Episode 10 - Enabling Environments for Success with Okey Enelamah
Pioneer investor Okey Enelamah joins Ndidi and Henry to talk about the importance of enabling environments for success and the role Faith Driven Entrepreneurs can play in making this happen.
Episode Transcript
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Jacktone: Welcome back to the Faith Driven Entrepreneur Africa podcast. We are committed to spotlighting the voices of entrepreneurs and innovators shaping the marketplace across the continent. This week we are featuring. Okey Enelamah. Okey played a fundamental role in bringing private equity into Africa. Through his work with Africa Capital Alliance, the firm he founded in 1997. Today, ACA has raised over $1,000,000,000 and is known as one of the foremost African focused PE firms. Okey has also served as the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment in Nigeria from 2015 to 2019. He passionately believes that it takes all of Africa's involvement to achieve the continent's full potential. He joins the show to talk about how Faith driven entrepreneurs and investors can come together to create environments that enable success across industries.
Henry Kaestner: Welcome back to Faith Driven Entrepreneur, Africa. I'm here as always with Ndidi, Ndidi. Good morning. Good afternoon.
Ndidi Nwuneli: Good afternoon. Good evening. It's great to be here.
Henry Kaestner: It is great to have you. It's great to be back. And it's great to be talking about Faith driven entrepreneurs ship in Africa. And what's it look like for men and women? United. Out of a gratitude for the gift of life, given them to get out there and bring about God's kingdom on Earth as it is in heaven under His power for His glory. And specifically, of course, in Africa. Ours is an audience, mostly of African entrepreneurs. There are some folks that come over from our Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast that we have in the United States is broadcast to 180 countries in the world that have come over to us, and we welcome them and our hope. Ndidi and my hope is that we might be able to offer up a different narrative than one might have expected about how God is moving in the marketplace, about the size and scope of the businesses, about the impact that they're having in societies. And there's something remarkably exciting about Africa from a demographic standpoint. If you only look at the age of the population and how many entrants are coming into the marketplace, it eclipses China, it eclipses India. And my full expectation and where I'm spending now, an increasing, if not majority amount of my time, is looking at this incredible continent of Africa. Where are the opportunities and what language are they going to be speaking in the marketplace in 20 or 30 years? Is it going to be one that is God centered and God honoring, or is it going to be characterized by the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of riches? Is it going to be just stop it in ethical business or is it going to go through as our friends for practices would offer up through to a redemptive business? And so today, to help us to understand some of that is a great visitor, a great guest that we have. And I'm particularly excited Ndidi, because Okey has not just a perspective from being an entrepreneur and especially as an investor, as many of our listeners will be, but has also served in government and can give us a broader perspective of the entire environment that's going on in Africa and in particular, of course, Nigeria. Okey, welcome very much. Excited to have you. Thank you for joining us.
Okey Enelamah: Thank you for having me. And thank you as well for having me.
Henry Kaestner: So we like to get every one of our podcast started with an autobiographical flyover of our guest right up until your entry into the marketplace and where you are right now. But who are you? Where do you come from? And then, has Faith started becoming a part of your life? When did that enter in?
Okey Enelamah: So depending on how far back you want to go, you could say I started life.
Henry Kaestner: Let's go all the way back.
Okey Enelamah: Yeah. born in [...]. My father was a reverend minister, a clergyman. My mother was a civil servant or a public servant, and they basically lived in Nigeria or we live where Nigerians I grew up in Nigeria, they did have some stint schooling abroad. And, you know, so you grew up with a kind of faith that I would say is a matter of practice just because of the environment you are in. But that faith only took me so far. You know, I got into school, studied medicine in college or university. I graduated and I was a very restless young doctor, you know, in fact, Ndidi's father was one of my teachers. I mean, he's a professor, pharmacology and taught me and frankly, you know, those were great teachers and great times. But something told me I wasn't called to be a doctor. And that's really where Faith kicked in, in a very personal, and a very experiential way for me, because while I was trying to figure out what to do with my life, my sister took me to a full gospel businessmen's breakfast meeting that happened at one of our hotels in Lagos, Eko hotel. This must have been in 1988 or so. And while I was there, a man who's you know become more well known, a prominent, because he leads one of the Pentecostal churches in Nigeria and that's grown all over the world. Was ministering that day or speaking that day, he spoke with such, you know, simple sort of zeal and such clear faith. I actually asked to meet him if you are possible and God help me. I was given an appointment to see him and you know, he preached a simple prayer of faith when he understood that I was restless, you know, and this prayer was like, I just have an encounter in the marketplace, you know, where God would direct my path. And at the time, I was trying to figure out what to do next. And, you know, there are times when God moves in a life in a way that, you know, this can only be God. That's exactly what happened to me. I won't bother you with all the details of how I got introduced to the firm of Arthur Anderson, which is a U.S. used to be a U.S. accountant and consulting firm.
Henry Kaestner: Yes, I'm mourned that lost with you. I joined Arthur Andersen in 1991 as my first job out of college after I'd been selling T-shirts. And I thought, you know what, I'm going to go to work for Arthur Andersen, which has been around forever and will be around forever. My grandkids will say that my grandfather once worked at Arthur Andersen, and now, unfortunately, they may say that, but nobody will know what they're talking about. And that is a great tragedy. But it sounds like Ndidi and I and you and some of our other guests have spent some time at Saint Charles.
Okey Enelamah: Interesting. So I spent time with them. You know, I work for them in Lagos, work for them in London for a short while. And frankly, I thought it was a great organization. So, so glad to hear that you also had the same experience, you know, and they basically at the time were hiring non accountants, you know, to train them to be business consultants and professional accountants on [...]. And I had the opportunity of joining them in 1988, you know, and that's how my career started. I really spent close to four years with them, qualified as an accountant. Then I took off from there, went to Harvard Business School, got my MBA from there and I start my investment career. And during that time, I spent some time with the U.S. investment bank, Goldman Sachs, again in New York and London as part of my summer program. And that's really where I got my exposure to investments and Ndidi knows the rest of my story. Then I decided to pursue a career in investment management, private equity, specifically focused on Africa after business school. And I hooked up with the partner that sent me to South Africa and I met Ndidi, the fact I met Ndidi while I was still doing my MBA because he came but then Ndidi and I lived in Johannesburg at the same time. I think there must have been 95 or so.
Ndidi Nwuneli: Yes. Thank you so much. Okey. You know, you've been an inspiration to me and so many people in my generation. I met you when you were in business school, graduated as a Baker scholar. And for those who don't know, it's the top, top five or 2%, the 1% of Harvard Business School class. That's how brilliant. Okey is. But you chose to come back home and you chose to really start the private equity industry in Nigeria. What propelled you? Did God speak to you at that time and what led you to almost be a pioneer in this space?
Okey Enelamah: So I'll share two stories that sort of speak to, God moving into affairs of men, frankly. One was I took a course and you may remember, Professor Llinda Hill, that she had this course on [...] Influence, which I did in my second year as a second year elective. And in that course, she required us to do a paper where you envisioned your future, where you just dreamt of the kind of life you wanted to live or like they say you had whatever you wanted, you know, which is where was is this a big civil right? What would you wish? So I came up with this dream. I wanted to work in Africa. I wanted to work in the investment space. I wanted to own my own business. I wanted to be very successful at it. And I wanted to give it away a lot of money just from the success of my business career. In a nutshell, that's what it said. But of course the choices I was getting at the time, well, you know, the types will expect investment banking jobs, consulting jobs, maybe to work in industry. But the reason I tell that story is that, like just before I made up my mind, which of those available choices to make then none of them really fitted into my appetite and passion for Africa. I got a call one day from Thomas Barrett, who then said he wanted to start a business attracting US capital to invest in South Africa. Then we had Nelson Mandela, president nelson Mandela had just come out of prison. he was contesting or running for the presidency of South Africa and he wanted to be one of those on the court capital there. And I had the good fortune of linking up with him and raising that money. And that's actually how my entrepreneurial journey started. We raised it's as entrepreneurs, he was senior partners. And I was junior partner. I went and called on US investment houses, our successful and I moved to South Africa as part of that effort to manage the funds. And so my career started that way. So I would say, you know, God moved for me because they showed me the like the power of desire, how he is talk about the power of desire. And, of course, having praying parents and praying family, because everybody was praying with me. My folks teased me that like in those days when I'm doing an interview, everybody's praying because I tell them to pray. So I believe in the power of prayer. And I've seen prayer work in my life time and time again. I believe in the efficacy of prayer. The second story I will share is that also just the favor of God upon one's life, just the Dean of the school at a time who knew Tom Barry, very well, you know, actually intervened in my case in getting us to get to an agreement in a way that was just, you know, frankly, I would say supernatural. It was divine, was divine intervention. And he spoke up for me and I let him call [...] And then now also spoke up for me, who, as I said before, I went to work for Tom Barry. He also spoke up for me. So I just found favour and that favor of course propelled me forward and I can go on and on about just divine intervention in my life.
Ndidi Nwuneli: Thank you. Okey. I'm a big fan of your entire family and I know they believe in the power of prayer. I think you have like five brothers who are pastors, you're a pastor and your mother, even well into her eighties, is such a prayer warrior. So it's such a blessing. I consider myself a beneficiary of those prayers. Now, you actually started Africa Capital Alliance and you've built a successful firm. Many of your investments have been written about and studied because of the ten Xs, 20 Xs returns in some cases, and I know I might be exaggerating, but can you tell us about some of the wins? Because as Henry always says, we need to change narratives and especially about the results you can achieve in private equity investments in Africa.
Okey Enelamah: Yes and you know. Excellent question Ndidi. I have had my fair share of wins. I've also seen cases where you need that divine intervention to recover from a bad decision a bad investment. I'm happy to talk about both. because they both is very sort of helpful, right, for the faith journey which I know this is so important in the chat we're having to do. Well, let me start with the win. You know, one of the things that happened to us early that I started from South Africa, as, you know, being part of the firm there, you know, when the opportunity came to do something similar in Nigeria, because what happened at a time when you would not have expected God works in very mysterious ways? General Abacha as the president or the head of Nigeria, but my mentor, who, as you know, we just lost in the last day or so, you know, had just finished his career. And I found us in where he had been the founding partner or the lead partner. Who had become a mentor for me. He wrote my reference going to Harvard Business School guaranteed the loans. Dick Kramer he's a father figure to me, an American, by the way. And he basically had finished his time in Andersen, but felt he still felt that the unfinished business in Nigeria. And, you know, he and I started to talk about whether it was possible, he came to visit me in South Africa what we said, what I was possible to do in Nigeria, what we had done in South Africa, I thought actually was not as likely. But thank God for Dick's faith and Dick's experience. He said, Why don't you give it a shot? Why don't we visit? So I vetted my partner, Thomas Barry. We visited another business, took off. I returned to be the finance CEO. Now, one of the benefits of starting from South Africa was it also happened at a time when a lot of South African businesses were moving to the rest of the continent. As a colleague going off from South Africa and a number of those businesses, because I knew South Africa having lived there and of course, knew Nigeria and my neck of the woods, we ended up being the partner of choice. I saw those returns. But two of the business, the hardest, most outsized returns came from that security call, which is a security business, it was a business. I was started small, but at over 40 X, you know, basically we partner with them to start. It was a business. It's called Grace Security Services. It got acquired by a UK firm called Security Call, so it became great security call, but they were moving into Africa, and we become their partner to come and establish a professional security services business, asset protection services business in Nigeria. It didn't require a lot of capital. That was the key. But obviously once you build a business they bought it over for a very good price, then I want to talk about is my partner is MTM, MTM also participated in the bidding that took place for the digital mobile licenses, they sell licenses, I think it was 2003 or so. And we actually partnered with Mo Ibrahim first, Mo Ibrahim's company Celtel also bid but it didn't win but it speaks to the power partnership of God's favor again, that one of our founding partners, Pascal Dozie, was one of the partners that MTM invited the MTM, went to the individuals, rather, go with a private equity firm like us. So we went with four or five individuals. Pascal Dozie was one of them once we lost, and their won Pascal said to them, But I know exactly who can help you mobilize the capital for the local partners because MTM you want to raise the money for them, wanted to raise it. So we became the rallying point for the locals. But these were, you know, people that you know Tunde Folawiyo [...] these are you know reputable people in Nigeria. And so that became our most successful investment in Africa Capital Alliance's history, because that was a sizable investment, you know, it returned hundreds of millions of dollars, again, with over 40 X in the first round and later rounds returned, less return, you know, but all profitable. So we seeing God move. And I tell you something and a time we're going to MTM. God actually spoke to me. he talk to me and I'll see his glory. I remember that, you know, and that's encouragement, because somehow, again, we found favor with them and we did see God's glory, I didn't realize would make that kind of outsized return. And of course, even this put capital land on the map by no known quantity. And we've raised all kinds of, we raised $8 billion of capital. And like I said, we've made mistakes as well, you know, which I'm happy to talk about at the right time.
Henry Kaestner: Well, the right time might be coming up on this podcast. One of the things I really want you to help us do, because we have so many investors that listen to this, is you spend enough time in the States, enough time in London, enough time, of course, in Nigeria to have a perspective on how Africa investments are perceived by the Western world. And some number of our audience is going to be in the Western world. What would you say to them about being able to make world class private equity investments because you've heard the objections before from some of your LP which are Western. What are the common misconceptions about investing in Africa that you'd like to help overcome that you have overcome?
Okey Enelamah: So I said three things to them, and two of them would be in honor of my mentors who happen to be Americans and therefore would speak to this audience as well, one is in honor of this, our mentor and legend of a man, this iconic figure Dick Kramer in our honor who just passed at the age of close to 88. He's been a mentor, a father figure to many of us, Dick has a favourite saying about Nigeria he says if you apply the right success formula to Nigeria over the long term, you will succeed. In other words, it just need to have the impact, I need to be doing the right thing. The power of compounding interest will work for you. And this is true of Africa in general. Nigeria being you know a very good example of the rest of Africa in that sense. And what is really talking about is the like is basically investing with the right principles. And I'll mention a couple of them in my last comment, but if you do it long enough, you succeed. That has been his experience, that was his experience working in Africa for over 40 years. He succeeded not just in businesses but in building people and building institutions that last and this is true of Africa. It is true for the rest of the world. The second comment I would make from our second partner Thomas Barry, now he says, I'd like to invest in places where the reality is better on the perception I'm paraphrasing, but this in essence is what he says. And he came to South Africa first because he felt that the reality was better than the perception of course. Immediately, the changes started to happen in 1993, 1994. And he came to Nigeria as well in 1998 with us. [Confrim] the reality is better then the perception and Africa, today's again, that's such a where the reality we think is much better on the perception and therefore there's a premium that you get you know for making that call in terms of what I call a return premium that is there for people to get deep, that willing to partner with people like us who know the market. Which is then my third comment that you have to partner with the right people, the quality of partners, the choices you make matter, you know, I believe in the power of partnership and in Africa to have the right partners. And I have found I like when we partner with the right people, you know, we've gotten excellent returns. And I think you will find that is still true today. And certainly this is true. [...].
Henry Kaestner: Also just given the idea of the size and scope, you've raised a lot of money what size fund is ACA?
Okey Enelamah: The last one we raised just about $600 million and down. We're trying to raise different funds in different categories. I would generally be in that same ballpark.
Henry Kaestner: Yeah, so we're talking about investing in scale with great results. I think about Eugene Peterson, the, the long obedience in the same direction, which is what you learned from Dick and what a godly legacy he has. That's a story that continues to come up about somebody very intentional, about loving on a culture and being there and the legacy that he's left with you and others. It's just amazing, just awesome. Being a man who's as driven as you are by your faith, how do you see spiritual migration manifests itself in the marketplace? You talked about the full gospel aspect. You talk about apostles in the marketplace. What does that look like in America? You think about a large fund. They're out there. You don't typically think about somebody who might show up on a podcast talking as passionately about their faith as you do. What does it look like when an investor is motivated by their faith, interacts with entrepreneurs and interacts with individual portfolio companies? How does that spiritual integration come about? Or is it just like, you know, there's a secular or spiritual divide? We're talking about balance sheets and income statements here, and we're going to kind of leave prayer out of it. Is there an integration there or is there not? Am I imagining it? Talk to us about it.
Okey Enelamah: There's an integration. I wouldn't go for the. You know, you have to be holistic, right? It's the whole individual. And for me, you know, faith becomes powerful. When it is a living faith? Right, when you are living the faith, which means I like it's who you are. This is not something you are putting out. This is who you are. And I must say you don't put it on, but I mean, it's in the sense of like springs from within as well. Know, do our faith says you believe in your heart, and confess with your mouth. So you have actually experienced God firsthand. That's why I told my story at the beginning. I grew up in a [...], which means I grew up in church. But, you know, I experienced God firsthand and saw God walk with me. You know, that's a matter of personal choice. So you didn't find that like that then? Informs everything I do and I will then related to a very, a number of practical ways. So one of the things I find which I talked about it but I like to repeat and emphasize is the power of prayer, the power of just bringing God into everything, different everything. Even on this podcast, I love it when you said, let's pray to start, but I can tell you that like I just love to bring God into everything, you know, a prayer in my heart. I tell people, you know what? A ministry in a church or in the marketplace or anywhere that like I can't think of any time when I've invited God into a situation and I didn't get a response. So it becomes almost irrational not to invite him. Why would I go on when there is a God that is willing to partner with me and be present in my situation and walk through the journey with me and I don't bring him in, now that then lead me to the second thing that's you know, I find that like when you are seeking to please God and to honor God in the marketplace, Bible says God honors those who honors him. First Samuel 2:30 you know, if you honor God, God will honor you. And I find that like even in honoring God, in doing the things that I like to say, you know, I want to be one with God. I love to love what he loves. I want to hate what he hates. You know, you talked about love when you were talking about this. You know, if one can bring the sense of loving obedience to your work, you know, godly values, honestly, I'm not doing it to be religious. I did it because first of all, it pays when you walk with people, Ndidi knows what I'm talking about. Like when you treat people well, don't treat you well, particularly if you are competent. You see, there is no reason to be insecure if you know where you are going. I just had a negotiation before this. And I was trying to invite somebody to work with us on a project I am working on. And you know, we went to the negotiation. I kept checking myself. Am I being [...] to this person. And I felt I was being [...] and I explained to them why I thought this was the way to go. And eventually [...] landed and I'm happy. And that happened. Even when I finished, I still went through the, you know, just replaying in my head. Is this the way to walk with this person? And I think it's a win win, and I honestly believe irelations going to work out very well. But when I learned this I wasn't always like this. So my faith has also grown. What do I mean by that? I come from a background where I like margin of safety. So even in investments, you know I want to get it low price and all that. But I've learned, just like the great investors in our field, the Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger of this world, who tell you they've learned to go from value investing to quality invested, you can have better return, quality relationships, quality win-win partnerships, you get a better return. So that's something I view as [...] Christianity as well. The final thing I would say is integrity and I know that kind of related, but this thing about integrity is where our place in the marketplace comes in. We live in a society where it's almost as if like cutting corners, corruption is pervasive. But God spoke to me in 2010 and spoke to me clearly and said he's looking for apostles in the marketplace, you know apostles of righteousness. The same theme we have. And God actually said to me that if you will find such people who will honor him by doing what is right, he will show that it pays to serve God, you know, and lots of people don't be like, if you did things right, you can make it. Which is why I'm glad they're having this podcast on the kind of work you're doing. It's very important this message gets out because the devil won the war believe that only people who cut corner, make it. Yet the evidence is of overwhelming and death, whereas in the US or Nigeria or Africa, all the rest of the world that is always you always have a group of people, you know, who do it right and get results. They may not be in the majority, but they may be a minority. But that's really the gold standard. That's where you want to be.
Ndidi Nwuneli: Thank you. Okey. I just I love the messages you're sharing today and they resonate with me deeply. And I can say that I have seen God move in your life and this whole concept of growing in your faith. Because when I met you, you were a lot more brash and arrogant because of your success and your brilliance. Right? I'm saying this without love. And as I've watched you grow, even heard you preach and then watched you mentor people I've just seen over the last almost 30 years, God move in your life. And I just want you to speak to those who are listening around this issue of humility and how you have opened your hearts for God to use you and to learn from God, because so many successful people fall into that trap even as we try to walk with God.
Okey Enelamah: It's an excellent question Ndidi, and I agree with you completely, and it's not always obvious. Humility is a journey, right? It is a journey, you know the Bible speaks of the humility of Moses. I was reading a story that said, you know, they took 40 years, shepherding sheep on the backside of the desert for that old Moses that was brush and like you spoke about me and I totally own up as I sit and it comes from experience, it's come from you know humbling experiences as well. And I'll share a few with you. You know, the first thing I would say and I like to tell stories in some of these things, like I was was asked to minister to a group of young people, you know, and this was my younger brother, my younger brother, who is an oil engineer. He's very successful in the oil sector, he and his mates. And he asked me to come and speak to them about, you know, success in career and in the marketplace. And when I was reflecting on my decision on what to say, God spoke to me and said go and speak to them that humility is a defense. And he started to expound on that in my heart. He said to just do that message by heart that, you know humility is what to take you very fine in terms of like there are times when you would meet unexpected setbacks, it's humility that makes you not to grumble against God and to check whether you are wrong or what you need to amend. This was being overly defensive, they are times. We are very successful, like you said, and it's humility that would you know help you to stay and not hide the kind of pride that is really the precursor to a fall. And there are times when things are so so, you know? Humility works all the time. You know, I will share a story with you and what I said, humility is progression, I was asked a question when I came to Harvard business school in 2014 I was asked, come and speak to the African business class on ABC. And I went and listened to the video. You know of what I said to them then recently. And I was asked the question about, you know, exits are so at the challenge of investing in Africa and I get give answers not at a time when I look back now. We had had most of these great successes and the storm was coming. I didn't know it, you know, because we've had to really battle all kinds of storm in the last 6 to 8 years in Africa and in Nigeria, as you know. But, you know, I remember the answers I give to that. You know, when I look back now, to be honest, I didn't think you had enough humility at all. You know, I said, of course we do this, we do that, we do it. I just give a textbook answer, but I can tell you the experience I've had in the last ten years. Now, this question sounded so prophetic, Furthermore might as well have been asking me, How are you going to humble yourself to deal with the difficult decision that is coming? You know, of course I give a textbook answer, but I wish I had more humility, you know, to understand, like we are not as much in control as we think. And that's really the ultimate humility, this understanding that we are not as in control as we think context matters. A lot of the success we've had is the environment, you know, and when it's happening, you think it's you. You think you are brilliant, you think you are very smart until the environment grows difficult. And then you realize, I like you, try to stay afloat, right? So I would say that there's something about humility. You know, I said defense that I like a lot, and for me it really comes down to one acknowledging God as a Christian as well as acknowledging the role of others. I always like to point out that a lot of the successes I've had have come out of, you know, just being fortunate, to be honest, the quality of partner, look at the Dick Kramer , Dick did everything for me. As father would do for his son, why would I not give him credit? And it's almost hard to see how you will succeed with that. You know, look at Tom Barry, who made me a partner coming out of HBS, you know, and so on and so forth. So I've had my fresh show successes by the help of other people as well.
Henry Kaestner: You've been investor for a long time and investors invest in pattern recognition. And so many of our audience are entrepreneurs that are businesses that would love to be able to get investment, to be able to grow what they believe that God has put in front of them and get investment capital from partners like ACA. Tell us about what you see in successful entrepreneurs. What are the patterns you see?
Okey Enelamah: Yeah. So for me, it comes down to, you know, you can use seeds, you can use ISE. I mean, let me go with the seeds, right? So first of all, successful entrepreneurs are people who have character, you know, many integrity. Mentors Again, I talk a lot about Dick because he mentored me about many years, about 30, 40 years, Dick says, like he wants to partner with people who even in their marriage, you know, considers marriage the most basic of partnerships. So integrity, you know, because even when you are working in private equity, there is partnership, you want the kind of partnership with the people. You know, will be aligned, you know, where you are, you win together, you do it together as opposed to people who are trying to take advantage of you or you are trying to take advantage of them. But it is also the part about competence, right? About just understanding the business or having a track record, of being able to execute on a strategy. You know, partnering in a place like Africa, there is a challenging operating environment. I wouldn't mislead you. Right. But it is also true that people who, like you said, recognize patterns. I've had the experience can walk through that and succeed and is actually a premium on competence because those who do it well eventually become more reliable and therefore people to almost like a flight to quality people want to partner with such people. I also think that there is something to say about, you know, just the capacity to stay with it, know, not to get discouraged, just you know the life will throw stuff at you. I like entrepreneurs who have done entrepreneurialism spirit in the true sense of, you know, the way know Harvard business school is place like say that entrepreneurship is the ability to get results regardless of resources you currently control or something like that. None of us are able to go with it and stay with it. And there are a lot of the constraints which are there right to become the dominancy, you know, the opportunity to fuel what I do. But I said, if currently I would say that like I'm very big on partnership, like I said before, so I'm very big on alignment, you know. So I like situations where coming together actually helps to achieve the results because we bring something that the entrepreneur need and it's not just the money but also, you know, the contract based, the network, maybe the wisdom or experience or, you know, whatever we can bring along. So we have seen many success stories, but like I said, we have also seen some things not work out.
Ndidi Nwuneli: Thank you. Okey. I know you're in legacy mode now. First, your decision to enter the government landscape and serve as the Minister of Trade and Investment at a very important time in our history. And I would love for you to talk about that and then your decision to actually start a very, very high impact intervention in the education arena. Would just love for you to share what God placed on your heart for those two decision processes and how you've navigated them.
Okey Enelamah: Excellent. So let me start with the government, government is an example of how God works in the face of man. You know, I love to take credit for it, but I can't. And the reason is that, like, while I have always been interested in nation building and governance, you know, in service. I am proud of myself on being a private sector, you know the way we talk about the private sector would partner with people in government. They are politicians. They do their part. We do our part together where, you know, I go around and expect a call. You know and at the time I got this call, when I just raised this fund and I talked about. It was $600 million and I was the investors, you know, moved me from being a human to superhuman because they realize we're in transition mode, to be like [...] as well leave it. So that founding generation I was the one I was youngest and the one they felt to act as a glue to that generation. So just out of eliminating their concern, I couldn't really contemplate, live it. They said you [...] means that like if somebody leaves you inform the investors and you give them a suitable replacement [...] means that if you leave, the thing stops. [...] there's a suspension of events and it can only restart if they are satisfied. I mean, you are in this business. So you understand Ndidi, what I'm saying. So I did not think, he was [...] because I didn't want to suspend. And my rationale was like, we employ about 50 people, many people dependent on this. Even if I wanted to stop, I didn't think I had the luxury of service at the time because I didn't think I could stop. But I remember at that evening I had the Holy Spirit speak. Even, he spoke to me, what if I'm the one to call it? And it's like, well, if God is the one calling, then God will make the way. His God, right? So that's how the journey start, and I won't go through all the details, but then the door opened. But the other thing that happened with public services are really minister to me always [...] and I like to talk about is God actually spoke to me on what to focus and I've said this before God said to me focus on an enabling environment. Let me use a biblical analogy. You know, the story I came to my mind was through Rehoboam, who as you know, was a son of Solomon. I still remember where Rehoboam took over from Solomon? You know, basically he was giving that test, you know, the older people said to him, if you treat these people well and make life easier for them, they'll be loyal to you. But in trying to be macho and to take the advice from his peers and the younger fools, you know, the way they said that you as a leader, you have to choose on how you want to be respected or feared or loved or whatever. It's better to respect and love,you know that kind of stuff. So he decided he wanted to be feared, rather loved and told them, I'm going to deal with you. I'm the king, I'll show you [...] and all that. And he paid a high price for it. And it occurred to me that most governments, certainly in Africa, they want the following of the people. They want to attract investment. They want to employment all those things. All routes pass through this enabling environment, making it easier to do business, making it easier to attract investment. The question is, why are we not doing it? And it's not/now clear to me that government is also right, thinking. Should you focus on that. Now for self-serving people who are interested in what they make out of government as individuals, agency problem, you know, of course they benefit from the obstacles, from the roadblocks. And so I preach this message or should I say, I took the message to government and frankly, the president bought into it. And some others, of course, implementing it takes a lot more time. And we started, as you know, that effort has to go in order to preserve the enabling business environment [...]. So I still consider it our legacy, even though it's a seed that has been sowed. My vision for government in Africa, in Nigeria, frankly, for this enabling environment to make it easier for the players to play. So that's one of my key sort of should I say areas of intervention and passion when it comes to government and public service and legacy. But I'll touch briefly on the judicial intervention as well while I was there. I mean, prior to that, Ndidi actually was when I invited you to join an Aspen Institute fellowship which was called Africa Leadership Initiative at the time. The West African cohort of it's back in about 15 or 16 years, 2005, 2006, and we are required to work on projects. And it was actually I who said, why don't we work on a project to build a world class university of Technology at a time just like the India Institute of Technology we have in India. But at the time we didn't do it because we did not think we are ready, while I was serving in government there was a video clip on how much India had achieved through this India Institute of Technology, I mean, it occurred to me that, like, we ought to have done more with our own opportunity. And so I rallied some members of my class, like Dr. Johnson. I spoke to [...] as well. When there was already working with Dangote and we started we actually decided to make a start. So we started something called Major University of Technology and Management. We started with a very small fellowship focused on technology, entrepreneurship and design. We've had two cohorts now and it's off to a great start. We just had our first president's former CEO of Magellan Liquefied natural gas, Bobs Omotowa [...]. And we're off to the races as we say. I'm very excited about it and I think I really make an impact.
Ndidi Nwuneli: Full circle moment. You know, recently a force that came to speak at your institute, and it was actually a force that introduced me to Henry. So full circle moment.
Henry Kaestner: Indeed.
Ndidi Nwuneli: God is connecting people who share like minded visions and passions. Thank you for all that you've done. Okey. And thank you for being a person of integrity in government and bringing God's light into the public sector in Nigeria.
Okey Enelamah: And thank you for all your support. And now I wanted you to come and join us, but you said I'll support from my role and what you are doing in agriculture is amazing Ndidi. And I tell you agriculture is just pivotal. People talk about it, but you're actually doing it. So I'm incredibly proud of you. As you know, you're my hero. Or heroine to be gender sensitive.
Henry Kaestner: Mine, too. Mine too. Okay. We like to finish out every one of our episodes with hearing from our guests about something that they've heard through God's word, believing that God's word is indeed the sword of the Spirit, and that He speaks to us through it. And maybe it's something this morning or this week or something recent. But what's something that you believe that you've heard from God through his word that might be an inspiration, encouragement for us.
Okey Enelamah: So this ties into something, you know, Christian Australia, this is something God speaking to me about and I shared on it actually on about his family and I also missed out somewhere on Saturday. And it's this theme of being one with God, this theme of just being one with God. You know, Jesus' final prayer in John Chapter 17, which is when he was praying for his disciples. At the heart of that prayer was that we'll be one with God now we're one with God, the Father through the Son, because he said, you know, the Father and I are one, And my desire, my prayer is that they will be one, you know, first of all, unity among them, but also that they will be one with us, as I am one with you, the Father. And this is what Jesus is dying prayers, literally his final prayers. And one of the things just when I think about my own life and asked myself, you know what? I live a life of freedom. What does it mean for me? For me, the ultimate would be to be one with God, you know to be fully aligned with him in my choices, in my thoughts, in my words. I know it's a tall order, but I like faith. I like to exercise my faith in prayer. So why don't I ask God to be one with him, you know, to be aligned with him? And that's really what I'm praying for, and now one what I'm asking for, you know, to be one with God, so that I'm not pursuing my agenda. You ask me. that's why I went in and talk about integration. And actually that goes into product, to oneness, to unity, you know, and I know it's a high bar, but it's really one that I find really intriguing and exciting.
Henry Kaestner: Make that into a prayer, if you will. We've never done this on any of our podcasts where we've actually asked a guest to pray for us in our audience as we close out. But I feel led to do that, and I'm hoping that you will do that for us.
Okey Enelamah: I'll be glad to do so. Thank you. But I would just want to say thank you thank for this time we put together. Thank you for your presence. Your presence has been. Yeah, thank you for this initiative you know what is going to do for our faith, you know, for just encouraging faith in the marketplace. And thank you for this theme of our hunger and our desire to be one with you, to be aligned with you, to love what you love and hate what you hate. For Henry, for Ndidi, for myself, for all who listen to this message, what our desire is just like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ prayed for us as His disciples, as his followers will be one with Him and one with God, the Father, the one coming to unity, into harmony, into alignment, into oneness with you. So that your thoughts will become our thoughts and your ways will become our ways and we just live to please You and to honor You, that's our desire. The Bible says in Psalm 37:4 if we delight ourselves in the Lord. You granted the desires of our hearts. Father this is our hearts desire, and we choose to delight ourselves in you and just being one with you, help us Father let it be so for in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.Amen
Henry Kaestner: Amen.
Ndidi Nwuneli: Amen.
Henry Kaestner: What a blessing.
Ndidi Nwuneli: Thank you.
Henry Kaestner: Very, very grateful for you. Okey. Thank you.
