- Nigerian women are making strides in male dominated industries such as the Banking industry. Read a McKinsey Quarterly interview with Cecilia Ibru, the current CEO of the Oceanic Bank in Nigeria - some highlights:
- Women are moving into the male dominated business community (though still in small numbers) - but they do have the respect cultural norms regarding the male/female hierarchy and the Nigerian cultural deference to men.
- micro-loans are not very common in Nigeria yet because there is a lack of awareness of their existence and people need help developing effective business proposals (thought: maybe we could help with awareness through proposal training courses...?). Interest rates are also quite high right now.
- Corruption is high in Nigeria - more education is needed to reduce ignorance (thought: maybe we could help with the educational infrastructure...?)
- After I wrote this blog entry - Georgina on my team sent me the attached article where Cecilia was one of the top bank executives caught up in the recent banking scandal in Nigeria. Thanks for sharing Georgina! Nigeria Bank Crisis.
- There is a lot of business opportunity and growth potential in Nigeria - a lot of this is powered by the oil industry.
- Important to understand the impact of the oil industry on political progression and innovative progress - sometimes there is an inverse relationship between the amount of oil money and the political and innovative progress in a country - it will be interesting to gain a better understanding of a growth market with heavy oil influence. In this sort of country there is constantly attention paid to "life after oil" - need to invest in the country so there is a life after oil.
- A country like Nigeria would like to see Western companies that invest in the infrastructure and education of the population and not simply pull oil out of the country. Need to keep in mind the "teach them to fish don't give them the fish" philosophy so as to create a long term positive impact in Nigeria
- There is a long history of military rule in Nigeria after gaining independence from England
- Nigeria has the largest population out of all the countries in Africa with about 130 million people. Nigeria has not suffered the levels of famine seen in other parts of Africa. It is a very entrepreneurial country.
- Calabar - this part of Africa is seen as an oasis where a lot of businessmen in the oil industry have invested in homes where there families live. Nigerians are drawn to this area for relaxation as well due to its cleanliness, lower temperatures, lower crowding, and less government corruption.
- Some challenges we may run into while trying to start our projects in Nigeria:
- No low cost broadband options yet
- Policy blocks may be few in the IT arena since there are few policies in place right now - a fairly blank slate right now where we can help create effective policy statements
- Hard to find enough developed talent in Nigeria since there has been little focus on education investment - at the same time difficult to bring in talent from other parts of the world because Nigeria would like to keep the jobs in their country - must figure out how to help with developing talent locally
- Not enough electricity - a lot of business have to power their own generators for electricity
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- Security not as much of an issue in Calabar as compared to what seen in the media. Most problems are localized to other part of northern Nigeria and given the large size of the country and population - Calabar is not as impacted.
