KEYNOTE SPEECH DELIVERED BY MR CHRIS AGBEDE ON FROM POVERTY CAPITAL TO PROSPERITY CAPITAL: ENTREPRENEURSHIP & INNOVATION AS KEY DRIVERS OF ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION AT TREK AFRICA ENTREPRENEURSHIP CONFERENCE 2019
BY MR CHRIS AGBEDE
THEME: “FROM POVERTY CAPITAL TO PROSPERITY CAPITAL: ENTREPRENEURSHIP & INNOVATION AS KEY DRIVERS OF ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION”
Good morning (establish protocols)
The thrust of this paper is to lay foundation for the theme set out by the organizers of this event by identifying ways through which Nigeria could be rescued from poverty capital and be transformed to prosperity capital of the world with focus on entrepreneurship and innovations.
I have been asked by the organizers, to give this keynote address and share my adolescent experience and how it impacted on my adulthood. This address shall therefore give insight of how I transformed from being a messenger at DaidNigeria Limited (an engineering procurement company) in 1991 and later an account clerk/assistant accountant up till 1998. I completed my part time program at Yaba College of Technology where I obtained a Higher Diploma in accounting in 1998. I had my National Youth service with the same company in 1999 and just about two years after I became the General Manager Administration and Finance of a Company of over half a billion yearly turnover, a whopping amount at that time.
I have also been asked to talk about the events that led me into conceiving a construction outfit that gave birth to Smithcrown Nigeria Limited, which to His glory todayis a force to be reckoned with in the civil and building engineering industry.
Story of how Smithcrown was registered
Though my given term of reference for today is to set the tone for other speakers that would dissect the chosen topic through their analytical submissions, nevertheless I will like to kick start the discussion with a working definition of the concept involved to aid good appreciation of the topic and better followership of the discussions coming forth immediately after my address.
Entrepreneurship – Wikipediadefines Entrepreneurship as the process of designing and running a new business, which is often initially a small business. The people who create these are called entrepreneurs. It is the capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a living/profit. It is also described as the ability to find and act upon opportunities to translate inventions or technologies into products and services.
In summary, an individual Entrepreneur acts as a manager and oversee the launch and growth of an enterprise. He creates a new business, bear the risks and enjoy the rewards.
Innovation– On the other hand Investopedia sees an innovatoras a source of new ideas, goods, services and business generally. They are the people who have the skills and initiative necessary to anticipate current and future needs and bring good new ideas to market.
The above definitions are mere guide towards a better appreciation of the subject. The keywords therefore are mission, vision, focus, diligence and ability to work the talk. It emphasizes innovation and enterprise in terms of knowing where you are, where you want to be, how to get there and what is required to get there. Our discussant therefore should highlight what should be put in place that would bring out these foregoing qualities in our youth to position them for the much needed entrepreneurship and innovations
Attempt must also be made to highlight how Nigeria got to this abysmal position, what went wrong and what we need to do differently. The economy has become a single product country where everything is imported and only one product (oil) is being exported to earn foreign exchange. The impact of green renewable energy on the dwindling fortunes of oil globally is not also in favour of our balance of payment, which is the bane of our poverty.
Import substitution effort that will boost local production should be our focus. This can be achieved if cottage industries are encouraged and our youths are directed to embrace production and consumption of local product.
My candid and reconsider view is that we need to challenge ourselves to be innovative and enterprising. We cannot continue to have reliance on foreign products. We should think through an array of products and services that we could produce as import substitute; whilst we beseech the Government to provide the necessary incentives to accomplish them.
I like to reemphasis that the real solution lies with our youths who are more than sixty percent of the population. Their ingenuity, bursting energies and resourcefulness could be deployed towards production and innovations that would make the difference.They are the future of the country and as such needs to be mentored, monitored and directed rightly to help them unlock their potentials. A lot of energies of few of them are currently being misdirected in what is being referred to as yahoo-yahoo.
An enabling environment is required for entrepreneurship to thrive. Impactful fiscal and monetary policies that would facilitate financial support to the youth with bright ideas should also be considered. Theneed for improved power supply to cater for cottage industries as well as some low end business activities is very essential. The Government also needs to reassess and reform the school curricula to those that seek to bring out the creativity in the students. It is advised that emphasis should shift from curricula that prepare students for white collar jobs to those that prepare them for self employment.
Investment in human capital should be made a priority.Our youth must be able to do simple things that would substitute for some of the foreign products being imported into the country. Legislations to protect local production should be enacted on the part of the government. Power sector should play its catalytic role through provision of power supply for at least 16 hours a day throughout the country to get all the welders of this world (and the like) back to their shops from being Okada riders.
It is my belief therefore that if the foregoing are faithfully accomplished it would jump start the country into the journey of economic recovery.
Thanks and God bless
CHRIS AGBEDE
MD/CEO SMITHCROWN GROUP
