Speaking at African Broadcasting Network (ABN) on the 5th of March, 2021. ABN is the satellite broadcast station of Papa Ayo Oritsejafor, and it’s located in the premises of the Word of Life Bible Church, Warri.
We talked about Entrepreneurship, Unemployment, and Education.
I lectured on Entrepreneurship as a guest lecturer at the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, for some time.
I believe that basic entrepreneurship studies should be introduced into our tertiary educational system in the first two years of study and made compulsory. On a second thought, if economics can be studied in Secondary Schools, why not entrepreneurship too?
One of the main reasons why most things don’t work well in Nigeria, is that we take life and everything very casually most times. We don’t see life as an investment that has to yield profit to God, humanity, your environment and, then, yourself. We pursue gain and immediate gratification instead of profit.
Gain is immediate, profit is long-term. A worker’s gain is her salary, but an entrepreneur’s profit is financial independence and financial freedom. A worker’s gain is promotion and pension, while an entrepreneur’s profit is influence, transgenerational wealth, and an enduring legacy.
Karl Marx was very upset with what he called surplus labour. Salary is gain for the worker, while surplus labour is profit for the entrepreneur. It is the accumulation of this excess labour that is legitimate wealth. This might sound unfair, but that’s the way the world is for now.
Churchill, as a prime minister, is history; but Lipton and Cadbury are everyday influence and source of wealth globally. Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is still relevant in Liberia and USA. (Harvey) Firestone is the name of a man like Dunlop; meanwhile, I don’t know who the political actors were when they started.
A contractor that thinks long term will be able to point to roads, bridges, and buildings that his company built 30 to 50 years back, but the ones that are short-term criminals dare not point to any legacy. That’s why Julius Berger will outlive some of our local contractors who do shoddy jobs.
In developing nations like Nigeria, our graduates must be willing to take over what uneducated people render as products and services, and turn them to modern-day products and services. They will subsequently raise the standards, get more patronage, and employ the less-educated.
75% of the GDP of developed nations are generated by medium, small, and micro-enterprises. It must be emphasised that such graduates must see themselves as entrepreneurs and not look down on what they are doing, and do them casually. Anything you do casually, will make you and what you are doing casualties.
As a medical doctor, and my wife a nurse/midwife, we started with very small businesses that people mocked us with. But with perseverance, we are not where we used to be.
You either see life as an investment or you think it’s entertainment. My greatest entertainment is from productivity.
God bless you.
