I have always laughed at foreign companies who come and set up shop in Nigeria and feel they can muscle in somehow just because they have access to money. This has always been similar to returnees to Nigeria who come with a few thousand dollars and feel they are Kings. They ship a long used car or sort of new car with flood insurance and maybe furniture they got very cheap and somehow begin to bother all of us struggling people in Nigeria with questions like, “What’s going on in Nigeria?’ or So, guys, I’m back! How do we make money in Nigeria?” Sometimes i wonder if they think we have all been sitting around waiting for them to bring the dollars home. What’s pitiful is that, one year down the road, they are completely as normal as we are, still telling stories of where they used to live in New York or wherever. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t resent them. I just wish they were better prepared to come home!
My 10 point advice is simple and outlined below
- Don’t come home if you have not invested five trips to and from Nigeria at a minimum.
- Don’t come home if you can’t be a facilitator of technology transfer. Bring home an idea and make it work in Nigeria before you come.
- Don’t come home if you don’t have a bank account in Nigeria that is receiving inflow from whatever you are doing in Nigeria.
- Don’t come home if you are not yet sending whatever it is you plan to sell home and someone is paying the proceeds into your account and you are logging in everyday with your internet banking and checking your deposits.
- Don’t come home if you haven’t signed an offer letter from your intended employers. Sign first, do the first month of work, then ask for one week to take care of personal issues, take the the next available flight, arrive next day, close up shop for 3 days, do a hurried send off party and get the hell out of there!
- Don’t come home with promises from Uncles and Aunties who are in positions of power in Nigeria. It’s just not bankable!
- Don’t come home if you have any lies of a big job you have been doing abroad. Nigerians are now well educated even in International matters. Your knowledge will surely be tested! Don’t be disgraced. Too many people have been hired in Nigeria only to be let go 6 months later because they are not as good as they are on paper.
- Don’t come home based on comparison with your mates! You are most likely coming to start at the bottom of the ladder. What did you think your mates were doing suffering all this while in Nigeria? Most of the time, you cannot match up with their spending style, living expenses and assets they have acquired over the same period of time! You are probably paying a mortgage and they are not!
- Don’t come home if you have not clearly identified a Plan B, assuming that your Plan A fails.
- Most importantly again, don’t come if you have not invested time and presence in Nigeria over a minimum of 6 months! You must come and go and ensure you know 50% of what you want to come and do in Nigeria!
I daresay you can apply this to a company that wishes to come and do business also.
