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Recession-Proof Cash: When to Say NO to Lagos Gaming Centers · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Today on the podcast, we are going to be looking at profits
• 0:05
  versus purpose and the question of whether your business should
• 0:10
  stay away from certain kinds of customers, certain kinds of
• 0:15
  industries. Yeah, that's the larger question
• 0:18
  I was supposed to be looking at today.
• 0:20
  Are we supposed to make money any which way possible or is it
• 0:25
  that we should make money, but then there are some kinds of
• 0:27
  customers, some kinds of industries, some kinds of
• 0:31
  situations that we should stay away from.
• 0:36
  Now, the reason why we're looking at this today is because
• 0:39
  yesterday we were faced, I was faced with precisely this sort
• 0:45
  of issue. So I have a client currently and
• 0:48
  they are in the content production space.
• 0:50
  What they do is they make content for other companies
• 0:53
  their their social media. Now, the whole value proposition
• 0:57
  for my clients is that they try and make content for you, but
• 1:01
  they do it at less than the cost of hiring a full time employee
• 1:06
  or a full time social media manager.
• 1:08
  So in other words, if you have a business and you're paying, you
• 1:11
  know, 350K, you know, for a social media manager and for a
• 1:14
  content producer, then my client, what they promise to do
• 1:18
  is look, we're going to provide all this content for you and
• 1:21
  it's going to be less than the cost of these two people's
• 1:24
  salary combined. So why not go ahead and do
• 1:27
  business with us? So that's what my clients,
• 1:30
  that's what they do. So to do that now what we've
• 1:36
  been working on for them is we have been using traditional
• 1:40
  prospecting. Prospecting is, you know, you go
• 1:42
  out into the field and you start talking to people one-on-one or
• 1:46
  you pick up the phone, you start calling people one-on-one, you
• 1:49
  try and set up meetings, you know, things like that.
• 1:51
  So that's canvassing, that's traditional prospecting and the
• 1:58
  target that we had for now for these my clients were that we're
• 2:02
  going to target Co working spaces in Lagos because my
• 2:05
  clients are based in Lagos. And this was the reason why
• 2:08
  we're looking at Co working spaces because Co working spaces
• 2:13
  typically have communities typically have mailing lists,
• 2:18
  you know, e-mail mailing lists, you know, things like that,
• 2:20
  WhatsApp communities. And so the angle that we're
• 2:24
  coming from is if we can do a good job for the Co working
• 2:26
  spaces, hopefully they would allow us access to their own
• 2:31
  database so that we can now e-mail or reach out to other
• 2:36
  people who work in those Co working spaces and see if we can
• 2:39
  get business from them. So in other words, you know,
• 2:41
  we're trying to kill two birds with one stone.
• 2:43
  We're trying to make a happy customer.
• 2:45
  And then from getting the happy customer, if we do a good enough
• 2:48
  job, you know, they let us have access to the database, whether
• 2:52
  they give us permission to start calling people one-on-one or
• 2:55
  whether they will say, compose a broadcast message, we'll now
• 2:58
  broadcast it on your behalf, you know, but we haven't gotten
• 3:00
  there yet. So we're still at the level of
• 3:02
  trying to secure the Co working spaces and trying to make sure
• 3:05
  that they are happy. So that was the plan.
• 3:10
  So far, we've called about 20 companies and we've set a couple
• 3:15
  of meetings and everything seems to be going on OK.
• 3:20
  But after a while, I told the team that look, you know what,
• 3:22
  we're going to run out of the Co working spaces that we're
• 3:27
  calling. We're going to run out of this
• 3:28
  cohort pretty soon. So it's now time for us to
• 3:31
  explore a new segment. So you guys just, you know, run
• 3:35
  along, come up with some ideas, come back, let's discuss and
• 3:37
  let's see who we are going to target next to try and sell
• 3:40
  these services. So they said no problem.
• 3:43
  So they went away like 2 days and then the team lead came back
• 3:47
  and said, hey, I got it. I thought of something.
• 3:50
  I said, what did you think of? He said now one day while they
• 3:54
  were in the field, now when they were shooting, they were just
• 3:56
  tired. So he needed to chew.
• 3:58
  So he went to one of these relaxation centers in Lagos.
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  You know, like how in Abuja we have everywhere you go, there is
• 4:06
  a all, I put it gardens. I think that's what they're
• 4:10
  called here, gardens. You know, there's a garden, you
• 4:12
  know, catfish, stout, suya, you know, all these kind of things.
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  So he went to one of those places and he noticed that there
• 4:21
  was a gaming centre and some gambling centers and things like
• 4:24
  that. He thought about it that it's
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  true. Then from having some
• 4:28
  conversation with these people, it looked as if they are looking
• 4:31
  for those kinds of services. You know, they need content for
• 4:35
  their social media and looks as if they're going to be willing
• 4:37
  to pay. So the team leaders like, you
• 4:40
  know, how far should we try these people?
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  Remember, we're talking relaxation centers.
• 4:45
  You go and drink beer, you take catfish, you eat 3, then you
• 4:50
  play sport bets. Then from there you go and play,
• 4:54
  you know, FIFA 94 or Mortal Kombat or whatever.
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  So what about those places? And I thought, well,
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  interesting. Quite frankly, when we're
• 5:04
  talking about producing content, I wasn't thinking about people
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  like this. But you know, when it comes to
• 5:08
  sales now, some of these things is trial and error because you
• 5:11
  never know. So I said no problem, let's
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  let's explore it. And the guy said sure, no Ala.
• 5:17
  Then the guy called me back. You say there's a problem.
• 5:22
  I said what's the problem? He said he spoke to the old guy
• 5:24
  in the office. Because remember, even though
• 5:28
  I'm talking with the team lead, the person that is sorry, one
• 5:31
  moment, OK, a call was coming in, but it's not that important.
• 5:36
  So I'll get back to you later. Yeah.
• 5:37
  I make these podcast recordings from my phone.
• 5:40
  Oh, by the way, apologies for the noise in the background.
• 5:42
  I'm making today's recording at home.
• 5:44
  Today's a Tuesday. The house is being cleaned,
• 5:46
  wifey is still on leave, so you know there's going to be noise
• 5:50
  up and down and then plus if any notifications coming on my
• 5:52
  phone, most likely you're going to hear the buzz.
• 5:56
  So where was I? So even though I'm lasting with
• 5:59
  the team lead, the person is actually paying my fee.
• 6:01
  My professional fee is the Olga. So let's say, let's say, let's
• 6:05
  say your guy's name, Mr. Kano. So actually Mr. Kano dies paying
• 6:10
  my fee. So team lead, he said there's a
• 6:14
  problem. I said what's the problem?
• 6:15
  So I spoke to Mr. Kanu. I said what did Mr. Kanu say?
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  And this is what Mr. Kanu said Mr. Kanu say, what did you say?
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  Betting company, games, alcohol, fish.
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  No. Mr. Kanu said no.
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  And I said why did Mr. Kanu say no?
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  And this is what Mr. Kano said. Mr. Kano said that these
• 6:40
  businesses are not productive, that Mister Kano lashed them.
• 6:44
  He said how can he be looking at this kind of business?
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  What did they produce? What do they do?
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  Go and be sitting and be drinking alcohol, be eating
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  fish, be talking. Anyhow, I do gossip.
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  Then go and bet. Bet what?
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  Gambling. What is gambling?
• 7:02
  And I'll be playing FIFA. You'll now be turning grown men
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  playing computer game. Are these the kind of people we
• 7:08
  should be doing business with? The same is I can't rake, rake,
• 7:11
  rake, rake, rake or I can't told them that look, leave all these
• 7:15
  kind of businesses. These are non productive
• 7:18
  businesses. Go and look for manufacturers.
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  Go and look for educational establishments.
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  Those are the people we should be creating content for.
• 7:28
  So that's what team lead told me.
• 7:31
  I said well, team lead, well, you know, now the companies are
• 7:34
  your own company. Mr. Kano, the owner of the
• 7:37
  company has said that these people that are doing alcohol
• 7:41
  and fish and betting and video game that we should not do
• 7:46
  business with them. So if a guy has spoken or guy
• 7:49
  has spoken, so therefore we move come up with a new list, excuse
• 7:56
  me, come up with a new list and let's see how we can tackle
• 7:59
  that. So they've gone to go and look
• 8:00
  at it and that's the reason why I'm making today's podcast
• 8:04
  episode to explore the kind of tensions, to explore the ethical
• 8:10
  issues that are involved in business.
• 8:12
  Because if you remember, I think it was yesterday's podcast
• 8:15
  episode where I spoke about Abdul and that's the show trucks
• 8:20
  and how when we were discussing financing for his trucks because
• 8:24
  his equipment is very expensive, you know, 20M50M100M.
• 8:28
  So it's a good idea to explore financing for some products
• 8:32
  because it's not as if everybody has like 100 M just lying around
• 8:35
  in the house to go and drop cash like that.
• 8:38
  But then when we're discussing financing and it involves
• 8:42
  interest, Abdul was quick to point out that you know, now
• 8:46
  where Niger, you know, northerners, me, I'm a
• 8:49
  northerner. Some of our brothers, when they
• 8:51
  hear interest, they want to do it again.
• 8:53
  So there are ethical issues that are involved in business.
• 8:56
  And so we're going to explore some of those today.
• 8:59
  Oh, by the way, if this is your first time listening to the
• 9:01
  podcast that you like solving business problems, how do you
• 9:03
  attract customers? Maybe once in a while you have
• 9:07
  been exploring some of the heavy philosophical issues like this,
• 9:10
  then this podcast is your jam. So stay locked in.
• 9:13
  Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or any player of your
• 9:17
  choice. And if you'd love to connect,
• 9:20
  then call, send me a text message or WhatsApp me on
• 9:22
  08064662140. My name is Tavishima Aide.
• 9:29
  I'm the host of the podcast. So that's what we're talking
• 9:33
  about now. So the line of tension is this
• 9:38
  for Oga Kanu. By the way, Kanu is not his real
• 9:42
  name. So this is the the line of
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  tension for Oga Kanu. Is it purely about making money?
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  Because remember Team lead, while he was there drinking
• 9:54
  small stout and eating catfish, he decided to have some
• 9:57
  conversations with the people just to see whether there's
• 10:00
  room. Like this is the company I work
• 10:03
  for, this is what we do. Would you guys be interested in
• 10:06
  learning some more? Would you guys be interested in
• 10:08
  booking a couple of sessions? Would you guys like to pay?
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  So team lead now in talking to people, it looked as if there's
• 10:14
  room. So it looked as if there's money
• 10:16
  here that we can tap. Because remember sales sometimes
• 10:21
  trial and error. If you do trial and error here
• 10:23
  and these people drop money, then it means, OK, we can look
• 10:28
  at other catfish places, other betting companies, other
• 10:33
  Nintendo, Sega, you know, all these gaming centers and they
• 10:38
  might be willing to pay as well. You know, sometimes that's how
• 10:40
  you you discover new markets. So is it purely about making
• 10:46
  money or should we be staying away from vice industries?
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  Vice, that is VICE, you know, like vice president, but
• 10:54
  different meaning so. But traditionally that's what
• 10:57
  they're called, vice industries. So that is the tension.
• 11:01
  There's money to be made in some kind of industries, but is it a
• 11:05
  good thing to enter them or not? That's the tension.
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  Now for those of you who haven't heard the term before, the vice
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  industry just means any industry, any business, any
• 11:16
  setup, any naira and Cobo, any dollar and cents, any euro.
• 11:22
  You know, money is moving situation that might be morally
• 11:27
  questionable or might be harmful to public health.
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  So I repeat, there are some situations where yes, you can
• 11:36
  make good naira and cobalt, you can make good dollars, good EUR,
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  but then morally this comma or it might be harmful to public
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  health. Some people call them
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  exploitative industries, some people call them sin industries,
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  although when I was a boy, they used to call them vice
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  industries. All these industries that cater
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  to human desires, human weaknesses, vice industries.
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  So that is what they are, morally questionable, powerful
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  to public health, exploiting people.
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  In some religions, they'll classify some of these things as
• 12:15
  sin. So there's good money to be made
• 12:18
  there, but should be doing it. So some examples we already
• 12:21
  know, like alcohol, you know, of course, Mr. Kano is concerned.
• 12:27
  Why are we helping drunkards promote their business, tobacco?
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  Those of you who are Muslims, you already know about that one.
• 12:37
  Funny enough, because I know some Muslim brothers who won't
• 12:42
  smoke tobacco as in those small, rough, rough months, but then
• 12:45
  they'll go down. Then they'll now be smoking
• 12:48
  shisha. And I'm wondering that what's
• 12:50
  the business? I mean like what's, what's the
• 12:52
  connection? I don't think the main thing is
• 12:55
  the tobacco. The main thing is whether how I
• 12:59
  put it, you are engaged in a wholesome activity or not.
• 13:02
  So that's just my own opinion on this thing.
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  No, my Muslim brothers, you know, if you're not supposed to
• 13:10
  be smoking cigar, I really don't see how you can be smoking in
• 13:14
  shisha. It's not about the thing you're
• 13:16
  putting in the joint, it's about the whole process of jointing up
• 13:20
  in the 1st place, you know. So whether a Christian or a
• 13:22
  Muslim, if you know, suppose the, you know, if you're not
• 13:27
  supposed to lace a joint, then don't, don't, don't lace any
• 13:30
  joint. So don't say the prohibition is
• 13:34
  against tobacco, but this one is just small rose water and small
• 13:38
  Mary J. Therefore let me light it up.
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  No, no, no. If your religion says no
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  lighting, don't light anything. Don't light cigar, don't light
• 13:47
  Mary J, don't light rosewood, don't light anything.
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  So I have some of those industries, Alcohol, tobacco,
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  gambling, adult entertainment, if you catch my drift.
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  Then psychedelics, you know, Igbo, marijuana, What else?
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  Weapons. Some people include weapons, you
• 14:09
  know, like people who are gun runners.
• 14:12
  Well, yeah, they are gun runners in Nigeria.
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  I think it was last year, last year that I met my first gun
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  runner. As in people who trade in
• 14:20
  ammunitions and weapons. You know, I thought was only in
• 14:24
  films that you see this sorts of thing.
• 14:25
  So, yeah, I meant 1. Funny enough, he's female.
• 14:28
  That's the thing that will shock me the most.
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  I just assumed that, you know, when I finally meet a gun
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  runner, somebody who sells weapons, I assumed to be a guy.
• 14:36
  Where is a female? I say women do this business.
• 14:39
  You say, hey, no, there's money to be made.
• 14:41
  I say, OK, no. O Diego, where was I?
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  So those are the vice industries.
• 14:51
  Now The thing is actually there's a business case for vice
• 14:55
  industries or cine industries because these industries are
• 14:58
  recession proof. Let me repeat, there's a reason
• 15:02
  why people should enter these businesses.
• 15:04
  Even though the business has question mark, the business has
• 15:08
  comma, the business is questionable.
• 15:10
  It is because these businesses are recession proof.
• 15:13
  Think about it, having lived in the UK, in Scotland and here in
• 15:18
  Nigeria, I have discovered that it doesn't matter how bad the
• 15:22
  economy is, boys will always drink.
• 15:26
  There will ever be a need for shiau.
• 15:30
  It's something I don't understand.
• 15:31
  You know, the economy is hard, people are struggling.
• 15:34
  But somehow back when I was in the Scotland, in the UK, you
• 15:38
  know, because that was when they were doing belt tightening and
• 15:41
  then recession in the UK and then or what not, no matter how
• 15:44
  hard the economy was. Excuse me boys, do they drink
• 15:48
  drink drink anyhow, as in alcohols do they flow?
• 15:51
  And the same thing in Niger. No matter how bad the economy
• 15:55
  is, alcohol will still flow. So alcohol is recession proof.
• 16:04
  Same thing with cigar boys. Whoeverly smoke no matter the
• 16:08
  tax you put on it. Boys go.
• 16:10
  They smoke in the UK. He's beginning to look as if the
• 16:14
  more you tax cigar, the more cigar sales continue to go up.
• 16:20
  Adult entertainment, doesn't matter how bad the economy is,
• 16:24
  boys will continue to watch film, if you understand what I'm
• 16:26
  saying. Whether the film is free or
• 16:29
  whether the one you pay for, the business will always be there.
• 16:33
  Then entertainment, adult entertainment establishments in
• 16:37
  Lagos and Abuja, you know strip joints matter how hard the
• 16:42
  economy is, You see guys, they're still declining, still
• 16:45
  popping bottles, still spraying money.
• 16:50
  So that's the reason why people get involved in these industries
• 16:52
  because they're recession proof. The economy is good, people will
• 16:56
  still spend. The economy is bad, people still
• 16:58
  spend. Like gambling, the economy is
• 17:01
  good, people will gamble. The economy is bad, people will
• 17:04
  gamble. The economy is average, People
• 17:05
  will gamble. They have money, they will
• 17:07
  gamble. They don't have money.
• 17:09
  They will gamble any which way they will gamble.
• 17:12
  So that's the reason why people enter into vice industries
• 17:15
  because it is recession proof and in which way those
• 17:21
  businesses will still be there. They've been there since the
• 17:24
  beginning, they're here now and they will continue till the end
• 17:27
  of the age. So how do we deal with this
• 17:31
  problem from a business perspective?
• 17:35
  This is a problem of ethics. It's a problem of morals, so we
• 17:39
  can't resolve it without putting on our thinking cap or putting
• 17:44
  on our philosophical cap. This is not the kind of problem
• 17:48
  that using science you resolve. It's a philosophical problem.
• 17:54
  Now, luckily for me, I'm Catholic.
• 17:57
  And so in the Catholic tradition, particularly in the
• 18:04
  in Thomistic philosophy, that is philosophy that is derived from
• 18:07
  Thomas Aquinas, he was a priest and a theologian in the 1200s.
• 18:12
  You know, he has this framework around material cooperation with
• 18:16
  evil. And it is, how I put it, it was
• 18:23
  designed precisely to answer these sorts of questions that
• 18:26
  yes, we do also, we're trying to do business, we're trying to
• 18:30
  make money. But sometimes when we're making
• 18:33
  money is as if the whole zoo that we're trying to do will now
• 18:37
  have one kind immoral effect. When should we continue in the
• 18:42
  whole zoo and when should we stop?
• 18:45
  So those are the big questions. Now, material cooperation with
• 18:48
  evil, where should we continue? When should we stop?
• 18:51
  Now, Thomas Aquinas, in his framework, he came up with
• 18:56
  different tools. Well, let me just talk about two
• 18:58
  and one now is this thing of formal cooperation with evil and
• 19:01
  then material cooperation with evil.
• 19:04
  By the way, people who study these things in that tradition,
• 19:07
  they said that look, we all cooperate with evil in one way
• 19:11
  or another, whether we like it or not.
• 19:15
  For the first time, somebody told me, I said, what do you
• 19:16
  mean? I do not cooperate with evil at
• 19:19
  all, at all, at all, at all. And then the guy said, OK, think
• 19:22
  about it. Let's say you patronize one
• 19:25
  business in your neighborhood. You have a neighborhood shop,
• 19:31
  you patronize the business, you go and buy your a soft drink.
• 19:37
  What else? Eggs, bread, you know, things
• 19:41
  like that. When you buy, money goes into
• 19:47
  the man's pocket or the woman's pocket.
• 19:49
  Who owns it? But let's say the woman now or
• 19:52
  the man uses that money to now start funding illegal
• 19:56
  enterprise. The illegal enterprise is only
• 19:59
  possible because you. I've gone to go and spend money
• 20:02
  there and the person is using the money to go and do batting.
• 20:06
  So in a way, you're cooperating with evil.
• 20:08
  So when they explained it that way, I was like, oh, OK, I see.
• 20:12
  So The thing is, whether we like it or not, all of us cooperate
• 20:15
  with evil. But then the question is, do we
• 20:18
  deliberately or do we intend to cooperate with that evil or not?
• 20:23
  And that is where these two segments come in, formal
• 20:26
  cooperation and material cooperation.
• 20:28
  Now, formal cooperation is just when you directly and
• 20:32
  deliberately know about the evil act and you are sponsoring that
• 20:37
  evil act. And that is what Mr. Kanu de
• 20:40
  Olga was trying to avoid. Sorry about the noise in the
• 20:43
  background. You know, with the chickens, You
• 20:45
  know, when we're coming to this estate, they said no pets
• 20:48
  allowed. And my wife was happy because my
• 20:50
  wife doesn't like animals. But then we moved in and we
• 20:53
  realized that, Omar, they have everything here.
• 20:54
  Cow they have chicken they have Peacocks they have Rottweilers,
• 20:59
  they have cats they have what else?
• 21:03
  It's even more that somebody that somebody even has snake in
• 21:05
  this estate. So anyway, you know that's
• 21:08
  Nigeria now. Nobody keeps to the rules.
• 21:11
  You're coming in, they say no pets, everybody sign will not
• 21:13
  bring in pets when now people are bringing in the whole zoo
• 21:16
  basically. So where was I?
• 21:21
  So formal cooperation, that is when you intend the evil act.
• 21:27
  So in this case, now Mr. Khan was saying that if we are in the
• 21:31
  business of creating content, we're helping companies
• 21:33
  advertise themselves. This company, what they do is
• 21:36
  they sell alcohol. This company, what they do is
• 21:39
  they do spot betting. This other company, what they do
• 21:43
  is you can come here and play Mortal Kombat.
• 21:46
  So if we create content for these people and if we take
• 21:49
  their money, we are deliberately helping the gambling company to
• 21:55
  create more gamblers. We are helping the alcohol and
• 22:01
  catfish place to create more drunkards.
• 22:04
  We are helping the FIFA, the PlayStation, the Xbox, you know,
• 22:10
  the gaming center to create more lazy young men.
• 22:13
  So that's how Mr. Kanu is looking at it, that if you do
• 22:17
  it, you are formally cooperating with evil.
• 22:23
  You are helping peddlers of alcohol to create drunkards.
• 22:27
  So that's what Mr. Kanu is trying to run away from anyway.
• 22:32
  In the Catholic for Mystic tradition, formal cooperation is
• 22:35
  always wrong. If this thing is wrong and
• 22:38
  you're helping these people do more of it, you're helping them
• 22:40
  do bathing. So don't do it.
• 22:43
  So that's where Mr. Kanu is coming from, even though Mr.
• 22:46
  Kanu didn't say it like this. But you know, instinctively, if
• 22:51
  your father hears that you're doing some kind of business and
• 22:53
  then your father shouts at you that, you know, you know, my
• 22:55
  son, how can be involved in this kind of business, blah, blah,
• 22:57
  blah. You know, these are the kind of
• 22:59
  things that Popsy is talking about, even though he's not
• 23:02
  saying it in a very elegant way. Your father is saying that no
• 23:07
  son of mine should formally cooperate in evil, that yes, we
• 23:12
  must hammer, but my son is not that bad, is not by doing this
• 23:15
  kind of business. Remove your hand.
• 23:17
  I raised you well. Then there's also material
• 23:21
  cooperation. Material cooperation is when you
• 23:22
  assist, but you did not share in the intention.
• 23:30
  So let's say, let's say this, let's say you are a Courier
• 23:35
  company, a dispatch company at hand and then you own, you're
• 23:42
  the driver, you only just to show up and drive.
• 23:45
  So you show one day and you see that your truck is loaded with
• 23:48
  alcohol. You drive and let's say you're a
• 23:50
  Muslim, Muslims, because Muslims you're supposed to touch
• 23:53
  alcohol. You only just drive the truck to
• 23:55
  the location. So for you it's just a job.
• 23:58
  I normally drive things. I came today what was in the
• 24:01
  truck was alcohol. And my old guy said drive this
• 24:04
  alcohol to this depot or drive this alcohol to this catfish
• 24:07
  joint and then drop it there for them.
• 24:10
  So the man says, look me, I'm just doing my job.
• 24:14
  My job is to drive. They are put something I have
• 24:18
  driven it to where it's supposed to be.
• 24:20
  So that is material cooperation. You helped in the act, but your
• 24:26
  intention was you are not trying to spread alcohol.
• 24:29
  Now the first time I got introduced to all this, sorry, I
• 24:32
  know some of you'll be saying we didn't come for philosophy
• 24:34
  today, but don't worry, I'll wrap it up real quick.
• 24:36
  See, my first introduction to all this was when I think it was
• 24:40
  my year 4, maybe Year 5. We had a professor in business
• 24:43
  law in OAU who was talking about investing and he was saying how
• 24:48
  if you're a Christian, you should not invest in Disney.
• 24:51
  There's someone who started arguing back and forth like, ah,
• 24:54
  we should invest in Disney. How?
• 24:56
  And then he pointed out that Disney, you know, as a business
• 24:58
  owns. This is what my professor said.
• 25:01
  Do I have not verified? So I'm saying it.
• 25:04
  This is what my professor said. Me, I've not verified.
• 25:07
  My professor said that Disney as a portfolio company owns other
• 25:11
  smaller companies and as part of the portfolio they have adult
• 25:16
  content, adult entertainment content in their portfolio.
• 25:19
  So he was saying that if you're a Christian, you cannot deep
• 25:21
  hand and buy from this basket of companies because when you
• 25:25
  support Disney, you're supporting all these other
• 25:27
  businesses. So that was the first time I got
• 25:30
  my first time. I was introduced to all these
• 25:32
  sorts of ideas. But anyway, I'm just saying that
• 25:36
  when it comes to the world of business, you can see that we're
• 25:38
  juggling a lot of issues, whether it's Abdul that we're
• 25:42
  talking to two days ago and he said finance, it's a good idea
• 25:46
  about interest. Our Muslim brothers now they
• 25:49
  won't take, they won't take that one.
• 25:51
  And then whether it's Mr. Kanu who says, yes, we need money,
• 25:55
  but will not collect money from betting company, will not
• 25:58
  collect money from alcohol and catfish.
• 26:01
  I will not collect money from gaming centers because they
• 26:04
  promote laziness. So yes, there are lots of issues
• 26:07
  that are involved and I've given you some tools, at least in a
• 26:10
  Catholic tradition about how we deal this thing, deal with these
• 26:14
  sorts of things and how we look at whether you are materially or
• 26:18
  formally cooperating with evil or not.
• 26:22
  So how was it resolved? Like I said, my own take to
• 26:26
  them, you know, I'm just a consultant from outside.
• 26:28
  My own take was, look, Olga has spoken.
• 26:31
  If Olga Khan will say we will not collect money from betting
• 26:33
  company and then we can't collect money from betting
• 26:36
  company, on to the next one. I think it's not a bad idea.
• 26:41
  When you're in charge of your own company, then you can
• 26:45
  evaluate the ethical issues, you know on your own.
• 26:48
  But once your guy has spoken or guy has spoken, so that is my
• 26:53
  own advice to you. For those of you who are
• 26:54
  employees, once a guy has spoken, he has spoken.
• 26:57
  So whether you think alcohol not too bad, betting not too bad,
• 27:01
  gaming not too bad, once your guy has said no, he has said no,
• 27:05
  Just let it go. I had to make my own decisions
• 27:10
  early. I think last year, there was a
• 27:13
  bottom power entrepreneur, if I can put it like that in quotes,
• 27:16
  if you understand what I'm saying, a female bottom power
• 27:19
  entrepreneur, send me a message on LinkedIn.
• 27:22
  You know, I was polite. And yeah, we sidestepped the
• 27:27
  conversation because even Shima, she knew.
• 27:29
  So she asked me straight up, look, this is what I do.
• 27:32
  Do you consult for businesses like this?
• 27:36
  So she was very professional and upfront about it.
• 27:38
  So we sidestepped the issue. Then my very first inquiry
• 27:42
  actually was somebody who was in the in the in the vitamin space.
• 27:48
  Let me put it like this. You know, I'm trying to speak
• 27:50
  coded. So the guys who sell vitamins,
• 27:52
  but vitamins that help male performance, if you understand
• 27:55
  what I'm saying. So that one, I also had to weave
• 28:00
  it. So for me, those are the only
• 28:01
  ethical issues that I have sidestepped so far.
• 28:04
  Now, bottom power business or hospitality business in quotes,
• 28:09
  how some people like to call it, they'll say no, no, no, it's
• 28:11
  hospitality that they take care of you, they make you feel nice
• 28:15
  when you have tension, they help you release tension.
• 28:17
  OK, so those are the only issues that I have, I have sidestepped.
• 28:26
  But at some point, most of us will have to make that
• 28:31
  determination. The only thing I'm here to help
• 28:35
  you with today is just to say if you want to determine these
• 28:38
  issues, you need a wider ethical framework.
• 28:42
  So go and talk to your pastor, go and talk to your imam, or go
• 28:45
  and talk to your philosophy professor or whatever it is that
• 28:48
  you've been in touch with. But sure, you have to talk to
• 28:51
  someone. You can't just say what I think,
• 28:55
  what I think. Because if you're going with
• 28:58
  what I think, what I think, at the end of the day, you're just
• 29:00
  going based on opinions and opinions are not always correct.
• 29:04
  We're trying to do the right thing.
• 29:05
  We're not trying to do what we like.
• 29:10
  So summary, the goal is we should all be billionaires.
• 29:16
  That's the goal. We should all make this sweet
• 29:17
  money. We should gain the world as the
• 29:21
  good book says, but we shouldn't gain the world at the cost of
• 29:24
  our soul. So this is not a proper up sales
• 29:30
  episode today. And I apologize for those of you
• 29:34
  who came here looking for hardcore sales.
• 29:35
  Don't worry, tomorrow we'll go back to hardcore sales and
• 29:37
  marketing. But I just wanted to share these
• 29:39
  ethical dynamas they're going to building a profitable business
• 29:44
  and to get you guys thinking. Because as business owners and
• 29:49
  our salespeople, eventually we'll get to the point where
• 29:52
  somebody asks us to buy something or to sell something
• 29:56
  and we'll get that tingling at the back of our brain.
• 30:00
  Like, should I be shook in hand in this sort of thing?
• 30:07
  The best time to decide on these sorts of things is now.
• 30:13
  So think about it for your business.
• 30:16
  What are the things that are going to be off limits?
• 30:18
  Determine that today. Don't wait until, don't wait
• 30:26
  until the situation arises because you might not be strong
• 30:29
  enough to resist temptation. And I'm telling you guys, this
• 30:33
  one from real life practice because there was one time I
• 30:39
  hadn't decided for myself. Then my first born was still
• 30:43
  young. I had not decided, you know, in
• 30:45
  theory I had decided, but I hadn't really decided for
• 30:47
  myself. There was not until I was
• 30:49
  holding the envelope and I realized that it's not naira
• 30:54
  that is in this envelope, it's dollars is when I was holding
• 30:59
  the envelope. I now started considering that
• 31:01
  hey should I keep it or should I not keep it.
• 31:06
  Luckily for me that day my leg was weak, my hand was weak, but
• 31:11
  luckily my wife was strong. And so my wife said we'll return
• 31:15
  the envelope. And as she took the envelope
• 31:22
  inside me, I just kept telling myself, Tarish, you might keep
• 31:25
  quiet. Don't say anything.
• 31:26
  Don't say anything. Because I knew that if I open my
• 31:29
  mouth, I'll collect the envelope back.
• 31:32
  But I just kept quiet. And that's how the envelope was
• 31:35
  was returned. So don't wait until you're
• 31:39
  looking at those dollars before you decide you might not be too
• 31:42
  strong. So decide today so that when
• 31:46
  that time comes, you tell yourself, no, no, I'm ready for
• 31:49
  about it. Me, my wife, me, my brother, me,
• 31:52
  my parents, me, my pastor, me, my mom.
• 31:54
  We already thought about it. This kind of business.
• 31:56
  No, we'll leave this one. We'll get the dollars another
• 32:00
  way, another way, another day. So that's it, that's it.
• 32:05
  And that's all for today. Thank you very much for
• 32:06
  listening. Remember, if you'd love to
• 32:08
  connect, remember, I'm not a philosopher.
• 32:11
  I solve business problems. So don't get in touch with me
• 32:13
  for philosophy. Get in touch with me because you
• 32:15
  have business problems, especially business problems
• 32:17
  that are related to sales or marketing.
• 32:20
  So you can call, send a text message or WhatsApp message to
• 32:23
  08064662140. Thank you very much for your
• 32:28
  time and attention. I will catch you all some other
• 32:31
  time.