Learn to sell fish🐟🐟
#71
Big Chief always has solid wisdom to share. Stumbled upon one of his blog posts (that had the content below) last week. I had the link to this particular article in #60-something and you remember I mentioned some part triggered me like crazy? Well, this is that section that had me rattled, because it’s directly/ indirectly related to what I do professionally. I’m wondering why no one is giving me such advice 🤔🤔. Or maybe I’m good at what I do? Let’s check back in 10 years when we’ve exited some of these deals and I’ve bought my second passport and some 🏝🏝. In the mean time, people, sell fish!
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Olorogun — “Sell Fish”
Chief Michael Ibru is the founder of the Ibru Group of companies and without any doubt one of the wealthiest Nigerians ever. Chief Ibru is fondly referred to using his Urhobo title; “Olorogun”. Our paths crossed while I was working with the team raising the mega licensing round of close to $300m for Econet Wireless Nigeria, the company that is now known as Airtel Nigeria.
We had dinner at his Ikoyi residence at the request of his wife Mrs Cecilia Ibru who was then the CEO of Oceanic Bank. After dinner, Olorogun Michael Ibru kept on staring at me then he pulled me aside to talk. This is how it went.
Olorogun: Young man what is your name and what are you doing with these people?
Me: My name is Victor Asemota Sir. I work with Bromley
Olorogun: So what exactly do you do?
Me: I am a consultant; I am supporting the HSBC Capital team working on the EWN project.
Olorogun: Do you think you can ever get as rich as I am doing what you are doing?
Me: (laughing) I will try sir.
Olorogun: (looking at me straight faced) No. Let me tell you for free, you will not.
Me: (A bit ruffled and staring at him with the realization sinking in) Why do you say that Sir?
Olorogun (continues) I made my money the old fashioned way, I sold fish. Everybody eats fish. Go and sell fish. (then he suddenly falls asleep)
That conversation haunted me for a while. It was even more troubling as I used to be a hydro-biologist (fancy name for a trained fish farmer) in my past life. I was wondering if Olorogun was divinely sent to let me know that I was on the wrong course.
I researched the fish business in Nigeria and found out that in spite of Chief Ibru’s efforts, there was still a huge demand for fish and the country at that time was still importing over $50 Million dollars of fish annually. I still was not ready to give up consulting because I really loved what I was doing. I believed that the “old fashioned way” was not necessarily always the best way. I however still did not have a proper plan to get to Chief Ibru’s level of wealth.
I told the story to my cousin Lateef Bello-Osagie and he agreed with Olorogun. He reiterated: “You will never become a rich man by putting your chest out and saying that you know everything”. He was an investor in some of the earliest VAS plays with Nigerian GSM companies and he too was a rich man. He also was speaking from experience. His logic was simple: it was best to invest in people who knew better than you do instead of selling the fact that you knew better than others. The first part is scalable and second part is harder and almost impossible to scale.
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And I took this in a figurative sense, not literal. I believe the message is saying, exploit mass market opportunities. The richest people in Africa are selling to the mass market. Find a product or service that gives you access to the 70% of the population’s share of stomach/ share of wallet, and you will do well. More on this topic later.
Article List— What I’m reading (10 articles a day x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 3360 articles a year).
Christie’s Auctioned a $40 Million Diamond. Was It Stolen?: YES it was.
Google to Buy Fitbit for $2.1 Billion: Let me rephrase this to Google now has all your health data and will be tracking everything you do now. Google is also about to sell health insurance, for those of you who haven’t peeped that yet.
The kids are alright: Family-run businesses in Africa: We know how it goes—‘The first generation makes it, the second generation spends it, and the third generation blows it. But a new crop of business leaders are trying to protect against that.
The trouble with chocolate: See what happens when you eat chocolate 🍫🍫
Chocolate’s Dark Secret: More open secrets about this world of chocolate.
Saudi Arabia formally announces Aramco IPO with a domestic listing set for December: 1.5T. Only 500B$ below what was initially planned.
Buffett's Berkshire tops profit forecasts despite trade drag, record cash: Berkshire ended September with a record $128.2 billion of cash, despite repurchasing $700 million of stock in the quarter.
Aramco's Giant Profit Dwarfs Earnings of 163 Saudi Stocks: The big boys are in town. A shame they didn’t have enough balls to list on the NYSE. Market correction would’ve happened before they could drill another barrel of oil.
McDonald’s Fires C.E.O. Steve Easterbrook After Relationship With Employee: 🙊🙊 Yea, bad move Mr. CEO. Good that it was consensual though, and no sexual harassment charges are being effected.
African countries can’t industrialise? Yes, we can: An argument for African industrialization and we’re here for it.
US: Why Donald Trump won’t be re-elected: Not too sure about this one tbh. Donny is known for pulling some wild surprises. But with Cambridge Analytica out of the way, we never know. Let’s see if Facebook bans online political campaigning as well.
Podcast— What I’m listening to (1 podcast episode a day= 365 podcast episodes a year) — Broadening my experiences through others’ stories.
Hersey vs Mars (I almost typed Hennessy vs Mars 😂😂) in the latest series of Business Wars. I love this podcast, and we’re keeping up with the running theme of chocolate and selling products to the mass market. This podcast really makes me appreciate history a lot more.
Book— 1 Chapter a day x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 336 chapters. Most books have 10-12 chapters, so 1 year = 28 to 33 books. And my book list is nearing 1000 books. Send help 🌚
Venture Deals is the new book I’m on. According to the cover, when I’m done, I’ll know more on venture investing than VCs and lawyers so just wait on it 😎😎
📱📱Quote of the day
“To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society”- Theodore Roosevelt
Remember folks: “Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.”