In Pursuit: Journeys in African Entrepreneurship

By Osaretin Oswald Guobadia and Chukuka Chukuma

In Pursuit - Journeys in African Entrepreneurship chronicles the journeys of two friends whose experiences in America shaped their approach to starting their own businesses in Nigeria. Drawing on their experiences of working, building and supporting business, and exposure to multimillion-dollar projects around the world, they uncover what it takes to own, run, and grow a profitable business.

Through their personal insights, they relay information relevant not only to entrepreneurs and investors seeking to do business in Nigeria, but anywhere on the globe—after all, the heart of business is human interaction. Their conversational banter-jab style, for which they're known in person and on social media, invites readers into their circle where they can share the wisdom gained through continuous pursuits to fulfill their dreams.

Business and life intersect. No matter your goal, you're not crazy, and no, you're not alone! Through In Pursuit, two Bendel boys invite you to laugh, yell, and reflect, as they converse from head and heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781734752311

Book preview

In Pursuit - Journeys in African Entrepreneurship (‘In Pursuit’) is a funny, serious, witty and thought-provoking interrogation of the challenges and opportunities of the African entrepreneurial journey. The book - through real life examples - captures attributes of principled and ethical leadership, dexterity, optimism, resilience, cultural values, passion for excellence, and innovative thinking; the vital qualities necessary for sustainable success as an African entrepreneur. I recommend it as a must-read guide on African entrepreneurship for entrepreneurs and investors.

Gbenga Oyebode (MFR)

Chairman, Aluko & Oyebode

(Lawyer, Investor and Philanthropist)

In Pursuit – Journeys in African Entrepreneurship is easy to read and filled with wisdom and insights based on the first-hand experiences of two dynamic entrepreneurs. I applaud Chukuka and Oswald’s courage and generosity in sharing their lives’ experiences and entrepreneurial journeys. This book will inspire the next generation of African entrepreneurs to dream big as global citizens should, but act decisively local, to create sustainable value and transform the continent.

Ndidi O. Nwuneli (MFR)

Co-Founder/Director, AACE Food Processing & Distribution

(Social Entrepreneur, Investor and Author)

There are few highways on the path of entrepreneurship. Go slow, potholes, detours and the occasional mobile police checkpoints are inevitable. But so are growth, friendships and fun experiences. In this book, Chukuka and Oswald share their refreshing and relatable stories of some of the moments on their path back to Nigeria. You have no choice but to be transported into their rich and vividly told stories about the process, timing and challenges they experienced on the long road to success. ‘In Pursuit’ the book, is an honest account of some of the varied personalities one encounters on the way to ‘making it’. Not just making it. Making it in Nigeria.

Chinedu Echeruo

Dreamer, Love & Magic Company

(Serial Entrepreneur: Founded Hopstop and sold to Apple)

There is a saying that, it is through joke one expresses bitter truth to a friend. The nuggets of life and business lessons told through this book will abide with you because they will not only make you laugh but be a guide for you as an entrepreneur or a returnee. ‘In Pursuit’ is not just a book to be read in one sitting, it is a bible of sorts to be referenced every now and then.

Victor Ehikhamenor

Nigerian Visual Artist, Writer and Photographer

(Undeniably one of Africa’s most innovative contemporary artists)

In Pursuit brings to life the raw energy and the high-stake bets of two of Nigeria’s brightest, with the equally breathtaking story of their date with breakthrough success and a romance with failure in the background. Oswald and Chukuka take you to the frontline of race relationships and national identity, in the process, exposing the internal homing device that directs millions to sojourn to their roots at great personal cost. The career lessons for returnees & locals alike are priceless, as is the leadership lessons laced with humor and authenticity. In the end though, ‘In Pursuit’ is about becoming, about adapting to who they have always been, even when the initial experience is alien to them. It is the African in all of us calling them home to fight for this glorious continent, to risk everything to become the men they were meant to be but could never have without returning. ‘In Pursuit’ is not a book for just returnees, it is a manuscript for anyone in search of a deeper meaning.

Abubakar Suleiman

Chief Executive Officer, Sterling Bank Plc.

(Senior Banking Executive and Fintech Enthusiast)

Don’t read this book if you don’t want the real truth on how to build a multimillion dollar business in Africa’s fastest growing economy, Nigeria. Longtime friends, Oswald and Chukuka both grew up in the United States and gave up their high paying jobs to move back to Nigeria to start their entrepreneurial journey. Their adventures and lessons are chronicled through a light-hearted conversational banter, where each conversation distills over a decade of experiences and survival tips, guiding any future Nigerian entrepreneur with a winning mindset. Oswald and Chukuka tell the story of the battles won and lost and the scars to show for it while building very successful Telecom and Financial Services businesses. Each chapter is a unique case study, making it required reading as the unofficial guide to anyone considering or in the process of building a business in Nigeria.

Yen Choi

Group Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, Netcom Africa

(Serial Entrepreneur and Technology Investor)

Copyright © 2020 by: Chukuka Chukuma and Osaretin Oswald Guobadia

All Rights Reserved Under International Copyright Conventions

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the email address below.

Contact: [e-mail]

Ordering Information:

Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address above.

First Edition: May 2020

The Library of Congress has cataloged the edition:

ISBN 978-1-7347523-0-4 (pbck) / 978-1-7347523-1-1 (e-copy)

LCCN 2020904913

A catalogue record of this book is available from the National Library of Nigeria

Editors Timi Yeseibo & Olurotimi Osha

Book design by Dapo Sodeinde

Printed in the United States of America

www.inpursuitafrica.com

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to our families and friends

for their love and support:

Our parents for your tough love and prayers;

Our wives for being wise enough to say ‘Yes’ to

diamonds in the making;

Our children who make this life all worth it;

Our role models and friends that continue to add

color to our lives.

All those hard-working entrepreneurs hunting and

planting seedlings of value.

HOW TO READ THIS BOOK

•Each chapter opens with a formal preamble that is informative and helps set the tone for the following chapter.

•One author leads each chapter with interjections from the other author to correct, tease, or offer another perspective. The interjections are presented as dialogue and banter, and the authors’ initials are used to indicate who is speaking.

•Chukuka Chukuma (CC)

•Osaretin Oswald Guobadia (OOG)

•A glossary of Nigerian and Pidgin words is provided at the end of the book for readers interested in the meaning of the Pidgin words sprinkled in the book. All words in Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE) are italicized.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I have always had a passion for the process of entrepreneurship. The ability to create value and substance from little, whether it is in a work of art or a new way to hail a taxi has always fascinated me. When I worked at Goldman Sachs & Co. (Goldman), a mentor of mine once looked at me and said, Oswald, you are wasting your time. This was in the middle of my engineering and execution learning curve as a hands-on network engineer. He was basically telling me that I ought to be doing something else. At the time, it felt like a disheartening slap to my face since I desired to be great at what I did at Goldman.

Fast forward seven years later, we are seated in the dining room of his London flat and after updating him on what I had been up to, he smiled and said, See, I told you. He then went on to explain to me that when we worked together, he could tell by how I packaged and sold my ideas and project tasks that I really needed to be off on my own creating value.

I often find myself seated across from entrepreneurs and as we talk through their ideas and where in the process they are, I always get the feeling that they believe they are alone. One of the primary reasons we are writing this book, is to let entrepreneurs at every stage of this journey know they are not alone and laugh at the things they have gone through and get a sense of what is to come. The truth is, you will always get what you need for survival in the process of creating value but may never create value just chasing monetary survival. So, hey entrepreneur, you are not alone.

You wake up with a thousand ideas forming a cloud above your head, so many needs around you and so many ideas floating to solve them. You remind yourself that your focus needs focus. You are just one person and you need to finish this task before it comes for you. You are on several project teams and your tasking solution of choice has several projects listed. You are in pursuit of the right idea to find the right problem and quite adept at turning hobbies to commercial value. You are a farmer in the morning, a software developer by midday and a budding artist by night. Serial entrepreneur, you are not alone.

Chukuka and I have been friends for over a decade. We thought our experiences combined in a book would speak more broadly to a variety of people, giving them both unique and possibly sometimes conflicting views on the same issue. Our journeys, albeit trodden differently are both founded on our belief system and passion for Nigeria. We both tell the story of the returnee’s journey to entrepreneurship. This can be a fish out of water story, but the water is always there as you adapt to what Nigeria throws your way. Hey returnee, you are not alone.

We each woke up one day realizing we were middle-aged folks. However, we realized the advantage of leveraging our experience as benchmarks to design practical targets to safeguard our future, which remains unknown. It is crucial to understand that while in pursuit of opportunities in that unknown future, what is critical has already been elevated and treated as important through the journey to date. It is crucial to understand that money is not the destination and your legacy is not merely a monument to feed your vanity. Hey, the ambitious middle-aged, you are not alone.

Africa is rising, the pundits say. Alas, it is time to put on those dancing shoes and make your mark on our great continent. However, amid the optimism, the continent seems to stagnate with every looming potential. The annals of entrepreneurial ventures appear littered with false starts and rather than engaging the rhythmic flow from an unbroken composition of music that folks can dance to, participants seem inundated by an awkward cacophony of ominous sporadic sounds. This book aims to give a true complete picture through humor on what it takes to thrive in business on the beautiful continent of Africa. It beckons all who are interested to laugh through these pages and be inspired to book a ticket …

CC: Still in pursuit of the dream and somewhere in the middle we grabbed a Nigerian election break to tell a few stories about the journey so far. It’s December 2018 and from experience, we knew that elections will slow and practically shutdown the country for at least 7 – 8 months. We really wanted to account for our time during this period. We present to you one of the many books we have thought about writing for years.

By the way Osaretin, we too are authors now!

How do you hustle on the bright continent of Africa and hammer in Nigeria, while scaling hurdles?

Before the 1930s, Nigerians were going overseas to further their education because tertiary institutions were few. This trend continued post-independence even after the establishment of more universities and technical colleges. This group returned, armed with knowledge and patriotic fervor to build their country, which had acquired independence from Britain in 1960.

A wave of emigration occurred from the late 1960s to 1980s, fueled by the Civil War, quota system inequalities, nepotism, and incompetence under military dictatorship. Nigerians who had studied and trained overseas began to emigrate from Nigeria to more advanced societies, especially in the West. This exodus saw skilled Nigerians migrate to India, Saudi Arabia, the West Indies, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, and any country that had a gap in skilled labor, especially in the medical, engineering, and academic fields. The brain drain inspired the patriotic national TV campaign, Andrew Don’t Check Out, mounted by the government of the day to stem the tide.

The 1990s witnessed a resurgence of emigration of Nigeria’s best and brightest due to the dire socio-political outlook and brutal military rule. What we have witnessed from the 2000s is a move-back loop that cannot be denied. Indeed, skilled Nigerians continue to desperately make their way out of the country, but for almost everyone who checks out, there is another Nigerian in the diaspora, who looks back nostalgically and sees the vast untapped potential that is Nigeria, and takes the leap of faith to venture back into the unknown entrepreneurial terrain of the land they once knew.

Chapter

O1

The Move Back

by Osaretin Oswald Guobadia [OOG]

This red earth, it’s in our skin … This is home. You’ll never leave Africa.

[Col. Coatzee to Archer in the movie, Blood Diamond]

I sat at my desk and prepared to log into my systems when a deafening noise crashed through our office. Deep in my bones, I knew something bad had happened. Our office at 10 Hanover Square, in downtown Manhattan, was open plan and had low cubicle walls. Someone pulled out a Sony WEGA 15-inch TV and set it on a cubicle. I could not believe what I saw. How was it even possible? The reverberative echo of another crash truncated my thoughts before they could make sense of the unfolding developments. We rushed back to