Go 💪Big or Go Home! Competition in the International Market is Fierce and Winner Takes All...
Playing average is a decision!
I do not play average. If you want something you have to be ready to pay the price to get it. In short - your action must match your words. The rhetoric on advancing trade and investment in Africa is high. I wish only that the action will equally match what people are saying.
I was in a conversation with an high profile leader in a country. His words were audacious. He was boldly sharing with me what they would do but once I started poking at his words by asking what strategy he had in place and the execution plan to pull it off - that was where everything began to fall apart.... At one point during the conversation I declared to him:
" Sir, you may want to put a man on the moon but if you do not put resources and man power behind it you are going nowhere"
He was shocked that I could be so direct and still have a smile on my face. Yes that is what I do - my impatience forces me to cut through the chase and declare my diagnosis - you are full of noise - you make so much noise yet things are not improving because you failed to do the work.
Several years ago I was asked by a very powerful man - "Toyin, How can I help - what does Africa want to sell"? I in turn reached the Export Agency of a particular African country and posed same question: "We are ready to buy what do you have to sell and what is your current capacity...". The information I received back from that government was seriously depressing - they had sent me a document they called their "national export plan" that projected numbers into the future. Remember I hold a BSc. in Mathematics so numbers are kind of my thing... this document looked to me like a pipe dream. I am sure some group of people had already received applause for such abysmal attempt of a strategy document. It contained inflated numbers of absolute grandeur - e.g. By 2022 we would do this and that and this and that....
Nothing concrete or believable was actually in that document so it ended up in my trash because there was no ACTIONABLE data that I could share with the biggest buyers in the world! This is nonsense I thought to myself. My head spun - gosh we are better than this... we have to go back to the drawing board..... and these types of experiences is what led me to build Nazaru...to be continued.
The Global market is fierce and those who wish to compete must do so with the right strategy, partnerships and implementation plan and resources to pull it off.📺Watch below clip from my Trade and Investment Masterclass that was delivered to members of my Trade with Africa® Network yesterday.
Toyin Umesiri is the CEO of Nazaru LLC., and leads the Trade with Africa® Network; a fast growing community of trade experts, government officials, policy makers, investors, exporters, service providers, diaspora leaders and innovators advancing Trade with Africa. Toyin also serves as Adviser and Business Coach to Trade and Investment Stakeholders around the world.
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