Dr. Larry Fejokwu is a man of many parts-former military officer, publisher, public relations expert and entrepreneur. At over 70, rather than being tired or slowed down by age, he has been actively involved in series of programmes designed to promote entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Like the biblical John the Baptist, Fejokwu has let himself loose in the nation’s wilderness, proclaiming the word and stressing the need for Nigerians to embrace the gospel of entrepreneurship. With experience acquired from his sojourn in the United States where he obtained his PhD from the University of Ohio, Fejokwu, since his return to the country, has been making invaluable contributions to various segments of the society. In this interview, he speaks on how small and medium-sized enterprises, SMES, can thrive in the country. Excerpt:
Can we say that your background in publishing and public relations propelled you into setting up an organization for the sole purpose of grooming entrepreneurs? After a lot of publishing, I felt an urge for another bigger challenge. When I went back to the United States, I asked myself in what way can I make my own humble contribution to Nigeria? This urge was given an impetus when I saw how things were working in America. It was my interaction with a broad-based section of American society, especially their leaders that finally led to my involvement with entrepreneurship.
United States is a land of opportunities, and I was determined to transform Nigeria into same. Later, I had a scholarship from Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence in Texas. This is a foundation set up by some American billionaires with a view to teaching people or imparting knowledge to people on how they can be successful entrepreneur. In America, it is easier to become a millionaire as a businessman than as a public servant.
In America, everybody is a prospective creator of wealth. I had opportunity to go back to the university to continue with my teaching job, but I decided out of patriotic zeal to ensure that I used the wealth of experience I had acquired in America, and during my stint with Acton Foundation, to groom entrepreneurs in Nigeria.
What has been your experience since you came back with this idea?
Before l came back to Nigeria, I told my friends in the United States that the best they can do for me is to let us adopt the United States model for entrepreneurship, which is called United States Small Business Administration, SBA. this is what drives entrepreneurship.
But what I discovered on my return is that the environment is very hostile. It has been very difficult to implement these ideas even when you offer the ideas free to the government. When I came back, I had series of meeting with several Federal Government agencies but nothing came out of our discussion. This was between 2008 and 2009. In America, I had undertaken research, and based on the outcome of the research work, I had two categories of Nigerians to assist- the unemployed graduates and the disciplined aspiring entrepreneurs.
I prepared a programme in the United States on how to achieve these objectives, but the system here has been suffocating. My aim and that of my associates from the United States was to come to Nigeria to mobilise, motivate and maximise the talents of our unemployed youths in order to maximise their talents so that they would not only be self-sustaining, but also become entrepreneur on their own. I had an extensive interaction with the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, and some universities with the aim of establishing entrepreneurship departments with courses for students.
Are you still forging ahead?
I’m much more encouraged to forge ahead. I won’t be discouraged. l’m doing this not for my profit, but as a kind of service to humanity. I regard this project as a kind of service because God has been kind to me. I am morally committed to it. Among the seven rules of entrepreneurship, three are critical- perseverance, persistence and prayer. l can never be discouraged in doing what I know is right. I don’t depend on human beings, I depend on God. I don’t believe in godfatherism, it has never worked for me. I have written some books on entrepreneurship, which can assist would-be entrepreneurs.
What we are now trying to do in conjunction with my American associates is to launch an entrepreneurship programme in Nigeria. Through it, we will bring some experts from United States to impart skills to our youths. How do we want to start helping unemployed graduates? It is by helping them to become entrepreneurs.
I will be going for an international symposium in the United States in January next year. It’s the first-ever African symposium for entrepreneurship educators. Nigeria being the biggest country in Africa with the largest population stands to benefit from this symposium. No fewer than 27 countries in the world had attended this symposium before, but none from Africa. Nigeria will be the first country in Africa to host the symposium, which will take place in the United States. Many Nigerian professors and other resource persons have been invited to the programme to speak.
Last month, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, announced the setting up of 220 billion dollars SME loan. The problem now is how to disburse the fund without it falling into wrong hands. I will advise that this money should be judiciously utilised to boost SMES’ growth in the country.
What happens after the US trip?
When participants return from this programme after they have been exposed to how it is being done in the United States, we will now embark on a trip round the country where the participants who will be inducted as Nigerian Honorary Fellows will now lead other Nigerians in what is call the train-the-trainer programme. The aim is to simulate entrepreneurship for unemployed graduates in the 36 states and Abuja.
We are not asking those that will take part to pay any money. We expect the political leaders in whose constituencies the programme will take place to support it. Later, we will follow it up with the establishment of Small Business Development Centres, SBDC. Government is trying and we should not expect them to do everything. Everybody can’t be employed by government. Even in the United States, government doesn’t provide everything. Nigerians should learn how to be self-employed. Our youths need to develop a new spirit. If they want to wait on government for jobs, they may have to wait till eternity. This is why we are running this programme. Our youths should learn how to be entrepreneur.
Corporate bodies should also develop the attitude of contributing to causes that will help the society. In the United States, I’m aware that if you are running a good programme, donor agencies will support you. I will want our political leaders to support what I call national rebirth. National rebirth means creating peace, prosperity and making sure that your neighbour is happy. You don’t necessarily make somebody happy by giving him money; giving people money, which is the usual Nigerian style, will not take us anywhere. It is not helping us. We want to discourage such a practice. Why not help people set up projects that will endure and help them to sustain themselves and members of their families?
It is possible to prepare people to accept challenges by maximizing their talents and giving them the opportunity to realize their potentialities. Without knowledge, you are going nowhere. We must learn how to plan. Discipline is very crucial to the success of any enterprise. If you are disciplined, there is no way you can fail or mess up. We expect good patriots to support us in these projects we are designing for would-be entrepreneurs.
Later, we are going to establish in the United States what l call USA-Africa Hall of Fame. We are establishing this hall to serve various purposes, including that of providing a forum for interaction with American experts and leaders.
The forum will be an opportunity to expand the knowledge of budding entrepreneurs, to know what entrepreneurship is all about.
We believe that it is possible for Nigerian entrepreneurs to also succeed like their American counterparts. They can do the right things through entrepreneurial reorientation. Everybody has got one talent or the other. We will help people not only to discover their talents, but also expose them to ideas that will help expand their frontiers.
To what extent do you think this project is capable of addressing the problem of unemployment, especially among the youth?
I’m very optimistic that with this programme, the problem of unemployment can be addressed. If you become a successful entrepreneur, what else do you want from government again except incentives or policies that will ensure that your business activities thrive?
I committed myself into this project out of patriotic zeal. I’m alarmed by the high rate of unemployment among the youths and graduates. There was a time I made a national appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan to declare a national emergency on state of unemployment among youths. I also urged state governors and local government chairpersons to follow suit in order to detonate the unemployment bomb already primed from exploding.
It is regrettable that after 14 years of uninterrupted democracy and during which Nigerian earned enormous billions of dollars from oil export, the statistics issued from national and international agencies confirm that unemployment amongst youth and graduates in particular has been alarmingly on the increase. The present state of youth unemployment has given rise to increased crimes that now threaten the peace, socio- economic and political stability of the nation.
When I came back to Lagos, I then decided to go into the private sector. I came up with the idea of a compendium: Nigeria, a new horizon, Late, I diverted to sectoral compendium and produced the first transport, aviation and tourism handbook in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Transport, The Minister of Transport then was Major-General Jeremiah Useni.
The publication came out on September 14, 1988. Before then, I also worked for Chief Gabriel lgbinedion as a consultant. I helped him to promote Okada Wonderland. I also did a book on him. Some very interesting enterprising Nigerian entrepreneurs in the South Eảst also caught my attention, The late Chief
Augustine llodibe, chairman, Ekene Dili Chukwu Group of companies was one of them, He invited me to Nnewi, I spent several weeks with him, I later embarked on a tour of his business formations across the country. I even interviewed his old mother at Otolo, Nnewi.
When I proposed that we should write a book on him, he agreed. But we couldn’t publish the book until his death. But I hope one day, that the book will come out. After having successfully published the Tronsport Handbook, we launched Nigerian Transport Award. At the inaugural ceremony, eminent Nigerians that bagged various awards for their contributions to the transport sector included Major-General Jeremiah Useni, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, Dr. Nnamdi Ozobia, the then Managing Director, Nigerdock and Chief llodibe.
in 1987, I got into publication of Political Leadership Compendium. Our focus was to interview political leaders. The paper was later turned into a compendium because our first edition was well received. My inspiration to start the publication came from an American newspaper moulded along the line of profiling political leadership, their achievements and challenges.
