If I ran Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing

Chief Innocent Chukwuma of Innoson Group and owner of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) Company is a legend! Floating a vehicle manufacturing company in Nigeria isn’t just raising the bar; it is taking the entire lawyers home with you. I can’t just admire him enough, and imagine being him for a bit.

If you haven’t seen his cars anywhere around, that might be because you don’t live close to many government officials. He has been feeding majorly off official vehicles for Federal Government and a couple of big companies. But unless his cars are disposable, that B2B model is not going to hold out much longer. He has to start looking at consumers. Needless to say that there are major entrenched players in consumer cars, but IVM recently showcased #2.9M SUVs and a couple of other cars so I’m guessing he has his thoughts in that direction.

I believe there are ways he can carve out a niche in the consumer market by integrating a network of local support services and going tech. Here’s what he could do:

1. Change that logo. It looks like something designed with Word Art on 2003 Microsoft Word.
2.  BRAND. Innoson represents the success of African enterprise. For me, an indigenous car manufacturer in Nigeria is a monumental success, a testimony to the fact that we have defied odds to achieve the unthinkable in Nigeria. IVM cars should be all about celebrating that African greatness. Owning an IVM car should simply mean “I am an African who defied odds to make it in Africa and this car is my trophy!” IVM could have a special line that is ONLY sold to African Royal Father, another one for great professionals, achievers and industrialists like himself, another one for their wives (My husband Udeme is a great man!), one for young professionals, etc. Make IVM a “statement” car! Once you pull up in an IVM, all you are saying is I am a great African!
3. Local support Network. He should have an army of local auto mechanics who can fix any IVM vehicle blindfolded and one hand tied. This is one secret almost all great software company understand, they all have a legion of engineers who can fix and extend their products within customers’ reach.
4. Go tech. This is 2015. Every single product’s performance can be remotely monitored using a cloud service. Detecting malfunctioning parts and notifying the owner, referring him/her to or calling up the nearest IVM certified mechanic in the event of a breakdown (hi, Autosave.com.ng), ordering original parts from IVM Konga store should all be part of the IVM experience. It should be impossible to steal/tamper with an IVM car in Nigeria. The cloud service can alert owner of what has been removed and/or report its current location. Instantly alert all nearby hospitals and ambulances in the event of an accident.  This could mean partnering with a Telco for connectivity. I’m sure that if IVM visits Yaba (Nigeria’s tech capital), many companies will be more than happy to throw in a couple of months’ worth of free services for car owners.
5. Great Insurance plan. A partnership with a good insurance company could be a game changer. If anything goes wrong, IVM can fix/replace the car. I’m thinking the cloud service can serve as a “brainbox” to help quickly verify claims and shorten the processes.

I believe that he can benefit a lot by leveraging his understanding of the people and collaborating with a LARGE network of other local service providers to build a complete Nigerian lifestyle around IVM cars. I’m sure he can fit all these in and still keep the price low!

I’m sure people will like to see more benefits like free fuel for 1 year, exclusive refill during scarcity, free driver with every car, free breakfast for all primary school children car owners, propellers to fly past traffic, notification on latest movies on cinema and current price of garri but more importantly they will like to know that the car itself works perfectly in the first place and won’t be keeping its Great African owner stranded every now and then.

More grease to your cars and long live IVM.

Our Election and Our Democracy

March 28, 2015. A date Nigerians will not forget in a hurry. We had our fifth democratic election. We have never had a more heated campaign or a better participated election. The current government, led by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, had been plagued with incessant attacks from Boko Haram and blamed for lacking the political will to deal with them.

People could no longer hide their dissatisfaction. The opposition team, led by former military head of States Gen. Muhammed Buhari, squeezed the mass dissatisfaction for all it was worth. Nigeria is notoriously fractured along religious and ethnic lines, but this time, they didn’t matter. Gen. Buhari, a Northern Muslim who had contested unsuccessfully in the four previous elections, was widely accepted from every corner of the country as the “Change” agent. Opinions were strongly divided between those clamouring for change and those who refused to accept a former military dictator as an acceptable democratic leader, asking for continuity. Young people who normally stayed away from our violence-laden polity got heavily involved. Both social and local media were heated to frenzy. Between Boko Haram threats and the poor Permanent Voters Card (PVC) distribution, elections were postponed from the February 14th.

Terrified both by the previous trend of the Nigerian polity and the fierceness of the current campaign, people started fleeing for fear of their lives as early one month to the elections. Two days to the election date, airports and bus parks were filled up with people leaving Lagos and Abuja, traffic was monstrous, airlines were book over capacity, people were standing in planes.

So on March 28, 6 weeks after the previously scheduled election date, Nigerians trooped out massively to vote.Even though CNN would have you believe that it was a bloodbath and a total failure, it was actually a monumental success. Yes, there were a number of incidences some days before the election with no casualties, there was an attempt by Boko Haram to disrupt a polling unit, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had some logistic issues distributing voting materials, the some card readers malfunctioned. But all in all, we had a peaceful election.

The participation rate was overwhelming; everyone from young people to old women, past, present andaspiring presidents, startup investors and even Africa’s richest man. Heck a guy even proposed to his fiancé at a polling unit. We waited long hours under the sun and rain to cast our votes with no single report of hijacking or intimidation. At Places where there were delays caused by equipment and logistics setback, voting and counting of votes continued even up till early hours of the next day with no report of violence. PVCs in one hand, smartphones in other, Twitter and Facebook were invaluable monitoring and reporting tools. Our votes were our voices, our social media accounts were our mics. All in all, we had a peaceful, exciting election.

We had a peaceful election, yes, we had a peaceful election. We got caught up in our clamouring for change and continuity that we almost missed the amazing fact that people actually challenged an incumbent government, went to the polls and voted with no report of incidence. The ability of a people to express displeasure over a current government, openly criticize a leader, rally around an opposition and take all that to the polls without any incidence is a huge sign of a maturing democracy, and we pulled it off in Nigeria. That is almost unthinkable in many African countries and some other developing countries, where speaking out against government or supporting an opposition was effectively painting a huge bull’s eye on one’s chest. Buttressing this point is the fact by this time in the immediate past election, many young graduates serving as INEC adhoc staff and hundreds of other voters had been killed in election violence. There were reports of intimidations, hijackings and illegal thumb-printing of ballot papers.

One would think that it would take years and several elections to go from our 2011 election to what we experienced yesterday. But it only took one administration, a leader who believed in the democratic right of every Nigerian. Not even the blood thirsty Boko Haram could perpetuate their heinous enterprise. We were too angry speaking up against what was going wrong that we forgot to notice that we were doing so freely. We had gone from a (former) president who responded “Your papa jaga jaga, your mama jaga jaga” when his government is criticized to one who takes them calmly. We are way past political assassinations and threatening of journalists to people freely posting jail worthy slanders and outright lies against the government without fear of intimidations. We have a leader who openly declares that his re-election is not worth the blood of any Nigerian and means it.

He may have got a lot of things wrong. We still face serious Electricity issues, Naira devaluation and plunging oil prices. The kidnapped Chibok girls are yet to be found. But surely and steadily, we are making progress. Boko Haram is all but defeated, their strongholds recaptured one after another.

Personally I think that our biggest problem is neither power nor corruption, but the fact that our 170 million voices has not been strong enough to demand accountability from and drive fear into insolent and/or incompetent leaders. We had very weak “People power”. Nigerians are notoriously sluggish in demanding their rights. We are so used to being taken advantage of. It was almost impossible to get the Nigerian masses behind any cause because of fear. We had been intimidated and ignored for so long that we either try to run away from the country or sit tight and get used to it. It is better to stay alive and “manage it” than to “die throway” and the impunity will continue. Speaking up against anything will either be futile or life threatening and we aren’t really into “Spiderman, Robin hood” hero type stuffs. So we resorted to “God will help us” and we stayed there for a very long time.

But Nigerians took shots at this government from Day 1 and never felt threatened about it. Everyone had something to say, and said so freely. We kept at it until we started finding our voices. So whether intentionally or as a result of circumstance, President Goodluck became the punching bag we used to exercise and strengthen our democratic muscle and the target board we used for shooting practice until we moved “God will help us” to “My vote must count” without feeling threatened.

We had, Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military ruler as our first democratic president in 1998. President Goodluck Jonathan is only the second full serving president (President Yar’adua died in office) since Obasanjo. You will need horns of a unicorn and titanium alloy balls to convince me that if any of the current opposition leaders (Bola Tinubu, Gen. Buhari and Gov. Amaechi) were the incumbents, we will have this level of democratic freedom, bear this level of criticism or guarantee of peaceful elections.

President Jonathan may not be our greatest president ever but one thing is certain, he is a hero of our democracy and we will definitely have better presidents after him, because of him. If he gets 4 more years, Nigerians will have so much power over leaders, we may even start voting out our landlords and picking our National Football team. If he doesn’t, whoever comes next knows we aint playing with them no more. God bless Nigeria.

Luck is For Kids

“Everybody has a default 50 marks in every exam. When you read, then pray, you’ll get up to 70. Do you know where God will take the 20 marks from? From people who didn’t read and were busy praying!” – Ebuka Okafor – 2008.

When I was in Primary 6, there was this National “GiftedProgramme” exam we were to write. My school was to present two candidates to enter for the regional testing, before the state testing. Our teacher, just to be fair, organized a Math test to pick the 2 candidates. I think she just wanted to find who will accompany me. I was the baddest guy in the class then ;)

So we wrote the test, about 25 questions, and exchanged scripts to mark. I had the highest score with 96% (24/25). There were about 4 other guys who had 92% (23/25) and some kind of test was used to pick one of them to join me. (Told you!)

Going through my test script later, I found out that there was a mistake, I had actually failed one other question but my marker failed to score it down. What really happened was, during the problem solving and marking session, my answer to that question was initially picked as the correct one, but upon better analysis, it was found to be wrong. My marker had scored it up for me earlier, but he forgot to effect the change after the correction. I was lucky. I would have had to join the 4 other badt guys (including the guy that made the mistake) and they were really tough to beat. I was really lucky.

We went for the regional round, I made it through to the state rounds (the other guy didn’t) and made it through that into the FEDACAD programme. Maybe I wouldn’t have, had my friend not made the mistake on my script. But how about the other 2 rounds that I scaled past? Was that also luck?

What does luck really do? In our journey towards fulfilment, what role does luck play? Is luck something we can count on and credit success to, is it tangible enough to build our hopes around? Is it sustainable enough to bank your progress on?

Luck is thin. It’s a short-lived, limited resource. Luck is like a breast handkerchief or a bowtie on a suit: unique enough to make you stand out, but really small. If luck was all you had going for you, it’s like you’re wearing a nice bowtie on mechanic’s overall. Luck is like salt; just a pinch can bring out the beauty and flavour of every other ingredient in the pot. But you have to have other ingredients in the pot. Imagine getting salt in hot water instead of correct egusi soup because someone expected the salt alone to perform wonders?

There are a lot of other things involved in fulfilment and achievement than just luck. Luck is not a feature, it is an add-on. Being so limited and short-lived, there is not enough of it to make up for so many shortcomings and not for long enough too. Luck is too fragile to handle that much responsibility, it collapses under pressure.

I think luck likes to associate with progress, just like ladies. I believe that if you have every other thing in place, luck will come. I believe that when people win at lotteries or in gambling, luck was unlucky to be in the wrong company.

Forget luck. Stop building your expectations on something that fragile. Life is too valuable, too important and too delicate to be left to luck and chance.

Take responsibility, stop waiting to be lucky, be brave, be audacious, be committed, be persistent, be awesome and you’ll find that you are constantly flocked by luck, just like ladies.

Home Theatre Friday: On Malaria, Movies and Edutainment

It was a great evening yesterday at CCHub with some Nollywood guys. They had this new “Home Theatre” initiative where they show a movie in-house that addresses social problems, or so I understood.

Yesterday’s movie was Mary and Martha featuring Hilary Swank. It was about a mother who lost her only son to malaria from one mosquito bite when they made a trip to Africa. The loss led the mother to discover that the deadly malaria was the reality of millions of families and mothers in Africa. Shaken to her core, she led a serious campaign to provide nets and supply for some of the affected areas.

Apart from gaining a huge insight into how deadly Malaria truly is, I was dazed to discover that just one mosquito bite could kill an Oyibo. I told my neighbour Brownie that it means that the mosquitoes that bit me last year can wipe out the whole US!

At the end of the movie, we discussed the Malaria related challenges facing medical practitioners and the public in general, suggesting possible solutions that can spring from the collaboration of all the players present – Tech, Nollywood and Doctors. Top and most prominent on the list of challenges was awareness/information deficit. At first, it seemed like a tech problem but on a second look, the responsibility rests squarely, and with every other shape, on the shoulders of Nollywood.

Nigerian Tech community is doing very well but we still just about 30% internet penetration rate, most of which just know only Facebook. Nollywood on the other hand, has a room in almost every heart in Nigeria and, as IrokoTv has proven, plenty outside Nigeria. Many people not only have TVs and DVD players in their homes but also in their office receptions, shops, saloons, hotels and eateries. Except in corporate organizations tuned to News channels, most of those TVs are tuned to either music or a Nollywood movie, watching up to 10 movies in a week. This sort of addiction gives Movie makers an enormous amount of power to shape people’s lifestyle. That is more reach and power than any newspaper or politician can ever have. Technology in Nigeria is at least 20 years away from this kind of reach.  I had mentioned here earlier that most of what many people know about many things was learnt from the screen, especially since our people don’t like to read.

One movie producers at the event said he wasn't going to do a movie about malaria because he didn't have the money. But he is probably going to do a movie about love or vengeance or militants. All he needs to do is to inject suggestions by having some of the scenes depict the message he wants to pass across. The last contributor for the day gave an amazing illustration about how Joseph Benjamin could be playing a love scene with Genevieve and all they had to do to support the Anti-Malaria Education campaign was to have a mosquito net over their bed. If a few of these anti-malaria best practices like a mother clearing her surroundings of stagnant water or a Malaria Prevention infographic prominently hanging on the wall of a rural home, were injected in 5 of the 10 movies people watch in a week, their lifestyle will subconsciously be adjusted to imbibe such practices.

I have a strong passion for value instilling and informative contents. So man people are largely misinformed or simply ignorant about so many issues that could literally change their lives. I've been thinking about how to work with professionals and subject matter experts to demystify certain topics and break them down into forms that the common man can understand and be empowered into positive action, like a For Dummies series for GDP, Rebasing, CBN policies, Politics, etc. This excellent articlebreaking down the Nigerian Economy and Naira Devaluation for the rest of us is a wonderful example of what I mean.  The most I was probably going to do would be to set up a website where people could access them. But Nollywood holds the key to every home.

There are endless possibilities that can rise from the collaboration of Nollywood with Professional bodies and Creative communities like CCHub aimed at educating people by injecting value and life changing information into movie scripts, or even building a whole script around a topic. Imagine if every single Nollywood production – movies and soap operas - carried one or two chip-ins purposely aimed at educating the public about particular issues, they will change this nation literally. It is completely doable.

Big shout out to Joseph Benjamin for committing totally to the fight against malaria, and thanks to the Nollywood guys for the great time, and the small chops of course.

On 2015 Election: Take The 30 Days Challenge By Naomi Lucas

I have been accused in the last couple of weeks of ‘keeping quiet’ about Nigeria’s political terrain. But I am not one to speak if I’m not sure what to say. Now I do and I urge you to listen. Please.

Nigeria has caused me a lot of constipation and sleepless nights. I have been analyzing the landscape and the build up to the presidential elections and asking myself everytime – what does this all mean? What lesson do we need to learn so we can move from here? How do we move from here? While doing all this thinking, my attention was drawn to the significant numbers at play:

Nigeria was amalgamated – 1914
As a collective we have existed for 100 years – 2014
Elections are scheduled for – Feb, 14

As a person, I am very conscious of seasons. Like Almustapha describes it – the undulating nature of life. I try to think in periods not actual dates, so I ask, what is it about the numbers 14 and 100? So that I do not bore you, you can take your time to study the significance of both numbers but people, we are not alive today by mistake. 10 is a perfect number, add 0 and you have 100. It signifies completeness. 7 is the number of perfection, multiply it twice and you have 14.

I think Nigeria is at a major crossroad. For 100 years it has flourished and floundered, grown and made mistakes and that cycle was completed last year. 2015 represents a new beginning, a decent opportunity to start again and well, and you, reading this, are a catalyst for the next 100 years. The decisions you will make in February will affect 170 million people and at least 3 generations unborn. I spoke with a sage who told me, Naomi, if we don’t get it right this time, the opportunity will not present itself for a long while. I think that long while is another 100 years.

I have read with dismay the retarded thinking and sentiments displayed on my timeline by some and I worry that our sentimental and shortsighted approach to working through issues may be our very undoing, if we don’t do what is required.

The 30 Day Challenge will do just that – Challenge. Together, we will test assumptions and strongly held beliefs and dispassionately think through the issues as it relates to Nigeria. Today is January 14th, we decide Nigeria’s future in exactly 30 days.

Every morning, I will share a post with a clear call to action, all I ask is that you open up your mind to learn, to consider differing points of view, to ask the hard questions and arrive at the answers all by yourself.

If you will like to take the challenge, please like this post below or drop a comment. And please tag friends you believe should take it, especially those who don't share your point of view.

Day 30: Today, Stop. Talking. Let your mind wander. Stay off social media. Think about love, life, the future and happiness. Be quiet and let your mind rest. You will need it in the coming days.

First appeared on Naomi Lucas Blog

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