As discussed earlier, if stripping a
people’s identity through stripping
their culture was a major weapon
in destroying the people, then no
restoration can work without the
reinstatement of culture.
for this paper, I read of a Nigerian
musician who was recently valued
as having a net worth of over One
hundred million dollars.
As we celebrate our own movies
and music, the world is celebrating
Think of the Nigerian movie
with us and the next thing you see
industry. They started with cheap
is that people want more of what we
VHS movies which they called home have and so this opens the door for
videos. The quality was terrible in
fashion, hairstyles, food and much
the beginning but it was ours and
more. BBC recently did a feature
we owned it. It was authentic. You
on Nigerian restaurants in London.
did not have Nigerian actors and
When as a people we celebrate our
actresses trying to sound foreign.
authenticity, the world will have no
choice but to respect us.
They were authentic. They showed
the good, the bad and the ugly
As a people, we need to consciously
and the world embraced it. The
move away from celebrating foreign
movies did more to clean the image
things just for that reason. It may
of Nigeria abroad than a lot of
take time but we must get there.
diplomatic efforts. People saw real
Churches display white faces on
people who had real issues and who
their posters because once they
did not hide their issues. It was truly advertise a preacher that is from
African magic.
abroad it is good for the image of
the pastor.
The music coming out of Nigeria was
also authentic. It was our rhythm
When a corporate speaker from
and we danced to it happily. Before
outside the country comes, he can
we knew what was happening, the
ask to be paid anything but when
whole world was dancing with us
an equally qualified speaker from
even if they did not understand what within asks for the same thing the
we were saying. I remember working people say it’s too expensive. Once
in Mozambique for a client. After
we begin to celebrate our own it will
the training, there was a party in
inspire others and this leads to a
the evening and the DJ was playing
new authentic brand revolution.
really good music. It was however
not African and in fairness, there
Creating the Environment to be
were a few people on the dance
Authentic
floor. When suddenly he changed
to Nigerian music, the dance floor
Performance is a function of
was packed and people suddenly
environment. Some Countries in
brightened up. I have seen this also
Africa have launched a war against
with groups like Sauti Sol in Kenya. corruption but the truth is that
no war on corruption can work
Africa has come of age and we are
if the environment that created
now celebrating our own. As we
the corruption has not been dealt
celebrate our culture, it will spread
with. A society that does not allow
to other things. The world will not
originality and authenticity will
celebrate with people who have not
never transform.
celebrated their own. Now Nigerian
actors and musicians command
A good example again is North
income that is at par and at times
Korea and South Korea. The
even higher than their foreign
South has produced the likes of
counterparts. As I was getting data
Samsung, Hyundai, KIA and many
56 MAL 19/17 ISSUE
more global brands. The North
has produced bombs. What is the
difference? One environment favors
creativity and enterprise while the
other does not. Innovation cannot
rise beyond the environment
provided for it. The environment
which punished children in school
for speaking their language needs to
be re-thought. When children grow
up being punished for being original,
they will always shy away from being
authentic.
The environment that will inspire
creativity is an environment that
must have a budget for mistakes
because innovation is the offspring
of intelligent thought and intelligent
error. Don’t be scared of your own
greatness. Face it and fail with
dignity if need be.
Build Your Conversion Capacity
Africa has lots of resources as
we have seen but the problem
is conversion from potential to
revenue. We have heard about the
potential of Africa for decades but
the truth is that potential cannot be
spent. What is needed is leadership
that will develop the environment
and the capacity to convert potential
to revenue.
Carnivores and Herbivores survive
on primary supply. The lion eats
the buffalo as is. I’ve never heard of
a lion wanting to grill the buffalo
before eating and neither have I
heard of the buffalo wanting to
steam the grass before eating. Man
is blessed with conversion power
therefore man that does not utilize
his conversion power is living at an
animalistic level of existence.
Conversion power is demonstrated
in how resources can be transformed
from one state to another. Let’s
take a very simple example – cars.
America has contributed the
Chevrolet, Ford, Cadillac, Lincoln,
Chrysler, Buick and others. Great