This week, it has been a bit lazy for me. Generally I've not had much to do. So I spent most of my work days listening to much of my music archive at work, while pretending to be busy.Started with classical and hymns, moved up to hip hop and reggae, and now on African jazz. Altogether it was a fun experience, but nobody to share the joys with, so i resorted to blogging about it.
Music has changed so much, it's almost unrecognizable nowadays. As a student, my music tastes were wide and diverse, from comtemporary to ancient, classical to jazz, hip hop to Rock. You name it, I listened to it. Still do to a large extent.
I wonder why the current generation of youth/aspirational don't want to deepen their music listening, but rather focus on the mundane. Names like 'Slow Money', 'Mad Cash', 'Vocal Slender' now rule the airwaves. All singing the same stuff. 'Owo to yapa', 'Igboro ti Daru', 'Nothing do me because I be Shayo', etc, etc. Smacks of our typical short- cut attitude. These chaps are doing it to fill their bellies, no doubt.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
The Old Boys Network: Does It Exist In Nigeria?
This is something that happens everywhere in the world.
In NY, the Columbia, Yale or Harvard IB scions dominate the world of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan. Likewise for the Ivy League lawyers, they are usually set for a career at some of the most prestigious law firms in the US, mostly founded by some ex-alumni.
Most people know about Stanford/Caltech/UCB and the Silicon Valley connection. In fact, Sun Microsystems is basically owned by ex-Stanford comp sci grads.
My question is, do we have anything like that in Nigeria? Is there really an 'old boys network'? Do we have firms primarily dominated by ex-alumni of some certain institutions? In my early job-seeking days, I came up a number of times against an 'Ife clique', in places like Telnet, Spar Aerospace (later GS Telecom), Philips Projects Center, and even Resourcery. These days, I hardly hear of such things among the fresh guys coming up. Though I hear Renaissance Capital is dominated by Ife people, that's just about it. All the places that I have worked, and indeed most organizations these days, people join from just about anywhere.
I think it's not so bad to have an old boys network. The only thing I have not seen in Nigeria, is what I consider to be the next level: old boys actually going on to set up their own outfit, and taking it up there. With all the Ife domination of Telnet and GS Telecom, I haven't still heard of any homegrown outfit founded by a bunch of Ife guys competing with those chaps. Pretty disappointing if you ask me.
What do you guys think?
In NY, the Columbia, Yale or Harvard IB scions dominate the world of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan. Likewise for the Ivy League lawyers, they are usually set for a career at some of the most prestigious law firms in the US, mostly founded by some ex-alumni.
Most people know about Stanford/Caltech/UCB and the Silicon Valley connection. In fact, Sun Microsystems is basically owned by ex-Stanford comp sci grads.
My question is, do we have anything like that in Nigeria? Is there really an 'old boys network'? Do we have firms primarily dominated by ex-alumni of some certain institutions? In my early job-seeking days, I came up a number of times against an 'Ife clique', in places like Telnet, Spar Aerospace (later GS Telecom), Philips Projects Center, and even Resourcery. These days, I hardly hear of such things among the fresh guys coming up. Though I hear Renaissance Capital is dominated by Ife people, that's just about it. All the places that I have worked, and indeed most organizations these days, people join from just about anywhere.
I think it's not so bad to have an old boys network. The only thing I have not seen in Nigeria, is what I consider to be the next level: old boys actually going on to set up their own outfit, and taking it up there. With all the Ife domination of Telnet and GS Telecom, I haven't still heard of any homegrown outfit founded by a bunch of Ife guys competing with those chaps. Pretty disappointing if you ask me.
What do you guys think?
The Reality Of Overqualification - Are People Getting Overqualified?
Yes, let's face it. We are getting overqualified, truth be told. Not only in Naija but all over the world.
Someone was telling me today that he attended an interview for Google in the UK. They wanted a Phd! Come on, a Phd to do what? Even Larry and Sergey didn't complete their Phds.
There was a time that advanced scholarship was pursued solely for academics or research. Now you need any number of degrees and/or certifications to hold down a basic straightforward job that requires little more than commonsense, as opposed to Laplace, Fourier, or Lagrange's equations. People cite 'competition' as the reason for all this, and these companies claim they are using these new criteria to generate more competition for their jobs. Are they, or are they just ignoring the basic values required to do a simple straightforward job?
There are a few questions that come to mind:
1. Are all these qualifications necessary to hold down a job in today's economy?
2. Are employers benefiting from any perceived knowledge these degrees and/or certifications are supposedly bringing to the table?
3. Who are the real winners? Could it be that the various professional bodies and degree-awarding institutions are the real winners, raking in millions of hard currency on an annual basis?
Your thoughts and responses are much appreciated.
Someone was telling me today that he attended an interview for Google in the UK. They wanted a Phd! Come on, a Phd to do what? Even Larry and Sergey didn't complete their Phds.
There was a time that advanced scholarship was pursued solely for academics or research. Now you need any number of degrees and/or certifications to hold down a basic straightforward job that requires little more than commonsense, as opposed to Laplace, Fourier, or Lagrange's equations. People cite 'competition' as the reason for all this, and these companies claim they are using these new criteria to generate more competition for their jobs. Are they, or are they just ignoring the basic values required to do a simple straightforward job?
There are a few questions that come to mind:
1. Are all these qualifications necessary to hold down a job in today's economy?
2. Are employers benefiting from any perceived knowledge these degrees and/or certifications are supposedly bringing to the table?
3. Who are the real winners? Could it be that the various professional bodies and degree-awarding institutions are the real winners, raking in millions of hard currency on an annual basis?
Your thoughts and responses are much appreciated.
The Hype About Mobile Money
The Hype About Mobile Money
In the last couple of years, there has been a frenzy about 'Mobile Money'. A couple of success stories about mobile banking in Kenya and Afghanistan seems to have triggered a whole new craze in the tech industry about mobile money, and its potential to revolutionalize banking, whatever that means. Even the Bill Gates foundation have contributed significant millions of dollars towards the development of mobile money, as it relates to the 'unbanked', that segment of society not captured by conventional banking.
What puzzles me even more is, the initiative is not even driven by the financial sector but the tech sector. I would like to ask the house, what exactly do you understand by mobile money? What is it expected to deliver? And how come the banks have been totally ignoring it for now? Will it really change anything anywhere?
Your thoughts.
In the last couple of years, there has been a frenzy about 'Mobile Money'. A couple of success stories about mobile banking in Kenya and Afghanistan seems to have triggered a whole new craze in the tech industry about mobile money, and its potential to revolutionalize banking, whatever that means. Even the Bill Gates foundation have contributed significant millions of dollars towards the development of mobile money, as it relates to the 'unbanked', that segment of society not captured by conventional banking.
What puzzles me even more is, the initiative is not even driven by the financial sector but the tech sector. I would like to ask the house, what exactly do you understand by mobile money? What is it expected to deliver? And how come the banks have been totally ignoring it for now? Will it really change anything anywhere?
Your thoughts.
Are Fresh Grads Of Today Smarter Than Previous Grads?
I had this argument with a few friends yesterday.
Sure, today's grads are younger, have more information, better-looking, etc, etc. But are they really smarter than graduates of 10, 15, 20, 25 years ago?
I deal with fresh grads (NYSC, etc) on an everyday basis, and, based on my interaction, I would say an emphatic NO in general.
My reasons?
1. They seem to know a lot less than older grads about the fundamentals of the course they studied. For example, I have corpers in my team, who are supposed to be 1st class or 2.1 graduates of electronic engineering. They don't even understand the fundamentals of telecoms.
2. They don't seem to have the discipline required for the work environment. They are kind of conditioned for the 'easy life'. They complain about every task you assign to them.
3. They are a lot more focused on office politics, which is surprising for their level and age. In my day, which wasn't that far off, fresh grads who were into politics stood out sharply like a sore thumb. Most of us were just naive, and wanted to learn.
4. They're heavily into Facebook, and Twitter. Not to mention the EPL, Nollywood, Nigezie, and Sound City. I mean, full-time.
5. They are 100% sold on the Quick Fix. Young people nowadays don't just say 'I wanna be a pilot, because I love flying'. Nowadays, what you hear is 'I heard that pilots are paid N1m a month, and they are in high demand. Can you tell me which certification (sic) I can quickly do that would make me a pilot in 1 week?'
At the end of the day, I can say this about most of the younger grads:
They are street-smart, not book-smart.
They are way too aware of money, which makes them seem shallow to me, for their age.
A good time is more important than a hard day's work to them.
They are street-smart, not book-smart.
Now I'm not generalizing. A lot of them still have good values. I'm just saying that the majority don't.
Would like to hear the opinions of the house.
Sure, today's grads are younger, have more information, better-looking, etc, etc. But are they really smarter than graduates of 10, 15, 20, 25 years ago?
I deal with fresh grads (NYSC, etc) on an everyday basis, and, based on my interaction, I would say an emphatic NO in general.
My reasons?
1. They seem to know a lot less than older grads about the fundamentals of the course they studied. For example, I have corpers in my team, who are supposed to be 1st class or 2.1 graduates of electronic engineering. They don't even understand the fundamentals of telecoms.
2. They don't seem to have the discipline required for the work environment. They are kind of conditioned for the 'easy life'. They complain about every task you assign to them.
3. They are a lot more focused on office politics, which is surprising for their level and age. In my day, which wasn't that far off, fresh grads who were into politics stood out sharply like a sore thumb. Most of us were just naive, and wanted to learn.
4. They're heavily into Facebook, and Twitter. Not to mention the EPL, Nollywood, Nigezie, and Sound City. I mean, full-time.
5. They are 100% sold on the Quick Fix. Young people nowadays don't just say 'I wanna be a pilot, because I love flying'. Nowadays, what you hear is 'I heard that pilots are paid N1m a month, and they are in high demand. Can you tell me which certification (sic) I can quickly do that would make me a pilot in 1 week?'
At the end of the day, I can say this about most of the younger grads:
They are street-smart, not book-smart.
They are way too aware of money, which makes them seem shallow to me, for their age.
A good time is more important than a hard day's work to them.
They are street-smart, not book-smart.
Now I'm not generalizing. A lot of them still have good values. I'm just saying that the majority don't.
Would like to hear the opinions of the house.
Filipinos - The Real Global Knowledge Workers
It always surprises me when, where knowledge workers, offshoring, and outsourcing are discussed, India and China are always mentioned. However, little or no mention is made of the Phillipines, a country that appears (to me at least) to supply the bulk of migrant workers globally, specifically in the technical areas.
From right when I was doing the NYSC, I noticed the seemingly huge population of Filipino labourers in the energy, aviation, and manufacturing sectors in Nigeria. Good English skills, good technical skills. Unlike Indians and Chinese, they don't really set up businesses but they take up employment, in mostly jobs that require some level of technical expertise. Not so much senior positions, but in the junior and mid-level jobs, you find them there.
On a recent trip to a couple of Gulf nations, I was surprised at the sheer volume of Filipinos I could find everywhere. It was like an Indo-Filipino race for domination. While the Indians were the labourers and taxi drivers, and generally did outside jobs, the Filipinos manned the desks in the hotels, restaurants, and shops. In fact, it seemed that every public establishment had at least a couple of Filipinos in their employ.
I asked one of my Arab hosts, and he said 'well, the Filipinos are smarter and cleaner than the Indians, and speak good English'. His words not mine.
Because we have a similar background to these people (history of misgovernance, large population of mostly youths, educated), I wondered why we seem to not have the same characteristics abroad. Even in the UK, or in the States, I hardly come across Nigerians doing front-office jobs, technical or sedentary. We seem to fall into the three categories of white-collar, trading, and under-the-radar hustling (drugs, yahoo scams and what have you). Not too many blue-collar Nigerians around.
So I did a little checking up, in the following areas:
Country Literacy: Phillipines is right up there in the 90th percentile (95.1% literacy level), compared to China (86%) and India (59%). This is probably due to the fact that the Phillipines was a US colony from 1898 to 1946. That definitely gives them the edge when it comes to foreign English-speaking jobs. Nigeria is rated at about 68%, though we have a larger population, 150m, as opposed to their ~90m.
Source: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_lit_tot_pop-education-literacy-total-population.
About 11% of the total Filipino population are migrant workers abroad, contributing about 13.5% of the country's GDP as remittances:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Filipino. Now that is similar to Nigeria, isn't it. There is some World Bank report about remittances amounting to about $10bn from Nigerians abroad, though that would not be a significant part of Nigeria's GDP.
Technical Education: Just like in Nigeria, education is not doing well in the Phillipines. In fact, in 2005, the Philippines spent only about US$138 per pupil compared to US$1,582 in Singapore, US$3,728 in Japan, and US$852 in Thailand. (source: Wikipedia). They are also not particularly supplying graduate students to other Asian countries, the U.S., or Europe. As per technical education, they seem to have a plethora of privately-run diplomate schools and colleges offering a wide range of vocational and technical trainings, from construction to automotive technology, to catering and hotel management. These schools are centrally accredited by a body known as TESDA in the Phillines. So how come they have a high literacy rate, and strong technical skills?
According to this website http://www.chalre.com/articles/SME-Filipinos_Knowledge.htm, “Filipinos speak better English, have a better customer services mindset and the cultural gap between the Philippines and Western countries is less. India is reported to have better technical universities but the Philippines is better in liberal arts, which is more appropriate for back-office processing,” according to Richard Mills, an expert on outsourcing in the Asia Pacific'. I find that particularly interesting. You could say the same about Nigeria in Africa. Or could you?
Outsourcing: Phillipines is already the 3rd largest outsourcing destination in Asia, after India and China. McKinsey data indicates 2003 outsourcing revenue from the Phillipines as US$1.7bn. India was the largest at $12.2bn and China at $3.4bn. This is old data, it would probably have grown a lot more since then. https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Attracting_more_offshoring_to_the_Philippines_1684
Long and short of it? I think the term 'Global Knowledge Worker' refers more to the Filipinos than any other people group. They are just about everywhere, they have a highly skilled and literate population, and they seem to be everywhere, in every industry. They may not have the volumes like India and China, but they are making their presence felt. And I think that's something we can learn from in Naija.
From right when I was doing the NYSC, I noticed the seemingly huge population of Filipino labourers in the energy, aviation, and manufacturing sectors in Nigeria. Good English skills, good technical skills. Unlike Indians and Chinese, they don't really set up businesses but they take up employment, in mostly jobs that require some level of technical expertise. Not so much senior positions, but in the junior and mid-level jobs, you find them there.
On a recent trip to a couple of Gulf nations, I was surprised at the sheer volume of Filipinos I could find everywhere. It was like an Indo-Filipino race for domination. While the Indians were the labourers and taxi drivers, and generally did outside jobs, the Filipinos manned the desks in the hotels, restaurants, and shops. In fact, it seemed that every public establishment had at least a couple of Filipinos in their employ.
I asked one of my Arab hosts, and he said 'well, the Filipinos are smarter and cleaner than the Indians, and speak good English'. His words not mine.
Because we have a similar background to these people (history of misgovernance, large population of mostly youths, educated), I wondered why we seem to not have the same characteristics abroad. Even in the UK, or in the States, I hardly come across Nigerians doing front-office jobs, technical or sedentary. We seem to fall into the three categories of white-collar, trading, and under-the-radar hustling (drugs, yahoo scams and what have you). Not too many blue-collar Nigerians around.
So I did a little checking up, in the following areas:
Country Literacy: Phillipines is right up there in the 90th percentile (95.1% literacy level), compared to China (86%) and India (59%). This is probably due to the fact that the Phillipines was a US colony from 1898 to 1946. That definitely gives them the edge when it comes to foreign English-speaking jobs. Nigeria is rated at about 68%, though we have a larger population, 150m, as opposed to their ~90m.
Source: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_lit_tot_pop-education-literacy-total-population.
About 11% of the total Filipino population are migrant workers abroad, contributing about 13.5% of the country's GDP as remittances:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Filipino. Now that is similar to Nigeria, isn't it. There is some World Bank report about remittances amounting to about $10bn from Nigerians abroad, though that would not be a significant part of Nigeria's GDP.
Technical Education: Just like in Nigeria, education is not doing well in the Phillipines. In fact, in 2005, the Philippines spent only about US$138 per pupil compared to US$1,582 in Singapore, US$3,728 in Japan, and US$852 in Thailand. (source: Wikipedia). They are also not particularly supplying graduate students to other Asian countries, the U.S., or Europe. As per technical education, they seem to have a plethora of privately-run diplomate schools and colleges offering a wide range of vocational and technical trainings, from construction to automotive technology, to catering and hotel management. These schools are centrally accredited by a body known as TESDA in the Phillines. So how come they have a high literacy rate, and strong technical skills?
According to this website http://www.chalre.com/articles/SME-Filipinos_Knowledge.htm, “Filipinos speak better English, have a better customer services mindset and the cultural gap between the Philippines and Western countries is less. India is reported to have better technical universities but the Philippines is better in liberal arts, which is more appropriate for back-office processing,” according to Richard Mills, an expert on outsourcing in the Asia Pacific'. I find that particularly interesting. You could say the same about Nigeria in Africa. Or could you?
Outsourcing: Phillipines is already the 3rd largest outsourcing destination in Asia, after India and China. McKinsey data indicates 2003 outsourcing revenue from the Phillipines as US$1.7bn. India was the largest at $12.2bn and China at $3.4bn. This is old data, it would probably have grown a lot more since then. https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Attracting_more_offshoring_to_the_Philippines_1684
Long and short of it? I think the term 'Global Knowledge Worker' refers more to the Filipinos than any other people group. They are just about everywhere, they have a highly skilled and literate population, and they seem to be everywhere, in every industry. They may not have the volumes like India and China, but they are making their presence felt. And I think that's something we can learn from in Naija.
Management: The Great White Elephant
his for most of us salaried employees.
When you actually take some time off your own painful sojourn in the organization, and study some attributes or characteristics of your company's 'management' people, you find tons and tons of interesting, and downright funny behaviour.
Being a humorist of sorts, I've been doing this for years. And I assure you, I always find it hilarious. The body language, the 'speak', the antics, general air, and nuances of top management people are something worth seeing.
I'll start from something that's common to those of us who work in projectized environments - The Project Steering Committe Meeting. Cast of characters are usually the CEO, the CFO, the Implementer, the Project Manager, The Conscientiously Objecting Executive, The Whistle Blower, and the Fringe Players. Short description of the characters follow:
The CEO - Self-explanatory, abi?
The CFO - Finance man, money man, whichever you prefer.
The Implementer - The guy who runs the team that's supposed to do the actual work.
The Project Manager - Usually some flunky with mutiple certifications, and knows nothing about what needs to be done, but facilitates the project.
The Conscientiously Objector - The chap who is doing his best to ensure the project doesn't fly.
The Whistle Blower - Always there to play the government-will-not-like-this card, but never shows any actual evidence of what they're saying.
The Fringe Players - No real deliverable, but just need to be in the meeting to stay relevant.
So our Project Team Meeting (never mind which project, they generally go the same way) usually runs like this:
Project Manager: Hi everyone, pls take a look at my status report/gantt chart/graph/spreadsheet, and look at the way I've organised the information. Though, none of the deliverables are on track, but never mind that, just appreciate the aesthetics.
Implementer: We are unable to deliver on any of these timelines, due to various random instances of force majeur. For example, a car ran over my dog's leg, and we've been in hospital ever since!
Conscientiously Objector: I have an objection to these deliverables. And I would like to debate each and every one of the points.
Fringe Player:.
CEO (in whispered aside to CFO): I have no idea what any of these people are talking about!
Project Manager:: Please let's stay on track! Now I have some next 20 slides on the status of this project . . .
Whistle Blower: It's very clear some of these deliverables are clearly violating some government statutory obligations xyz . . . following by a lot of big words. Deep silence followed by confusion on all sides.
CEO: Wait a minute . . This is not what I asked you guys to deliver!!!
Do you have similar management scenarios you see play out in your company on a daily basis. Please share with us.
When you actually take some time off your own painful sojourn in the organization, and study some attributes or characteristics of your company's 'management' people, you find tons and tons of interesting, and downright funny behaviour.
Being a humorist of sorts, I've been doing this for years. And I assure you, I always find it hilarious. The body language, the 'speak', the antics, general air, and nuances of top management people are something worth seeing.
I'll start from something that's common to those of us who work in projectized environments - The Project Steering Committe Meeting. Cast of characters are usually the CEO, the CFO, the Implementer, the Project Manager, The Conscientiously Objecting Executive, The Whistle Blower, and the Fringe Players. Short description of the characters follow:
The CEO - Self-explanatory, abi?
The CFO - Finance man, money man, whichever you prefer.
The Implementer - The guy who runs the team that's supposed to do the actual work.
The Project Manager - Usually some flunky with mutiple certifications, and knows nothing about what needs to be done, but facilitates the project.
The Conscientiously Objector - The chap who is doing his best to ensure the project doesn't fly.
The Whistle Blower - Always there to play the government-will-not-like-this card, but never shows any actual evidence of what they're saying.
The Fringe Players - No real deliverable, but just need to be in the meeting to stay relevant.
So our Project Team Meeting (never mind which project, they generally go the same way) usually runs like this:
Project Manager: Hi everyone, pls take a look at my status report/gantt chart/graph/spreadsheet, and look at the way I've organised the information. Though, none of the deliverables are on track, but never mind that, just appreciate the aesthetics.
Implementer: We are unable to deliver on any of these timelines, due to various random instances of force majeur. For example, a car ran over my dog's leg, and we've been in hospital ever since!
Conscientiously Objector: I have an objection to these deliverables. And I would like to debate each and every one of the points.
Fringe Player:
CEO (in whispered aside to CFO): I have no idea what any of these people are talking about!
Project Manager:
Whistle Blower: It's very clear some of these deliverables are clearly violating some government statutory obligations xyz . . . following by a lot of big words. Deep silence followed by confusion on all sides.
CEO: Wait a minute . . This is not what I asked you guys to deliver!!!
Do you have similar management scenarios you see play out in your company on a daily basis. Please share with us.
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