“What a great country of creative and talented people with tall ambitions to survive.
The answer I have found in the Nigeria situation is; look out for the problem, digitalized the solution and you hit big”
Nigeria is tough, life is very challenging, killing is everywhere, no security, no electricity, it’s the poverty capital of the world, its government is corrupt as hell, its president is a lame duck and ignorant, Nigerians are fraudsters and all that negative tags ever anyone can think of except perhaps prostitution, yet within a 5 year margin, tech companies and startups like Unicorns, Interswitch, Flutterwave, Paystack, Opay and now Andela have all emerged from Nigeria and more with two other startups high-tech hub to be announced as the year winds down.
I have witnessed foreigners arrive Nigeria with little or nothing but emboldened with ambition rising to the top within 5 years, they own properties in Lagos, Kano and Calabar, Diaspora Nigerian included yet Nigeria is damn tough to survive!
Lagos is the hotspot of emerging young high tech entrepreneurs, many of them already spearheading a digitalized economy that will churn out young millionaires in dollars in the near future.
At a Blockchain / Crypto Seminar at the heart of Lagos, many young developers already floated their own brand of niche solution provider from finance to entertainment, security and logistics service all linked to the digital economy yet life in Lagos, Nigeria is hard.
At every relaxation spot across the city, revelers do not appear to lack money to spend as business never pose a dull moment whether it’s a religious service, anniversary parties or plain social gatherings, Nigerians never appear as people hungry, lacking money or poor rather you see a young population vibrant with hope to replace even Dangote or toe along his line of ambition
“At every relaxation spot across the city, revelers do not appear to lack money to spend as business never pose a dull moment whether it’s a religious service, anniversary parties or plain social gatherings, Nigerians never appear as people hungry, lacking money or poor
If you have the gut and man enough to prove your worth, you had better stop the complaints and find your own feet in the market. Says a report from techCabal. “Andela just became Nigeria’s fifth unicorn!”
“What’s my business with Andela and what’s a unicorn? – you may ask
A unicorn is any private start up company valued at $1 billion or more. In Africa, there are presently five unicorns including Interswitch, Flutterwave, OPay, all of them are established and present in Nigeria and fully on ground expanding their portfolios.
What does Andela do? – “The company connects African software engineering talents to global employers, what any job seeker may never attain knocking on doors across Nigeria looking for job,
I have met many Nigerian hustling in the streets of Malaysia and China, Engineering and Science graduates wasting away in the streets of Europe and Asia – because they think Nigeria is just hard and tough to survive.
Andela has just secured $200 million at a $1.5 billion valuation in a Series E funding round led by Softbank”. Launched in Nigeria in 2014, Andela started as an Africa-focused software developer training and outsourcing company. With time, it grew to become a premier source for talented, well-rounded developers in Africa thanks to its curriculum and training methods. Two years after launch, Andela got a $24 million infusion, led by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who followed up with a visit.
Much later, in 2020, the company became fully remote and closed its physical offices in Lagos, Uganda, and Rwanda. At the time, Andela wanted to break geographical limits and increase the number of African applicants who could apply to work with the company.
This decision turned out to be perfect as it helped the company launch into Latin and South America to explore the talent there.
“Nigeria is the place to try your luck in the emerging digital economy in Africa. Do not be deceived by the endless and continuous complains of lack and neglect.
Today, Andela boasts of a network of engineers from more than 80 countries and six continents. Through Andela, thousands of engineers have been placed with leading technology companies including Github, Cloudflare, and ViacomCBS. With its new funding, the company aims to grow its talent pool and help connect even more Africans to global opportunities.’
Nigeria is the place to try your luck in the emerging digital economy in Africa. Do not be deceived by the endless and continuous complains of lack and neglect. Young people are learning very fast to maneuver the mucky waters of survival and hit it big in any chosen industry except perhaps manufacturing, Yes, let me be honest with you. That will be another issue with its own demerits.
Before I veer off from the Nigeria standpoint, Andela started in Nigeria in the middle of the continuous cries of unemployment and bad governance, the young men just ignored the hues and cries, they rather, pursued and established a solution amidst the myriads of traumatic environmental situations in Africa’s most populous country with certainly the largest population covering almost 1 quarter of Africa.
In no distant time as I write, Dangote will open probably the largest refinery in the world with Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) begging him with US$3B to buy minor percentage share.
I visited East African countries, 80% of music played in most FM stations and at the Bars are Nigeria origin – from the most abused, neglected and country of corrupt and lame duck president – as you imagined.
I introduced myself as Nigeria and they remind you of best entertainment from Nollywood – the same Nollywood some of us enjoys bashing for their repeated scenes of witches and ritual money episodes.
Before I veer off, Nollywood King of the boys and many more are hitting the big screens and earning massive incomes on Netflix – all in Nigeria.
My friend from Beijing is grooming some group of young Nigeria Musicians and he just out of sheer play floated a recording company named Mikedipson and in less than a year, I can’t imagine the beauty and mastery of what young Nigerians are doing to earn a living by every means necessary on Mikedipson.
What a great country of creative and talented people with tall ambitions to survive.
The answer I have found in the Nigeria situation is; look out for the problem, digitalized the solution and you hit big.
This is not a Paid Copy and I am neither a paid piper but before I veer off from the Nigeria stand point, the musicians from Africa nominated for Grammys were all Nigerians.
There is a Micro Finance Bank named Kuda microfinance bank, also a start-up now valued at US$500m!
At the IATF2021 Event at Durban, an exhibition that hosts over 100,000 entrepreneurs both virtual and in person from all over the world, Nigerian Exhibitors dominate the count, some of them from Aba, yes, in Abia State! Poach Shoes from Ohafia in Abia state is there.
“In the midst of all these confusion, hardworking young Nigerians are calling your attention, they are in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Aba and Enugu, if you cannot invest in them, they will soon mop up your space
Facebook, Google are pouring money into the start-up ecosystem in Nigeria in droves, you can never hear this unless I am telling you now because the populace is awash with distractions of political news, crime, fake online personalities seeking vain attention and followership of dummies.
The Political elites is living on free money looted from the hardworking group using state powers so they engage the soft media platforms to share in the vanities of misery and wretched life of no impact. Good news is; their failures to sit down and ask the right questions will forever hunt them as they continue to run away from kidnapers and criminals gone berserk pursuing the politicians and his way of life – in a world moving fast away from tons of paper cash and empty brains.
In the midst of all these confusion, hardworking young Nigerians are calling your attention, they are in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Aba and Enugu, if you cannot invest in them, they will soon mop up your space through the blockchain technology and brain power that sees beyond a pile of cash spent on frivolities.
I have not mentioned the pet bottles of wealth and e-wastes littered all over Lagos and Aba that even the government Waste Management Board can’t see nothing other than receipts of fraud from refuse constituting health hazards and menace in the city whereas this same refuse is another great wealth resource.
Let me stop here until you learn to rethink how tough it is to survive while others are hitting it big by covering up gaps of problems that has defied all political solutions until the young generations of tech-savvy individuals begin to show up.
