At the TEF Forum in October 2017
It was a real privilege to be at the TEF Forum that took place in October, an exhilarating experience to say the least for someone who is not very outgoing, I stepped out of myself and I was someone completely different, taking it all in, mixing and getting to know new people and their Businesses, swapping cards and all. Bless the day I decided to apply for the TEF programme and I am grateful to Almighty Allah, without Whom nothing is possible for making me persist on it despite all the obstacles on my path. I learnt a great deal from the forum and I got to see this Country of ours in a different light. From where I am standing, I have very deep reservations for everything about this country for as long as I can remember but my experience at the forum and the TEF programme as a whole is helping me to see things a bit differently, one issue at a time.
When he was asked why he was doing this, his answer came out to be the best ever answer to hear from someone from this part of the world? We cannot look on and watch some of these things continue to happen, it is re-ordering of priorities and needs, he said. Though, he did not say what “some of these things” are but we are all too aware of what they are and the fact that someone in his position acknowledges and is actively doing things about it and not just talking, is a giant step in the right direction of putting a stop to “some of these things” and setting our Country in the good book of growth and development, strategically spreading opportunities to reach everyone not just a few. The Legacy he wants to leave behind is to empower Entrepreneurs to develop the Economy and other Entrepreneurs equally, which is a very laudable vision and I hope many more will borrow a leaf from him in this.
I think it is not too early for me to say, this Forum and the TEF programme as a whole is the highlight of the year 2017 for me. From the Course, the talks at the forum from notable Entrepreneurs and Leaders, the Master Classes and the meeting of other Entrepreneurs I would not have met ordinarily. I got the chance to meet the CEO of Mainone briefly after her talk on the topic “From potential to profit: Growing your idea into Business”. I asked her my burning question of why we are still suffering from incredibly slow and very expensive Internet Connections in 2017, especially within our Education Institutions where it is highly needed these days. Her response has to do with “ease of doing Business” issue, which is what we are all suffering from, irrespective of the size of Business, new or old. Hopefully, the “ease of doing Business” issue will be addressed positively for all of us.
Extract from the Chairman’s Speech
The Chairman, Tony Elumelu in his speech, acknowledged all the problems we have in Africa, which are the reasons he started the TEF Entrepreneurship programme to channel our youthful efforts into productivity and Entrepreneurship to develop our Country and Continent. Our people are young, talented, energetic, hardworking and extremely enterprising and therein lay potent capacities and opportunities.
He identified two fundamental reasons we are not making the most of our enterprising youth and their capacities as:
- The operating environment/Ease of doing Business: He enjoined on our President and VP to make their legacy that of “ease of doing Business”. Once we fix this operating environment issue, we can unleash the latent potential, energy and creativity of our people, just like it is in other part of the world where innovations and creativity have no barriers.
- The ease of translating ideas into action: He acknowledged that we are dealing in a stifling operating environment, with lack of support, neglect, god-fatherism and absence of meritocracy. The easiest thing to do is to dream dreams but the most difficult thing is to translate those dreams into action, our youths need a hand-up and a little push and only us can solve our problems and only us will develop Africa.
He went on to say that we need a new development model in Africa that embraces shared value and local value addition and long term investment and private sector development and ultimately entrepreneurship, a development model that prioritizes our youth and creates hope for them. A bottom up approach to development, an all-inclusive approach that brings development to everyone, one that creates economic empowerment and one that creates hope for the future, which he called Africapitalism.
He then gave the likes of Bill Gate, Steve Job and Jack Ma as examples of Entrepreneurs who made it big due to their operating environment that values innovations and Entrepreneurship above all else. Had these people been in our kind of environment in Nigeria and Africa, their ideas would probably not have seen the light of the day let alone being a global name to reckon with that they are today.
Who knows how many of our compatriots with great ideas at their time whose idea never got to see the light of the day or those who left the shores of the country in order to live their dreams and bring their ideas to life without looking back to this stifling environment of ours.
The highlight of his speech for me is when he said “luck should be democratised and it is not what we keep in our bank account that counts, what matters ultimately is the legacy that we leave behind”, he can’t be more right than this. Unfortunately, we don’t have many people who think this way. Majority of our people are those who dream to be rich and powerful so they can Lord it over others with arrogance and impunity.
The burden to succeed and impact others positively is now placed on those who were lucky enough to be one of the 1000 Entrepreneurs on the programme. Of course, with all the support, guidance, resources and opportunities in place, failure is not an option as rightly said my the CEO, Parminder Vir.
Nuggets from the VP’s speech
What makes Africa works are the 1000 Entrepreneurs in the TEF programme and the thousands more like them all over Africa.
Our future is not determined by history or the past unless we allow it.
Success is only success because you can compare it with failure
Dreams pursued with single-mindedness are more powerful than facts.
The current and persistence can triumph even over experience, no matter whose experience.
Hope and imagination are more potent that history because your history is not necessarily your destiny, indeed your history must not be your destiny.
I was happy to be a part of the forum and to have had the opportunity to listen and learn from the Leaders who have been there and done it many times over. I continue to look forward to what the future holds for Webhostville as we work towards our goals day by day, bit by bit.