Locally or internationally, your Business should be good business for global domination.
I used to review music and movies for a terrestrial magazine.
It was a fun time – some of my best memories of paid employment come from that time of my life. I had access to everything I needed to do a great job, I had wonderful colleagues who pushed me and I was regarded with respect amongst my peers.
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Besides, I was well-paid considering.
At first, my boss was content to allow me review local music because it was just experiencing resurgence at that point, and that brought the magazine much-needed exposure. After a while however, he decided to introduce something almost everyone else disagreed with: a review of foreign music.
The reason for the dissent was almost unanimous; there was no point. International music was on the decline; Alaba pirates hardly bothered with copying international music anymore. The market for the Jay Zs and the Biggies was steadily dwindling, people seemed to prefer music they could relate to in more ways than one. Also, almost everyone had internet access therefore international music was just a click away.
My boss took the criticism; he listened through every little issue everyone had with the idea and at the end, he looked at me, handed me an opened Jay Z American Gangster original album, and said; “Here Seun, listen and review. I want it back as soon as you’re done – I haven’t heard it yet.”
My colleagues didn’t understand what my boss was trying to do that afternoon but I saw the picture almost immediately. He didn’t want to be seen as someone of double standards; using one method to judge local music and using another set of rules for international music. He wanted to be clear that we were as strict with international music as we were with local; that there was no bias.
I agreed with the plan.
It is of my opinion that a lot of local businesses do what they do mostly because they think the average Nigerian is ignorant of standards or is used to mediocre stuff, so they don’t do more than the average. And sometimes, that is all the reason their business needs to not grow more than a particular point.
Business should be good business; whether locally or internationally. People should constantly give their best no matter what it is they do and should not need to be check-pointed or held to some ‘industry standard’. I laugh at NAFDAC sometimes because it would seem as though their crusade is only concerned with drugs. While I understand drugs do a lot of harm, there is a reason the ‘F’ in NAFDAC stands for food. I have seen a couple of bakeries that, structure-wise look like pigsties. And these businesses provide food for the masses.
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Why?
As far as I’m concerned, local businesses should concern themselves with the global market – and with the interconnectivity of the world right now, you never know where your next client is coming from.
Therefore, it’s only sound business practice that your business is international level.
Do you know what your competitors are doing – locally and internationally? Are you aware of innovations in your business? How tech-savvy are you? Do you know of emerging trends and so on? Are you ready to service your client, no matter who they are or where they are from?
Answer these questions and you may very well be ready to take your business globally. From the onset, you should have a global mindset; you cannot be satisfied with being a local champion. Study the businesses that have gone international and how they went about it. Did they adhere to local standards or international ones?
It is something to think about.
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