Beyond the shores of Africa, when the average person thinks of the giants of entrepreneurship, investment and management, names like Jeff Bezos, Richards Branson, Steve Jobs and even Sir Alex Ferguson arguably come to mind for the average Jo. . These names, over time, became associated with stories that originally spawned from big dreams. Dreams that one day may well become myths for generations yet to be born. But for us, the witnesses of posterity, we are like insects trapped in the amber of the events of our time. Trace these events and you’ll find an origin story of a spark of genius that became so bright and hot that little suns were soon born and with them came galaxies. Those galaxies soon had smaller but not smaller stars that seem to follow in the wake of the suns around which they revolve. In simple words, many Witnesses of our generation have come to aspire to be like Richard Branson and Steve Jobs to name a few. Many will try, but not all have the spark to take them to the end; for those who come close, theirs will be to become the little stars that stand out from the rest.
These events have shaped the course of history in such a way that the legacy of humanity is in constant flux. All this has been possible as Maya Angelou said, someone, “dared to dream”. But not only to dream, but dare to dream big!
We then sail back to the shores of Africa and sail further ashore to Nigeria (arguably Africa’s largest economy). We replay the origin story of the giants of entrepreneurship, investment and management and what you get is akin to a coastline littered with jagged rocks, some placed surreptitiously, others placed in such a way that maneuverability is nearly impossible. It is worth asking then why we can also boast of having our own giants, the Aliko Dangotes, the Otedola, the Tony Elumelus, to name just a few. In fact, it’s an impressive list. One long enough to make the average African Jo begin to nurture the possibility of a dream, a dream that grows to equal any that can be had on any continent and in any part of the world. Like a hurricane, that dream can grow, just as well as it should. Before long it takes shape, like a storm that rages until it threatens to become a spark, a spark that can equal any other on the face of the earth, that spark of genius. Then the moment arrives, inspiration at its peak, desire at its peak… and in the end nothing happens. There is no spark, not even a waning glow that we can sadly call a dying ember. Then comes the frustration, bitterness, and disappointment that kicks off another origin story that is directly antithetical to the previous dream. And behold, the man with sharp corners is born. A kind of dark spark if you can. Just as brilliant, but everything an alter ego is and can be. Keep in mind that he is still the same person. The one who dared to follow the trail of the little suns. The potential star that is part of an ever-expanding galaxy. Now here lies a wonder, a kind of reverse flash, a black hole, now determined to suck in as much as it can at all costs and give nothing back. All because he dares to dream big?
When it comes to the average statistics for the lifespan of small and medium-sized businesses in Nigeria, the numbers are dismal. 6 months is the time it takes for reality to settle its bite on who starts a SME. The environment to start, let alone maintain, an SME is almost non-existent!
The harsh reality is that in Nigeria, the so-called famous but not so famous giants have tightened their control over the few industries that are thriving in Nigeria. With darkness on the horizon, Nigeria’s business landscape is as dark as clouds gathering for a rain storm. There is little mercy here for those who do not resign themselves to being tough as nails. The irony of that statement, as in that circumstance, is that even nails rust, just like the dreams of millions of people who once aspired to reach the heavens and build their dreams up to the sky like a tower of Babel defying even to the gods who runs the sphere of the Nigerian economy. The vicious cyclical distribution of wealth has actually become a noose drawn to strangle the scrawny neck of the dreamer who is the average Jo, or better yet, “average Joseph.” We all know the ancient story of the tower of Babel. Where a group of inspired dreamers came together to build the world’s first skyscraper in an attempt to reach out to God or challenge his creative omnipotence. The dream was short-lived as God brought down the tower on and around them and scattered them with a curse of tongues to the four winds of the earth. The lesson, whoever dares to defy God, take care because his dreams in the end will not be worth more than a bitter testament of rubble placed at his feet. That is a similar story to the circumstance of building your dream here in Nigeria. The gods in this case really aren’t to blame if you’re foolish enough to dare to challenge them with your big dreams!
The headstone in the post-mortem memoriam to innovation may well be in the shape of Africa’s largest economy. The price paid is so invaluable that one shudders to think of the millions, if not billions, wasted while we perceive the largesse in the bureaucracy of silly political gimmicks. The comfort of ignorance oxidizes any dream faster than any moisture, especially those built with iron will. Lately, a new trend is starting to take root, it is a trend mentioned above, the “black hole attitude”. Increasingly, admiration for this type of thinking is becoming the norm. It becomes possible when day by day there is a downward spiral of respect and encouragement for the innovative mind, this downward spiral is fostered by “short-term thinking”, a phrase that becomes more and more embodied in the last part of the last. year. This phraseology is a term widely used by Larry Fink, who was a stock trader and later co-founder of “the world’s largest money management company, BlackRock, which to this day runs and controls assets approaching $5 trillion.” A man who is one of the most powerful players in global finance” has spoken out so outspokenly against this decrepit mentality. He postulates that short-term thinking has a negative effect on the innovative mind’s ability to dream. Unfortunately, innovation as a skill is becoming more and more unpopular in the hub of business, organizations and corporations, be it in the public or private sector here in Nigeria. This is encouraged by “short-term thinking.” As a result, we are creating a generation of monsters who see routine and plagiarism in the workplace as activism. We risk twisting their lives at the expense of the judgment of posterity which, other things being equal, should have acted as a litmus test to assess the cost of our actions today. In the end, though, the sad truth may be that the very generation that should have acted as a mirror to us risks being dragged into the quicksand of a misguided sense of superficial justifications, an end for which we are currently charting. the roadmap. his downfall and our ultimate demise.
We do not know what the long-term cost of such actions will be or even in what currency the price we will pay will be.
In the end, Larry Fink may well be the unassuming messiah. To his detractors, he will not be considered a team player, a term now used to blackmail the innovative mind at the expense of dashed dreams. His words, though disembodied, seem to leave a lingering cast in the eyes, like someone who has been looking at a bright light for too long a moment and suddenly looks away. It succinctly asks fundamental questions that linger: “What is happening in Moscow or Beijing or Brooklyn today? Why did the market move 0.2%?” Banks are the same way: their business is all about the speed of money. Very few people are Talking about the long term.” And the narrative goes on and on, pulling the noose ever tighter around our necks that will ultimately leave Africa’s largest economy like the wild wild west, a wasteland without an oasis of dreams to quench the thirst for change. true and meaningful. innovation. We run the risk of fighting a battle for the wrong crusade, a crusade that should be a campaign against short-term thinking in an attempt to change the system of decrepitude. Ironically, we can only truly achieve this by adopting a long-term thinking mindset because like it or not, passively or actively, we are all fiduciarily or directly responsible for the dream fate of generations to come.
