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OPINION

People Shape the Culture

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If you have an interest in Entrepreneurship or business management, you’ll often come across the term “Culture” mentioned as an integral part of any business. When you see companies with colorful work spaces, and happy employees, you’re quick to conclude that they must have an amazing culture, and maybe they do. But, what exactly is this culture?

culture

“Company culture is the personality of a company. It defines the environment in which employees work. Company culture includes a variety of elements, including work environment, company mission, value, ethics, expectations, and goals.”

The common discussion in the business blogosphere is that if a business has a good company culture, then employees will look forward to going to their job each day, and in turn will produce amazing work. This is absolutely true. However, there’s a misconception that a company’s culture is solely the company’s job to create. The lie detector proves this is a lie. The company may provide a game room for the employees to enjoy, but the company cannot force the employees to utilize it in a way that is beneficial to them. The company also may have one day a week where employees share their hobbies with colleagues – but the company cannot enforce that this is executed. My point here is that the ‘Company’ is not some person who sits somewhere and works magic to ensure that everyone is satisfied. My view is that it’s the people, not the company that makes the culture. The company is PEOPLE – of the people, by the people, for the people. I share this same point of view when conversations are had about “The Government”. Again, it’s the people.

Employees learn culture by interacting with their colleagues. Culture is shaped and nurtured by co-workers, managers, and executives, all of whom are People. Once this notion is understood, it becomes easier to create and execute an amazing company culture that works for everyone. If you’re a business owner, here are a few things to consider as you decide to introduce a culture into your business:

Leader2

1. Watch how you act as a leader: We create our culture by the actions that we take. If your company culture involves being on time, then it’s important that you are on time to client meetings, internal sessions, and any events that require your attendance. If your culture is centered around customer service, then your internal meeting agendas should reflect this, and you must frequently drive consumer centric conversations. Culture is learned, and this means you play a crucial role in ensuring that your people understand this. Your people play a more crucial role in ensuring that this organizational culture is implemented. Make sure you’re setting the behavioral example that you want everyone else to imbibe. In the end, if employees feel that they will get in trouble for finding flaws in their bosses ideas, they will shy away from sharing feedback.

company culture

2. Company culture is not always colored walls and free lunch: One mistake that a lot of businesses make is to focus on extravagant perks. While the colored walls, game room, free lunch, and weekly karaoke is great, this is not the true essence of company culture. In fact all that daily pizza being ordered in the office may be hiding the deep seated culture issues that the company needs to deal with. It doesn’t matter how many boxes of pizza your employees eat a week, if they’re not getting work done. The true value lies in your employees trusting your organization, taking pride in what they do, and enjoying working with their co-workers. Once these core tenets are in place, the colorful stuffs become vehicles/tools to drive home the culture. The relationships will always trump the perks.

cultural fit

3. Hire for Cultural Fit: Cultural fit is the likelihood that a job candidate will be able to conform and adapt to the core values and collective behaviors that make up an organization. Your company values should be reflected in your company hiring. Don’t just hire anyone. In the past, I have hired people for various reasons including job skill, and willingness to learn. How did that work for me ? It worked well for some time, and then as our company evolved, we realized that some of our employees were not a cultural fit for where we are now, and where we are headed. At the point where you realize this important part of your business, it becomes a tough decision to let people go. Hence, I suggest making it a key part of your hiring. You need to hire people who genuinely care about the people they work with and for and not hire those who show up to work every day just to collect a paycheck, because #EndOfMonthBills. An employee who is super skilled, but is not aligned with the culture and the mission of the company, can kill the entire team.

Here’s an excerpt from Recruit Loop – CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh recently revealed a clever technique the company uses to make sure their new hires aren’t only a good culture fit but also good people. The deciding factor – even if you make an amazing impression in the interview, if you’re rude to your ride from the airport, you aren’t getting the job. “A lot of our candidates are from out of town, and we’ll pick them up from the airport in a Zappos shuttle, give them a tour, and then they’ll spend the rest of the day interviewing,” Hsieh says. “At the end of the day of interviews, the recruiter will circle back to the shuttle driver and ask how he or she was treated. It doesn’t matter how well the day of interviews went, if our shuttle driver wasn’t treated well, then we won’t hire that person.” Such a clever yet simple interview technique and it gives you real-life insight to a candidate before you make any hiring decisions. Your candidates may not always arrive by company shuttle but they will always be greeted by a receptionist or personal assistant.

4. Avoid excessive employee turnover: It’s tough to build a successful company if you’re continuously getting rid of people. The process of hiring, training, integrating people into your business requires a lot of valuable time and also has financial implications. Your focus should be to find a core team of people who key into your vision, understand your mission, and embody your values. Once you find them, it’s important to keep them happy and if possible, provide an opportunity for them to officially be a part of the company as it grows. This requires encouraging their passions, and acknowledging their needs, thereby making them feel truly invested in their jobs. If your team is passionate about the work they’re doing, then it increases their productivity and ultimately creates satisfaction.

intrapreneurship

5. Encourage Intrapreneurship: “Intrapreneurship involves creating or discovering new ideas or opportunities for the purpose of creating value, where this activity involves creating a new and self-financing organisation within or under the auspices of an existing company.” Many successful companies today actively promote entrepreneurship within their organizations, allowing their employees to spend a percentage of their time building innovative ideas that may be unrelated to their usual job. Gmail, Google Maps, Playstation, ITunes, Post It Notes, Skunkworks, Google Glasses, are some examples of products and businesses that were born out of intrapreneurship. A company culture that promotes intrapreneurial thinking starts with a leader that demonstrates it – and the best way to do this is to Trust your employees, Reward initiative taking and proactive thinking, Encourage healthy competition, and providing the freedom and support for your employees to succeed. In a business world that is fast developing and continuously evolving, companies that do not embrace innovation and intrapreneurship will remain stagnant or fall by the wayside.

title on office door

6. Set Titles, but don’t let them be restricting: It’s okay to give your employees set titles for easier operations. However, it is important to ensure that your employees are not restricted to the roles associated with the title. You may find that they have more to offer than the title that they were hired into, and it’s important that you identify their skills and abilities outside of their title tag. During your work meetings, your accountant may have amazing marketing ideas that could propel the company forward, and they should feel comfortable to share these ideas. You may even find that roles may switch depending on the project at hand – i.e considering what each person brings to the specific project.

Hopefully, the application of the ideas that I have shared in this article should help you create an organizational structure that supports a positive, productive, environment, and ultimately moves your business towards your goals.

EVENTS

10 Iconic Stages Davido Has Headlined

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10 Iconic Stages Davido Has Headlined | Fab.ng

Famous singer Davido is one of the musicians who helped make Afrobeats popular around the world. Davido talked about his early career on The Bridge interview. He became famous when he was still a teenager. Davido has headlined so many stages and events.

Davido said he performed for a huge crowd that filled a stadium in Mali and another big venue in France. These big shows early in his career show how he became one of the most important African musicians.

Here are 10 iconic stages Davido has headlined

Davido made history in a few ways! First, he was the very first musician from Nigeria to be featured in a World Cup theme song. The song was called “Hayya Hayya,” and it was the official song for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He sang it with two other artists, AISHA and Trinidad Cardona. But that wasn’t all!

Davido also performed the song live at the closing ceremony of the World Cup. This made him the first Nigerian artist to ever perform at the World Cup final. The ceremony took place at a giant stadium in Qatar called Lusail Stadium, which could hold a whopping 88,000 people!

Davido keeps breaking records. In 2017, he achieved something amazing: he became the very first Nigerian musician to sell out a huge concert all by himself at a place called the Arena.

This venue is massive and can hold 20,000 people! But get this: that wasn’t the only time he sold out the arena. Davido did it again two more times after that first concert, proving how popular he is.

Davido feels a close connection to Atlanta because that’s the city where he was born. Performing there is always special for him and the fans. The venue he plays at is called the State Farm Arena, a giant place that can hold 16,000 people.

During his “Timeless Tour,” Davido had a major concert in France! He was the main performer at the Accor Arena, a huge venue that holds 20,000 people.

The crowd went wild for Davido’s performance; he played his hit songs, and it was an unforgettable night for everyone there.

Afrobeats music is a big hit in Houston, Texas! One of the hottest Afrobeats artists, Davido, performed there as part of his “Timeless Tour.” The concert was a huge success and sold out all 19,000 seats at the Toyota Centre. That’s a lot of fans who came out to see Davido live.

Davido has achieved something that only a few other Nigerian musicians have done. He has performed as the main act at a giant concert venue in Washington, D.C., called the Capital One Arena. This place is massive and can hold a crowd of 20,000 people.

Davido made history in July 2023! He became the first musician ever from Nigeria to sell out a giant concert venue in Canada called the Scotia Bank Arena.

This arena is huge, fitting 16,000 people, and Davido sold every single ticket. That’s an amazing accomplishment!

8. 2017 AFCON Opening Ceremony

In 2017, Davido kicked off the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Gabon in style! He wasn’t alone, though; he shared the stage with other famous musicians like Flavour and Akon. It must have been an amazing concert to open up the big soccer competition.

In 2017, Davido’s hit songs “IF,” “Fall,” and “FIA” were super popular all over Africa. He became a superstar across the continent! This was clear when a huge crowd of 60,000 fans came to see him perform in Mali. That’s a lot of fans!

Davido’s concert in Sierra Leone in 2017 was a massive success! The National Stadium was packed with over 50,000 fans there to see him perform.

Get more music updates here.

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BUSINESS

Women Leading Nigerian Banks Climbs An All Time High

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Women Leading Nigerian Banks Climbs An All Time High | Fab.ng

Adaora Umeoji will be taking on the leadership helm at Zenith Bank, a major Nigerian bank. She’ll officially start as the group’s managing director and CEO on June 1, 2024. This is exciting news, as Umeoji joins a growing group of powerful women leading Nigerian banks. There are already seven other female CEOs running major banks in the country.

Adaora Umeoji takes over from Ebenezer Onyeagwu, who’s been the CEO for the past five years. His term ends on May 31st. This isn’t the only recent change at the top of Nigerian banks with female leaders. Just a few months ago, Yetunde Oni became the new managing director of Union Bank of Nigeria. In February, Bolaji Agbede stepped up as the acting group CEO of Access Holdings after the passing of Herbert Wigwe.

A report by Agusto Consulting just revealed that women are making big strides on company boards. In 2022, the number of female board members reached an all-time high. This isn’t a one-time jump, either. Over the past five years, the number of women on boards has steadily increased. In 2018, only 18% of board seats were held by women. But by 2022, that number had risen to an impressive 25%.

While Nigeria is making progress, there’s still room to grow. Countries like South Africa (at 36%), the United Kingdom (at 41%), and the United States (at 35%) all have a higher percentage of women in board positions. This shows there’s an opportunity for Nigeria to continue its upward trend and reach an even greater gender balance.

Profiles of Women Leading MDs and CEOs of Some Other Major Nigerian Banks.

Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, Fidelity Bank

Onyeali-Ikpe, one of the powerful women leading Nigerian banks, is the current managing director/CEO of Fidelity Bank. She holds degrees from the University of Nigeria and Kings College, London, and has attended executive training programs at several institutions. Onyeali-Ikpe was previously the executive director for Lagos and the South West region of the bank. She is also an honorary senior member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.

Tomi Somefun, Unity Bank

Tomi Somefun is the current MD/CEO of Unity Bank. She graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University with a Bachelor of Education in English Language. She holds an honorary degree of Doctor of Business Administration from Redeemer’s University. Before she was appointed the managing director/CEO of Unity Bank in August 2015, she served as the executive director overseeing the Lagos and South-West Business directorates, the financial institution division, and the treasury department of the bank. She is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.

Miriam Olusanya, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited

Miriam Olusanya is the managing director of a bank in Nigeria. She holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. Before becoming the bank’s MD, she served as the group treasurer and head of the wholesale banking division. She is also a non-executive director of the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System and the Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities. Additionally, she is a member of the Financial Markets Sub-Committee of the Bankers’ Committee.

Ireti Samuel-Ogbu, Citi Bank

Ireti Samuel-Ogbu is the CEO and country officer for Nigeria and Ghana at Citi Bank. She holds a BA Hons degree in Accounting and Finance from Middlesex University, UK, and an MBA from the University of Bradford, UK. Before she was appointed CEO, she served as the managing director of Europe, Middle East, and Africa payments and receivables head, treasury, and trade solutions under Citi’s Institutional Clients Group, based in London, UK. Ireti Samuel-Ogbu also co-founded two impactful mentorship initiatives within Citi. These include the Sapphire Leadership Program for the Middle East and Africa, and the Momentum Program in the UK.

Yemisi Edun, FCMB

Yemisi Edun has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Ife and a master’s degree in international accounting and finance from the University of Liverpool, UK. She is also a member of several professional organizations, including the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers and the Institute of Taxation of Nigeria. Edun began her career with Akintola Williams Deloitte in 1987 and joined FCMB in 2000 as divisional head of internal audit and control. She was appointed managing director of the bank on May 1, 2021.

Bolaji Agbede, Access Holdings

Bolaji Agbede was the most senior founding executive director at the company before being appointed as acting group CEO. She had previously worked at Guaranty Trust Bank and JKG Limited before joining Access Bank in 2003 as an assistant general manager. She has been the head of human resources for the Access Bank Group since 2010. Agbede holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Lagos and a Master of Business Administration Degree from Cranfield University, UK.

Yetunde Oni, managing director/CEO of Union Bank of Nigeria

Banking powerhouse Yetunde Oni brings 25 years of experience to Union Bank. She excels at leading teams, and crafting client solutions, and she boasts a strong academic background (Economics degree, MBA, Oxford executive training).

Yetunde Oni began her career at Prime Merchant Bank’s Treasury & Money Markets Group. She then spent 11 years at Ecobank Nigeria as a Relationship Manager. In 2005, she joined Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria, rising to Managing Director & Country Head of Commercial Banking for West Africa. Before joining Union Bank, Yetunde Oni made history as the first female Managing Director and CEO at Standard Chartered Bank in Sierra Leone.

Bukola Smith, FSDH Merchant Bank

Bukola Smith has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Lagos and an MBA from Manchester Business School. She has extensive experience in banking, including customer service, treasury, investment, project finance, audits, and sales. She has held various positions at Fidelity Bank and First City Monument Bank Limited, including divisional head of Treasury and institutional banking, group head of Treasury and Financial Institutions, divisional head of Investment Banking and Financial Markets, director of project and Structured Finance, and divisional head of Group Internal Audit.

Halima Buba, Suntrust Bank

Halima Buba, who is also one of the women leading Nigerian banks, is a seasoned banker with over 22 years of experience. She holds a B.Sc. in business management and an MBA from the University of Maiduguri. She is an honorary fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers and a fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants. Buba is the MD/CEO of Sun Trust Bank Ltd. and sits on the board of several reputable institutions.

Kafilat Araoye, Lotus Bank

Araoye has a degree in History and an M.Sc. in industrial relations & personnel management. She holds Islamic finance certifications. She started her career in 1988 at National Oil and Chemicals Marketing Company Plc and moved to Guaranty Trust Bank Plc in 1990 as the pioneer head of human resources.

This increase in female board members is a positive sign. It suggests that companies in Nigeria are recognizing the value of diversity in leadership. The future looks bright for women in Nigerian boardrooms! With continued progress, we can expect to see even more women shaping the direction of businesses in the future.

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MOVIES

Surprises, Snubs, And Shades In The 2024 AMCVA Nominations List

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AMCVA: Surprises, Snubs, From 2024 Nominations List | Fab.ng

On Sunday, March 24th, 2024, Africa Magic unveiled the nominees for the highly anticipated 10th annual Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA).

This year’s ceremony marks a significant shift, with the awards for Best Movie, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress being decided by a specialised jury instead of public voting. This change follows criticism of the previous voting method. This move opens the door for films like “Mami Wata” and “Over the Bridge” to have a strong shot at winning Best Movie.

The announcement of the nominees was met with a mix of reactions, including surprise picks, films and performances that were unexpectedly overlooked, and some moments that could be interpreted as subtle digs. Notably, some of the snubs might be due to the films or performances not being submitted for jury consideration.

Regardless, let’s delve into the most notable snubs, surprises, and “shades” that emerged from the 2024 AMVCA nominations.

One of the biggest surprises of the night was “Over the Bridge” leading the pack with a whopping 12 nominations. This film, directed by Tolu Ajayi and starring Ozzy Agu, Deyemi Okanlawon, and Joke Silva, hasn’t even premiered in Nigerian cinemas yet.

While it was screened in the UK last October, its lack of domestic release made its dominance in the nominations all the more unexpected.

Many were surprised to see “Áfàméfùnà” missing from the Best Movie category. The film was one of the biggest releases of last year, pulling in a staggering ₦60 million at the Nigerian box office.

This snub is especially puzzling considering the movie did receive nominations in other important categories, including Best Supporting Actor for Alexx Ekubo, Best Lead Actor for Stan Nze, Best Writing (Movie) for Anyanwu Sandra Adaora, and Best Director for Kayode Kasum.

“Áfàméfùnà” clearly impressed the jury in some aspects, but it wasn’t enough to secure a spot in the most prestigious category.

Another surprising omission from the nominations was Chimezie Imo for his role in “Breath of Life.” The film itself secured ten nominations, including nods for several other leading cast members: Genoveva Umeh, Wale Ojo, and Demola Adedoyin.

Wale Ojo even managed to snag a nomination for Best Lead Actor, which came as a shock to many since Imo arguably played an equally central role in the movie.

Demola Adedoyin rounded out the nominations for “Breath of Life” with a spot in the Best Supporting Actor category. It appears Chimezie Imo’s performance simply didn’t resonate with the jury this time around.

The omission of “Áfàméfùnà” from the Best Movie category was already a surprise, but its complete absence from the Best Indigenous Language Film (West Africa) category left many scratching their heads.

This wasn’t just an unexpected snub; it felt like a deliberate oversight for a film that had been critically acclaimed and arguably surpassed some of the nominees in that specific category.

“Over the Bridge” dominated the AMVCA nominations with a surprising 12 nods, including nearly all the acting categories. The one glaring omission? Best lead actor.

This absence has sparked debate, as many believe the jury wasn’t sold on Ozzy Agu’s performance in the film. Agu’s fans have a history of criticising the Nigerian media for overlooking him, particularly when it comes to “best dressed” lists and “heartthrob” accolades.

It seems this perception of being snubbed extends to the AMVCA as well, and fans believe the industry still hasn’t recognised Agu’s talent.

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