Mayowa…..

David Brook’s article, The Life Reports II, on NYTIMES got me wondering today.

The clock keeps ticking and opportunities are sliding away. This is mainly because we fail to take risks. Our lives will come to an end someday and we’ll never know how our lives will have turned out if we had taken that risk. Should we adopt a balanced approach to taking risks and limit our exposures to potential failures? This is what I was trained to do. I don’t think this is ideal! Life is too short to have too many what ifs.

What is that one thing I’ll do if I was sure I won’t fail?
Do it today!

At least 80% of all I own is bought online and unfortunately, this revenue goes to a British or American site.
Incidentally, today is “cyber monday” in the United States when people get a lot of crazy discounts shopping online.
Visiting Nigerian online bookstore site kalahari.com.ng, you are faced with the message that they are now closed.
On a daily basis, new sites advertising on facebook pop up offering to help you purchase and ship goods bought in the UK or America down to Nigeria. These goods are selected online.
Without doubt, Nigeria is ripe for an Amazon.com. Seemingly, it’s only an Amazon that may be willing to spur the growth of online sales in Nigeria. Nigeria needs a company with deep pockets.
Kindle Fire was launched by Amazon in the US sometimes this month at the rate of $199 for one. One would have thought that the fanfare that greeted the launch of the Kindle Fire meant Amazon expected to make some earnings from its sale. I.e. Make Kindle Fire what iPad and iPhone is to Apple. I was however shocked to learn that for every Kindle Fire sold, Amazon loses a couple of dollars. Profit will be realised from the content purchased via the Kindle.
This is a business strategy. I want to call it however a cultural change – I’m willing to lose a couple of dollars to change people’s culture. They should discover the Kindle being cheap and begin to rely on Amazon and its services for purchasing and delivering their needs.
It is this same strategy that we require in Nigeria. A company with sufficiently deep pockets willing to take up losses to make Nigerians see that there is an alternative out there and they could take the risk of patronising this alternative as whatever misgivings they have about the online business has been shadowed by the price savings.
What are these misgivings?
I believe the first is trust. Our online image has been battered both home and abroad and the mere thought of transacting business with someone you cannot see fills an average Nigerian with dread. The strength of an internationally recognized brand name like Amazon could change this in the twinkling of an eye. However, apart from the fact that the Nigerian market might be unattractive to them, I believe the online business stratosphere in Nigeria should be run by Nigerians for Nigeria. This has the potential of creating jobs and improving the lot of a number of people.
Secondly, I’ll say is payments.

…To be continued

There is no one that sets out to become a failure. Consciously or unconsciously, we are attuned to achieving our goals. It is inbuilt to want to succeed.
My brief experience in the corporate world and personal experiences have taught me that success has different levels.
Success is like a ladder. Each step takes you a little bit above the floor, above the zone of failure. To onlookers, the few steps you’ve taken is seen as success. Unfortunately, many accept that outlook and decide to become at ease. They are comforted with the fact that they are not at the same level with many others.
This brings me to the number one enemy of greatness which is contentment. The former CEO of Apple who is in every sense a great man, Steve Jobs, in his commencement speech at Stanford University some years ago ended his speech with the words “stay hungry, stay foolish”. Satisfaction kills any craving to want to know more.
In order to ascend the ladder of greatness, you need to increase in knowledge. To increase in knowledge, you need to be dissatisfied with what you know now and crave more. Great men always want to know. Many of them are known to be avid readers. Am I satisfied with what I know now?
The second enemy of greatness is laziness. A lazy man can only succeed to a certain level. What is stopping you from reading that book? What stops you from writing that business plan? What stops you from going to that networking event? What stops you making that sales call? Either you are lazy or you are satisfied and both are the enemies of greatness.
Another enemy of greatness is your company. If you are surrounded by mediocrity, I strongly believe you’ll be superhuman to rise to greatness. They will drag you to their level. This is a scary truth for me. Should you sacrifice people you call friends for greatness? I do not think so. However, I believe we should stir up that hunger for greatness amongst our company and if they fail to be stirred up, we’ll have to move on without them.
It is not enough to succeed. We must make an impact. This is what great people do. It is difficult to defeat these enemies but we must. I want to make a difference and I will defeat these enemies.