7 Ways To Get Rich Fast In Abuja

I'm a Lagos boy through and through.
 
However, since 1991 I've been visiting Abuja, the administrative capital of Nigeria. I wouldn't have been visiting the city so much if my mother weren't a retired civil servant there.
 
Quite frankly, I feel unless you're a civil servant or you're dead, Abuja has little to offer you. The place is full of administrative buildings and very nice places to bury the dead.
 
Anyway, I've dug deep and uncovered the "little more" Abuja offers.
 
If you've got the itch or hots for Abuja, then here's a list of seven "businesses" that could add more zeros to your bank balance:
 
1. MONEY LAUNDERING
 
Seriously? Yup, as serious as a heart attack.
 
President Jonathan once quipped that in Nigeria, "the money is generated in Port Harcourt, shared in Abuja, and spent in Lagos". What he means is that the monthly federal allocation to the three tiers of government, which has made beggars of Nigeria's state governors, is dished in Abuja.
 
If you're good with moving looted funds around the world, then relocate to base camp in Abuja. You will be handsomely rewarded for your expertise, even if you're busted.
 
2. REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT
 
Hotels, housing estates, government buildings. You name it. In Abuja it's like everything is under construction except prisons, many more of which Nigeria arguably needs.
 
The more connected you are as a developer the bigger the contracts you'll get.
 
3. POLITICAL LOBBYING
 
Wherever you find a carcass you'll find a vulture feeding on it. So it is with politicians and lobbyists.
 
The number of politicians from all levels of government assembled in Abuja at any given time is huge. These people are rich pickings for astute lobbyists.
 
If you've got excellent persuasion skills, then you could make a killing getting paid to persuade politicians, especially legislators, to do things favorable to whoever employed you to lobby.
 
4. PIMPING
 
Abuja has a reputation of a city flush with cash, so of course the "world's oldest profession" flourishes here. 
 
It's hard to separate money and sex.
 
Now, if you've got good organizational skills, you could get into events organizing in Abuja. However, from many indications, you could make more money faster by organizing hookers for legislators and top civil servants looking for a bit of home away from home.
 
5. CABING
 
I've heard people say that the way Abuja is built is not what the original design master plan called for. I've not seen the master plan but the set-up of the city is dumb.
 
You've got a central area of four high-affluence districts, where the minority rich live, totally surrounded by low-affluence districts where most of the city's workers live. It's like a gated community totally bounded by ghettos.
 
Anyway, the municipal authorities recently banned danfos from plying the central area. Naturally, this has been a boon for organized taxi cabs within the area as taxi fares have risen.
 
However, if you've got a car or a fleet of cars, you could get into private cabing (kabukabu) within the central area or between the central area and the outer districts. Demand for taxi is high during the peak periods - when the so-called "el-rufai" big buses are scarce or unavailable.
 
6. LAWYERS
 
Obviously, lawyers are needed everywhere. However, the administrative nature of Abuja has created huge opportunities for lawyers interested in government-related work churned by the myriad of ministries, departments, and agencies that dot the city.
 
Furthermore, wherever politicians and civil servants abound in Nigeria, sleaze festers. Therefore, you could make a killing getting these people out of trouble. Or even getting them into trouble. 

Afterall, there is a saying that if you want to create a problem where there's none, just get a lawyer involved.
 
7. DRINKING JOINTS
 
No, I don't mean clubs and bars - there are plenty of these in the central districts. I mean the low-key, indiscreet joints found mostly in the outer districts.
 
Often tucked away in villages with relatively cheaper real estate, these joints look dry during the day but come alive at night. One time I spent a whole day with an uncle who lives in Kuje just hopping from one joint to another - and I don't even drink.
 
These joints are places where most of Abuja's workers relax and mingle. And don't think drinks are the only pleasure (or leisure) you get at these places.
 
If you can buy or lease land in these outer districts, then a drinking joint could get you rich faster than a residential block.
 
So there you have it. Abuja has not grown on me. But if you're ready to call it home, at least now you know how to hustle in the Rock City.

CONFORMITY: WANTED FOR THE MURDER OF BUSINESS CREATIVITY IN NIGERIA

The most powerful religious leader in Nigeria is "conformity".

Dictionary.com defines conformity as "action in accord with prevailing social standards, attitudes, practices, etc."

In Nigeria today, you dare not start or close a public meeting without prayers; you're probably going to hell if you don't attend church on New Year's Eve; and something must be wrong with you if you don't believe "only" God can save Nigeria.

Even your social credibility and acceptability is widely accepted to be directly proportional to the extent of your involvement in church or mosque activities.

It's like on religious matters Nigerians won't think or act different from the next man, in order to not be labeled an outcast.

This group-think seems to also permeate the business arena. What got me thinking about this conformity in business thinking are some comments and reactions to a new business i just started on the "dream big and start small" tip.

ChinChin is one of the most popular pastry snacks in Nigeria. Early last month i got a brainwave to make a healthier and more nourishing type of ChinChin by using whole wheat flour instead of the usual white flour, honey instead of white sugar, and changing other ingredients.

Using three test batches, we sampled the public for opinions on the look, texture, taste, and price of the new product. I must admit that people were generally receptive to the product and a majority of the feedback were positive.

However, the most negative comments bothered me somewhat, because they were not even about any of the things we sampled. Instead, the naysayers essentially questioned why we bothered to make a new kind of ChinChin.

Were they just trying to say that people won't buy the product? I don't think so, because that's not what we asked them. In any case, how will we know that people won't buy it unless we make it?

There's no doubt that Nigerians are entrepreneurial. However, entrepreneurship and creativity are not the same thing. When you come up with a new idea (creativity), you are not entrepreneurial until you turn the idea into a service or product.

What I'm saying is that while Nigerians embrace entrepreneurship they seem to abhor creativity. Invention and innovation are the two creative processes, and we don't invent while we hardly innovate.

I don't know why we are not as creative as we are entrepreneurial, but i suspect two conformist tendencies have something to do with it.

The first tendency is the fear of failure. To most Nigerians failure is like a body odor everyone reminds you of so we are very scared to fail.

The second tendency is a hostility to locally manufactured products. I really don't understand the pervasive mentality that imported goods are always superior to indigenous alternatives. Many goods imported into Nigeria are actually nothing but sub-standard knockoffs and rejects.

So is conformity killing business creativity in Nigeria? Well, if it's not conformity then something is definitely stifling creativity. Since conformity has all but destroyed independent religious thinking in Nigeria, i suspect it's also the culprit in the murder of creativity.

Therefore, I hope Nigerians will embrace and encourage the creatives amongst us more.  We must stop this tendency to conform in thought and action like sheep in a flock.

Conformity only breeds mediocrity.

5 PRACTICAL SIGNS YOU'RE NOT READY TO BE RICH

Let's get straight to it.

1. YOU'RE NOT FRUGAL: For instance, do you still want to go to business school when your family already runs a successful business? For what?

This indicates you don't have the mentality of frugality. And you can't be rich unless you're frugal.

2. YOU DON'T TAKE RISKS: Ever heard of anyone become a multimillionaire doing just a 9-to-5? Me neither.

Now, before you shoot me, not all risk takers become rich. But you'll never become one unless you take risks. Sorry.

The corollary to this sign is when you're afraid to fail.

3. YOU CONFORM: If you always want to fit in or be like everybody else, forget it. You'll never be rich. Ask Richard Branson. Or Mike Adenuga.

4. YOU DON'T READ: I've never come across any wealthy individual who hasn't stressed the importance of reading to creating wealth.

Jim Rohn, famous American author and motivational speaker, famously quipped that "Poor people have big TVs. Rich people have big libraries". Nuff said.

5. YOU'VE NEVER THOUGHT OF TURNING YOUR HOBBY OR PASSION INTO A BUSINESS: What do Oprah Winfrey (speaking), Arianna Huffington (blogging), and Oswald Boateng (tailoring) have in common?

Yup, you guessed it. They all turned their hobbies into multimillion dollar businesses.So what are YOU waiting for?

There you have the five signs.

So have i missed any other signs?

MY EXPERIENCE SO FAR WITH MOBILE MONEY IN NIGERIA

Disclosure: No organization has either endorsed or paid me for anything said in this article.

Unlike Kenya, Nigeria is just coming of age in Mobile Money. Mobile Money was really started in Africa for the rural dweller and the urban "unbanked".

Nonetheless, as an "urban banked" in Nigeria, here are the reasons i got into Mobile Money:

1. MOBILE TRANSACTIONS: I increasingly want to do my banking transactions without using an ATM or setting foot in a banking hall - except to complain or abuse.

2. EMERGENCY USE: Sometimes i cannot find a GSM recharge card vendor when i really need one.

3. CHANGE PALAVA: I'm tired of the "no change" palava with recharge card vendors.


MOBILE TRANSACTIONS

Three months ago i signed up for FirstBank's "@FirstMonie" Mobile Money Service because i already banked with FirstBank. However, you don't have to be a bank's existing customer to have a mobile money account there.

My first goal was to link my existing FirstBank savings account with my new mobile money account. This way i could transfer funds between both accounts using my android.

Since FirstBank is always tweeting that "to link your FirstBank account with your FirstMonie account just visit your nearest FirstBank branch", i thought linking the accounts would be a slam dunk. Oh, how wrong i was.

Contrary to FirstBank's claim, my "nearest" branch didn't have any mandate forms to link accounts. In fact, one of the branches i visited had no idea i could link the accounts.

Eventually, FirstBank linked the accounts a month after i filled the first of three mandate forms at three branches. Since linking my accounts, I've successfully transferred funds between them once using the FirstMonie moblie app.

Since FirstBank was still rolling out FirstMonie when i signed up i put the frustrating start behind me and focused on the other reasons i got into mobile money.

EMERGENCY USE

While you can use the mobile money account to do many things, I use mine primarily to buy GSM recharge cards.

You see, GSM recharge card vendors seem ubiquitous in Nigeria. Yet sometimes you can't find or get to one - like late at night or when you can't go out in the rain.

Unfortunately, FirstMonie has been a huge disappointment during emergencies.

Whenever it rains in Nigeria everything goes down...power supply, ATMs, GSM networks. Therefore, I'm not suprised that FirstMonie's USSD code channel or the mobile app has never worked when it's raining.

How about during "normal times" - no rain, no labor strikes, weekdays, etc.?

Well, since the USSD channel tends to be out of service a lot, I thought the app would be a more reliable alternative access channel during normal times. However, this hasn't been the case. Both channels have often had accessibility issues concurrently.

To lessen my dependability on FirstMonie, i opened another mobile money account with @StanbicIBTC. So far, Stanbic's app has been more reliable than FirstMonie's.

All told though, for me mobile money hasn't been that reliable for emergency use.

CHANGE PALAVA

The most annoying phrase in Nigerian retail is "no change". I feel so incensed whenever i really need a recharge card and the vendor says no change.

Fortunately, there's no such problem with mobile money. Starting at N100 you can purchase any amount of recharge you want and don't have to worry about lack of change.

6 HOT Global Trends You Should Invest In Now: AGE OF ROBOTICS (5)

Japan is the world's fastest aging country. Yet the Japanese just shrug their shoulders at all the noise the world makes about how this greying could ruin their way of life.

Why?

Because they are counting on robots to save them.

Japan has the most robots of any country in the world. While robots have been in and out of fashion for a long time the Japanese have been saying the age of robotics was imminent.

It seems the world is now truly on the cusp of a robotic resurgence unlike anything in the past.

As a self-directed investor staying ahead of the game, you should position to profit from this global trend by researching and investing in companies or businesses leading this resurgence.

Four factors driving the global resurgence of robotics are Aging Population, Robotic Surgery, Advanced Manufacturing, and Automation of Services.

1. AGING POPULATION

Imagine two robotic nurses in a nursing home fighting each other to care for an octogenarian hunk. This scenario may seem far-fetched but it's a real possibility in a world where senior citizens will constitute the majority of the populations of some countries by the end of this century.

While most rapidly-aging European nations see immigration as the key solution to a declining indigenous birthrate and shrinking workforce, anti-immigration Japan is developing "humanoid" robots to care for the elderly, entertain crowds, and even be girlfriends.

Anyone who's seen the movie Terminator will probably shudder at having a robot as a "BFF". However, humanoid robots that do more than entertain will become more common in the next few decades, and this will be a boon for leading global manufacturers like SONY, iRobot (IRBT), and Toyota.

2. ROBOTIC SURGERY

From Orthopedics to Neurosurgery "robodocs" are slowly taking over from doctors.

Perhaps the strongest indication of this in the past decade has been the growth of Intuitive Surgical's (ISRG) da Vinci surgical robot. Amid growing concerns about the safety of its robot, the American company claims more than 2,500 of the multimillion dollar machine have been installed in hospitals around the world.

If concerns about robotic surgery can be adequately addressed it could be the biggest driver of robotics in the next decades considering the growing number of the elderly around the world.

Furthermore, tele-medicine and long-distance surgeries could become common, which will significantly increase the adoption of robots in the medical arena.

3. ADVANCED MANUFACTURING

Robots have always been at home in manufacturing. For instance, the use of robots in the automobile industry is almost as old as the industry itself.

In the past, industrial robots were delegated one or two roles complimentary to those of workers. However, with advanced manufacturing robots are now taking on multiple roles and in many industries entirely replacing workers.

This is the future of manufacturing: robots advancing the automation of processes and tasks with minimal human intervention or even supervision.

The newer frontiers for industrial robots are war-zones/battlefields and disaster relief (including search-and-rescue) operations.

In March 2011, when disaster struck at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, the world expected hi-tech robots to immediately swing into action. However, the world was shocked to learn that Japan, the land of robots, didn't have a single robot capable of nuclear damage assessment and disaster relief. They had to seek assistance from the U.S. and France.

Since "3-11" Japanese companies have intensified research in disaster relief robots.

There's an interesting cultural dimension to the resurgence of robotics: While the Westerners have focused on the use of robots for military and disaster relief purposes, the Far Easterners have concentrated research in hi-tech "buddy" robots.

In war-zones and on battlefields robots now work alongside soldiers. The world's most battle-hardened robot is iRobot's PackBot. The Americans deployed it in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Furthermore, to the horror of the Japanese who are so proud of their technological prowess, PackBot was the first robot deployed to the scene of the Fukushima Nuclear accident.

In the next few decades robots could actually replace soldiers, rather than just spy or do reconnaissance. That's a little scary because if soldier robots do battle, humans will be the collateral damage.

4. AUTOMATION OF SERVICES

When the robot cashier, aka the ATM, first came out all it could do was dispense cash and you had to see a cashier for other transactions. Now, in many industrialized countries, you really don't need to go into a banking hall for any transaction, except, perhaps, to complain about the ATM.

The last stand we humans have been making against robots has been in services. However, with the resurgence of robotics, the writing is on the wall for us.

Even the skilled worker is not safe from the kinds of automation coming down the pike.

Our only saving grace is that as robots take over our old jobs, new jobs will emerge. However, these new jobs will require teamwork with robots. In other words, in the near future, you may not get a job unless you can lunch with a robot.

This is the fifth in a series of posts that examine six hot global trends you should invest in now. In the final blog, i examine the hot trend of Frontiers Exploration.

6 HOT Global Trends You Should Invest In Now: SCARCITY OF FRESHWATER (4)

Water covers about 97% of the earth's surface yet the world continues to face severe water shortages.

Why is this so and how can you as an individual investor profit from this global conundrum? Please read on to find out.

Neither North Korea nor Iran will start World War III.

WATER, the "Blue Gold", probably will.

All around the world tensions are rising or remain elevated over water.

In Africa, Egypt is ready to go to war with Sudan and Ethiopia over the River Nile.

The Jordan River basin remains a flashpoint because it serves Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

The UN says there are tensions and disagreements among countries along the Mekong River in Indochina as well as around the Aral Sea in Eastern Europe.

In the U.S., the Colorado River, which serves California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and Utah, is drying up, while Florida, Georgia, and Alabama routinely butt heads over a shared river basin.

Although we are a water planet, the bulk of this water is "saltwater", which is unfit for human consumption. The little "freshwater" available is what countries are fighting over.

As the world's population explodes and urbanization rages over the next decades, demand for potable water will be unprecedented. Luckily for you as an investor, there are more than a handful of companies around the world pouring billions of dollars into making the abundant saltwater fit for human consumption. Water service providers, especially companies involved in saltwater desalination and waste-water treatment, are poised for phenomenal growth.

The water services industry comprises primarily high-growth, small to medium-cap companies whose stocks tend to be very volatile. If you can't stand the volatility of individual stocks, then pick an index fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF). There are several popular ETFs focused on water service companies.

If you have the stomach for high beta, then consider individual stocks of companies that derive all or the majority of their revenue from water resources. Don't be tempted here by big companies, like GE and ABB, that derive a minority of their revenue from water services because you'd be getting too much of what you may not want.

Now, i don't know at this point if saltwater desalination will be more important than waste-water treatment in the quest to meet the world's hunger for freshwater. Therefore, at first i wasn't sure which companies to invest in. You may have the same dilemma.

After much research i eventually picked one pure-play desalination company and one firm involved primarily in waste-water treatment. My desalination pick was Energy Recovery, Inc. (ERII), an American firm that has been expanding its global footprint. It also has ambitions in the oil and gas industry. Abtech Holdings (ABHD), a micro-cap company that partners with industry giant Waste Management (WM), was my waste-water treatment pick.

Invest in the global scarcity of water now, so that in future mandatory water rationing won't feel so bad if or when it comes to your neck of the woods.

This is the fourth in a series of posts that examine six hot global trends you should invest in now. In the next blog, i examine the hot trend of Robotics.

3 WAYS THE NIGERIA STOCK EXCHANGE COULD BOOST DOMESTIC INVESTOR INTEREST IN STOCKS

South African telecommunications giant MTN Group, which operates in 21 African countries, makes its biggest operating profit in Nigeria. Yet the firm is not listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), so Nigerians contribute immensely to the company's wealth but have no say in how it's run.

Similarly, none of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) in Nigeria have listed their upstream businesses, the most profitable part of their operations.

Why are are local and especially foreign companies so reluctant to list on the NSE?

The fundamental reason is that there are few investors to buy and sell their stocks.

According to Oscar Onyema, CEO of the NSE, there are 5 million investors on the bourse. Now, considering that over the past five years foreign investors have accounted for an average of 60% of daily transactions on the NSE, one can assume that at least 60% of the 5 million investors are foreigners.

This leaves only 2 million domestic investors in a country of over 160 million people - that's less than 2% of the population, compared to the U.S. where 54% of the population were stockmarket investors.

The NSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have commendably embarked on all kinds of reforms to encourage more equity listings on the NSE. What they haven't done is generate huge domestic investor interest in the market.

So who's going to buy and hold all the stocks when they list?

Foreign portfolio investors mostly hit and run, so the NSE can't depend on them for the long-term development of a highly liquid and sophisticated market. Domestic institutional investors, which form the bulk of domestic investors, are too few and too risk-averse to massively deepen the market.

Therefore, the NSE needs individual investors.

Here are three ways it could encourage more of them to enter the fray:

1. ONLINE STOCK BROKERAGE

I don't understand why you can't trade Nigerian stocks unless you go through an offline stockbroker.

Many of these stockbrokers do nothing but take buy and sell orders. At the extreme they hoard valuable insider information used as leverage in opaque dealings with unaware clients.

Stockbrokers who exist only to take transactional instructions offer no value. In fact, they are a dying breed across the world.

Most clients of stockbrokers already do the research behind their buy and sell decisions anyway, so why can't they have the option to directly transact online?

The NSE should compel stockbrokers to offer their clients an alternative online trading platform and should facilitate the provision of such platforms to overcome any technological barriers.

2. FOREIGN-INVESTED EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS (ETFs)

At the moment there's huge interest from the international investment community in Nigeria's growth story. A few weeks ago, a new pure-play Nigeria ETF debuted on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Ironically, foreign investor interest in Nigeria has generated a reciprocal domestic investor interest in foreign equities.

Since foreign companies won't list on the NSE to give Nigerians direct access to their stocks, an alternative strategy that gives indirect access is NSE-listed ETFs that invest in foreign securities.

There's already a precedent somewhat with the December 2011 Absa Capital listing of the NewGold ETF - Vetiva Capital Management reportedly oversees the fund.

These foreign-invested ETFs could attract individual investors because they (investors or their stockbrokers) don't have to spend time and money to pick individual foreign stocks.

3. INDIVIDUAL INVESTMENT PROTECTION

In the U.S. the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), a non-governmental non-profit founded and operated by broker-dealers, exists to protect small investors. The SIPC has been instrumental in encouraging individual investor participation in the U.S. stockmarket. Small investors know they can recover their cash and investments up to certain limits if a stockbroker goes bust.

Since individual investors mostly shun securities insurance offered by traditional insurance companies, the NSE could mandate its members to establish a SIPC-like protection for individual investors.

Obviously, protection limits have to be set to prevent a moral hazard of excessive risk taking by individual investors. Furthermore, individual investors could be required to post cash collaterals proportionate to their account values beyond protection limits.

CONCLUSION

There's just no way the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) will grow if millions of individual investors don't invest in the stockmarket.

Nigeria's capital market regulators are making so much effort to attract equity listings to the NSE. However, the companies they're chasing know there are hardly any investors to buy and sell their stocks. Therefore, regulators should double-up on attracting more individual investors.

In any market, it's demand that drives supply, not vice-versa.