Start-up Nation

And here I am, raving about my book of the year so far. It's called "Start-up Nation", a 2009 book by Saul Singer and Dan Senor. Its the sort of book you itch to continue reading, the sort of book where every distraction is met with an irritated stare at the source of the distraction.
However, I won't spend all my online ink on praise about this story, I ll rather encourage every entrepreneur (both aspiring and practising), every business leader, and any individual who wants to make a difference in his/her sphere to read that book. Its a story about the economic miracle of Israel, how a little country has constantly defied all odds to be a success story, and an example to other nations.
I love success stories, we all do. We love the idea of an example to use during history classes, or when we exhort our followers/employees/countrymen.We need to take a cue from this book, from the little nation called Israel, and unleash an unstoppable force of innovation across this beleaguered country of ours, instead of bitching about how bad our country "Nigeria" is.
That's my two cents, what's yours?

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The Nu Media revolution?

In this day and age, where new media has become the most popular term in marketing after fried chicken, it is easy for one to forget the fore bearer of new media; websites. Now I am not saying that new media should be relegated to the background, I just feel that most firms/brands seem to disregard the kind of consumer engagement which can also be achieved on their websites or on other popular websites.

To a certain extent, one can’t blame brands for taking that path, when you consider the fact that Facebook has enough users to form a “Republic of Facebook”, or the amount of likes some popular brands get from visitors on their Facebook page, you start to get a feel of the force that has got brands glued to this wonderful platforms. Another example of this magical new media force was evident during the “Occupy Nigeria Protests”, where information kept on flowing through Twitter like water flows under the bridge. I assume that some marketing managers must have watched that issue trend, and wondered what they could do to get a brand trend like that.

However, this piece is more of a reminder, an aide-mémoire to all my fellow marketing professionals out there. Websites are still a powerful way to engage your consumers, either on your own website or by hosting your campaign on a website that has so much traffic.  My own reminder happened some weeks ago, I stumbled across a new interactive website owned by MI the musician, www.miabaga.com.  The amazing story for me here was on the day this website was launched, it had fifty thousand unique page views within its first twenty minutes.  This means that any picture/ad/story that had been hosted on that website that day was seen by fifty thousand people within twenty minutes, that’s assuming the person viewing was alone with his or her laptop, which I think would be rare in a case like this.  Imagine what that could do to your brand; imagine what you could do on a website like that.

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Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal ( Inspired by Steve Jobs & Paul Arden))

Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour films, books, music, painting, poems, photographs, dreams, clouds, architectural masterpieces, lights and shadows.

Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic.

Authenticity is invaluable, originality is non-existent. Remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “it’s not where you take things from- it’s where you take them to”.

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The “Intellectual” buffoonery of us Nigerians (Inspired by King Julien)

We “intellectuals” feel that we are owed something by the world, we feel that we have “gone to school”, endured academic and professional torture. So therefore we need to be rewarded with comfort and prosperity, and when we don’t get it, we cry like babies. The critical thing we miss is that our education and the privilege we have to be at the level we are within the society, places a huge responsibility on us. We are the ones who are supposed to build and sustain the society, through our contributions.           

It’s this mentality that drives us, and that’s why when we finally graduate, by hook or crook, all we want is a high paying job (our reward for all the torture). This default mindset ensures that no one comes out of school thinking what he/she can contribute to the society with the skills and knowledge acquired during those “tortuous” years.

Therefore, we are all selfish, plain and simple, because if we set out to contribute, to create value, the society and system will always reward you for your efforts. That’s how it works, that’s how civilizations were built. They weren’t built on the instant rewards; they were built by the footsteps of individuals who set out to make a difference.

And the saddest part is, after having this conversation; it’ll still be hard for us to change our ways, we’ll just ponder a little, shake our heads, and go back to nagging about our leaders and our lives of scrapping daily to secure a never-ending tomorrow.

WE ARE ALL LEADERS; YOU ARE EITHER AN INFORMAL LEADER OR A FORMAL LEADER.

                                    

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Technology and Me;Part 1

Over the past few months, I have come across terms that sound so weird, that I wonder what the guy that came up with it was sipping at the time he got the "eureka". But that's not what this story is about; this story is about technology and the consumer. When I listen in on the grapevine, I hear statements like, "Nigeria has a booming tech industry". Now that's a great thing, for every lover of the Green White Green, hearing statements like that makes you feel great. However, the class of some of the "Nigerian" apps I have stumbled across leaves me wondering if our newspaper dallies have suddenly assumed the spin-master role that NTA has carried boldly over the years. One goes through the apps and wonders if the guy who built them had the consumer in mind or just his own fantasies of what his app should do. Now, I aren’t discrediting the fact that sometimes, the consumer might not know what he wants, but giving him something worse than what he already has easy access to is nothing short of stupidity. My point is, technology should be built around the consumer's viewpoint/flashpoints, not the consumer built around the technology viewpoints. Even the father of "no focus groups", Steve Jobs always insisted on that.

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This Life of Mine

One of those cold mornings, where you wake up and start wondering why you exist on this planet, the reason for you being. Or am i the only one that thinks in that fashion?It's a crazy world out there, however, i wont say i aint having fun. #randomthoughts

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Trending now

Surfing through the net these days, one can't help but notice the dominant white waves washing through our consumer driven society, from democratic selling, to interactive retail, it seems every one has a defined approach to being consumer friendly. Re-commerce ( a big word for trading in your old stuff for cash or coupons to be used in shopping) is also on the rise. And then reality hits you, whats trending in Nigeria?

Is it the arrest of the corrupt governors ( we knew that a long long time ago), or the fact that every labour leader who wants his name on the news daillies is threatening fire and brimstone if the subsidy is removed by the govenment. Yippee, i just discovered a good trend , "MOBILE MONEY", that seems to be the next big thing to happen to 9ja after telecommunication. Every one seems to be talking about a cashless economy, but wait, dudes, does it happen that fast, America still has cash within its system after decades of credit cards.
Well, lets see how it goes

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