Spotting Opportunities 2

Speaking about the lens through which we view our world; have you noticed how we have more problems than problem solvers?  But, what’s even more interesting is that we have more problem identifiers than the problems we face. Everywhere you go; there is someone who knows what the problem is and will scream and shout about it without proffering any solution. Take the case of bad roads for example, a problem identifier will brilliantly chronicle the advent of road construction and its contribution to modern development, he will then go on to surgically analyze the causes of bad roads and then blast the government for its dilapidation, blast the road agency for embezzling maintenance funds and blast the lily-livered road users for not standing up for their rights. He then rounds off with a cute cliché like, “A lot more has to be done to correct this societal malady”. That is where a problem solver differs.

Spotting Opportunities

All eyes are opened, but not all see the same.

Everyone looks, but each observes differently.

When I look into the eyes of many people I see something I call the humanitarian contact lens. If you try to wear it, you will begin to see centers of lack and centers of surplus all around you. In time, you will not be able to rest until you find a way to help the downtrodden that populate the centers of lack. Your waking wish and sleeping thought will be that the centers of surplus could just have a glimpse of what obtains on the other side. Seeing the wasteful spending, or should I say inessential expenses, of the centers of surplus will rile you up and moisten your eyes. And each time one of the the few philantropically-inclined ones come along, hope is inspired in you that wealth will flow from centers of surplus to the centers of lack someday.

Value funnel (in collaboration with Bolaji Ayoola)

Under the right conditions, a car dealer can sell three cars in a day; but no matter how auspicious the conditions, three mechanics cannot assemble one car in a day. This is why the dealership can afford to employ one salesman but the assembly plant cannot but employ auto-mechanics in droves.

Again, under favourable conditions, one real-estate agent can comfortably sell all the eight flats of an apartment block in a day; but eight builders can never complete a house in one day even under paradisiacal conditions. That is why a real-estate agency can run efficiently with few hands but a housing construction company will collapse without a large work-force. We will continue with this line of thought later, but let’s digress for a bit.

Needles or Pencils (Part 2)

Last week, I promised to give you three more winning business strategies employed by our profiled entrepreneur - Alere. Read on.

Location, location, location

Due to some distractions around me, I momentarily zoned out on Alere as he was talking. By the time I regained concentration, I caught him halfway through a sentence that ended with, “So Lagos is the U.S.A, while Ibadan is Asia”. I immediately knew that this was a point I didn't want to miss, so I asked him to repeat himself which he graciously did. He explained that in Ibadan, labour is readily available and quite cheap but the purchasing power of residents is average. Lagos, on the other hand, even though it has a large pool of manpower, their wages are quite high; but that also meant a higher purchasing power. So he sources for orders in Lagos and manufactures in Ibadan; following the footsteps of giant sportswear companies that produce in labour-cheap Vietnam, Bangladesh, China and so on but have their major markets in Europe and North America.