Thanks for taking the time to explain your position in this conversation in detail, but I couldn't help but notice your repeated references to talent residing in Nigeria.
Why do you think talented individuals who are at a certain level do not want to remain resident in Nigeria? Maybe by answering that question, you could find answers in a shorter time frame than one decade.
Nigeria is a difficult place to live and work in. If people have a choice, they would rather leave. I had the choice and left. I still do a lot of work in Nigeria and serve on boards there, but I cannot live there anymore.
It is about where people want to live and work, and their quality of life, more than the remuneration. People in Europe are paid considerably less than those in America, yet they remain in Europe rather than migrate to America. This is why people misunderstand the reason for the current mass migration of Nigerian talent.
I moved to Ghana instead of Europe and built a team to support Africa from there because it was a place where I could work and live a normal life. We had a diverse team from multiple African countries who would travel briefly to work at client locations, then return home, but the Nigerians typically wanted to avoid Nigeria, as I did, for obvious reasons.
The problem is beyond Moniepoint and beyond the talent pipeline. We trained 120,000 tech professionals at Edo Innovates, but they all left because they didn't want to live in Edo State. Nigeria can keep investing in training talent, but they will keep leaving unless the problem of living conditions is addressed.
Poor healthcare was what eventually forced me out of Nigeria, and after I left, I found productivity. If we want to grow world-class companies from Nigeria with world-class talent, we should ensure they don't have to endure third-world living conditions.
This is the toughest part, and the truth is that many founders building venture-backed companies have their families residing outside Nigeria. I cannot be living in Ghana and complaining that people don't want to live in Nigeria. I decided to create a more flexible company that would let people live where they want. This is going to increasingly become our reality until something drastic changes our trajectory.