There is one model that seems to work very well in this world: you need a very good education to make it to the top global companies. You need to have been to Harvard, Yale or even some iconic Law Schools to make it to the U.S. Supreme Court where majority of the members attended Ivy League universities.   In Goldman Sachs, you need that touch of Wharton, HBS, Stanford, among others to have a [...]

In his classic, Talks to Teachers, William James observed that “All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits.”   Essentially, from the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep, most of our daily activities are repetitive, unconscious habits. We brush our teeth, eat breakfast, go to gym and do things which, on closer examination, happen without much will and reason. They’re just habits. [...]

GOOGLE has promised to bring together thousands of business owners for the second leg of the Get Nigerian Businesses Online (GNB0) 2012 Web Fair, taking place at the City Hall, Catholic Mission Street, in Onikan, Lagos on April 26 and 27.   First launched in September 2011, the GNBO is an initiative aimed at helping small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) create free websites.   “The goal of the GNBO programme is to make it easier [...]

Africa is the next big thing, just ask Bob Geldof and other private equity bankers. The Irish rocker made headlines in February when he announced the launch of his $200 million “8 Mile” fund, a sign the Live Aid organizer had turned from promoting debt forgiveness to private enterprise.   Like the former Boomtown Rats front man, more private equity investors are flocking to the continent, drawn by the prospect of outsize returns.   The [...]

The program is one of Kenya’s most comprehensive efforts in entrepreneurship training with an access to capital component. Sinapis estimates it to cost nearly Ksh 1 million to put each entrepreneur through our program. In exchange for tuition, Sinapis asks that each business accepted into its program donate 10% of its equity to the NGO. Should Sinapis graduates do well, Sinapis will use the returns from this equity to fund the next generation of start-up [...]

You’ve probably heard at one point or another that the key to startup success is execution.  I’ve said as much myself.  In the harsh reality of building businesses, ideas are commodities and successful business models are luxury goods.  Except that isn’t entirely true.  While inspired execution can determine success or failure, this only happens after a working business model is discovered.  If you’re a bit puzzled, fear not.  This distinction only became clear to me [...]

I was seeking inspiration for today’s article when I stumbled upon an article about Start-up Chile, a program that the government of Chile conceived and implemented. Quoting from Start-up Chile’s website; “Start-up Chile is a program of the Chilean Government to attract world-class early stage entrepreneurs to start their businesses in Chile.” Here’s a 4 Minute Video that you can watch for a brief but entertaining synopsis of this initiative.   Again, quoting from Start-up [...]

These three startups which have received grants from Tony Elumelu Foundation are among the firms to watch for in the next coming months: Efiko is a product of a social tech start-up targeted at improving the pass rate for Nigeria’s secondary students in national exams. The solution is a mobile testing platform tied to school curricula and designed to provide access to assessment and learning resources for secondary school students.   OfficeMotion is a software [...]

The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), an institution dedicated to the promotion and celebration of excellence in business leadership and entrepreneurship across Africa, is partnering with Co-Creation Hub Nigeria (CcHub), Nigeria’s first open living lab and pre-incubation space dedicated to catalysing creative social technology ventures, in an effort to encourage innovative ideas that could help transform the social technology space in Nigeria.   Through the partnership, TEF will contribute to the growth and development of Nigeria’s [...]

MIT Sloan School of Management is gearing up to host the Africa Innovate 2012 Conference at the Institute’s famed Media Lab on its Cambridge campus with a spotlight on the role of emerging markets in Africa’s growth potential along with some of the continent’s newest initiatives in technology including the continent’s booming mobile, media and entertainment markets.   In one of the panels, Fasmicro Founder, Dr. Ndubuisi Ekekwe will participate as a panelist.   Lights, [...]