What did the new 2018 CAMA bill lack?

Hello Everyone,

Today is Tuesday and you know what we do every tuesday!!!

Business and the State Tuesdays. Yippee!

It's funny right, Earlier I had written recent post that highlighted the benefits of the new 2018 CAMA bill that reduced the barrier of registering a company by young Entrepreneurs but through discussions with small business owners the feeling all around is that, the bill is merely a plastic bill.

This is how most startup/small business still feel despite the bill that the Senate felt was going to be the breakthrough for startups in Nigeria. Little do they know that this is what young Entrepreneurs feel about it.

In one Entrepreneur's words, 

"They made it easier for them to kill many more businesses"

Take for example my situation. We decided to be more in control and launch a mini-fleet to handle deliveries especially when we can't find partners handle deliveries. Below is a list of government charges that we would be expected to pay if we launch that service.

a. NIPOST license fee: N1.5million

b AEPB (FCTA) charge: N30,000 annually

Still there are risks that their task force agents would stop our riders on the road and ask for tips as they ride past.

Probably N100 or more every day.

We had rather build a platform that leverages on existing delivery providers that go and join them in the struggle. 

But now we might decide to have black man blood and die on the line with the government agencies that are out to kill us.

Let us not talk about the fact that startups typically don't have access to bid for government contracts which has been highlighted in this article by Techpoint.ng

1. Why Nigerian Startups do not get government ICT contracts

The truth is the same things apply to other startups in other sectors. In Nigeria, we all know that government is the highest payer and most times referred to the 'cash cow' for most businesses that have been able to grow and scale.

For HubbonNG we are faced with these challenges

1. 3 years tax clearance + documentation and fees for different bodies (NSITF, ITF, BPP) all of which come with adjoining costs.

2. Tender Bids. These usually costs from N50,000 to N1million or higher based on the complexity of the jobs that the companies are being considered for.

3. Long terms of payments. One of the most important aspects of running a startup is cash flow and government contracts are paid after a protracted period of time.

These bottlenecks serve as deterrents for startups. I mean. Is it not better to deal with small customers that pay as at when due compared to a government that would now tell you that you payment documents have gotten lost.

One other challenge that a small business owner presented to me whilst in a discussion;

"The Nigerian Government speaks about wanting to create jobs. Small businesses serve as the highest employers of labour, but they do not even give us a chance to grow our businesses enough to employ staff before placing taxes, tariffs, market fees and all that and a lot of us end up with constricted business models because there was not enough time to gain a sustainable market share."

That speaks a lot to the lack of vision by the government because if you have plans to grow your economy and build the number of businesses in your country and employ people. You need to create an enabling environment. But these two aspects that are the most necessary to this enabling environment have yet to be addressed.

1. Multiple Taxation (FIRS, LG charge, State Taxes, Market Tariffs, Association fees etc)

2. Access to credit (most facilities for loans for business owners usually start from 20% and for small businesses they usually pay off their loans and most likely don't manage to grow their startups. Loans from agencies like the BOI usually have protracted processes and it discourages Entrepreneurs.

I remember  during the "Senate Roundtable Discussion on Youth Unemployment and Development in Nigeria" that we had with the Senate President, His Excellency Bukola Saraki and other senators, I had mentioned these challenges as the bottlenecks that youth have starting businesses that has given rise to the huge drive towards government employment as it provides the opportunity to get lifetime income and do little to no work.

Whenever we look at Nigeria and its challenges to creating an enabling environment for business owners, we are easy to castigate the government and hurl all sorts of discontentment on social media.

But the question here is,

WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?!

You can shout on social media, but let us be honest, the people that make the important decisions about our businesses are not on social media. The avenue where we get to share our ideas and displeasure on wrong bills is through STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT.

Most bills that are presented in front of the National Assembly usually have a public hearing and this is where CSO's, agencies, private sector and other stakeholders come to share their thoughts which would influence how the legislators perceive the effect that the bill would have if implemented and necessary adjustments would be made or the bill would be scrapped altogether.

I URGE YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS TO GET INVOLVED AS ACTIVE STAKEHOLDERS IN THE POLICY MAKING PROCESS OF LAWS AND OTHER REGULATIONS THAT AFFECT THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH WE RUN BUSINESS!

We must be deliberate!

As this young man says, we can't get better one time. We have to step up, to step up, to step up!.

Let's hear your ideas on what the CAMA bill lacked and in what ways do you think that the Nigerian Government can improve the enabling environment for your business to thrive in Nigeria. Leave us a comment and we would be sure to respond to you. Share to your networks as well.

Before I go, remember if you run a business and you are looking to promote it. You can sign up on the HubbonNG Business Listing Platform here. It is for FREE!

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. Have a good one!

Best regards,

Ejieji Muna

(Co-founder, HubbonNG)

How does the New Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) Bill affect Entrepreneurs?

Hello Everyone,

I have been AWOL and very intermittent with the way I push articles here. There has definitely been a stop-start attempt at maintaining this blog this 2018 which was supposed to be the year where we blow o. But things have been changing really fast and to be really honest, I think my shadow has left me behind.

But....

 The shirt says it all. LOL

So today we would be talking about this New CAMA Bill

WHAT BROUGHT ABOUT THE REFORM?

As I have earlier iterated, we all know about the effort of this current administration has been making concerted efforts to make it easier to do business in Nigeria.

If you don't know, I suggest you read my previous articles on the effort that has been put in by the government to ease business operations in Nigeria.

1. How to Use the PEBEC Reporting App (Part 1)
2. How to Use the PEBEC Reporting App (Part 2)
3. Senate Roundtable on Youth Unemployment and Development in Nigeria
4. Assessment on Ease of Doing Business Documentary
5. Is it Easier to Do Business in Nigeria?

Omo I don try o. On a high-key


So this bill focused on addressed the different issues faced by Entrepreneurs that look to register businesses/companies in Nigeria. The changes made through the introduction of this new bill is highlighted below;


1. Single Member Companies

I found this weird because, business name allows for single business owners to register companies as sole proprietorship. Isn't that a tautology?

Lawyers in the House!!!!!!

I heard that business names can't be used to work with the government is that true and it has to be a company with a certain amount of share capital and turnover. Is this true?

Although I think because someone wants to set up a company to ensure that the company is a separate legal entity. It might actually help a lot of people that were in my shoes when I was just setting up HubbonNG.com.

I actually used my brother and a really close friend to be the second director and company secretary respectively. Even if they were not actively involved in the running of the company. So this should help to remove all those bottlenecks faced by young Entrepreneurs that want to begin to execute their businesses without the need to have a board of Directors.

2. E-registration of businesses

In Nigeria, until a couple of months ago when the Corporate Affairs Commission decided to get their act in order, they were the major reason why many young and old people alike, kept their business ideas in their diaries hoping for when things would change.

At least it has now. I remember starting the process of my business registration with our company attorney and it was taking over 2 months to get any headway. We were lucky that as the process started, everything went online and within 2 weeks we were able to get everything done promptly.

It's good news, at least you go through seamless process of business e-registration before you begin to worry about multiple taxation and the many other challenges that the government, and the country in general, has placed to hinder the growth of startups and SME's in the country.

3. Removal of stifling business regulations

I don't know who previously made business registration so incredibly difficult to get done. Things like articles and memorandum of association, company secretary, share capital etc etc. At least this time around, they removed the need for company secretary, general meetings and they also reduced the minimum share capital thus reducing the barrier to entry for starting businesses/companies in Nigeria. At least the struggle of building the economy does not start at the business registration level anymore.

4. Introduction of Limited Liability Partnerships

If I understand this properly, international funders and and local incubators and accelerators can under this new arrangement build partnerships with deeper funds to grow more startups out of Nigeria.

Am I right?

That is the long-story-cut-short gist of the new CAMA bill. If you want to read the bill in-depth. You can begin your research from this executive summary of the bill done by ProshareNG.


1. Executive Summary of the CAMA Bill 2018

If you want to read a short summary that highlights the benefits of the CAMA Bill  take a look at the excerpt from TechNextNG from which I created this post below


2. Benefits of the New CAMA Bill


Hope you get the opportunity to read more and learn about what the government's effort to make doing business in Nigeria easier. You could always visit  Today's Policy Tuesdays Articles that we have curated that highlight the government's efforts at promoting the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below. People with questions and answers please lets discuss!

So Yes before I end this.

If you run a business and you want to get exposure to potential customers online you should join 142 other business owners that are growing their businesses with HubbonNG.

To get started with the process of  signing up on the HubbonNG Business Listing Page click here to SIGN UP ON HubbonNG.


I also want to use this opportunity to do our first call for delivery providers. If you know good delivery companies in Abuja, Lagos, Portharcourt, Kaduna, Ibadan,Warri and other cities across West Africa tell them to sign up on the HubbonNG Delivery Partner Network. We are planning to go international!


Thanks for sticking with us!

Best regards,
Ejieji Muna
(CEO, HubbonNG)

Is Entrepreneurship the solution to the Farmers-Herders Conflict?

Hello Everyone,

It is like I am being consistent with constantly apologizing to you for not keeping my promise of feeding you interesting content on a daily basis but I believe that sooner or later I would conquer the challenge.

"The solution to a challenge is just to keep trying and failing and not giving up, the challenge would finally give in". (Muna, 2018)

Well, for me because I just had my first legit quote, hopefully someone hasn't said it already lol.

But for real I am sorry.

There has really been a lot happening recently. But I would gist you next week Monday by God's grace.

You must be wondering after all this elaborate preamble, you must be asking why am I here reading this post right now.

To the crux of the issue that I have termed

 "The Farmers-Herders Business Conundrum"

In Nigeria, a lot of mystery surround the farmers-herders conflict, some of the undertones being skewed towards being socio-cultural difference or religious leanings but sometimes we ought to take a minute and see the complete abuse of business strategies and economics.

Overtly verbose?

Let me land.

I remember in the summers of 2010 to 2012 in the countryside of Lancashire while at Stonyhurst College I couldn't fail to smell the dung sift through the crevices of the walls of my dorm room that sat adjacent to some large expanse of land which they used to farm cattle fodder which they later processed for food for cattle to sell to the herders (in this case ranchers). This farm was primarily run to feed cattle and the dung bought from the ranchers was used to fertilize the soil. In my book, this is a textbook symbiotic business relationship.

Now in Your Mind, Board that British Airways flight from London to Abuja then take a detour to Benue, the Food Basket of the Nation.

As the rumour goes in communities that have been ravaged by farmers-herders conflict the story pretty much goes.

For the farmers,

"They ate our crops and our harvest, our means of livelihood have been destroyed, please government come to our aid"

The same goes for the herders,

"We were going along our routes and the farmers attacked our herds and killed our cows, this calls for a reprisal, we won't be intimidated"

This has caused untold violence causing deaths in hundreds and has displaced thousands more, particularly women and children.

And for me the solution is simple.

The herders through their association can purchase lands in these communities and then work with the farmers to do in-kind transactions that exchange dung for fodder. The herders could then choose to use their dung and process it to manure that would be sold for a high price to the farmers in their communities. Vice versa, the farmers could enrich the fodders with vitamins and other enhancers which enable them sell the fodder at a higher price.

But is it ever as easy as it seems?

Definitely not, not in Nigeria.

Sometimes because these things happen to other people and not to us, we tend not to personalize this issue, but I imagine if the cows that were killed were mine and the herders came back to tell me that my cows are dead, I would look to create a lasting solution to provide security for my cows and in a funny way we can see how herders are armed with hunting guns and assault rifles that have caused the violence to escalate.

The government proposed grazing routes as well as cattle colonies as solutions to the conflict which was met with stiff competition in the National Assembly and was considered unacceptable by the general population for a very simple reason.

"The cows eat our crops, why should we give them access to land in our community to eat all our crops?"

A legitimate argument in my opinion.


Sometimes the solutions to these sort of problems should be viewed from an idealistic point of view and I want to use this opportunity to encourage government, community leaders, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders to work together ensure security and boost productivity in the agricultural sector of the country.

I would like to hear your thoughts,

How do you suggest that Entrepreneurs can create a business model that could be a potent attempt as solving this conflict? Is this symbiotic business relationship that I proposed possible in Nigeria given all the factors in play?

Let's communicate in the comment section below,

Don't forget,

If you are a business owner or you know any business owner. 
You can move your products from your suppliers to you or from your store to your customers easily with HubbonNG.

Book a delivery with us today by visiting HubbonNG.com to book a delivery or call/whatsapp us at +2347015766545 .

Best regards,
Ejieji Muna
(Co-founder, HubbonNG)

Part 2: How to use the PEBEC Reporting App for NAFDAC Complaints

Hello Everyone,

It's been over 3 weeks since I have been here. Normal Excuses. No time bla bla bla.

So in the last article I wrote,

I wrote about how I helped  a friend to anonymously report NAFDAC, for the struggles he experienced, through the PEBEC REPORT APP.

Here is the link to the part 1 of this article

1. Part 1: How to Use the PEBEC Reporting App for NAFDAC Complaints

GOOD NEWS!!!!

The PEBEC Team actually responded to the query in under 24hrs people!

Efficiency at its peak!

Nigeria is not that bad afterall... So there is still hope in AWADALAND?

Here is a snapshot of their response.

The grammar sweet me sef. The information provided was not overtly verbose and was not filled with jargon like responses from  a typical Nigerian Agency if you ever get any.

I am actually impressed at the efficiency and the general customer service shown here. Sadly, this is missing in both the public, and albeit, the private sectors of Nigeria. This is a step in the right direction.

The team in the office of the Vice President is actually doing a good job!

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

I confidently pass a vote of confidence that if you had a problem with any of the 9 agencies (MDA's) that the PEBEC Team is currently working with to ensure that business is done is easier in Nigeria, that they would make an effort to rectify it.

Just to give you a guide so you don't go complaining about just any MDA. Here is a list of the agencies that you can report or give feedback on so that they can help you work through your issues.

1. Corporate Affairs Commission(CAC)

2. Federal Aiports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN)

3. Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS)

4. Nigerian Police Force (NPF)

5. Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)

6. Citizens and Business Department (CBD)

7. Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON)

8. Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)

9. National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)

NOTE

THE PEBEC Report APP is still in an initial beta phase launch. They are looking at methods to incorporate other agencies and MDA's so that other challenges faced by Entrepreneurs such as you are addressed especially when they are government inflicted.

This has shown a commitment by the Buhari-Osinbajo administration to make moves to indeed make sure that business can indeed be made easier to do in Nigeria.

I think this was a good post and I deserve a thumbs up at least. LOL

PS: If you ever need get a parcel delivered to your customer and you want to reach out to a potential customer base, register your business on the HubbonNG Business Listing Platform with this link below

HubbonNG.com/signup

Thanks for reading the article,

I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Best regards,

Ejieji Muna

(Co-founder, HubbonNG)

How to use the PEBEC Reporting App for NAFDAC Complaints

Hello Everyone,

Happy May Day.

I know you all are enjoying the holiday granted to us by our own government. We are probably out and about with our families and most likely contemplating watching the newly released movie "Avengers".

I watched it. Don't worry I won't spoil it for you. So back to the reason why you are all here reading this post.

So I described in two of my earlier posts about what the government is doing to ensure that business is done easier in Nigeria. 

1. Is it Easier to Do Business in Nigeria?

2. Do Elections concern Entrepreneurs?

In these articles, I mentioned the PEBEC Report App that allows Entrepreneurs to report or give feedback on different MDA's that you have tried to work with and experienced challenges or smooth operations while trying to get an approval, license or other form of documentation that are necessary to run their business.

In this article, I would be explaining in a simple format on how to use the app effectively. Here I would be reporting a claim on behalf of a friend that started his own cleaning agents manufacturing company and has experienced challenges with NAFDAC.

Unfortunately, as he is still working through the process, he asks that I leave him anonymous when filing the complaint. I would use one of my codenamed email address to file this complaint so as to measure that the complaint/feedback is actually attended to.

His fear is not unfounded. As you cannot be sure that NAFDAC won't start a lynching effort to ensure that your factory never starts. But this sucks!

If you guys do remember we used this image in building our KekeAds Advertising Campaign that turned out like this.

On the Keke (tricycle) it looked like this.

If you would be interested in launching a Keke Advertising Campaign (HubbonNG clients get it at a discounted rate) Click here: Advertise with KekeAds

OK. I am done selling my market.

So let's head straight away to explain how to navigate and lay your complaint on the PEBEC REPORT APP

When you click the link above. It takes you to this page shown below

If you scroll down, it gives you a 3-step process breakdown of how you can navigate the website.

It looks like this...

Right... So.

As I said earlier we are going to log a complaint. This is stated to be a beta version where they test the capabilities and effectiveness and look at different ways that they can actually begin to ensure that federal government agencies make their processes simpler, more transparent and more beneficial to Entrepreneurs.

They began this process with just a handful of agencies to test out the process.

The next page asks you to select a particular agency that you are going to log your complaint/leave feedback on.

So as I said earlier we are going to report NAFDAC (National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control)


So when you click NAFDAC, you get to a form that comes in 3 stages, illustrated below

In this stage, You fill in your details and the MDA in particular that you want to report.

In this stage you give details of the actual incident that you found difficult as a result of NAFDAC delays or request of bribes and other issues that may have caused the difficulties.

When all the details of the query/report have been filled.

You click report.

You would then receive a ticket number and an assurance that your report would be attended to within a specified time frame as well as be provided with a report reference number with which you would check the progress of your report as illustrated below.

Let us watch and see

And in case you are wondering what I filled in the report. It was a 7-point agenda centered on the struggles of gettting a NAFDAC approval. Here is a summary.

1. Cumbersome processes: CAC, Trademark, Rental/Purchase of Big Property, Equipment, Raw Materials, Sizes and Partitioning and Demarcation of Property, Delays.

2. Bribery: "Transportation Allowance", "Shake-Body", "Ginger fees" etc etc

3. Mysterious Agents acting as fronts for the staff of the agency to collect "consultancy fees".

4. Lack of claims to suggest that it is actually easier to do business in Nigeria when Entrepreneurs are facing these challenges.


I rest my case.

To those that read this. I hope I passed my message across.

Let us play our role as stakeholders in the progress of our country and its economy by logging in our complaints with these agencies that have made it difficult to perform our role as 'hardworking' and not 'lazy' citizens. LOL

PS: Don't forget that you can always improve your business online visibility by signing up as a HubbonNG client to partake in exciting opportunities that we have in store that are geared towards enabling you to grow your business. Click here: Sign up as a HubbonNG client


Best regards,
Ejieji Munachiso
(Co-founder, HubbonNG)

Do Elections concern Entrepreneurs in Africa?

Happy Sunday Everyone,

I am sure people would clearly give a YES, answer. But it begs the question. If we do know that elections concern Entrepreneurs, why is there still a low voters turn out in elections seeing that it is the most important aspect of the electioneering process. I am not even going talk about the poor participation of Entrepreneurs in partisan politics.


BACKDROP

In this article, I don't intend that this should spur sentimental discord between supporters of the PMB and GEJ administrations but I am going to draw some few points from the differences and similarities between the two administrations and how I feel they affected Entrepreneurs just through the difference in the governance styles.

You might disagree, with the things I am about to say, but please be objective. Share your thoughts and comments in the section below.

THE GEJ ADMINISTRATION

That is not correct! LOL.

Legitimately, Goodluck was one of the most discredited leaders that we have had in Nigeria and evidently so because of the deep lack of security that Nigerians felt at the time. Plus it is argued that people need to first be alive and feel safe before they can pursue higher levels of fulfillment e.g running a business to make money. This is according to Marslow's Theory of Needs.

But from a view point of an Entrepreneur, Goodluck's Administration made a very potent move in diversifying the economy through empowering Small and medium scale Enterprises and Startups across different sectors through different programmes with the YouWin as the most applauded scheme. His Administration recognized that if well stimulated with funding and an easier atmosphere to run, the SME industry would become the highest employer of labour.

I have personally met some Entrepreneurs that were beneficiaries of different funding programmes under the GEJ's Administration and have begun employing between 3 to over 50 staff.

His body language abroad despite the fact that they made for very funny memes did give an air of confidence to investors to play in the Nigerian space and we quickly grew to be Africa's largest economy. The figures spoke for themselves.

A counter argument which also doesn't play to the gains of the GEJ administration were claims of unprecedented corruption.

THE APC constantly ring it as a bell. But is there really any Administration that isn't rife with corruption in Nigeria?

Onto the next one....

THE PMB ADMINISTRATION

Despite my pleas and stern warnings, Nigerians went ahead to vote an octogenarian into power.

I cannot come and go and kill myself. Later the Youth would now be saying, we are the leaders of tomorrow. Uncles and Aunties please shift let me see road.

PMB has not represented us in the best light to the international media and that definitely has caused a downturn in the foreign investment that the country has been able to attract. His body language in the media coupled with terrible fiscal (market and fx) policies with the slogan of fighting corruption, he plunged Nigeria into a recession.

Apparently this isn't his first time of doing it. Let's throw it back to 1984.

Economics was definitely not his best subject in Secondary School. I want to ask for the WAEC result certificate, but it appears WAEC is still searching their records.

I would like to say despite the fact that a rebel force hasn't overtaken Nigeria's physical integrity, a secure Nigeria is far from being achieved. With bouts of riots, ethnic clashes plaguing the Northern Part of the country across our thriving agricultural regions which cause Entrepreneurs to suffer losses as a result and have also affected the mass population as regards to higher cost of market produce.

A lot of programs geared towards Entrepreneurship in this administration have been largely shrouded in mystery. The revamped YouWin programmed termed the YouWin connect promises to be only a capacity building exercise with plans of the government rolling out equity funding for the successful candidates.

If government can't issue and follow up loans effectively. How do they plan to fund Entrepreneurs through equity funding? Does that not require due diligence.

Room for corruption? Perhaps.

But I wouldn't go out on a limb to discredit the PMB administration as they have had the will to implement very good plans initiated by the Goodluck Administration to ensure transparency in the way government agencies handle funds through the Treasury Single Account as well as made strides in creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. We moved 25 places in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index from 169 to 145.

Click below to see my assessment of this improvement

Is it Easier to Do Business in Nigeria?


They have evidently realized that you can fund businesses as much as you want. But if you don't create an environment where these businesses do eventually grow in addition to the lack of  the capacity of the business persons to understand basic business principles, all the funding would be useless.

Theirs seems to be a long term approach, institutionalizing ease of doing business through different governmental agencies that private sector interface with regularly to run their business. The Enabling Business Environment Council was created under the Office of the Vice President for this purpose and they work with the CAC, Customs, Immigration, Nigerian Export Promotions Council, NAFDAC and other agencies to make their processes seamless for Entrepreneurs.

They have shown evidence of progress and they have even gone a step further to allow Entrepreneurs report challenges with different agencies that are making doing business in Nigeria difficult.

This can be done through the PEBEC REPORTING APP.

Click the link to report any challenges that you have within any governmental agency that you experience as an Entrepreneur.

Opportunities like this allow government to listen first hand to the challenges that Entrepreneurs face and find ways to mitigate those challenges.


I could say more, but I am sure you must already catch my drift. That brings us to the first question again.....


DO ELECTIONS CONCERN ENTREPRENEURS IN AFRICA?

YES. A RESOUNDING YES.

The reasons are evident. As private sector we play a huge role in the development or regression that our country can face at any given time. The lack of participation and collaboration between the Nigerian Government and the private sector leads the country to run a quasi-socialist economy where the government, high net-worth individuals, big companies and multinationals tend to dictate what happens in the economy most times to the detriment of the Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs that are supposed to be the bedrock on which our economy runs.

WHY?

As Entrepreneurs, we need to also understand that effective governments are critical to the growth of our businesses. Lacklustre policies lead to unpredictable market responses to our products or services and just as we have seen can lead us into a recession which causes our customers to have reduced paying power, which would, if not properly managed, lead us to retrench staff and shrink our businesses.

WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

I remember in one of the articles I wrote last year termed AFRICAPITALISM: HOW TO DEVELOP A CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY POLICY, I spoke about different ways Entrepreneurs can decide to play a part in the development of their communties, states and countries. The most effective point I believe was the second one, which was, PUBLIC POLICY INFLUENCING or what people term, ADVOCACY/LOBBYING.

We can create pressure groups that analyse and assess the sustainability and overall effectiveness of public policies vis-a-vis the governmental agencies that would be charged with the implementation of the policies and iron out execution plans with an appropriate risk management strategy.

There are existing advocacy groups, foremost in my mind is the National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable run by the  National Economic Summit Group (NESG) and they are focused on bringing players from across different sectors from the government to civil society organisations to private sector to collaborate on different pressure points in each fiscal year and then produce communiques with differently policy suggestions that are offered to the different players for implementation.

Last year, they also ran a pitch event for startups. I applied for HubbonNG, but apparently we weren't old enough and didn't even meet up to other criteria. 😒

Better days are ahead though!


I am not here to claim like I know the solutions to different problems that Nigeria, or indeed Africa faces, but there is the FIRST STEP we must take!.

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT/PARTICIPATION

We all have a part to play in the development of our country Nigeria and indeed in Africa and private sector participation is increasingly vital to the success.

I remember when I visited Lagos Business School for an MBA experiential day and they spoke about the ability to predict how governments would affect businesses with a view points across different sectors, so active participation as stakeholders in the developmental process would not only allow us to understand governmental policies better but be able to influence them positively for development.

BUSINESSES DO NOT ALWAYS HAVE TO REACT TO GOVERNMENT POLICIES BUT INFLUENCE IT.

Different governmental agencies organize stakeholder engagement events from time to time. Get Involved! Play your part as an Entrepreneur!


ACTION PLAN (7-POINT AGENDA)

1. GET YOUR PVC

2. JOIN A POLITICAL PARTY and influence their ethos, policies and practices positively.


3. ASSESS YOUR CANDIDATES and call for town hall meetings let them debate and spell out their goals and plans for your communities, states and country.

4. ASSESS THEIR PLANS for the private sector and stimulating Entrepreneurship in your locality.

5. VOTE RIGHT for the people that you believe would collaborate with the necessary stakeholders to develop the community,state or country.

6. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENTS AT ALL LEVELS. Engage with your elected officials to bring up development plans for your communities, engage with the appropriate governmental agencies that would be charged with implementation and constantly ensure that the risk is managed effectively and consistently assess those programs and/or projects to ensure its continuous viability and sustainability.

7. ADVOCATE FOR LAWS and policies that inspire Entrepreneurship, Investment for the growth of the community, state, country and continent.

Elections concern Entrepreneurs in Africa, Let us play our part to transform Africa.

This is a rather long epistle. But I do hope it was worth it.

Thanks for reading!


If you would like to book deliveries of your parcels or promote your business on a growing business platform. Head to HubbonNG.com.

Best regards,
Ejieji Muna
(Co-founder, HubbonNG)