BOOKS AND SUCH
LAGOS NIGERIA CHAPTER MEMBER PUBLISHES BOOK
ON ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE IN AFRICA
By Nicholas Cole
T here’s an old adage that says, “When opportunity knocks on your door, always be willing to take a chance because you never know how perfect something could turn out to be.” As it turns out, Africa is full of opportunities, which are detailed in a new book released by The Lagos, Nigeria Alumni Chapter Brother Osaretin Oswald Guobadia (Brooklyn- Long Island (NY) Alumni 1997). The book which Guobadia co- authored is entitled In Pursuit: Journeys in African Entrepreneurship. The book details his career path and entrepre- neurial endeavors and reveals enormous opportunities on the continent of Africa. The book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at www.theinpursuitbook. com. “I moved to Nigeria 15 years ago with a burning desire to contribute to my continent,” Guobadia said. “My comfort zone of a thriving career in a Fortune 100 company on Wall Street was no longer comfortable enough. Despite the fact that my wife and I had just started a young family, and we were in the process of settling into what most would define as an ideal life. Yet, the pull of Africa on me was stronger than the cable on a tow truck. Africa spoke to me about purpose. She spoke directly to my inherent talents and the skills I acquired through my career and life experiences in America. And then she called me directly to use this expertise to make an impact on my burgeoning continent. Her insistence finally convinced me to resign from my place of work, and I left North America on a leap of faith.” Most people, according to Guobadia, are oblivious of the fact that Africa is the second-largest and second-most-popu- lous continent on earth. With a popula- tion of about 1.2 billion people, it covers about one-fifth of the total land surface of the earth.
In addition to the current populace of people living in Africa, there are millions of Africans in the diaspora, comprising of citizens from each of the 54 fully recognized sovereign states (countries) that make up Africa. The total landmass of the United States can fit into Africa up to three times. Africa is a huge continent, but not enough is known about her expansive landmass, vast resources, and ethnically diverse people, Guobadia said. “Most people are generally unfamil- iar with the African continent due to decades of misinformation, misrepresen- tation, and misunderstanding of the de- tails of this great continent,” Guobadia said, before adding, “Precisely, it is this very distorted interpretation that elicits disappointment, albeit annoyance, when Africa is spoken about in a homologous way as opposed to respecting her inher- ent diversity.” Guobadia added that the continent of Africa contains an enormous wealth of mineral resources, including some of the world’s largest reserves of fossil fuels, metallic ores, gems, and pre- cious metals. This richness is matched by the human capital potential of the continent, which is Africa’s most valu- able resource. With almost 60 percent of its population under the age of 25, compared to other continents with an aging populace, Guobadia said, Africa is positioned to be the next frontier ready to rise. “Bad media representation has been the veil covering the levels of growth and development in Africa,” Guobadia stressed. Over time, Guobadia notes, this has led to questions like “do you have cars there?” or “how big is your hut?” Similarly, most global development sec- tor players have established programs in Africa as hand-out initiatives that
Osaretin Oswald Guobadia's In Pursuit: Journeys in African Entrepreneurship
tend to consider a “begging continent” rather than as a catalyst for sustainable economic growth. These programs, according to Guobadia, have received significant media coverage, dwarfing the enormous commercial activities that indeed surmount the value of develop- ment aid, thus making Africa seem obscure and not viable. Today, Africa is the next growth market, and most major institutions and countries understand that they must have an Africa strategy. Guobadia went on to point out that Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, has gone as far as declaring that he would like to spend six months in Africa to un- derstand the young, energetic African population with an aim to have them build and use his products. “When I tweeted about my inten- tion to spend a few months in Africa this year, I made a mistake and should have provided more context about why,” he said. “Africa will be one of the most populated continents in the next 20 to 30 years; the tech innovation is incred- ible with a large portion of the popula- tion still coming onto the internet. Huge opportunity, especially for young people to join Twitter and for us to learn to best serve them.”
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