I’ve been thinking a lot about what we choose to finance as a nation and as an industry, and what that says about who we are and what we hope for. Last week, when I read about another Mareva injunction granted to a billion-dollar oil and gas company, I couldn’t help but wonder what might be possible if, as a nation, we changed our perspective on financing from clearly profitable fields like oil and gas assets to other similarly productive assets with much lower barriers to entry and lower risk but with returns distributed on a gaussian scale.I’ve been thinking about that one idea all week because it encapsulates a tension that characterizes our current economy. Aspirations without ambition, wealth without principle, capital without conviction, and financial sheets without backbone. Nigeria’s business needs to learn how to fund societal aspirations if the country is to fulfill its dream of being one of the top 20 economies with trillions of dollars in GDP. Aspirations for the Community I see a lot of ambition these days when I look at what is financed overall. But the majority of it is self-interest. Now, self-ambition is not a negative thing. It promotes excellence, competitiveness, and innovation. However, self-centered ambition detracts from value. Ambition for society generates value.
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