My Fourth of July

On July 4th, while the vast majority of Americans relish their barbecue and fireworks experience, I was having the unique opportunity of seating next to Shola, an amazing Nigerian entrepreneur on a flight from Lagos to Dubai. We were having a mentally stimulating conversation over a stretch of hours as Shola was heading to Guangzhou China and I to New York, NY.

As a female entrepreneur in a male dominated business environment, Shola is truly awesome, who despite her limited formal educational background has managed to build a thriving publishing business that caters for fashion design needs of Nigerians through a fashion magazine and posters. With humble beginnings in Shomolu Lagos, she grew this business to the point of hitting marketing leadership in the major cities of the country. And as a visionary entrepreneur she was already taking expansion steps hence the trip to China. Shola was hoping this trip to China will be a game changer to the business and potentially the Nigerian fashion (print) industry.   

This conversation was somewhat serendipitous because part of the reasons for my trip was for the Africa Fashion Star; an apprenticeship program for rising African fashion entrepreneurs in New York. So I was sternly watching out for parallels with Shola's story. And because I couldn’t hold back this curiosity and excitement, I decided to ask her about business model and vision for scale.  

“We do have an army of photographers that gatecrash major parties in the city, taking pictures of stylishly dressed people. We then publish these designs targeting local tailors and hair salons as our end-user. Brother, you will be surprised how many people are thrilled to be featured on our magazine. We also have a few tailors and hair stylists in our network that allow us publish their work. Business is good I must say”. This was her response to my question on how the business works.

As awesome as this sounds, I couldn’t help noticing a few untapped opportunities for scale, and sadly why this business might forever remain a small business. This conversation did not just confirmed my conviction that what is holding back African entrepreneurs really is not lack of a high hustle quotient, creativity or street savvy. For these entrepreneurs to take their game to the next level and possibly hand it over to the next generation, global knowledge and competencies are absolute nonnegotiables.

Then I responded. “First off, I understand that my ideas may be far from the realities on the ground so apologies in advance. I understand these guys are eager to get on your magazine but I’d get to them to sign a release waiver form that authorizes me use their work. I might even incentivize with the perk of a potential for a modeling deal afterwards. Then I will push for an exclusive publishing deal with these tailors and hair stylists. And finally, I will consider launching a new product line of a modeling business from this enterprise”.

Initially she laughed off my idea saying “I can see you’ve lived in America for such a long time, this is Nigeria”. But gladly, after making her see some possibilities from this new business model, it dawned on her that in fact she could push a similar exclusive regional deal with her Chinese technical partners.

It was African entrepreneurs like Shola that inspired me to start LDI Africa. Entrepreneurs who in spite of the everyday challenges in Africa have managed to create their own opportunities but couldn’t still play on the global stage. This is why I am proud and very excited about the Africa Fashion Star. This platform will make it possible for rising African fashion entrepreneurs to work on Broadway and Madison Avenue New York, interacting with world’s best fashion brands. A few years upon returning home being retooled to not only launch one of the best African fashion brands but increasing the rating of African designs on the world’s fashion map.

At LDI Africa, we connect African professionals and organizations to the global marketplace!  

Africa Open for the Business of Service

Africa Open for the Business of Service
March 25, 2013 Franklin D. Reeves Center of Municipal Affairs, Washington, DC
By Gbenga Ogunjimi, CEO LDI Africa

I want to start by thanking everyone for honoring our invitation today. I appreciate our outstanding partners for making this meeting possible; A big thank you to Atlas Corps, the DC Mayor’s Office on African Affairs, Shifting Patterns Consulting, Ethiopian Airlines and all of our supporters here today. It is because of your support that we have been able to grow from an idea to a full-fledged a living entity operating five African countries. I especially want to recognize Scott Beale, the visionary of Atlas Corps, who has changed the definition of international service here in the US, and around the world. It is because of this vision that I stand here today.

For those who may not know, I would like to talk briefly about my story, and the inspiration behind LDI Africa. I am a young Nigerian with once limited opportunities to realize my dream as a global professional. As a rising social enterprise leader, I recall many obstacles that I had to overcome in my search for a world greater than the one I had known. I yearned for something bigger than myself; a larger platform to not just realize my professional goals but to create similar opportunities for young and aspiring professionals like myself who believe in a new Africa.

On December 31, 2010, I found an outlet; an opportunity to act on my professional ambitions, when I was accepted into the prestigious Atlas Corps Fellowship, and handed unchartered leadership possibilities to lead a management training program for nonprofit leaders from around the world. During my service with Atlas Corp here in Washington DC, I experienced the inner-workings of a true entrepreneurial social enterprise flattening the world’s nonprofit sector. From this service experience came the vision of LDI Africa.

By virtue of its visionary and transformational role, the US Peace Corps, over the last 50 years, has repeatedly sent American volunteers to countries in Africa. This has resulted in improved relations between U.S. and Africa; changing how the host communities see the United States, and even inspired programs like Atlas Corps, MBAs Without Borders and Global Health Corps to enter the international service arena. A few countries in Africa have also followed in this example, most notably, Nigeria’s National Youth Service Corps and the National Service Scheme of Ghana.

LDI Africa is proud to come to this space, with the goal of connecting African professionals and organizations to the global marketplace through volunteer-service. With the launch of our Emerging Institutions Fellowship Program, we believe an innovation has come to volunteer-service space of the continent. This program recruits the world’s best young business professionals to collaborate with Africa’s leading financial institutions; these include – venture capital, private equity and impact investing firms to enable their portfolio businesses to scale and, in-turn, create replicable economic opportunities in Africa. .

Who do we look for in this program?
 – Young professionals who believe in the economic future of the continent and want to apply and grow their business acumen to better serve Africa’s emerging businesses.
– Africans in the diaspora who have realized that in addition to the remittance dollars they send home, of equal impact is their time and overseas experience in serving Africa.
– Africans and non-Africans who believe that what Africa needs most now are strong institutions.

 I am very proud and excited that in the short time since LDI Africa’s operations launched, our pilot program efforts have been successful. We have recruited our very first class of Fellows from around the world to serve emerging business in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa. Unlike the typical summer intern found in trending international volunteer service programs; LDI Africa Fellows are similar to Peace Corps Volunteers, they are young professionals that have signed up for to up a year-long service commitment to position African businesses to attain measureable sustainable growth. The majority of our fellows are young Africans in the diaspora, the rest come from all over the world – including Ghana, France, China and of course Washington, DC.

We are excited with the outcomes that we expect. During the course the fellowship years, LDI Africa Fellows will co-create transformational opportunities for Africa through the projects they will be working on. In West-Africa they will work to realize the very first modern metro system, bringing the city of Lagos into the league of mega-cities with a functional railway system. In East Africa, our fellows will help to facilitate financial inclusion for marginalized entrepreneurs without access to bank loans to start businesses. In other parts of the continent, they will be helping local farmers take their products to the global market.

In the words of Scott Beale – “Ideas and talents are evenly distributed around the world but opportunities are not.” As we all know, Africa used to be to be one of the spots of the world with limited opportunities, but this has changed. A change well captured by the Economist that described the continent as “Hopeless Africa” in 2000, to “Rising Africa” a decade after, and just as recent as March 2013 referring to the continent as the “Hopeful Continent.” Africa today is one of vast economic opportunities; with the unprecedented flow of foreign direct investments, diaspora remittances and development aid, the continent has successfully opened a new chapter, and has become “the world’s fast growing continent.”

But in order to reach its full economic potential, Africa needs more than money – it needs innovations. For the continent to translate its new wealth into enduring economic prosperity, this will require more than financial resources, it will require the specialized skills coming from within and outside of its borders. And this is the contribution LDI Africa brings to the arena of international service in Africa. LDI Africa is excited about these crystal-clear rays of hope the Economist talked about, but also recognizes the crucial role volunteer-service that is business driven can play in the development of the continent.

As I close, LDI Africa believes that nothing of consequence was achieved by working alone, we need a strong support system in order to succeed. As a result I am pleased to invite you today to be a part of our efforts. Once again, thank you very much for coming. I look forward to your questions and comments during the Q and A session.