by
Patrick Ogungbola
MD/ CEO, BLUEHEDGE REALTORS
This is wishing you a Happy New Month..
You are also welcome to the beginning of –ember months. It amazes me how people in this part of the world attach great ‘spiritual’ importance to the last four months of the year, that is, September, October, November and December. These are usually the most dreaded months of the year. There’s a kind of assumption that at these period of the year, there are certain kinds of spirit going about and looking for people to ‘devour’. We have been accustomed to this since our early days. But this writer has the firm belief that what we expect is what we experience; we are a product of our thoughts and belief. As a matter of fact, these months should be our best months in the year because the end of a thing should be better than the beginning, and hence, we should expect only the best to happen to us. We pray that the lines shall fall to us in pleasant places, and everything shall work for our good at this period.
Now, straight to the main discussion. Last month, the title of our article was ‘Technological Disruption – The Reality of the Times’ wherein we discussed on the effects of technologies on our lives and the need for us to consciously change with time or else we will be left behind. This month’s article is more or less a continuation of last month’s article, and this is centred on the wealth creation strategy of the modern times. As already proved in the last article, it is obvious that things have really changed, most especially in the way business is done. Isn’t it strange that the real wealth of the modern times no longer depend on the tangibles, but the intangibles? Today, the wealth of the owner of a website or app (intangible) that is globally acceptable and useful can exceed that of a business man who produces commodities (tangibles). For instance, how does one explain the wealth of Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of ‘facebook’ which was invented in 2004 compared to the wealth of Aliko Dangote who had been in business since 1977. As at the time of this article, the former is worth $68.2 billion and he is just 35 years old, while the latter is worth $9.5 billion and he is 62 years old. This is just one of the many examples of the paradigm shift in the way wealth is being created and how business is being done in the modern era. Today’s wealth is not necessarily a function of physical agility, ability or prowess, but more of technological innovation and creativity. Today, being hardworking is not just about running around and sweating it out, but rather, it is the ability to sit down and think until the brain is ‘sweating’. The foregoing is not to downplay the importance of physical efforts and production of commodities, but rather enlightens that the new wave of wealth creation tends more towards production of ‘intangible products’ and this is basically a function of brain work, intellects and intelligence.
New Living Translation of Ecclesiastes 9:11 says, ‘I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time’.
Indeed, something interesting is happening, status quo can no longer hold. How do one explain or come to term with the fact that the world’s largest taxi company owns no vehicles – talking of ‘Uber’. The world’s most popular media owner creates no content – talking of ‘Facebook’. The most valuable and leading e-commerce retail company has no inventory – talking of ‘Alibaba’; and ‘Airbnb’, the world’s largest accommodation provider owns no real estate. That’s not all, ‘Instagram’ is the largest photo company, but it doesn’t create any images nor sells cameras; ‘WhatsApp’ is the largest communication service, but it owns no telecom infrastructure; ‘Twitter’ is the largest breaking news service, but it produces no news, and ‘Netflix’ is the fastest growing television network, but it lays no cables. These companies have clearly proved that you don’t need to ‘own’ anything to be successful. This implies that these companies ‘own nothing (only the system) but controls everything’, indeed men have tapped into the realm of the supernatural – calling into existence that which do not exist (Romans 4:17).
Obviously, things have changed; and our thinking and mentality must change also. One thing that is common to the above mentioned companies is that they are all internet-based platforms whose services are targeted to the whole world, and not only to the founding country, and also, people derive value from them. All these clearly shows that the wealth of this age and the future will be linked to the internet, either directly or indirectly.
In addition to the above, the goldmine of the future will also be linked to the judicious use of the brain and the mind. It is also the ability to create a platform which is not only useful and valuable, but also engages a large percentage of people, if not the whole world. It is also worthy to note that in today’s business world, profit margins are fast shifting away from human energy driven to a combination of design thinking and technology strategy. For instance, in real estate, Airbnb is worth over $38 billion, and it is in the same sector with Architecture firm like Atterbury in South Africa and many other construction firms that build. The irony however is that construction profit margins are often the lowest (3% to 9%) but requires the most physical works (Victor Mamora).
The lesson here is that, the value of a company is largely dependent on people’s perception and the relevance of the product, and not necessarily by the amount of efforts or labour that have gone into its production. Moreso, people buy products for the perceived benefits to be derived, and not for the sake of the products themselves and hence, more energy should be invested where the most value is derived.
Hmmm, the world we live in favours the unconventional and uncommon thinkers who are able to bring their idea to reality. There is indeed no foolish idea, as most of the great tech companies we have today started as an experiment. We must be brave to dare the ‘impossible’, and see possibilities in every seemingly impossible situations’.
We wish you the very best in the month of September 2019.
As usual, we want to remind you that we care so much about you, and that when it comes to your real estate investment and advisory, we are always here to give you the very best service you can never get elsewhere. That is our promise, and will always be.
Meanwhile, please find below the powerpoint presentations of our current properties for sale in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Thank you.
Affordable Properties For Sale in LAGOS, Nigeria
Affordable Properties For Sale in ABUJA, FCT, Nigeria
Affordable Properties For Sale in PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE, Nigeria
