Thread by @kola_aina

It’s not even 9:30 am yet, and I have had so many exciting conversations already & am on my 2nd thread.

This is one of the benefits of my brief & rare period of solitude and reflection. #Thread

A random chat about HOV & DMX with egbon @obiasika this AM soon drifted to us talking about hubs, talent vs. opportunity in Nigeria, and the importance of solving the disparity across this vast land.

My egbon wanted to embarrass me with this line;

“I remember coming to your spot like five years ago and thinking this is the level and I can’t do this, but I can do something, so thank you, bro.”

Here he was referring to @theventurespark

And then goes on to share images of his newly built @IbaajieCenter hub with me.

To say the least I was blown away.

You see, @obiasika has been putting in the work for ages; don’t believe me Google him or start here:

For a while now, he would routinely ping me with this line; “Time to go, east bro.” 🤓

I am so inspired that he took this bold step to step to establish what is a center to groom talent in the innovation, creativity, and commerce sector at the heart of Onistah.

The center will room talent in the innovation, creativity, & commerce sector at the heart of Onistah. Iba Ajie is a creative hub, community center, museum, art installation with a coding lab, esports academy, & co-working spaces, complete with a restaurant and performance spaces

For context, I am told Lagos to Onitsha trade is 3bn dollars a year with no rail and no investment. Onitsha markets receive 50% of Nigerian imports and distribute them to west Africa.

There are lots of untapped potentials here.

Love that the building itself is covered in Nsibidi and murals. Please ping @obiasika to visit and learn more.

I share this for three reasons;

1.To get the word out and get you to visit and maybe become a partner.

2.I recall when we started @vplatformhub in Abuja, most thought we were crazy. Yes, I know you need a near-complete and complementary ecosystem for these hubs to thrive, but the journey of a thousand miles starts with a step.

Today when we publish our annual impact reports, and I review our portfolio of over 40 startups and many more that I have funded personally or that have been funded and supported by @vp_impact and the impact and thousands of jobs created, I am astonished at what else is possible.

Already we recording great and distributed growth in Abuja's innovation ecosystem, thus I am glad we took that first step 5 or so years ago and that many others have followed.

So getting this update from Obi today, complete with the story of his original motivation, was the icing on the came for me.

The third reason I share this is to contrast with the general mood right now.

Another conversation I had today with an egbon this morning suggested that all the regulatory friction we see today is nothing new; banks and other industries have delt with dictator Esque regulators for some time and perhaps took it like that.

Please don’t believe me. Ask a friend. So let's not get despondent. Rather than that, let’s organize and keep building. We are not where we were five years ago, and it’s time to put on big boy pants.

So please, in far away, Uyo, Ibadan, and Taraba build that hub, start that company, join a political party and understand the role of policy and regulation.

✌🏿