Can Made in Nigeria work?

The Buhari administration has hinged its medium term economic plan and turnaround strategy for the economy on a shift from imported goods and services to those made in Nigeria. From a strategic thinking perspective, it is certainly disruptive. All through my career, first as an investment banker and now to being an entrepreneur, I have found three major deterrents to the “Made in Nigeria” strategy that need to be fixed or at least attended to before we can run with this strategy.

 

In all these years I have found that Nigerians themselves seem like we actually don’t want Nigerian businesses to succeed. Firstly, when you send a quote as a Nigerian service provider, organizations (public and private) treat you very differently from foreign firms. They expect to pay peanuts for Nigerian companies, just because we are Nigerian, not because of anything to do with our quality – just because! In fact, I have participated in many bids where clearly from a quality perspective the Nigerian firm won the bid only to be arm twisted to accept significantly lower fees than the foreign bidders would have ever accepted, and even accept ridiculous payment terms that nobody outside Nigeria will agree to. Even more recently in one of our technology businesses that offers PDF Nigerian newspapers at a significantly lower price than the physical newspapers via an app, we have found that while Nigerian institutions will rush to pay their dollar subscriptions to international journals and magazines for fear that the on-line subscriptions will be cut-off if payment is not received, they will keep “posting” the Nigerian company offering a similar high quality service and expecting you to “understand”, since it is “we we” – absolute rubbish! So, if the Nigerian renaissance is going to happen, and it is going to be hinged on import substitution, then there are a number of things that must change – both attitudinally and practically regarding the way we treat Nigerian products and services.

 

Apart from the issues with the demand side, there are also issues with supply side. I have always been a proponent of “cut the cost, but not the value”. Therefore the other problem I have with Nigerian producers is our failure to set and maintain very high standards for the things we do – I mean how many of us live in estates with poorly-finished plumbing and electrical work – just to cite a simple example? How many successful Nigerians who run supermarkets, hotels and restaurant chains are able to keep world class standards? How many organizations in Nigeria have disciplined systems and processes for quality control? How many Nigerian products and services can truly compete on quality without a deliberate import substitution or protectionist policy? Are we just going to be forced to buy poor quality products and services just because our borders are shut to imported substitutes or are Nigerian companies going to step up their game and offer truly world class service in a manner that saves our foreign exchange, cuts the cost, but does not cut the value? One of the metaphors that I use to explain this to my colleagues is the concept of the “oil stain on a white shirt”. You know, when you wear a white shirt and it has a tiny oil stain on it, people don’t applaud you for how you have kept the rest of the white shirt clean – they just focus on the tiny stain. I tell my colleagues and I encourage all Nigerians seeking to position Made in Nigeria as a viable alternative to be guided by this theory, and strive to ensure that there are absolutely no oil stains on their white robes. Made in Nigeria should not be an excuse for a compromise in quality, rather it should be a challenge to do things even better. The other metaphor we continue to use, and we also teach others is the “eye of a traveler” especially in relation to businesses that are brick and mortar or even those with lots of “tangibles” that customers can see. So imagine if every restaurant, eatery and hotel in Nigeria operates based on this principle – that they will always be in top shape to anticipate that everyone who visits is a first time traveler, and whose keen eye will not be as forgiving or accommodating as your frequent guests. Standards will be higher, routine maintenance will be

top priority and everyone will be proactive in ensuring that everything works. In my industry (corporate training), I am petrified by hotels and training venues that you visit, and the seminar and conference rooms are never well arranged in preparation for visitors who want to take a tour to assess the quality of the rooms. In most places you will find chairs and tables scattered, floors untidy and equipment non-operational with the promise – “when you book and make payment, we will arrange everything for you”. What rubbish!

 

Also on the supply side, we just have a lot of people struggling to imagine what they can substitute – the answer: anything and everything or at least as much as is possible. An innovation model that I encourage is – think about everything that comes in from abroad, and then see what your talent and resources can do to create a substitute – the opportunities abound, and the key skill required here is good old copying – one of the hallmarks of innovation. No need to reinvent the wheel, just think deeply about what the “oyibos” have done, and get right down to some creative copying.

 

Made in Nigeria is the way to go! but without the attitudinal changes both from producers and consumers and the audacity to COPY and INNOVATE, it won’t work, but with these in play, we may be looking to Nigeria playing a role in the next generation of emerging market giants: MINT – Mexico, Indonesia Nigeria and Turkey!

 

 

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