The journey of an entrepreneur who believes that he too can be a force of change. How I went back to Nigeria and started a solar power company after 33 years in the USA.
What are the two great days in your life?
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“There are two great days in a person's life - the day we are born and the day we discover why.”
I have not written anything in a while. A lot has been happening in our community that not only shocks but it brings tears to my eyes. A few year ago we had the "Utu" phenomenon. A self confessed once professed secretary to witches for a fee was sanitizing the community of people who he once claimed to serve with. He went from village to village and in the process destroyed people who were institutions in their communities. The order of things were now upside down. The youth ran the show and the elders cowered in fear. People found it acceptable to watch 70 year old men and women receive beatings from young men, based on the accusation of a stranger. People found it acceptable to make people drink their own pee. People found it acceptable to banish people from communities they had lived in all their lives because a stranger came into that community and pointed a finger. People used this exercise as an excuse to settle scores. After "Utu" was finished with his e...
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...
Life Lessons: Nothing is Permanent Our guest this week is Mr. Olu Abosede, Founder and former Managing Director of a wholly indigenous, quoted company, Aboseldehyde Plc. The company was once used as a reference point for other local entrepreneurs who would want their companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Within a period of 14 years, the company had become a very strong brand in the country in its niche area. Things were also pretty good for our guest who built his first personal multi-million Naira house at age 28 and the second at 32. His children were in choice schools locally and abroad. His house at Gbagada, in Lagos State, was a beehive of activities by friends and associates who regularly showed up on weekends to treat themselves to some choice wines in his well-stocked personal bar. Then, in a sudden twist, from 2000, there was a gradual but irreversible slide of fortune, starting with the forced take-over of his company by creditors. And the rest came in ...
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