It is strongly believed that Africa might be left behind in this 4th revolution for several reasons one of which is digital inequality. Is it a time to pack your bags and run away to a more developed nation? The answer is NO. There is great hope for Africa, great hope for Nigeria and this hope does not lie in the government but individuals.
Mr Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, a Nigerian entrepreneur, co-founder of Andela and former MD of Flutterwave was one of the speakers at the 2019 World Economic Forum held in Cape Town. Themed “is Africa ready for the 4th Industrial revolution”, the event made a valid point about transforming Africa. In light of this, Mr Aboyeji said, “the critical factor of production is labor, therefore, the most important element of the 4th industrial revolution are talents that can absorb this concept and leverage them to create change in society. These talents are activist capitals and when applied to companies not just because of returns (that is a by-product) but to level society and leverage their start-up innovation capacity to be able to scale very quickly innovations that give everybody accesses to a life that is going to guarantee them purpose and prosperity”.
Hitherto, it was impossible to sit in your house in Ughelli and work for multinationals in Europe and America, but with the advancement of technology all of this has been made possible. So it is left to individuals to build the capacity to elevate these talents to global standards to be able to compete in the global market of this era.
The leaders of the 4th industrial revolution are not the government, they are young African talents hungry for opportunities to participate in a global economy. A nation is only basically as strong as its economy and a nation’s economy can only be as good as its people. These points cannot be emphasized enough. This leads us to the next big question – how do these talent-bearers excel as 21st-century entrepreneurs?
Beyond the existing problems of entrepreneurship, some peculiar to Nigeria and others generally obtainable, several entrepreneurs have risen to great wealth and successful careers. Certain factors and qualities make a successful entrepreneur but all of them must sit on the right mindset and value system to produce sustainable fruits. A person is only as powerful as his mind and it takes certain values to create and sustain wealth,
There are two theories by Robert Kiyosaki that summarize into points while explaining how to succeed in entrepreneurship through building the right mindset and value system. These theories are embedded in the cash flow quadrant. This theory reveals why some people work less, earn more, pay less in taxes, and feel more financially secure than others. Mr Robert explains that it is simply a matter of knowing which quadrant to work from and when. He explains that there are two categories of people – the ES (employee/self-employed) and the BI (Business owner and investor). In the US 80 per cent of the population are living in the ES Quadrant owning just 20% of all the money in the United States, while 20 per cent of the US population falls under the BI quadrant and they own 80% of the US money. The basic differentiating factor of both quadrants is their mindset and their core financial values.
The E (employed) Quadrant’s financial value is security, so he would rather seek a salary-earning job as this gives him a guarantee of money at the end of the month. The S (self-employed) Quadrant’s financial value is independence. The B (Business owner) Quadrant’s financial value is wealth building. While the I (investor) Quadrant’s financial value is financial freedom.
Notice that there is a huge distinction between being self-employed and owning a business. Every entrepreneur that wants to succeed in the 21st century must move mentally from a place of just being self-employed to the level of building a business. People in the B Quadrant build a team of people who are the best in their field, they learn how to manage skills and people to grow a business, and they focus more on serving and know the value of teamwork.
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