If you do not like your teacher, you will likely not do well in that class.
If you do not like your school, you will likely struggle in your program.
If you do not like your nation, you will likely see only obstacles.
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The greatest challenge in life is the Liberation of the mind. Just as the crickets sing, and the nightingales deliver the melodies, your mind can condition your awareness and observation.
Unless you win the victory of your mind, most things in your life will be out of phase. Yes, win the victory of your mind and believe that Nigeria will work for you.
I believe in Nigeria because nations rarely kaput. And next month, we will invest in 7-9 startups in Tekedia Capital. That belief is not tethered to any politician or zen-master. Simply, we believe in the Nigerian people, and the sheer energy to survive and thrive. For years, we have not lost any battle #believing.
We connected with an agro-startup which has hit a $27 million revenue at a really fast rate. As we were evaluating this firm, the CEO called me from Switzerland that a very large Swiss multinational was about to acquire it. I told him – do not do it; there is no need. We committed to invest in it in our next Tekedia Capital cycle next month, and it went to raise $millions within weeks.
If you check, there is a pattern: most of these foreign brands believe in Nigeria, but they want to operate on a better cost model. And in some cases, dropping their expensive brands for local ones may do the job.
In the midst of any miry clay, what can you do, to enter into a greener pasture? I #believe that Nigeria and Africa will work for me. In that mindset, I strive to do something productive, and discover my next moment because all these problems are opportunities. You could pick one, fix it, and be rewarded by the market.
I like agro-processing startups with solid embedded finance on B2B playbook and we’re investing in such.
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The challenge is not about what each of us can do at individual level, but rather getting the collective to believe. We have recorded lots of individual accomplishments but they have not carried Nigeria to any great height, why is that the case? It’s because we have become too selfish, seeing success as individual battles.
It is not everyone that has the staying power to navigate all the landmines their fellow compatriots set on their way, so to get this greater number of people to start believing, our institutional capabilities must come to the fore, else our story won’t still change in another century.
The people who mess things up and desecrate the land don’t love the country more than the rest of us, so it’s also our responsibility to put them where they belong, it is an aberration to have the worst of us always representing the best of us.
We will keep believing, but we cannot also leave majority of us who don’t have such strength and faith to their own fate. They look up to us, and we cannot leave them in the cold out there.