IBADAN - A Poem

A view of Ibadan from Bower's Tower. I took this picture.

Ibadan is good memories,

Of growing up with impish siblings and devoted parents,

Of walking around Iwo Road handing out flyers for church programs,

Of the delicious amala and gbegiri you could find on every side street,

Of brown cardboard boxes that arrived from the United States with loads of books,

INSEAD Class of December 2018: One Year to Change my Life

We packed up our lives in Lagos one year ago to go on an adventure in the sleepy old town of Fontainebleau

It is over, just like that. There was one final weekend, one intensive push to chart a path to growth for a digital company in China, and it was over. The most challenging and the best year of my life so far had come to an end.

It felt like a lifetime; it felt like a few weeks. It felt like one beautiful experience after another; it felt like an obstacle course. It felt like a gusher of learning; it felt like drinking from a fire hose.

But all good things come to an end, and when this goes up - I’ll be taking the stage as valedictorian at the INSEAD graduation in Fontainebleau and trying to sum up this amazing year in a few minutes.

I thought I would post this here, for myself, my community of friends and family, and the people who say my stories inspire them. The content is different from what I say in the speech in that it is much more personal.

All my objectives for this year were exceeded.

On Michelle Obama's Becoming...

I finished Michelle Obama's Becoming earlier this morning, and I totally recommend it.

Among other things, she wrote about:

1. Her professional journey that took her off a more traditional Law path in pursuit of work she loved.
2. An enthralling ringside account of Barack Obama's meteoric rise to the US Presidency.
3. A candid take on the difficulty of raising two young daughters in the public eye.

She also wrote powerfully about the challenges she faced in trying to balance career and family, and as I read those - I thought of the many choices men (traditionally) have not had to make. As an aside, I'm glad the conversation about gender roles is advancing. We must accept that humanity cannot achieve its full potential if half the population is held back by various 'norms'.

It's my most highlighted book this year. Again, I recommend it!

2019 Elections: Why the Third Force Will Not Win, and What We Should Do After They Lose

Idea in Brief: The chances of a third-force candidate emerging President in 2019 are slim. Winning the presidency in Nigeria is expensive and the field is crowded. In the unlikely event of a third-force victory, governance would be near impossible. This does not mean we will be led by the current crop forever. We must support the brilliant new Presidential candidates and continue to engage with a view for the long term.

In 1992, Ross Perot, an independent candidate for President of the United States, won 18.9% of the popular vote. Despite winning no electoral votes, his campaign is described as one of the most successful third-force bids for presidency of the United States. No one has been elected to the US Presidency without running on the platform of one of the six major parties the US has had throughout its existence.

It is exciting that brilliant people like Oby Ezekwesili and Kingsley Moghalu are running for President and articulating a fresh vision for Nigeria. What is unexciting is the reality that the chances of a third-force victory in 2019 are infinitesimally slim. In the highly unlikely scenario of a third-force victory, it is difficult to see how they could successfully govern without representation in the National Assembly.

First, winning the Presidency in Nigeria requires machinery – lots of it. Candidates must campaign across the country, as they need to win the most votes and at least 25% of the votes in 24 of the 36 states. This requires a lot of money and resources. They must also solicit votes from the many Nigerians who don’t have Twitter and require engagement offline. This will require them to rent venues and audio equipment for campaigns, and run TV, radio, print, and billboard adverts in different languages.

How Many Years of Work Experience Do You Need Before an MBA?

People applying to business school often reach out to me with questions. The number one question by a wide margin is "how did you prepare for the GMAT?". I wrote this to answer that.

Recently, I have been seeing an increase in people asking how many years of experience I think they should have before applying to MBA programs. While I enjoy meeting new people, I thought writing and sharing my answer would be more efficient. I put it on Medium so it is easier for people who don't know me to discover it.

My answer is somewhere between three to five years.

Here's a link to the full post.

INSEAD Africa Business Conference 2018 - Harnessing Africa's Potential: From Ideas to Action

Participants during networking cocktails at the INSEAD Africa Business Conference 2018

Nigeria does not generate enough electricity to power the country around the clock and providing your own power is expensive, so many retailers cannot refrigerate products overnight. As a result, dairy products such as yoghurts cycle between chilled and warm states repeatedly before they are sold. This sometimes causes yoghurts to go bad, as I often found out to my horror as a child.

So, what do you do when you’re Danone and you’re looking to sell your yoghurts in Cameroon? You have to reformulate it. You can’t just sell the same formulations that work in France. You have to design something specifically for your target market in Africa.

Happy Birthday, Koye

Mrs. Ko and the gang. No bonus points for spotting me.

I did not feel like writing a post for this birthday, but I have written one every year for six years and I like the idea of starting my own traditions, so I had to.

I don’t take it for granted that I am marking another birthday today. I am grateful for life and the many opportunities I have had to learn and grow in the past year. I am also grateful that I am blessed with Busola, loving friends, and family. The past year has been incredible! I am grateful to be living many of my long-held dreams and excited to be charging ahead with new ambitions.

Thoughts On Silicon Valley: Build The Future

The receptionist at Upwork was working from home

Upwork did not have a receptionist. Or, they had one, but she was working from home. She always works from home. Think about that for a bit. A “front desk officer” who works from home. Oh, and she was freelancing.

Is that the future of work, or at least some part of it? I don’t know, but Upwork is betting it is, and they have built the world’s largest freelancing marketplace in preparation for that future. Freelancers on Upwork billed over $1bn annually as of last year. This encapsulates my view of Silicon Valley: a place where people imagine a different version of the future and then build it.

There are many good courses at INSEAD taught by great Professors. It is hard to pick a favorite, so I’ll say Building Business in Silicon Valley is one of my favorites. As part of the course, we spent last week meeting people at a variety of companies in Silicon Valley. I wrote furiously throughout the week, filling up my notebook. I decided to share some of my thoughts here and answer a few questions.

Thoughts From Silicon Valley: So Good They Can't Ignore You

INSEAD 18Ds take Silicon Valley

Katie Dill is an incredible person! For about an hour yesterday, she held me and a group of other INSEAD MBA candidates spellbound as she talked about her career journey, her thoughts on design, and her passion for the future Lyft is helping to create.

As Vice President of Design at Lyft, Katie oversees design in a broad sense across the company. This includes user experience, product, and other areas. Prior to joining Lyft, she was Director of Experience Design at AirBnB for about four years. She oversaw Airbnb's service experience and trust and payments platform, and grew the design team there from ten people to a hundred. She was recognized as one of Fast Co’s Most Creative People in Business in 2017.

As I sat there and listened to her, my mind kept returning to one of the more important books I have read recently: So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport. Cal’s thesis in the book is simple: ability is important.

Thoughts From Above The Oregon Mountains

A grossly inadequate picture of the grand mountains of Oregon

Looking out the window of the plane at the rocky mountains of Oregon this afternoon, two things strike me. First, the vast, diverse, and proud terrain of this planet we call home. Second, the adaptability and indomitability of our species.

From above, I can make out the telltale signs of human presence: roads snaking across the foot of this mountain, a perfectly rounded field here, a quarry there. It is incredible that what started as a band of hunter-gatherers moving a few kilometers northward in search of food, to escape conflict, or for whatever reason propelled early men out of Africa, has resulted in our spread over the entire place.

A third thing - or set of things - comes to mind now. How beautiful our planet is; how small one man is in the grand scheme of things; how little one lifespan is compared to the eternity of time.

How to make something of your life? A simple and practical guide

I don’t like motivational writing and I had second thoughts about writing this. The more I thought about it however, the more I felt I should. If it gets just one person to act differently, then it is worth it.

My friend from university, Tobi Ogunsina, will be 30 in a few days. She started a countdown on Instagram and I found myself looking forward to her daily posts. We spoke recently, and our conversation got me thinking about the passing of time and how one makes something of their life. Writing this followed from there.

My friend from university, Tobi (Akinbo) Ogunsina, will be 30 in a few days.

How does one make something of their life? Is there a road map for making the most of your talents and skills? I will present a simple and actionable framework based on my limited experience and learning from books and people. It is so simple that there is nothing here you didn’t already know.

How did the first half pass by so quickly? Where did all that time go?

A few months ago, I stood before a roomful of my classmates to tell my story. I talked about growing up in Nigeria, influences that shaped my choices, and what I hoped to achieve. Preparing the talk was difficult, but I had help from friends who were skilled at telling stories. I was exhausted but thrilled at the end of the session. Telling that story was so far out of my comfort zone that I could barely believe I had done it.

Continue reading... (INSEAD MBA Experience Blog).

Which of these Harpic 'adverts' do you think is more effective?

Image source: https://ogefash.reviews/2018/01/19/avert-review-harpic-toilet-cleaner-just-too-terrific-but/

**1**

Imagine a young woman in her early thirties. It is a Saturday morning and she is home with her family. Her husband is making breakfast and she is roughhousing with her child. Her phone rings, and it is her mother-in-law (MIL) on the other end. MIL is sorry for the short notice, but she has missed them and is visiting today.

She gets off the phone and springs into action. She and her husband dash around the house straightening out the rug and putting toys away. And then she remembers the ghastly stains in the guest toilet. Damn!

She dashes into the toilet with a box of detergent and half-empties it into the toilet bowl. She flushes after minutes of scrubbing but the stains remain, seeming to mock her. Her husband pokes his head into the toilet long enough to hand her a bottle of Harpic. She repeats the same motions as before, with a different result this time. Her toilet is sparkling white!

On Konga’s Queer Dual-CEO Structure

“Effective from May 1st, Yudala will now operate under the name KONGA, with dual CEOs in the persons of Nick Imudia who will be in charge of online among others and Prince Nnamdi Ekeh who will be responsible for offline.” Nairametrics.

According to that Nairametrics article, Konga and Yudala have been merged into a single entity effective May 1 and will operate with dual CEOs. Mr. Imudia will lead “online” and Prince Ekeh will lead “offline”.

I understand why Konga might prefer the dual-CEO structure. Prince Ekeh built Yudala and established offline coverage that remains critical in Nigeria. Surely it must be difficult to envision a scenario in the merged company where he is not in charge or running a significant portion of the business.

On the other hand, the opportunity to generate more value by combining Konga’s online brand and know-how with Yudala’s offline coverage was one of the biggest reasons for this merger. I believe those synergies will be best realized if both entities are fully integrated into one company and with one person responsible for setting and executing strategy. The company needs to have one set of objectives and integrated systems, and I think having two CEOs for “online” and “offline” makes this less likely to work smoothly.

For clarity, I am not saying the dual-CEO structure will fail. Many companies have pulled it off successfully and Mr. Imudia and Prince Ekeh may be able to. I am a big fan of business and e-commerce in Nigeria, and I hope they can make this work.

Cheers, to Konga!

Life Lately: On Dangote, P1 Updates, and A Blast from the Past

I have made peace with a few things. One is that I will not write frequently this year. Another is that many of my posts - when I manage to write - will be about INSEAD. One way to put a positive spin on this is that most people who know me want to read about how I am engaging with this year...

I tried really hard two days ago to write about Dangote Cement, and how interesting it is that their revenue went up 30% in Nigeria despite selling 16% less cement in 2017 (at some of the highest profit margins in the world). But - as is so often the case, I could not rationalize spending all that time writing about Dangote given all the other things I had to do: cases to read, cover letters to write, assignments to turn in, CVs to update for the umpteenth time, career next steps to think about, alumni to reach out to, etc etc. It is an endless list, to be honest...

All hail the king!

Life Lately - What I've Been Up To...

Perpetual state of mind - LOOOOL

I made sixteen posts on this blog last year. That was the lowest number in the nine years since I started the blog. I did a lot of writing last year though, especially essays applying to b-school and to multiple scholarships…

I thought I would write more this year, but I now know that will not happen. For one, the reality of a one-year MBA is proving to be very different from the idea of one. All the blogs I read and the many alumni I spoke to told me this would be an intense year, but I still managed to underestimate the intensity. Between classes, tutorials, pre-read, cases, and group work from Monday to Saturday – your life outside INSEAD starts to disappear.

Of Passion & Determination! This Inspiring Story of Mogbekeloluwa Koye Ladele’s Journey to INSEAD is a Must READ

I shared my story in long and short form on Bella Naija. It is short because it is all in one post; my life’s story could easily fill one or two books. It is long because I condensed many things into just over a thousand words.

I was not sure how much to share in this post. I ultimately decided to share enough to encourage 15*-year old me (heading off to OAU) and other young people.

So, here’s a link. If you like it, feel encouraged, or feel challenged - drop a comment or share. If you want to talk, message or email me. It may take a while, but I’ll get back to you.

Cheers to the weekend.

INSEAD 18D: And So It Begins...

I wrote about my first few days at INSEAD, for the INSEAD MBA blog. First few paragraphs below, and a link to the full post here. It was edited a bit and parts of my original writing were lost in the editing, but for consistency - I will not be posting the original version.

"First, I had an almost-spiritual event on Tuesday. After aspiring to study here since 2012, I walked on the Fontainebleau campus for the first time! I wandered dreamily around the grounds, read posters from 1957 announcing the founding of the school, and met future classmates from four continents. I left campus in awe, reassured that I had chosen correctly.

A long road led here since earning my Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. After reading Jack Welch’s Winning in 2010, I became interested in international businesses and how its many parts worked together to create shareholder value. As I worked at P&G on brands seeking to touch and improve the lives of the world’s consumers, I realized the potential of businesses to transform society in addition to generating shareholder value. I then decided to pursue a Master’s degree in Business Administration, to establish a foundation across the different areas of business and facilitate the achievement of my career objectives."

Again, full post is here.