All round good article. I thoroughly enjoyed your musing about the talent shortage.
Talent pipelines powered by deepening relationships between town and gown have never been more important for all of Corporate Nigeria and not just tech startups. Amazon is just the biggest player to have come into the market. Others have come before with varying degrees of success and more will follow as the global talent shortage bites even harder and companies all over try to innovate their way out of this recession.
Nigerian universities are at a critical juncture if they can become creative in their search for funding sources and the relationships they choose to cultivate. University departments that are tech or tech-adjacent stand to gain distinct advantages by pairing up with willing and forward-thinking companies to solve this challenge which isn't going away any time soon.
With regards to Flutterwave there is a sense that they have played fast and loose. They will need to step up and eat their greens. Regardless of how they come out of this probe by the Kenyans, there's something in their corporate culture that isn't kosher. Kicking their founder up to the chairman's office and bringing in a safe pair of hands to run the shop might be a good place to start.
Hi Eli and thanks for sharing your thoughts. Your comment gave me pause, mostly because I hadn't considered that FW might do themselves a world of good by moving their founder upstairs. They've stumbled from one PR nightmare to another this year and while they might explain their way out of some, methinks their reputation has taken a hit. The bit I wonder about is whether the founder would agree to it
The economics will always win out. He may not necessarily get a say as the longer he stays the more complicated and challenging things could become.
Their saving grace at the moment is that the bulk of their concerns are within a continent where they are a big player. Demand for their services is largely inelastic owing to the utility that they've built and a lack of significantly sized competition. All that though can change quickly.
I wish them well but maybe it is time for him to consider his position. He is still largely in control and can make it a conscious uncoupling but if more bad news keeps coming out of the woodwork he may lose even that and face defenestration.
All round good article. I thoroughly enjoyed your musing about the talent shortage.
Talent pipelines powered by deepening relationships between town and gown have never been more important for all of Corporate Nigeria and not just tech startups. Amazon is just the biggest player to have come into the market. Others have come before with varying degrees of success and more will follow as the global talent shortage bites even harder and companies all over try to innovate their way out of this recession.
Nigerian universities are at a critical juncture if they can become creative in their search for funding sources and the relationships they choose to cultivate. University departments that are tech or tech-adjacent stand to gain distinct advantages by pairing up with willing and forward-thinking companies to solve this challenge which isn't going away any time soon.
With regards to Flutterwave there is a sense that they have played fast and loose. They will need to step up and eat their greens. Regardless of how they come out of this probe by the Kenyans, there's something in their corporate culture that isn't kosher. Kicking their founder up to the chairman's office and bringing in a safe pair of hands to run the shop might be a good place to start.
Cheers
Hi Eli and thanks for sharing your thoughts. Your comment gave me pause, mostly because I hadn't considered that FW might do themselves a world of good by moving their founder upstairs. They've stumbled from one PR nightmare to another this year and while they might explain their way out of some, methinks their reputation has taken a hit. The bit I wonder about is whether the founder would agree to it
The economics will always win out. He may not necessarily get a say as the longer he stays the more complicated and challenging things could become.
Their saving grace at the moment is that the bulk of their concerns are within a continent where they are a big player. Demand for their services is largely inelastic owing to the utility that they've built and a lack of significantly sized competition. All that though can change quickly.
I wish them well but maybe it is time for him to consider his position. He is still largely in control and can make it a conscious uncoupling but if more bad news keeps coming out of the woodwork he may lose even that and face defenestration.