Naija Economics

Strive Business Special __A big idea, an excellent team. A few months ago, Liquid Telecom, one of our businesses, bought a South African telecoms company called Neotel Communications, for about $450m. Quite a few of you who saw the news about the transaction wrote to me, asking me to share some insights into buying and selling businesses.

Strive Business Special During the last few weeks, I have blogged on the importance of sales and marketing skills. We’ve also begun to discuss the importance of building, nurturing, and sustaining a brand. I’ve tried to show you that behind the sales campaigns, promotions, and advertising you see on TV and in newspapers is a highly complex business tool which you must appreciate and master if you want to develop a profitable business.

Strive Business Special A good entrepreneur must never be too sentimental towards a business. There’s a time to buy, a time to sell, and even a time to close a business. It's all business, and in a successful business career, you must have the capacity to do all three.

Entrepreneur of the day Strive Masiyiwa Strive Masiyiwa is  is a London-based Zimbabwean businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Econet, a diversified global telecommunications group with operations and investments in over 15 countries.

"It is a global concept, but it has to be localized by a team that understands the fabric of the city."- Atawodi  Uber, an American online multinational transport company started operation in Lagos,  Nigeria about two years ago since then the company has been enjoying favourable response despite hostile environment. According to the company executives, the car hailing app has provided 30% more rides in Lagos than in London over the last 16 months. For Ebi Atawodi, General Manager of Uber Nigeria the success boils down to adapting the uber model to suit the needs of Lagosians. One of the biggest challenges uber encountered in Nigeria's most populous city was the issue of fuel scarcity which has virtually plagued the whole nation in recent times but even this seemingly difficult problem has been tackled by uber's partnering with with local gas money stations  to enable some uber drivers to skip the long queues. RELATED : Africa's Youngest Billionaire Takes

Research   It is not always a good time to quit one's job especially if you just started it or have spent a very long time doing it, leaving a job at a wrong time may cost you a lot, but can one know when it's the right time to quit. 

Guest Post   By Sir John Akhile  jakhile@unleashafricantrade.com Some people prefer the term “Lion” to describe economic renaissance of African countries. I will defer to the late Deng Xiaoping’s quote that “ it doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white as long as it catches mice .” Based on the reality on the ground in all the countries of the continent, it is appropriate to state that the “cat is not catching mice”. What is also known is that the Asian Tigers have successfully traversed the road from poverty to prosperity, an accomplishment that has eluded African countries for decades. It is apropos to quote the late founder of modern South Korea; Park Chung Hee’s rational for South Korea choosing export-oriented industrialization to begin this discussion.