Fortune Magazine has named Lagos as one of the 15 Best New Cities for Business. This was contained in its annual Global 500 where it ranks the biggest 500 corporations in the World. In the list, US tops the list with 133 companies. China made a great push with 61 companies, from 12 about a decade ago. Unlike South Africa which has been pushing for the inclusion in the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China, and South Africa (where allowed)), it did not have any company while the likes of Brazil, Russia, India and of course China has representatives. The land of Mandela has a lot of work to do. Interestingly, a Colombia company, Ecopetrol made the list.
What interests us is the inclusion of Lagos in the list of the best new cities for business. They noted that your next business trip may take you to Lagos. Lagos is the only Africa city in that list, this year. They noted the improved security and the planned expansion of the Lagos port. University of Lagos, LASU and Yaba Tech were all mentioned as key universities in the city of 8 million people. Also, it is noted that Lagos has grown in excess of 50% in Gross National Income per capita.
In the Global 500 which is not African by any measure, we noted that Wall Mart employs about 2.1 million people. Can someone get Wall Mart clone in Nigeria? Who can do that. If that happens, we are set with near zero graduate unemployment.
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