The scourge of delayed payments in Nigeria

I wrote a quick LinkedIn article about the scourge of delayed payments in Nigeria.

A friend who runs a SME in Nigeria recently told me about their struggle to get paid for work they did for a large corporation. While the service was confirmed satisfactory and invoices were accepted nine months ago, payment has not been made. Understandably, they are reluctant to involve lawyers or otherwise escalate the situation.

I tweeted about it, and an outpouring of comments indicates this is more common in Nigeria than it should be. Many people work for a SME that has had trouble getting paid or know someone who does. If this is indeed that common, it is bad for our economy.

One day we will talk about how large corporations kill SMEs because of this singular reason. So many SMEs take loans to run projects for large corps. When payment isn't made on time, loan interest eats into project profit and sometimes wipes it out completely.

— Simi Oluwatomi (@simioluwatomi) November 29, 2019

The rest of the article is available on LinkedIn here.

Which of these Harpic 'adverts' do you think is more effective?

Image source: https://ogefash.reviews/2018/01/19/avert-review-harpic-toilet-cleaner-just-too-terrific-but/

**1**

Imagine a young woman in her early thirties. It is a Saturday morning and she is home with her family. Her husband is making breakfast and she is roughhousing with her child. Her phone rings, and it is her mother-in-law (MIL) on the other end. MIL is sorry for the short notice, but she has missed them and is visiting today.

She gets off the phone and springs into action. She and her husband dash around the house straightening out the rug and putting toys away. And then she remembers the ghastly stains in the guest toilet. Damn!

She dashes into the toilet with a box of detergent and half-empties it into the toilet bowl. She flushes after minutes of scrubbing but the stains remain, seeming to mock her. Her husband pokes his head into the toilet long enough to hand her a bottle of Harpic. She repeats the same motions as before, with a different result this time. Her toilet is sparkling white!

On Konga’s Queer Dual-CEO Structure

“Effective from May 1st, Yudala will now operate under the name KONGA, with dual CEOs in the persons of Nick Imudia who will be in charge of online among others and Prince Nnamdi Ekeh who will be responsible for offline.” Nairametrics.

According to that Nairametrics article, Konga and Yudala have been merged into a single entity effective May 1 and will operate with dual CEOs. Mr. Imudia will lead “online” and Prince Ekeh will lead “offline”.

I understand why Konga might prefer the dual-CEO structure. Prince Ekeh built Yudala and established offline coverage that remains critical in Nigeria. Surely it must be difficult to envision a scenario in the merged company where he is not in charge or running a significant portion of the business.

On the other hand, the opportunity to generate more value by combining Konga’s online brand and know-how with Yudala’s offline coverage was one of the biggest reasons for this merger. I believe those synergies will be best realized if both entities are fully integrated into one company and with one person responsible for setting and executing strategy. The company needs to have one set of objectives and integrated systems, and I think having two CEOs for “online” and “offline” makes this less likely to work smoothly.

For clarity, I am not saying the dual-CEO structure will fail. Many companies have pulled it off successfully and Mr. Imudia and Prince Ekeh may be able to. I am a big fan of business and e-commerce in Nigeria, and I hope they can make this work.

Cheers, to Konga!

Some Advice to Sellers, from a Buyer

I have worked in Purchasing at P&G since March 2012, and I have written this based on a variety of experiences. This is my perspective, and does not represent P&G’s approach to selecting suppliers. The one example given has been fictionalized, and no identification with actual businesses or individuals should be inferred.

I need to sit and codify what I have learnt from five years of reviewing supplier proposals for P&G.

— Koye (Mogbekeloluwa) (@koyegbeke) July 25, 2017

I tweeted the above a few days ago. I have learnt lots in my various Purchasing roles, and while I have really mulled over the learnings on media strategy, supply-chain value, and procurement systems — I have not thought much about the hundreds of proposals I have reviewed.

I Buy Nigerian: Simple Thoughts on Local Manufacturing and the Nigerian Economy

This post was first shared on Medium and The Naked Convos

I love NASCO cornflakes. Eating NASCO for breakfast reminds me of my childhood. I buy NASCO whenever it is available. I don’t mind stares from people who seem to pity my inability to afford pricier brands*.

I was happy to see yesterday that NASCO has overhauled their packaging. I always thought the old packaging sucked, and that it looked out of place beside attractively designed brands like Kelloggs.

The cashier asked if I chose NASCO because it is made in Nigeria. I was surprised. I buy NASCO because I love it, because it brings fond memories. I couldn’t care less where it is made.

His question got me thinking about the concept of ‘buying Nigerian’, so I decided to address some themes that have recently gained traction.