— Oro

Junior is frustrated, and he believes he has every reason to be. He grew up a groomed young man and admired his parents’ willingness to give him the best of everything. Since an encounter during one of the Career Days he attended in secondary school, Junior made up his mind about becoming an engineer. He asked questions, studied hard and gained admission into the school of his choice. But it appears that was where the lovely story of his life ended. In his much-told tale of woes, he has the following for any ready listener: an argument with a lecturer cost him a much-needed grade and he discovered that everything he had been taught wasn’t applicable on the job. Plus: after the second anniversary of his trip to Lagos after his NYSC – in search of a job – he is yet to get one. He’s been told by friends that he would need to “use his father’s connection” but little do they know that his dad stopped being relevant to his friends the moment he stopped being a commissioner. Junior blames the Nigerian system for not providing enough jobs for graduates, and he blames all the G8 embassies for denying “innocent young Nigerians” visas.

Junior’s story is not very uncommon across Nigeria today. Just open your ears and you will hear the not-so-silent whispers: “if not for that lecturer’s stupid mistake…”; “if only my parents were smart enough to travel out before having me…”; “if only our president was more handsome and econo-smart…”; “if only my school was a globally respected institution…” All these excuses (and they would argue that it’s reality, not an excuse) only scratch the surface, the fundamental truth is that the rules have changed. Period. The same system that many complain about is the same one that others ride to make the front covers; it’s the same system that keeps a permanent smile on the faces of others. “So, what exactly is the problem with me? I’m in my final year and I’m told I have a 10% chance of getting a job. I’m also told that my lecturers didn’t teach me the ‘current stuff.’ What do I do?” “Yours is even better, I’m already working but I know it’s just a joke. My take-home pay can’t take me home, and even if my salary increases, I will not escape this feeling that I’m a slave to someone else’s dream.”

The average graduate in Nigeria today has a label: dead on delivery. The potential employers complain that they won’t find competent people to fill available positions, yet there are hundreds of people applying for that single position. It is thus imperative for today’s students and young professionals to come to terms with the fact that the usual cram-pass-forget cycle doesn’t work. In these days of YouTube, Broadband, Google, Virtual Offices, Second Life, eLearning, MySpace, PANS, etc, everyone seems to be talking of opportunities but many young people wonder if they are in another world entirely. We live in a New Economy, and there is more to education (the type that prepares you for the marketplace) than taking notes and laughing at the lecturer’s jokes. How about taking advantage of the tools of the day to connect yourself with the numerous opportunities that you probably only admire from a distance? Before I speak of the opportunities available to today’s young person (student or young professional), let’s look at two important keys.

When you see the job adverts that rhyme with you, they come with a tag: “… applicants must have 2 years’ experience.” Where on earth does a fresh graduate get years of experience? You would be quick to argue that you can even understand if they asked for nine months (which represents the length of your 3^rd and 4^th year industrial attachments as an engineering student) but haba, 2 years! And by the way, the job is more-often-than-not taken before your application gets to the HR department. Why? Because it has been sent around by the in-house person whose cousins have been bombarding him/her with CVs. In spite of the usual reaction, I believe that three opportunities stare every student in the face:

(a)   The fact that you are expected to write a final year thesis provides you with the opportunity to create a deliberate bridge between your education and a possible career ahead of you. Please, do yourself and the departmental shelf a favour by not using the cut and paste escape door. Plan ahead and choose a topic that can create a platform for you to test your future career plan: I chose to work on eRegistration in my final year (2001), and I can tell you stories of what the “e” has brought my way today!

(b)   I have always argued that many graduates lose a year after school, because most people spend their NYSC year ticking their cards every Wednesday or Friday (depending on how elitist your CD Group is). But this doesn’t have to be so. Your NYSC year presents an opportunity for you to consolidate the plans you have been grooming from school, it’s actually another year of experience added to your CV – if you ever need one. That one year is a gift that many waste, please don’t join them because it’s a year when you can be the CEO of a failing company and no one will crucify you (but please make sure it doesn’t stay a failing company).

(c)   It also appears to me that every student suddenly finds out, in their final year (especially when the recruitment drive starts), that they need to plan for a job. At that time, any lecture on Making a Great CV would be packed full. But have you stopped for a second to find a way out of the maddening crowd? The bank test where tear gas was used to control the crowd still sends a shrill down my spine. How about Nigerian students converting their undergraduate years into years of experience, and graduating from school with a business plan?

If there is a 10% chance of getting a job, and much less when you consider job satisfaction, then why don’t we look at a better alternative? Nigerians are known to be great entrepreneurs, but the educated among us prefer to work for other people even when we have ideas that can add value and create jobs for other people.

Entrepreneurship is an option that we must take serious if Nigeria’s economy (and yours) will be any different from what it is today. Ask your neighbour: “in five years, will you be complaining that your boss hasn’t increased your salary, or will you be considering a 50% raise for your own employees?” If you start now, you shed off majority of your business mistakes while in school and graduate as an enviable CEO. That even brings home the point about the difference between a job and a career. While a job pays you a monthly salary (which always seems to have an inverse relationship with your taste and expenses), a career is one that you have the passion and skills to pursue – and brings you economic reward. A career is what you do and people forget to ask you if you even attended an institution with a roof above its head. What each student must do, the moment they begin to take the 101 notes, is to explore a possible connection between the entrepreneurial opportunities around them and career choices too. It is because we don’t look for opportunities that we don’t find them, just as those who don’t have phones that can pick radio signals in this room will argue that there is no such thing available in this room.

So, how can today’s student take advantage of the New Economy’s many tools – especially Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)? The Internet has helped bridge any gap that ever existed between students on any side of the yawning digital divide: there are eLearning, networking, information mining and omnipresence opportunities to those who care. When MIT announced the Open CourseWare (OCW: http://mit.ocw.edu) project a few years ago, many came to terms with the fact that you can possibly learn more, today, outside the classroom than in it. What do you read? It doesn’t have to be 101, 306 or 504, it can be a short article that throws light on a dark knowledge area. You don’t have to wait in line to copy it from her note, you can as well ask the author to send you an eMail copy. (And please don’t tell me you have no eMail address; otherwise you are not a valid citizen of the world we live in today.) How about using one of the most popular websites in the world to answer your questions, especially when your professor’s door is locked (either while he’s writing a research paper or when he joins the strike)? Its called G-O-O-G-L-E, and it gives you access to any information you want. The problem is not, “Will I get information on ABC”, it is, “How much information do I want?”

Don’t stop at downloading, by the way. I am quick to tell people that if you are not found online by the year 2011, there’s a likelihood that your old classmates think you died somewhere, somehow. Get online, start a blog at least. Tell the world your story, create a website and let the world be your constituency. My first encounter with the United Nations (well, after the many years when I faced the mirror in preparation of addressing the UN one day) came about because someone was generally doing an online search for Youth and Information Technology. It didn’t only earn me an all-expenses paid trip, it got me my first speaking opportunity at a United Nations meeting! Not just that, most of the dotted lines I have signed in the last few years are not unconnected to the first impressions created by my website. Actually, it’s almost always where people go when I tell them how much to pay for a consulting job – maybe just to check why I insist on a globally acceptable fee. J Get online, be omnipresent and don’t limit yourself to the area defined by your home address. And don’t forget to network with others who are headed in the same direction with you. I’m on TakingITGlobal, LinkedIn, MySpace, FaceBook and others because they create dynamic networking opportunities and also increase my Points-of-Presence across the globe.

These new technologies are available for the student or young professional who wishes to get off the crowded road by embracing entrepreneurship. There are numerous online resources that will be of help for your proposed business: sample business plans, clarification on business models, business support platforms, idea banks, etc. Log on and search for what you need, e.g. a search for “Nigerian Business” + “Support” would show you results such as training materials specific to Nigerian businesses, and may add a few resources available from on-the-ground institutions such as Lagos Business School and FATE Foundation, among others. ICTs also provide you with the opportunity to communicate with others who have been able to do what you’re attempting – or those who are trying to do the same. Through mailing lists and online forums, you can gain access to unbelievably useful resources. Then, you can choose to take advantage of a simple website or blog (and you can start by using a free, easy-to-build template) to increase your potential market. Someone on another part of the planet will one day see your expertise online, pay you for services rendered, and then refer you to others (the Res Publica and Harvard example).

It is important that we all realize that our eventual success or failure is not solely dependent on environmental factors; we are the architects of our own future. If you take a quick look at your neighbour, you would know some of them (and probably laugh off a few) but the next few years are determined by today’s deliberate attempt at maximizing the opportunities around you. If you fail in the days of adversity, it is not because you attended the wrong school or were born to poor parents; it’s not even because your teacher failed you or because your friends think you won’t make it… it is because your own strength is small. Junior thought his problem was either of the following: his parents, his school, his teachers, his state governor, the area boys or his country. But the truth is that even in the face of the events and circumstances that we hold on to as excuses, others are able to weave a way around them or even ride them to success. We have no excuse, and we must keep reminding ourselves of that. When next an obstacle stands in your path, remind yourself: “I have no excuse!” When you’re scared of taking that necessary step, remind yourself: “I have no excuse!” When next you make a mistake and feel like giving up, remind yourself: “I have no excuse!” Take it to heart, let it drive you, prove the point, live your dream… we have no excuse if we fail. We have no excuse! You have no excuse!! I have no excuse!!!

I am very drawn to large cities. Having lived majority of my growing up years in very quiet Nigerian cities like Akure, Idoani and Ile-Ife (a university town that only got noisy when students raised the tempo a bit), loving the first taste of the chaos that Lagos threw at me during my first visit was quite a surprise. But that connection has manifested itself each time I find myself in a busy city: at home in Lagos or away in London, Cairo, New Delhi or New York. Maybe it’s the unplanned rythm of voices or the beauty of seeing how each person in a crowd can be so focused on their own agenda. Could it be the expectation of running into someone I know, somehow, or the fact that large cities present a central metaphor of life best captured by William Shakespeare in his 17th century comedy, As You Like It:

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances…

That metaphor came to life again last week as Temi and I made our way through London’s Mind the Gap zones, after my amazing meeting with the staff at Ashoka‘s London office. The breath of the crowd was heavy, as thick as the variety that jumped at you from each face that either walked or literally ran past. Dressed in various garbs, I couldn’t help wonder what role each person played on the stage. No doubt, some were only ticking another day off the calendar while some others were in search of anything to give each day a unique meaning. Unfortunately, some are so busy trying to live that they fail to realise that they’ve now become mere statistics – just another one of earth’s 6.77 billion occupants whose presence on the stage is not different from that of those who have already exited.

We need to stop and reconnect with the dreams, activities and values that confirm that we add value to the stage before the inevitable exit. I couldn’t help thinking to myself: “how many of us in this crowd have lost our bearing in life and are actually Lost in London, only taking each moment as it presented itself.” Not just in London, or even in the major cities that clearly allow you see the daily mad rush, but everywhere. It will be a shame if we just wade through life only to find out close to our exit (and that does not necessarily mean death) that all we did was attempt to make all else but ourselves happy. Truth is that those who find the hapiness of playing unique roles on the stage of life are best equipped to make others happy. You can’t give what you don’t have, and I love the way an Igbo proverb puts it: “a naked man can not put his hand in his pocket.”

My Reply to X’s eMail may be useful follow-up reading even though he wasn’t Lost in London, I met X in Lagos.