illusion; They Win, We lose

A man with focus knows where he is headed and will move in the direction of his goal irrespective of what others have to say. Conviction is key to achieving a set target.

With every passing day I wail in agony for my dear country Nigeria. The Goodluck Jonathan Administration has been attacked from all corners of the nation. Some have called him unprintable names. I believed and still hold unto the belief that dissipating our energy in the direction of one man, especially one who occupies the highest possible position of our dear country is not enough to move our country forward.

Yes, he may be the commander in chief of the armed forces, and so wields a lot of power, but we are a nation of over 140 million people and we should see ourselves as crucial to the achievement of the Nigeria of our dreams.

Having said that, I must quickly add that my major concern for the Goodluck jonathan Administration is the attempt to become a listening ruler (I insist that the world ruler is more appropriate than a leader for the majority of the people who are supposed to be our leaders) by trying to gratify a section of the Nigerian populace; The youths, with phony policies and projects.

Attempting to write down the many challenges the average Nigerian youth has to contend with on a daily basis is like trying to search for a needle in a haystack. The president has made some good intentioned attempts to move our country in the right direction. My major focal point will be The Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (You WiN!), an idea borne of a collaboration of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Communication Technology (CT), and the Ministry of Youth Development. This innovative concept recently commissioned by the Nigerian government “will launch an annual Business Plan Competition (BPC) for aspiring young entrepreneurs in Nigeria, in line with the Federal Government’s drive to create more jobs for Nigerians. The programme will be implemented in partnership with Nigeria’s private sector, who will be requested to provide funding support” (sic).

According to the statement on the official website of You Win, “Specific Objectives of the Programme include to:

• ·    Attract ideas and innovations from young entrepreneurial aspirants from Universities, Polytechnics, Technical colleges, and other post-Secondary institutions in Nigeria;

• ·     Provide a one time Equity grant for 1,200 selected aspiring entrepreneurs to start or expand their business concepts and mitigate start up risks;

• ·         Generate 80,000 to 110,000 new jobs for currently unemployed Nigerian youth over the three years during which the three cycles will be implemented;

• ·         Provide business training for up to 6,000 aspiring youth entrepreneurs spread across all geo-political zones in Nigeria;

• ·         Encourage expansion, specialization and spin-offs of existing businesses in Nigeria; and,

• ·         Enable young entrepreneurs to access a wide business professional network and improve their visibility.” (sic).

In my humble opinion, You Win is a lofty idea. A holistic look at this idea reminds me of the story of foolish man who decided to convert his bedroom into a farmland. Having unearthed the concrete materials on the floor, he proceeded to cultivate the crops of his choice, being maize and okra. He suddenly realizes that there was need, in the first place, for sunlight as the crops will refuse to germinate without exposure to sunlight. The man had a good idea, but his greatest undoing was his failure to reflect on the most important aspect of any project; PLANNING.

With proper planning, the pitfalls in a project will be seen beforehand and checks and balances put in place to arrest them if/when they arise.  Note that the effectiveness and relevance of a project of this type is the impact it has on the long run. No matter how inspiring and impressive an idea is, it is naught if it fails meet the purpose for which it was set up for in the first instance.

I am not conscious of the planning process that bred the You Win project but its objectives have been dented by the realities of the Nigerian business climate. Who has any doubt as to how SME’s struggle to stay afloat in the Nigerian business environment? Who doesn’t know that established businesses are running away from Nigeria? Who doesn’t know that Nigeria is ranked 137 out of 181 in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index? A nation's ranking on the index is based on the average of 10 subindices: (sic)

• 1.      Starting a Business - Procedures, time, cost and minimum capital to open a new business

• 2.      Dealing with construction permits - Procedures, time and cost to build a warehouse

• 3.      Employing workers - Difficulty of hiring index, rigidity of hours of index, difficulty of redundancy index, rigidity of employment index, redundancy costs

• 4.      Registering property - Procedures, time and cost to register commercial real estate

• 5.      Getting credit - Strength of legal rights index, depth of credit information index

• 6.      Protecting investors - Indices on the extent of disclosure, extent of director liability and ease of shareholder suits

• 7.      Paying taxes - Number of taxes paid, hours per year spent preparing tax returns and total tax payable as share of gross profit

• 8.      Trading across borders - Number of documents, cost and time necessary to export and import

• 9.      Enforcing contracts - Procedures, time and cost to enforce a debt contract

• 10.  Closing a business - Index of recovery rate which is a function of time, cost and other factors such as lending rate and the likelihood of the company continuing to operate

The simplest explanation of this index is thus: a prospective investor will only consider Nigeria as a viable business options after considering the 130 other nations ahead of her. Gloomy reality! You Win appears to be a very good initiative but were the following realities considered properly:

Lack of Capital

Yes, we know that Lack of Capital is a major issue with SME’s in Nigeria. You Win attempts to arrest this problem by providing the winners of the competition with cash incentives to start up their businesses. Impressive!

Epileptic Power Supply

Who needs a clairvoyant mind to know that we have an epileptic power supply in Nigeria? How will the winners of You Win bypass the high cost of running their business with an independent and private generating transformer (Generator)?

Insecurity

We all knew we lived in an unsafe country, in the exception of the ruling class who can afford to buy bullet proof cars with our money, and allocate to themselves, millions of naira as security votes, but the recent rise in militancy and suicide bombings has increased the state of insecurity in our country. Will businesses, the ones bankrolled by You Win particularly, be exempted from the harsh security uncertainties in Nigeria?

Government Policies

The frequent change in Government has resulted in change in Government policies.

Business friendly policies are alien to the Nigerian ruling class. Multiple taxation and goods delay in ports and due to change in Government policies are everyday issues that businesses have to contend with.

Add to the above, bribery and corruption, the sky rocketing cost and prices of goods and services etc. these are the many challenges that existing businesses in Nigeria have to contend with daily. These are the challenges that have driven a good number of businesses out of Nigeria. And these are the same challenges that the winners of You Win will have to contend with.

Picture this: You as a fish farmer decide to buy new fingerlings and then throw them into a pond with debris and big fishes who struggle to stay alive. I know you are sane, so please answer this:  do you think the fingerlings will survive, and will you consider your decision sensible?

I see how the GEJ Administration is dissipating a lot of energy to be remembered as the Nigerian president who gave Chukwudi Taiwo Onome the opportunity and leverage to be the Nigerian version of Steve Jobs. Well, Mr. President, please know that Steve Jobs wasn’t presented with a fat check by the American government before he revolutionized the world. This is what they did:

1.      They ensured that the USA is ranked 4^th on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index.

2.      They ensured that power supply is not a worry.

3.      They ensured that infrastructural decay is alien to Steve Jobs and the likes.

4.      They ensured that Healthcare is a no-issue.

5.    They ensured that there was a conducive and enabling environment for Steve Jobs to implement his ideas.

6.      They ensured that was a level playing field for entrepreneurs and their ideas to blossom.

7.      They ensured that corruption is reduced to barest minimum.

Mr. President, please don’t try to impress us, the youths of Nigeria. Just provide us the above mentioned, and shelve this Ponzo illusion/ Ponzi scheme that is already sinking before it sails offshore.

God Bless Nigeria!

God Bless You!

God bless me!

QUESTIONNAIRE

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Thank you for taking some time off your busy schedule to visit this blog.

In order to ascertain the true status of certain assumptions which are relevant to one of our up-coming project, we have decided to ask you to respond to this questionnaire.

We solicit your candid answers to the following questions. Kindly fill them up.

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IFADA I. JOHNSON

1.                 Sex:          

2.                 Age:         

3.                 Location:                                    

4.                 What is your best sport?                                            

5.                 If football, state the team you support                                                  

6.                 How much do you spend weekly to watch this team?                           

6.         How can you contribute to the success of this team?                            

                                                                                                                               

WHO BANNED OLIVER TWIST?

News of the ban first came from popular rapper Ruggedman who spread the news via Twitter saying: “NBC strikes again. 1st @IAM2SHOTZ Supermandead is banned. Now its @iamdbanj Oliver Twist. Na wah o cc @DONJAZZY’, @Ruggedybaba tweeted. The rapper further disclosed that he got the information on the ban from radio station Cool FM Abuja.

Reacting to the news, Don Jazzy said: “The truth is that the person that banned this song will hear this song till he is sick of it. He will hear it at almost every party he goes to. He will hear it from the cars that will drive pass him. He will hum the melody even in his sleep.

He’ll probably record his own version of the Oliver video sef lol. He is doing his job so let’s allow him exercise his power. It’s allowed. May God bless him and his hustle? No long thing”.

The NBC has come up to air their thoughts on the issue by saying: "We have no reason to ban any song that has no tendency to cause turmoil, crisis or affects the integrity of persons, individuals, groups or society at large" spokesperson to the National Broadcasting Commission says.

"There are many other rules and regulations which govern airplays on Nigerian broadcasting media and as far as I am concerned the song has not breached any and such reports indicating it was banned are untrue"

So, my question: who banned Oliver Twist? was there a ban in the first place? if there was a ban what did Mohits do to confirm the story?

A very short correspondence would have saved us all these theatrics. Something like:

Mo Hits Musical Records,

Lagos, Nigeria.

Head of Public Relations Unit,

Nigeria broadcasting corporation,

Nigeria.

ALLEGED BAN OF OLIVER TWIST BY THE NBC

Information reaching us indicates that several radio stations have been ordered to immediately discontinue airing a song titled ‘oliver twist’ by D’Banj. This instruction, we hear was dished out by the NBC.

Kindly confirm this story.

If true, indicate the reason(s) for the ban.

Thanks in anticipation.

Yours sincerely,

DON JAZZY

FOR: MO HITS RECORDS.

The Nigerian music industry is growing and we have to learn the rudiments. Communication is key and i hope that lessons have been learnt. Don't be too quick to speak without confirming the authenticity of a story.

The impact of technology on our lives

The world moves and drags us along with it; willingly or unwillingly, we eventually move along with it.

My Dad worked out of town for the most part of my growing years and I recall with glee how alongside my mum and siblings I looked forward to visiting Mr Balogun's house down our street. The purpose of the visit most time was singular: communicating with my Dad on telephone. Mr Balogun happened to be the only one with a telephone in my residential circumference.

Fast forward to today, I laugh each time I have to pass through Mr Balogun's house. Nothing funny really. Just that the same gadget we all came to his house to use, my youngest sister got hers when she was about 13 years old. Include the fact that Mr Balogun's house at the time was a Mecca of sort, as people always thronged in to make use of his telephone.

There was a time I had to visit a cybercafe to send and receive email messages from friends and loved ones far away. Sometimes, having to navigate some long distances to make use of the fastest internet services around my vicinity. Today, I don't even have to log into a computer to send and receive emails.

The world is moving fast and it is moving into our palms. New devices are designed daily to fit into our palms. On the go. In the process, there are a whole lot of things we eventually never get to use either by choice or by force.

And so I ask some questions. Simple routines that were normal when I was in my formative years. How often do I make use of certain things.

When was the last time I made use of a paper dictionary?
When was the last time I wrote a letter to a friend it loved one?
When was the last time I used a chalk to write?

Think about it and add to the list.

In the very near future some of the things we were associated with will eventually become extinct. Think about a dinosaur and how scientists have tried to prove to us that they once were inhabitants of the earth we live in; That's the exact face our kids may give us when we relate some of our experiences to them.

Who knows, maybe in the future we could be talking about a Green Pawpaw phone that establishes live virtual communication.
Lol.

12 Characteristics of Successful Business Management Teams

What are the success secrets of the world’s most successful business teams? What characteristics or traits do they possess that other business management teams don’t? What characteristics must I be on the look out for when building a business team? If any of these questions ignites your interest, then please read on as I explain in detail the characteristics that make a great business management team.

I have listened to series of successful entrepreneurs and drop out billionaires being interviewed but despite their different lines of business, strategies employed and marketing terrain; they all seem to have a common business success secret. And that business success secret is their “Business management team.”

Now if the richest people in the world such as Bill Gates, Ingvar Kamprad, Mukesh Ambani, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Li Ka Shing and Aliko Dangote; the richest black man in the world all credit their success to their business team, then there must be something significant about having a business team.

The sustained growth of companies such as Oracle, Apple, Dangote Group, Berkshire Hathaway, Reliance Group, Arcelor Mittal and General Electric is primarily hinged on the expertise of the business management teams behind these companies.

Now instead of telling you the importance of having your own business management team or how to build a business team (which I have explained in details in previous articles), I will be using this medium to highlight the specific characteristics possessed by the successful business teams all around the world. So if you are ready to learn, then sit back and read on.
12 Characteristics of Successful Business Management Teams

1. Definiteness of Purpose

Definiteness of purpose is one of the success secrets of the world’s most successful business management teams. Successful business management teams know the company’s goals, objectives and vision at their finger tips; and they are focused in the pursuit of the company’s objectives. They know their specific role in the company and they concentrate on this role to make sure that the business objectives are met.

2. Knowledge of the Business

Successful business teams have adequate knowledge of the business of the company. The general rules of business are the same throughout the world but market intricacies are different from industry to industry; so also are the environmental factors. That’s why I said that successful business management teams have adequate knowledge of the business.

A competent corporate manager in the food industry may not perform excellently when assigned to a business operating in the oil and gas sector. Why? The reason is because the industrial intricacies and the market are entirely different. Take a look at what happened to Apple when John Sculley took over leadership; Apple lost market share and profits declined rapidly.

What really happen? I can’t really tell; after all, John Sculley was successful during his time at Pepsi. But all the same, I can attribute his failure to sustain Apple’s market share to lack of understanding of the business and market intricacies associated with the technology sector.

John Sculley was experienced in the food and beverage industry; however, he wasn’t able to transfer that experience to the technology industry because the rules of the game are different. So if you are going to build a successful business management team; be sure to make “knowledge of the business” a top priority for the members of your team.

3. Commitment

Take a closer look at the characteristics that make up successful teams and you will see commitment at the core. Successful business management teams are committed to the success of the company in which they serve. You may not really understand how commitment affects the performance of a team until you study the management structure of companies such as Berkshire Hathaway and Google.

4. They are Goal and Result Oriented

Successful business teams are result oriented. They know that their competence and credibility will be adjudged based on their accomplishment; so they press forward for positive results because results keep them in the game. If they fail to produce results; they will get kicked out of the company by the business owner or investors.

5. They are Individual Thinkers and Critical Problem Solvers

Members of a successful business management team are individual thinkers and critical problem solvers. Though they are a team, the members still think individually and solve intricate problems associated with their own area of expertise. For instance, the Chief Operational Officer individually tackles problems associated with the firm’s daily operations while the Chief Financial Officer strives to keep to keep the company’s finance in good position; yet they are all working towards a common goal, “Sustained Business Growth.”

6. They are Team Players

Successful business teams are team players. Though members of the team are individual thinkers; they all act with same definiteness of purpose towards actualizing a common goal.

7. They are bonded by the Business Mission Statement

At the core of every successful business management team is something very important. This single factor is the reason why successful business teams are successful and this factor is the “business mission.” Successful business management teams know that the entrepreneur’s spirit is in the business mission and that’s why they strive to stay focused on the business mission. It’s this same mission that keeps them together as a team; take the mission away and the centre will not hold any longer for the entire business.

8. They are Strategic in their Approach

Successful business management teams are strategic in their approach. All members of the team are individual master strategists with respect to their own field or calling. Successful teams strategize, plan and make in-depth calculation or analysis before arriving at a decision. And once a decision is reached; they execute it without delay and monitor the feedback.

9. They are Competitive

Just as soldiers are tested on the battle field; so also is the competence of a business management team tested in the marketplace. Competitiveness is the reason why successful business management teams emerge successful; they are always on the watch to swiftly counter the moves of competitors. Price wars and media attacks are product of business teams testing their wits against each other.

10. They are Responsible and Accountable

Successful business management teams are responsible and accountable for their actions. They know that the company’s success or failure is dependent on the decisions they make; so they take charge and execute their plans without fear of the consequences. If their move backfires; they take responsibility, learn from the mistake and move on.

11. They are Opportunistic

Successful business management teams are opportunistic in their approach and strategy. They are always on the lookout for trends, problems and opportunities they can exploit. They are always quick to take advantage of a miscalculation or false move from the competitor.

12. They are Excellent Communicators

And lastly, successful business teams are excellent communicators. They know how to motivate their workforce, raise capital from investors, promote the company’s products and increase brand loyalty through their spoken words.

As a final note, these are the 12 characteristics and success secrets of the world’s most successful business management teams. So if building a business management team that will serve in high capacity and keep your business metrics strong is your topmost priority; then make the characteristics listed above a priority while forging the values on which your team will be built and your business will end up having a strong management team.

by Ajaero Tony Martins

Powerful MUST-HAVE attitude tips to make more money

1. Realise your potential

2. Don't look back

3. Dare to dream

4. Don't give up

5. Stop the complaining

6. Change your circumstances

7. Accept responsibility

8. No shortcuts

9. Be excited to learn

10. Share your money makin skills

11. Be a good listener

12. Give yourself a break
Ifada Ighodalo Johnson
CRIG CONSULT
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