This is remarkable. And points to something @DoubleEph has been very upset about for a while. The corruption in our system actually disproportionately benefits companies (monopolies?) who know well how to master the system.academia.edu/35925666/THE_I… We always knew it. So, evidence.
Young Nigerians deserve better role models, including in business. Successful gaming a system, and making it impossible for enterprise to flourish and wealth to spread is not something to aspire to, be impressed by, or in any treat with anything but (compassionate) disdain.
Many years ago, seeing the pressure, @obyezeks began to speak to me even more urgently about being disdainful of what she called "slothful wealth". Be disdainful of it, she said. Don't be impressed by it. Don't aspire to it. Don't gravitate towards it.
It was hard. What am I saying? It is hard. How can you even countenance such advise when the billionaire role models in your context bent here, twisted there, kept quiet here, and scattered there. How can you choose different model for business? Where will you find it?
To be honest, while the advise spoke to something in my core, and pressed upon it, I was resentful of the pressure that she was bringing with this gentle advise. I was resentful. How do you want me to succeed in such a space, with such punishing standards? Is it fair?
So, thats she did it with gentility, with empathy. You see with young people - the younger the more important - it's not just what you tell them that matters. They look at social and cultural clues. They look at the subliminal.
They think: 'You are telling me to do it like this. But that doesn't make sense. How many people are doing it like that? How many people have done it like that? Even: How can I change the world, if I don't have the means to beat them at their own game? This is not realistic.'
And to be honest, in her own case, I only listened because 1. She wasn't just a talking mentor, she was a doing mentor. When our strength was small, she would smile and help make it easier. So we knew that this wasn't a person who just wanted to show off her value.
And then Aunty Oby is one of the persons of the highest integrity that I ever met. So every thing she said, she practiced. As I always say, it is such a privilege to witness in real time, a legend. A person for whom private, secret and public conduct are one and the same.
And so that's why role models matter. When you see a person who asks you to disdain slothful wealth, do the same, taking risks you could never even have imagined, then you begin to pay attention. You take it seriously. You see the possibilities.
But it is my incredible good fortune to have this opportunity to see for myself. And there are over 70 million of us, for whom this opportunity is not there. And especially not in business. A handful of role models will not suffice.
If we say corruption isn't the only way, young people have to see high profile role models of that. If we say selflessness can co-exist with purpose, then young people have to see high profile role models of that. If we say money isn't the highest goal, ah then role models needed
Many young Nigerians I see, and it is my distinct priviledge to see and speak with so many across and outside the country, they want to be more than this, more than survival and competition. They want to be better. But they don't think they have a choice.
They need better, local role models. They need better stories of enterprise and wealth. They need to see people for whom enough was enough, people who didn't just divide and conquer, people for whom "business is a jungle, eat or be eaten" is not a serious minded philosophy.
When it comes to the hearts and minds of young people, images speak louder than words. The image of enough Nigerians who choose a different path to wealth or impact than rule, conquer, ride roughshod, and exploit corrupt systems will be our most powerful tool.
