Good People,
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We love having you here. We are releasing the updated version of Africa’s Sankofa Innovation by the end of October, and two other books – The Dangote System: Techniques for Building Conglomerates and Zenzeleni Innovation: Gears to Start and Build an African Startup will follow.
Prof has been writing during his extended trip across Nigeria and Africa. I will be working with my team to get all the tech things done.
*Zenzeleni means “do it yourself” in isiXhosa, a leading Southern African language, spoken in Eastern Cape. It is the area’s most prevalent language.
Nky Udo
We look forward to all your works, especially the Dangote book. What would you say to Alhajis critics who say he may not have learnt the lessons of capital allocation while building his cement empire, because government bailed him out with protectionist policies and others when he was overleveraged. They say it has come back to hunt him in the refinery project, and would be difficult without government support. The role of government is to support businesses, but when it is done preferentially to some, to the exclusion of others, instead of letting the markets decide the winners and losers, surely that may not in the countries best interest. What role has crony capitalism and an absence of anti competition laws played to his success?
Noted – good questions. We will examine and most especially how a trader like many separated himself from others. But always note that nations pay taxes to conglomerates – it is called Conglomerate TAX. GE did not pay tax for years as U.S. govt hired it to develop some new technologies. Carlos Slim etc. The fact is this: no man will invest $15B in any economy without asking that govt for concession.
That concession is a way to de-risk that investment. We need to understand that capital is not air – it is scarce. Do not expect Dangote to come in 10 years to fix our electricity without asking for a demand. And if you hire my company and you have $20 billion to fix our roads, ec, I will propose we ask for concession.
There is nothing Dangote is doing that is not done globally. His problem is that he is doing it alone. I hope we have Dangote in electricity, road construction, etc so that they can get concessions and get the job done. Why he is having problem is that he is the only one that gets the deal and actually uses it to profit. Others take and abandon.
Ask yourself why the electricity is not working after all the gifts from govt? Wait for 10 years when Dangote comes and then we will start shouting. Remember he uses about 40% of all electricity distributed in Nigeria. But he makes those himself, not connected to the grid. He can decide to enter power and then when the concessions actually work, criticisms will mount. No one is criticizing those getting concessions and not executing.
Leave Dangote alone – his problem is that he is alone there. Can someone fix power and enjoy the benefits? Water? Roads? Healthcare? Education? etc.
Thumbs up ? ? ? ?. Ride on,truth is bitter but real.
Zenzeleni “Do it Your self”. This is the key.. Looking forward to reading the books. Ride on Prof.