• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

The Koreans are always ready

Seoul

Two weeks ago, I was in Seoul and Busan, both in South Korea, for a week. I was part of a team of Nigerians on a knowledge-sharing programme under the auspices of the Korean Development Institute (KDI). Emomotimi Agama of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) led the team, comprising mostly regulators from the institution. The KDI is helping to shape the establishment of a robust derivatives market in Nigeria.

As would be expected, the visit provided the opportunity to learn first hand about the country’s development, and pick one or two ideas for Nigeria’s economic development. Indeed, the Koreans themselves recognizes that their experience holds relevance for other developing countries, especially those that are serious and determined to reduce poverty and create wealth for their citizens. Indeed, as far back as 1995 during my Masters degree programme in the University of Manchester, South Korea and the other Asian tigers – Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan – were already topical amongst development economists.

The Korean story, just as the China story today, the Japan before it, and the upcoming Indian story is all about the pace of their economic growth. While each economy provides peculiar story, the outcome is the same – unparalled economic growth and the reduction in poverty that follows. Despite that that of Korea is very interesting and will share some peculiar insights I gained another time, it is the often subtle and rarely defined characteristics in a country, which I found in Korea, that I will like to share in this piece. Essentially, while it is important to share aspects of the economic outcomes and progress made in the last six decades in the country, I believe it will be more beneficial to share something that appear understated, but have implications for the way and manner they had developed.

With the country eight hours ahead of Nigeria, we arrived at the Incheon airport in Seoul about 4pm local time on Sunday 7th of April. As you would expect, by the time we came out, our host’s representatives were waiting for us. That has become fairly standard for everyone these days. After we gathered each other, within minutes we were in the bus that was waiting to take us to our hotels. I believe many will argue also that that is standard these days.

That night, our grueling schedule began with a dinner and by the next morning our site visits started. In addition to meetings and seminars within the hotel in Seoul, the team visited 9 institutions. These institutions include the Korean Exchange, Pukyong University and Korea Asset Management Corporation (equivalent of our own Asset Management Company of Nigeria – AMCON), all in Busan. Back in Seoul, we also visited the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Bank of Korea, KOSCOM – an IT Solutions company launched by the Ministry of Finance and the Korea Exchange, and two privately owned stockbroking firms.

Now, in all these meetings and visits, the Koreans were always ready. From the point of the vehicle taking us to the meetings, to the time it will take the bus to arrive at the meeting place, and the host waiting to receive us, I could not recall a time when they were not ready. I observed very carefully that in all the site visits, by the time we arrive at the seminar hall, all the writing materials were already set, and the presenter and the presentation ready. That’s not all. I observed that the tea and coffee sections are set and you will not find the tea lady around anywhere. Often in these meetings, we only met the presenter and of course, the IT guy is not waiting anywhere around.

If you are not surprised at the level of efficiency, diligence and time keeping from these companies and institutions, how about the many restaurants we had either lunch or dinner? Yes, these restaurant visits were arranged in advance, but nonetheless, given that for most of the visits, we had very limited time, they were always ready. This level of efficiency should not be belittled because it takes a great deal of orientation and national attitude to build this level of consistency across so many public and private institutions, small and big. That pattern is underlined by a strong work ethic, and respect for time.

In Nigeria, I do understand our peculiarities. The environment we work in can disrupt even companies determined to ensure the respect for time. Everyday, we are at the mercy of dilapidated infrastructure, traffic and other measures beyond our control. However, I have always also wondered why in big and small companies alike in Nigeria, it is very common to see workers and staff in offices moving about in the building without a purpose (at least, it seems so). Perhaps I have no way of making this very clear, but I have been in big banks where the staff just move up different offices without any clear reason. In the Bank of Korea, I initially thought it was an holiday, then I peeped through one of the cubicles, then I saw a sea of heads working at their desk, oblivious of whether we were around in that building or not.        Whereas it is common for those that work 10 hours in Nigeria to actually do 3 hours of work, and to have programmes start 2 – 3 hours late, it cannot be so in Seoul. That, more than the statistics, spoke volumes about their development. It is that process that we should emulate.

I thank you.

 

Ogho Okiti