Friday, May 31, 2013

Nigeria breasts the tape

Almost...almost...

Humble web forum Nairaland.com will be the first Naija website to crack the top 1000 by Alexa's ranking of 3-month average traffic.
More local sites will follow, as cheaper internet access (smarter phones for less, ISPs lowering rates) helps pump up the user base for all. By the way, around May 2011, when I worked at 234next.com, we cracked the 5,000 ranking and "top 1000" quickly became the (quite achievable) mission, but the parent NEXT had to go and die that summer.  Bummer.

Other African sites in the top 1000:
Gumtree (South African marketplace à la craigslist), and a trio of Arabic-language Egyptian sites (youm7 - news service, fatakat- shopping, and  myegy - entertainment). 

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The Nigeria Premium on electric power generation cost

Worldwide, and for at least thirty years, the installation* cost of large-scale power plants has remained steady** at about $1 billion per 1,000 MW. 
Interestingly, in Nigeria, when projects or projections are announced, they drift far from this estimate, and I wonder why. 
An electric power system
* I mean the cost of building the plant, given in dollars per GW.  Different from the cost of running/operating the plant, which is given per MWh.  
**I'll try and find a reference.  I originally deduced the $1 billion / gigawatt estimate from a ?2009 Nigerian government planning document that showed a graph of of capacity vs. cost for dozens of large (roughly 0.1-10GW) power projects in various countries over the decades, and it struck me how power provision is a commodity, a thing that could be accomplished with cash and without any high-tech competence whatsoever. It also showed clearly that there is a stable price for this commodity.    
Aside, this is beautiful - all the large power plants in the world in one map: 


Friday, May 24, 2013

Nigeria is a certificate country?

Arrange in order of importance, placing the most important first:
Competence, Connections, Certificates.

Just your honest opinion, please. 

Sunday, May 12, 2013

How to motivate your employees

Cool article on workplace incentives and motivation.  It focuses on the factors external to work itself such as: friendships/relationships, comfort, and psychic reward.  I like the cartoon pictures, so I'm reusing them here.
Source: How to Motivate Your Employees (Wikihow.com)

Create a Friendly Work Environment

Create a pleasant atmosphere








  • Use Food
    Take advantage of wall space

    Casual dress days
    Recognize and Reward Your Employees

     

     

    Develop Great Relationships in the Workplace

  • Previously on UpNaira

     

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