It is almost halfway through the year and the economy is not improving. Oil prices continue to crash and several top tier companies affected are firing staff in the thousands. According to the Managing Director of GTBank – Segun Agbaje the economy should not be used as an excuse.
Mr Agbaje recently gave a speech at This Present House on ‘Succeeding In The 21st Century Nigeria’.
Here are some of the highlights:
Be willing to work harder by working harder you will become smarter
Our harsh economy is nothing new – Things are difficult but the Naira has been devalued before, also there was a point when interest rates were around 40%, now they are between 9-22%. We have been through difficult times before and still prevailed.
Nigeria is the greatest place to do business – Where else in the world has a population of 170,000,000? That is potentially 170,000,000 customers, a unique scenario to Nigeria. In developed companies everything has been done, Nigeria may be the last frontier for innovation. There is nowhere else in the world where you get 30% return on equity.
Every devaluation brings it’s own unique set of opportunities – in a devaluation everyone has to pay more which leads to increased revenues and increased turnovers.
Things are not easy which is why you have to work harder – talent is overrated, hard work separates success from failure
Don’t focus on what is not working – focus on what works and build on that
Embrace disruptive technology
His speech was nothing short of inspirational but at the same time pragmatic. There is no secret formula or short cut to success just hard work.
