₦airaland Forum

Chukwuka16:
The brevity of time and the ruthlessness of "good" statistics


Back to my thoughts.

As Nigerians, we like hope. We engage with hope and it drives us. Don’t get me wrong, hope is good. Even the Bible admonishes that hope maketh not ashamed. However, that same Bible raises two very crucial points – the importance of time (there is time for everything) and the need for work (faith without work is death). While hope should keep us alive, active and eager to try again, it does not obviate from hard truths.

One of such hard truths is time and its fleeting nature. I have seen the impact of buying back time and the luxuries it affords one. When I completed my PhD, I still had 2.5 years of time remaining (assuming 4 years for a PhD). These 2.5 years enabled me try and fail and learn. By the time my colleagues were finishing their PhD’s years later, I had won a couple funding and built capacity in project management, grant applications, recruitment, team management, report and deliverables writing, and tested product development. I have also been able to offer my network similar opportunity – roles, training and development, travel, increased salaries and profile, etc. That ecosystem today has generated excellent opportunities for us in managing way bigger projects and now preparing for the launch of our flagship product.

It took only 1 person to buy back time to build an ecosystem that has allowed others to scale my limited ideas. I would never have earned or had access to what I have today were it not for that ecosystem. It didn’t just happen, it took time. Today, that ecosystem has enabled me to bring to life all I have been working on since undergrad – demand side management. If I didn’t finish my PhD early, I would never have had the opportunity to try, fail and learn. When I speak of what I do today, never assume it was spontaneous, it took time.

As immigrants, we have lost time and so we find it risky to make such investments now. It is better we think to be safe in what we think works now than try new things – I am just laughing remembering the book, “who moved my cheese”. We don’t have a choice than to start now. Yes, we have run out of time, but can we start something today. I will in my later epistle talk about labour and value and how inversely related they are in today’s world.

Secondly, is the issue of “good” statistics. I was very intentional in qualifying statistics because of the popular saying – “lies, damned lies and statistics”. I currently as a side hustle function as the chief AI officer for a US AI start up (they are in stealth mode so village people can forget knowing them till they raise). You will think I write code, no. I function as a solutions architect. I possess very rare skillsets and competence in first principles (engineering, computer science and policy), and I have experience in building products which made them approach me. I am also friendly with the CEO as well as a few other staff of the company. Now, don’t get me wrong – the folks here who are Nigerians are like the top 0.1% of Nigerians – Stanford, MIT, UPenn, etc. They are running a company of over 15 staff with angel investment and are also generating revenue. Working with them has made me attend meetings with some global c-suite executives pitching our solutions. I can have these opportunities because someone in my network built an ecosystem. They are also leveraging our successes as part of theirs, and the cumulative impact is amazing.

I am not denigrating immigrants, just stating facts – there is so little our current approach will do to help us build the ecosystems that will enable our offsprings thrive. The stat is simple, most of the wealth going forward will be created in the major cities of the world. What will take our kids there and thrive are the businesses we build today. It is those businesses that will equip them to function in the new world.

I could write lengthy stuff, but the summary remains the same – hope has no role to play in helping us combat the poverty facing us as Nigerian immigrants. We need to start thinking systems. If we don’t the poverty later will remind us daily as we see our offsprings recolonised and utilised as fodder for keeping the system running and as sport for the major players.

The worst kind of life to live is one of regret – hopeless and aware that things could have been different. Life is brutal, so also are the stats.

I am unclear on how you setup your ecosystem. Please can you elaborate for some of us that may want to replicate or do something similar?
Are you able to share how one can tap into your ecosystem/network?
Do you have any web links or companies we can learn from?

Chukwuka16:
Title of my brief this evening - Can we broaden our discussions: life has changed and is leaving us far behind

I have been away from this platform minding life and business – building an ecosystem is hard work and time!

I have recently had cause to scroll through previous pages here and I must appreciate the breadth of discussions. The OGs continue to help as always and bants continue to get thrown as usual. Nairaland still remains a melting pot for Nigerians.

However, for the last 18 months, I have suffered terribly from two things (information asymmetry and the absence of a sustainable ecosystem) that have both forced me to begin to rethink a lot of things about how I build and develop business. These sufferings I argue stem from two things I have noticed are very common in our community as Nigerians – a culture of hoarding and limited ambition.

First, I have suffered from serious information asymmetry which meant I have expended huge funds utilising consultants who are not Nigerians in navigating the landscape. This has mostly been around regulation (pursuing authorisation both in the finance, energy and ISO spaces). Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad thing. What is worse is that money left our business to foreigners whereas there are Nigerians I believe who either have these skillsets or run businesses that can offer these services. I even know of one who I chatted up today on consulting for us in getting PCI DSS and the feedback justified why I will continue to use foreigners in the interim. I want to pay you to get the job done and the feedback is lacklustre. It was like I am not expected to have such. I will be reaching out today to a couple of firms to get that sorted for us – another loss of revenue to our ecosystem. I am practically weeping because my experience working with our manufacturers in China and consultants in UAE and even some of these Caucasian run consulting businesses here in the UK makes me wonder if we as Nigerians don’t want to succeed.

The second thing I have suffered is the absence of an ecosystem of familiar people on which I can build on. As a business, I have no reason to pursue financial authorisation. However, being unable to secure long-term partnerships and my long-term assessment of feedback from people I approached made me rule that a major risk hence the need to pursue that. As a business set up primarily to offer software solution in the energy space – carbon credit arbitrage from DSM and trading flexibility (we are literally building a trading platform to trade flexibility outside of smart meters), I have no business in hardware. That should be something owned by another business that they sell to customers and that I can build on. Unfortunately, I have also ruled that a major risk to prevent that aspect of the value chain cutting me off customers tomorrow. This means new manufacturing contracts to design hardware that caters for different continents, conformity tests, product design, circuit diagrams, packaging, countless emails and travel! As a business, it should have been a lot easier outsourcing my legal needs to a Nigerian-run legal firm here in the UK. Unfortunately, my last experience with a Nigerian lawyer here in the UK means I have to set up one that is in-house. When your heads of legal (finance and non-finance) either have a side gig at Oxford or worked at a leading European Fintech then you know you are toast. What about IP, we have to use US law firms to pursue patent filing and copyright protection. Thank God there is at least a Nigerian in one of the firms. These things are not meant to be so. This is what I love about the US and Chinese ecosystems (that does not include Nigerians).

I have done the numbers and all I can say is unfortunate. With regards to hoarding, I shiver. Folks I consider kin will see opportunities that will be beneficial to me and them in the long-run and keep mute. I’m younger than most so naturally I will supersede them – same way I expect younger folks than myself to exceed my achievements. However, our limited ambition means we don’t mind sacrificing long-term benefits if it will make a fellow Nigerian fail. Last night I concluded with my wife that scarcity and deep-seated jealousy is our problem. Reason why even at our parties we continue to exhibit such alien attributes in a declining country of abundance.

Why my rant this evening? If I continue like this, our businesses will fail. We are lucky to have secured funds to setup for our global rollout. We can achieve more, if we focus on what matters to us. Can we within this platform encourage anonymous discussions on Nigerians and what they do? I want to know of Nigerians who can handle accounting in the middle east – I will ditch the folks I’ve signed up with asap if I get a better deal. I want to know of Nigerians who can handle compliance or digital marketing across the UK, Europe, North America and the Middle East with budgets that are affordable (make sense) and with an attitude of seriousness. I cannot forget an experience I had some months back. Our BDM set up a meeting with a company to interview them for our marketing campaign. The rep perhaps felt that an all-black team didn’t deserve his presence and so turned off his video for the entirety of the call. That was the last time they heard back from us. I have recently held back on signing off on a report from another so-called top research organisation here in the UK because of the shoddy job they have done. By the time I am through with them, when they see a black business, they will “jump and pass”. I may be black but as a researcher and scholar, “I hold ground”.

Folks, as Nigerians we are powerless if we don’t own and run thriving businesses. Forget your high paying job, it is the businesses owned by Nigerians that gives us a voice in society. However, how can we ensure we have thriving businesses that can enable us to generate an ecosystem that enables us to keep wealth within our community. I know the health and care visa folks made a mess of things. Can we move past that and talk about the things good Nigerians do in their little corners so we can patronise and utilise them?

Today, I cringe about all the software we have bought for HR, accounting, compliance, communication, project management, etc. Some I just see the debit and am like what is this? If Nigerians had them and they were suitable for use here, I would be buying them. I want to scale from buying African food to patronising Nigerian owned businesses in marketing, consulting, research, audit, compliance, AI, etc.

Today, Nigerians cannot setup businesses easily in the UAE. If we had Nigerians owning businesses in strategic sectors, that won’t be the case. Today, for our staff to visit China, our manufacturers need to obtain letters from the government backing their own invitation letters simply because they still have a single nationality – Nigeria.

Time is moving very fast and severe structural change is coming. In our business, 99% of our staff are Nigerians. We have one very excellent chartered engineer who is European. I can enforce this because I am majority owner. Same thing with other businesses. I want to go into the city and enter a Nigerian-run finance business and see Nigerians just excelling. Please, can we broaden our discussions to include talks on this. I recall reading here of someone who was exploring building a currency-exchange business based on crypto. Next year, we would be exploring launching our own coin based on the carbon credits we generate from arbitrage. That would be a partnership worth exploring for me.

As I conclude, I recall an event held in the city in 2022. Two of my businesses had won funds in climate finance out of 30 funded across the country and we needed to attend a meeting with the Oxford folks and finance players (the major institute is based in Oxford). I have never felt out of place in my life. We were only 6 blacks in that meeting. Three from my end (including myself), two from my friend’s end who also had 2 of her businesses winning funding and 1 other guy who works with a major finance institution in the city. I vowed to avoid such meetings in the future. We may think such events will help us get networks. I laugh. My experience partnering with white-run businesses has made me realise that it is safer and better to partner with your kit and kin than with foreigners. You will appreciate this when trouble arises. Only your own will bring out their necks and reputation to defend you. I want to join in building such networks.

Welcome back. I was thinking about you some days ago and wondering if you have left nairaland finally. I agree with your points and I have been thinking of setting up a business in the field of AI consultancy but do not have the courage and self belief yet.
I like your crypto based carbon exchange. I have some level of crypto/blockchain experience and happy to be involved in bringing the idea to life.
As you have suggested, it is a good idea to share our skillsets and perhaps someone might benefit from it.
I am into process/business improvement and digital transformation and do blockchain and crypto on the side.

[quote author= post=133186339]Dubai UAE : the land of crude oil and petroleum?

Na dem go loot the money by themselves,,
e sure us.

This sounds like selling snow to Eskimos.

Btw,
On the list of Oil-producing countries in the world 🌎,
UAE is at number 6 while Nigeria is at number 14 ....[/quote]This is not uncommon and it happens around the world. For example, Saudi Arabia sometimes imports crude from Nigeria. It depends on the properties of the crude or product they are importing.

Zahra29:
Wow. So despite all his shenanigans and (very) ostentatious lifestyle, Tobi Adegboyega of SPAC nation was living without papers, and now he has lost his deportation battle :

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/03/tobi-adegboyega-nigeria-pastor-spac-nation-deportation-echr/

Nigerian pastor whose church was shut down over alleged £1.87m fraud loses deportation battle

Mr Adegboyega has lived in the UK unlawfully since overstaying on a visitor’s visa that allowed him to enter Britain in 2005. In 2019, he applied for leave to remain under ECHR’s right to a family life. His application was initially dismissed by a first-tier immigration tribunal before he appealed.

Is the tribunal the last court he can appeal to or can he go higher? Perhaps his wife and kids being British citizens might help.

AgentXxx:
No worries please do

email sent.

jedisco:
Also need more info on this. The lowest I've got is 7k from Lag.

Also need info on sending stuff back. I mean large stuff. Know a few who do but unsure abt the cost-effectiveness

Is it 7k/kg? Do they know the UK regulations regarding food imports?

AgentXxx:
I have a brother-in-law who is based in Nigeria but engages in export. I can connect you with him.

Nice, please can i dm you?

Please does anyone know how to import food items to the UK from Nigeria in commercial quantities? I will appreciate if anyone has a guide to share or point me to where I can find such information. Thank you.

Lexusgs430:
Get a SIPP...... 😜😂

Not a SNIP..... 😁

Retired but there's no way I am getting the SNIP.

deept:
@lexusgs430

it has begun, the effect of the budget. child's nursey just sent notice increasing fees by 7% and increased notice to cancel space to 2 months from one month. this increase is not showing on my pay-slip and we are working people

Notice reads: As you may be aware, the recently announced budget included a rise to employer NI contribution, which has ben factored into the annual review to ensure we can continue to invest in our colleagues and nursery sustainably blablabla

In missjekyll's voice, you are part of the top 10%. You should pay your fair share of tax.

deept:
hahahaha, it is all our lemons that will be squeezed. I wont be surprised if prices in the supermarkets have gone up too. Might not be immediately noticeable till you get to the till. na to tight the belt tighter. and madam say she want another one , why birth rate no go drop.

Baba enjoy yasef. Nothing go happen.

I would have been surprised if Alex wasn't there.

missjekyll:
1. Nobody goes to Buckingham to see this greedy family. It's to see the buildings.
2. We can only dream of the tourism figures for France who famously have no royal family.
3. Even if they were the most tourist drawing people on it, the burden they are placing on the people of the UK is too heavy. They need to go.

They are milking much needed funds from our public services. How dare he? Charging 67% more? From a trust that's laying off staff due to lack of funds?

N.B: They are taking a beating in the papers even daily mail commenters are having none of them today. It's about time

You have made some valid points but they still bring a lot of value to the UK. The only reason I will support the scrapping of the monarchy is so that they will feel the effects of what they did to ours too even though it may not have the same effect.

missjekyll:
We are being taxed heavily to pay for the NHS. This man, who doesn't pay enough taxes, charges exorbitant rent from that same NHS.

"What is he good for?! Absolutely nothing!

What about the hundreds of millions in tourism?

rasputhin:
Believe me that is not the intent, however, it's only the Nigerian government I have interacted with where there's this level of obscurity in dealing with these sort of things. Even calling the HC telephone number, the staff who answered the call was responding like my call was disrupting their day lol. The information they gave was contradictory to what they had on the website and still incomplete.
All I need is answers, I avoid that Northumberland Ave. as much as I can.

calling the HC can be very frustrating and challenging. As someone said, the NHC has nothing to do with your wedding, unless you want Tinubu as your father of the day. The home office will let you know if they require anything from Nigeria. I give you my blessings
Happy married life.

rasputhin:
I'm of the same stance as you, but there's no official documentation from the consulate that outlines that fact. It's just sad that everytime you have to deal with Nigeria as a diasporan it's always a stressful situation.

Based on the information given to you above, I do not see why the high commission should be the one to give you the documentation when it is not a requirement to start with. You are getting married in the UK, they should tell you all that you need. If that includes a document from the Nigeria High commission (Which in this case it is likely not), then they will tell you how to get the documents. Please let us not be quick to disparage our own.

Lexusgs430:
Let's get the UK government to leverage some pressure, on this incompetent Nigerian government to deal with terrorism, mass abductions and genocide in Nigeria.......

Let's sign this petition....... 😁

www.stopnigeriagenocide.com

So I should ask the UK government to intervene in Nigeria's issue? God forbid. I will rather pressure our leaders to address the issue. Thankfully the situation has improved recently. Let them deal with the one they created in the middle east first.

claremont:
A good rule of the thumb is to ignore medical advice on social media. If you are not happy with what her GP has prescribed, ask to be referred to a Gynecologist. There may be a long waiting time to see one. If you cannot wait, be ready to pay to see one privately.

In most cases, patients with dry skin would be placed on long term oral antihistamines and a emollient that works for them to alleviate the symptoms. Finding that ‘silver bullet’ emollient is mostly by trial and error, under the supervision of a gynecologist.

I have learnt alot from the suggestions here. I am curious to know: Why a gynecologist and not a dermatologist? What if the child was a boy?

justwise:
Add Laura Loomer and Marjorie Taylor Greene to that list

It will surprise you to know that a lot of Nigerians support Trump and Putin and will still go to church to pray for peace and good governance in the world

You forgot to add Netanyahu.

RalphJean:
Please, skip if this question seem a no-brainer.
I have $1000 to send to mama at home.
Should I change it to £, then convert to naira (via LemFi or Azimo or Moneygram or Nala - other BDCs exist) and send to her.
Or
Do I put the $ in an envelope, send through a friend travelling. Then mama can go to Aboki Mallam and change the $?

Which one offers more value for money please?

Thank you.☺️

It is highly likely that the difference between the options will not be much so I'd go with the most convenient option for me.

deept:
Ok, I've only heard about people doing the procedure abroad

From what I have heard, the success rate in Nigeria is higher than that in the UK. A lot of people go back home to have it done, probably due to the "flexibility" in the procedure there.

Zahra29:
The usual suspects are all acting and speaking as expected depending on which side they support.

With the 2011 and BLM protests/riots (and going back further to the Brixton riots and the like), left and "far left" supporters excused the protests and violence, instead pointing the focus on the endemic societal and institutional issues and injustice that led to the outpouring of anger. Meanwhile right and "far right" actors and media were hopping mad, especially as the protesters/rioters/looters were mostly black or of ethnic origin.

Flip over to the 2024 riots and the right and "far right" are sympathetic to the underlying grievances of the protesters/rioters/looters while others are aghast.

Same script, different actors.

Viruses:
Female boxers are quitting fight in Olympics after being paired with men that says they are women. Imagine those men winning and celebrating Olympic Gold medalist in female boxing. What a pity.

But they are not men.

Ticha:
No 😅

I have notes (aide de memoir more like) of important points/ examples to hit on each specification. Same kind of notes you'll have if debating (hark to secondary school days) or giving a presentation.

I will have 2 - 3 bullet points of each of my examples on an A5 sheet and I refer to them.

In fact when I talk about my skills around being organised, being detailed, juggling tasks and being analytical - I use my notes as an example of one of the ways I keep myself on track and accountable. Because day to day at work, I use notes and reminders, otherwise I'll lose track.

The only civil service interview I passed (2 interviews online, failed one), I actually had all my examples written up and read off them. I do presentations for work so paraphrase a lot anyway. I had 2 screens, had the video interview on one screen and my notes on the other. Same way I do presentations. Shame they were painfully slow with onboarding!

I won't advise you to do that of you'll read verbatim!

oh wow, thank you. I didn;t know it was allowed. I just go in with my head and then ramble on only to remember some key points after the interview.

Ticha:
Yes I ask for all interviews. It helps clarify my thoughts processes and because I always have notes with me, it means I can at a glance pick out which examples are suitable.

Are you saying it's ok to have my examples written out to prompt me when I want to answer a question?

Why are you filming them? That's tacky.

Cyberknight:
MissJ is married to the Labour Party o.

Or could it be that she prefers men that bleed every month aka men with cervix.

kumbhuru:
How will someone get wife in this UK now. Any advice. I no wan problem for myself

I believe missjekyll is single. Shoot her a dm and carry on from there. Best of luck and happy married life in advance.

Happy Corbyn won with a massive majority.

dustydee:
I am going for the tories or reform. Most likely the conservatives because the reform guy in my constituency does not appear serious. Labour will almost certainly increase my counci tax and likely will not do well in government. I also do not like how they treated JC and the Gaza issue.

Voted conservative and glad my conservative MP got re-elected with a majority of 3000+. Congrats to labour, at least they will have no excuse when they fail.

Zahra29:
Outside roles have become rare especially in FS, so extremely competitive. It's also not as lucrative as it used to be due to changes in the tax rules.

However some inside roles can be converted to outside IR35 if a strong case can be made that it meets the criteria such as working autonomously with very limited management input or direction. However HMRC are very strict, a few broadcasters have had to go to court on this issue.

Easier route might be to vote for Reform who have pledged to scrap IR35 lol

What is FS?

Zahra29:
Lol 😂

Looks can be deceiving 🙈

Lol I know. Tempting, but the current one is a popular and decent conservative.