The Africa We See

Today I got the chance to tick off yet one more item from my MBA Bucket List: Attend a business conference.

On the 3rd of March, 2016, the Full-Time MBA Class of Lagos Business School hosted an Africa Business Conference. The conference kicked off with a video (which you can view here) tagged: The Africa We See.

After the Dean of LBS (Enase Okonedo) and the President of the ABC committee spoke, the  Co-Founder of IHS Towers (Mohamed Darwish) delivered his keynote speech. He spoke on the dynamics of doing business in Africa and shared 5 key steps for business success - timing, customer focus, product design, market and vision.

The second keynote address was delivered by His Excellency, Governor Mimiko, of Ondo State. Key takeaways from his speech include:

• Africa's Potential:
  • Population: Lagos is the 4th most populous city in the world. Africa will account for 3.2 billion of the projected 4 billion increase in the world's population by 2100. Africa is the youngest continent and has the highest growth potential.
  • Enterprise: SMEs in Nigeria comprise 90% of all businesses in Nigeria, as against 50 - 60% in North America
  • Global Awareness: The  international narrative about Africa is changing - from Afro-pessimism to Afro-optimism
• Our Limitations:
  • Leadership and Corruption
  • Technology: Africa represents only 9% of the world's Internet users
  • Agriculture: Africa's arable land makes up 40% of global arable land but only 10% has been cultivated. In 2011, Africa spent $43.6 billion on agricultural imports despite its vast agricultural potential
  • Tourism: Global tourism is worth $3 billion a day, of which Africa's share is 5% (North Africa's share alone is 2% while the rest of Africa is 3%)
  • Electricity: Almost 0.5 billion Africans do not have access to electricity. Nigeria with a population of 180 million has the same electricity capacity as Hungary, which has a population of 10 million
• Growth Areas to Focus on:
  • Cultural Renaissance and Value Re-orientation
  • Education
  • ICT
  • Health
  • Agriculture and Wealth Creation
  • Creative Industry
  • Tourism
  • Industrialization
  • Urbanization
  • Land Reforms
  • Gender Equity
  • Democratization
• Urgent To-Dos:
  • Deliberately re-jig our development trajectory towards industrialization
  • Encourage intra-African trade
  • Share technology
  • Protect our intellectual property
After the presentation, we had cocktails and a networking session. I met up with Ndidi Nwuneli of LEAP Africa, years after leaving the University of Nigeria as a NIA girl.



Subsequently, we broke out into panel sessions (Energy & Resources, Education, Youth & Women, Agriculture, Healthcare, Creatives & Entrepreneurship, ICT & Infrastructure and Manufacturing & Retail).
All in all, it was a tremendous learning opportunity. Kudos to the LBS FMBA students for pulling this off without a hitch!