Setting up a Succesful business in Nigeria

“ Ibo Made” By Pius Adesanmi Growing up in the 70s or 80s in a little Yagba town in the old Kwara state,your first real contact with the “outside world” – besides European and Canadian Catholic priests and social studies in primary school – came in the form of settlerist migrancy. There was the sabo area of town, ceded by Kabiyesi to Hausa/Fulani settlers. That was where you bought suya and fura da nono on your way to and from school. There was Kwaku or Mensah, the ambulant Ghanaian shoemaker (sobata) who roamed the village with his woodenbox containing assorted tools of his trade held around his waist by a rope slung across his shoulders. Akosua, his wife, sold rice and beans during break at school. Then there was Okoro from Igboland. He’d been part of the village for as long as everyone remembered. He spoke the local Yagba dialect and its parent Yoruba: he was a quintessence of national integration other Nigerians hardly ever achieve. Most importantly, Okoro owned the only trading st...

For the past two days the TV and cable channels have talked about Obama and his upcoming inauguration . I could not see what the big deal was. CNN, MS NBC , FOX and all the networks devoted countless hours to this event. NPR started a broadcast about the inauguration and the crowds, that had gathered at 5 am. I still could not bring myself to get caught up in the moment. At about 11:30am I left my office and went home. I turned on the TV lit a fire and started to watch CNN. All the dignitaries were called by name, the past Presidents introduced and then President Bush and Vice President Cheney were introduced. And then the moment that the whole world had waited for came. The moment Associate Justice John Roberts congratulated Mr. President, tears came to my eyes. I called my Dad and we shared a special moment. It has happened in America. You are finally judged by the content of your character and not the color of your skin. America our moment has come. I guess that is what all this h...

Lenders providing relatively small loans have helped more than 59 million of the world’s poorest people improve their communities. 1  This unusual combination of philanthropy and investing remedies economic disparities in underserved areas and as a new branch of socially responsible investing, it can generate competitive returns. Microfinancing is more than an investing buzzword. With more than $33 billion in total assets, 2  microfinance institutions (MFI) have become a potent force worldwide. MFIs are also creating an emerging asset class of microfinance investment vehicles such as certificates of deposit from community development banks, equity and debt funds, or loans to MFIs. To be sure, microfinance has been around since the Marshall Plan, but it received renewed attention in the mid-1970s through the innovative microcredit projects of 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh. In its entirety, microfinance encompasses the full range of banking services for the p...

Obama has the lesbian Gay community in an uproar because he selected Rick Warren to be a speaker at his inauguration . They are upset that this minister who is anti gay marriage is allowed a forum, at such a momentous event. I have considered myself liberal to a degree but one area that I don't consider myself a liberal is in my belief. I am not going to stop anyone from being gay or having a gay relationship but that those not give anyone the right to tell me not to associate with someone who disagrees with them. I am even more resentful when the LBGT community equates gay marriage with the struggle for civil rights. I can't tell most gay people when they walk down the street, but everyone can tell a person of color when they see one. My sexual orientation I can hide my racial orientation I can't hide. The rights that black people won was the right to be treated as an equal human. Not a half human. The right to drink from the same water fountain, the right to go to the...

With the election of Barack Obama, stem cells are once more in the gun sights of the religious right. The Catholic church has voiced its opposition to embryonic stem cells. The way this has been talked about you would think that mass murder was being committed by scientists.  In 2001 President Bush signed a decree that prevented federal funds from being used in embryonic stem cell research. He allowed for lines that had been created before his speech to be used and eligible for funding. Most of the research on embryonic stem cells in the US has been done with private money and funding from a few states. (New Jersey is one)  What is the difference between the two and why is one okay while the other is not? I will give definitions of each and you can draw your conclusions. Adult Stem Cells . Those can be from fetuses or adults and are specific. They can be cells from the heart or other organs and can be grown to find cures for specific ailments in those organs. Embryonic stem cells : The...

Whew it is finally over and Barack won. The surprise was my reaction when confronted by my non Nigerian or minority acquaintances. When asked if I supported Barack instead of a yes, I asked what made them ask that? I made some commentary to brush away the subject. The honest answer should have been a yes. I never found it necessary to question my support of a white candidate. In 2000 I supported McCain, Gore (tepidly), Dean, Keyes and many others. I never liked or supported Jackson or Sharpton . They lived too much in the past and like the Republicans were one issue candidates. They did not bring any promises of hope or anything meaningful to their candidacy. They did not excite me. I remember watching family ties in the 80's and young Alex wanted so badly to be a republican. Republicans were intellectuals, educated and successful . I aspired to be a Republican in that mold. The party today has become a symbol of intolerance , that plays on my fears and has chosen a platform that...