Alfred Okoigun and the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid

“The moment we (the Nigerian elite) agree that ordinary Nigerians deserve to live well, then we will discover that there is business opportunity everywhere in Nigeria”. – Alfred Okoigun, Founder & Group CEO, ARCO Group

The above statement was made by Okoigun, in response to a question as to how he keeps his innovative group going. It points to the fact that businesses that intend to endure must have the consumer at the bases, of their foundations. There is something fundamental in this statement. For those who may not know him, Okoigun is one of the most successful private entrepreneurs in Nigeria – those that are truly silent achievers. Nigerians use the term self-made man, loosely and generally, to describe mostly, people whom they consider to have worked hard and become successful, apparently, without any significant push from anyone else. Well, we all know that people succeed through the assistance of others. This fact sometimes makes the concept of self-made man often a controversial one. However, if anyone in Nigeria can claim to be a self-made man, that person is Alfred Okoigun.

From way back as youths, those of us close to Fred knew he was passionate and consistent on things concerning oil and gas. The Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Warri, his school, can tell that he is probably the most illustrious alumni. The only other thing anyone would notice was the he was sober and very gentle. Given what he has accomplished for the oil industry, PTI and hundreds of Nigerian youths, I believe it is a service to this nation to make his views available to both present and future entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

Okoigun, who was recently conferred with an award by the Old Boys Association of Government College Ugheli, in recognition of his many achievements in the oil industry, made the quoted statement during the interviews he granted on the award. What he said, in effect, was that poverty in Nigeria is compounded because the elite do not think that other Nigerians deserve the good life. The general belief is that the average Nigerian being poor is local, unexposed to good things of life and does not deserve the good things of life; according to him is the bane of Nigerian business. Accordingly, there is little or no serious thinking going on about the economic condition of the dominant population component by businessmen, and hence no innovations and breakthroughs for business.

In response to a question as to how he creates the novel ideas that seem to always underline his many innovative and successful ventures, especially in the oil industry, Fred said that Nigeria is full of business opportunities but that our businessmen do not see the opportunities because of their mind-set. In other words,” the moment our entrepreneurs and leaders see ordinary Nigerians as human beings equally deserving of the good life, which the rich enjoy, they will see that there is much business opportunity. Doing things with the poor in mind opens new avenues for business. It unearths the most lucrative of business opportunities”. This sounds like the Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid thesis.

We completely agree with Okoigun. The money minting business called GSM telephony is an example. Who would have thought that Nigerians, rich and poor, could downgrade other things they need to keep their telephones working. It had been said before in this country that telephone was not for the poor. Actually it wasn’t. I got my first private telephone line when I became Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance! And I was already a bank manager before that appointment. Today, multibillion naira opportunities have opened due to the GSM explosion, which is actually driven by the masses. And almost all Nigerians, rich, poor; even beggars now have phones. And the service providers can’t thank God enough.

The same thing will happen the moment our leaders agree that we deserve steady electricity. Those who want this country dead have continued to defer the provision of regular electricity to the people, knowing that the prosperity that will happen in a 24/7 electricity economy Nigeria will dwarf every economy in all of Africa and even go further. This is why it is such an irredeemable shame that the last administration allowed economic terrorists to set up and shove out the world-acclaimed Robotics expert, Prof Berth Nnaji, who, not only had a clear vision of what he wanted to do in the power sector but also had the intellectual capacity (a rare attribute in many high places today) to deliver it. Nnaji created one of the first private power producing companies in Nigeria. As the Senior Regional Lending Officer in the bank he approached to finance the project, I found it novel and highly sophisticated, needing creative financing techniques. I am still proud to have superintended the initial aspects of what is today one of Nigeria’s leading power provision idea by Geometric Power.

Several years after Jonathan, the enemies of Nigeria are still in control of the power sector. Darkness has regained momentum and Nigeria continues the foolish ambition of building a modern industrial state with energy from generators humming in homes, shops, offices and every imaginable human location. The lost opportunities and wealth trapped under the convoluted energy politics of Nigeria, in consort with corruption, is the biggest cause of poverty in our country. It is the most potent source of the expansion of the bottom of the Nigerian pyramid. I have no doubt that Nigeria’s GDP will at least double if we have one third of the power supply our nearest competitor in Africa provides to its smaller population and economy. It will be our second independence after 1960.

I have no doubt that Nigeria’s GDP will at least double if we have one third of the power supply our nearest competitor in Africa provides to its smaller population and economy. It will be our second independence after 1960

There may be fortune at the bottom of the pyramid but that is only if you can reach the fortune and extract it. Fred Okoigun thinks we can only do so when we prioritize the needs of the poor, who constitute the bulk of our 200 million people. Our youth are known for their stamina, will-power and determination to succeed. The zeal to succeed forces them into the open sea of economic adventurism. They see the proverbial Golden Fleece when they imagine the population of their countrymen ready to buy up whatever they produce. They set up businesses and alas, they realize that they need to also set up mini power plants. They buy generators from the generator cabal, dissipating their meagre capital, to generate their own electricity. Then they discover that they, like their parents in the homes they were raised, need to set up mini waterworks too. They drill boreholes only to discover, if they are in swamps like Lagos, that they also need treatment plants. Gosh, who is doing this to Nigeria?

Some voodoo water engineer helps them set up purification systems. But wait a minute, the water is salty and can only be purified by a mechanism which the voodoo water specialist calls Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology. On enquiry they are told that RO would cost a million naira in the minimum. They don’t have any more money to invest. They begin to produce substandard products and you call them fake and send the taxman and the Standards Organization (SON) after them. It is time to quit. They shut down and begin to free-lance either as street hawkers or touts – the type that follows you everywhere the moment you arrive Alaba, Idumota or Tejuosho market, claiming to have what you have not told him you want. Sooner or later they will either be Radicalised, Ariwanised, Oduanised or Biafranized. And you begin to prophesy about hate speech and insecurity, the root causes of which you appear incapable of understanding.

 

*Taken from my new book: Entrepreneurship and Small business Development.

EMEKA OSUJI