Simply, the best companies in Nigeria have not been established. If anyone tells you that all the opportunities are gone, respectfully ignore him or her. If Nigeria is operating at its optimal productivity level, its GDP should be $3 trillion (well above the current $500 billion). If you do the math, it means Nigeria needs 6X multiples to attain equilibrium. About 90% of the companies in Nigeria today are not wired for that type of leverageable growth. Yes, even if they try, the anchored elements upon which they are built cannot enable them to experience that redesign.
Only new species will provide that growth under new tenets, driven by new business models, energized on new policies. Hope you get the point why our insurance sector has less than 2% penetration, electricity companies deliver darkness to more customers than light, potable clean water nonexistent, using 65% of workers to produce hunger when others use 5% to produce excess food, [add your list], and banks serving less than 35 million unique customers in a nation of about 200 million citizens.
People, the best companies for Nigeria have not been founded. Yes, they have not. It is safe to blame customers. But I take you back to the 1990s when new generation banks came, and brought many citizens to believe in banking services. We need that type of redesign in insurance, water services, electricity, education, healthcare, and more. The companies that would make such happen are scarce today!
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 16 (Feb 10 – May 3, 2025) opens registrations; register today for early bird discounts.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
The biggest opportunity in the next ten years in Nigeria would be expanding sizes of industrial sectors, not just winning market share. By that I mean expanding the sizes of sectors like insurance, agriculture, etc, through leverageable elements, not just winning market share out of yoyo players in an industry.
Are you better commanding 10% market share in a $100 billion sector than 20% in a $10 billion one? I will vote for the first option: only new thinking will make such redesigns happen. I explain in this video.
---
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Feb 10 - May 3, 2025), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.
To understand the concept isn’t complicated, look no farther back than pre telecom revolution in 2001. Ask yourself, all the money invested in telecom and the consumers’ spending there, where did it come from? That’s what happens when you create or expand a sector; magically there would be money to spend there!
The trio of healthcare, education and insurance can easily add hundreds of billions of dollars to the economy, because more people will need quality education and healthcare in the future, and to reduce frictions in accessing them, insurance can midwife that.
The transportation and energy sectors are seriously underperforming, and the population keeps growing. The agriculture we talk so much about is still primitive, if you add another 50 million to the population, there will still be food crisis, so it remains a going concern. The value addition in agriculture is still primitive also, it can provide a base for manufacturing sector.
The economy is still crawling, by the time it starts walking, then running, and finally flying; you would be questioning why we remained unproductive and clueless for so long anyway.
You will never know the value of digital economy until these fundamentals are fixed, then the boom!
Francis, that is a very insightful comment. Thanks
Well delivered prof. I love the practical examples and pray we start getting the opportunities to implement these around the country and global. Kudos sir.
Yes, I also believe the best of Nigeria is yet to be seen especially in the Electricity sector. We need to have the kind of breakthrough (redesigning) we had in the telecommunication industry.
Licenses should be given to as many private companies as possible to generate and distribute electricity. This would allow for progressive competition amongst the providers just like in the telecoms. These companies should consequently be strictly regulated and held accountable to their consumers. Immagine the tremendous economic growth the would afford Nigeria.
By the way, yours was a good read. Well done Sir!
Kafayat – I like your mention of deeper liberation of the electricity sector. Until we do just that we may not see high quality services from players
This is an insightful article.
I love the example given as regards telecommunication. If we as a nation could reach such a milestone in the telecommunication industry, I think we can also take such a bold step in the energy sector. The stakeholders should look at how the telecommunication became a success and learn from it.
Well done Prof, you are really doing a great job. I believe that one day we will get it right as a country with more knowledge, freedom will come to those bound by the chains of ignorance. Thank you for that address, i took notes from it and will implement it in my organiation.
Thank you.
I totally i agree with with you. But my worry is how do you achieve that in a country where there is no respect for the rule of law. In a country where there is no merit in almost every sector of our national lives. In a country where we dont appreciate talents because it is talents that rule the corporate world. I say this with all sense of responsiblities – for example, should we continue to talk about Less Disadvantage States in education in this age and time? And while the so-called disadvantage persons are the first to be employed in government MDAs (as they become what are I call “Politcally Advantange and Connected”). Issues of Federal Character.. how does that help in creating a crop of people who ordinarily will make those policies and laws that are expected “to drive what you just postulated”. In a country where our economic policies and laws are archaic and politically toyed with. If I may ask..what happened to the Petroleum Industry Bill. What about other sectors like Agriculture, Telecommunication, Trade and Power sectors…When we dont do what is needful and just..Investors whether local or foreign will look elsewhere. My humble submissions