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Chasing Profits with Purpose: Faith-Based Business · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello everyone, and welcome to the show.
• 0:03
  I'm just chilling on a Sunday evening, so let's head straight
• 0:07
  into it. I think that, OK, yesterday's
• 0:10
  episode, I promised that we were going to look at whether faith
• 0:14
  can serve as an investment criteria or a business criteria.
• 0:18
  So in other words, can you use your faith to decide whether you
• 0:25
  should invest, where you're going to invest or what kind of
• 0:28
  businesses that you're going to get into?
• 0:30
  And the answer obviously is yes, because you can do whatever it
• 0:34
  is that you want. I mean, whether faith or whether
• 0:37
  trends or fads can serve as a basis for whatever investments
• 0:44
  you want to make or whatever businesses you want to enter.
• 0:47
  But the key thing is our number One Financial returns.
• 0:52
  Are you going to get any financial returns or is there
• 0:54
  any market validation behind this idea that you want to put
• 0:57
  out into the market that you want to try?
• 0:59
  Because like we've examined yesterday, the OK, well, not the
• 1:06
  whole point of being in business, but if you're trying
• 1:08
  something that has no market validation or the financial
• 1:11
  returns are not worth it, you're going to be quickly out of
• 1:13
  business. So yes, faith can serve as an
• 1:18
  investment criteria or business criteria, but we have to be sure
• 1:22
  that their financial returns, the business is worth it and
• 1:25
  there's market validation behind this idea.
• 1:28
  Market validation just means that people want the product or
• 1:31
  the service. There's some demand for the
• 1:33
  idea. This thing is workable.
• 1:36
  Then the next thing we have to look at is if faith is going to
• 1:40
  serve as your investment criteria.
• 1:43
  You know, your faith determines where you put your your
• 1:45
  investment money or if your faith is going to determine what
• 1:48
  businesses that you get into is can we say that faith has a
• 1:54
  rational basis? Now, the reason why this is
• 1:57
  important is because we're humans, we pursue meaning and
• 2:05
  coherence in everything that we do.
• 2:08
  So if we don't have a rational basis behind faith as an
• 2:18
  investment criteria or as a business criteria, then there's
• 2:21
  not going to be any meaningful integration with your values and
• 2:26
  you know, the other spheres of your life and how you conduct
• 2:29
  your life in in other avenues. So that's why faith can serve as
• 2:34
  your investment criteria or can serve as the business criteria.
• 2:37
  But you just have to be able to answer those two questions #1
• 2:40
  the whole thing of financial returns, market demand, market
• 2:44
  validation. Is this business worth it?
• 2:46
  Are the financial returns worth it?
• 2:48
  And then #2 is there a rational basis for this faith of yours?
• 2:54
  And this is how I go about answering both questions.
• 2:58
  Well, of course, if you've been listening to the podcast for any
• 3:00
  length of time, you already know my ideas around market
• 3:03
  validation. So this is your first time of
• 3:05
  listening to the show and you want to figure out how to get
• 3:08
  involved in a business, how to figure out if there's market
• 3:11
  validation for your idea, if there's market demand for your
• 3:14
  idea, if people think the idea is valuable, if people think the
• 3:17
  idea is valuable enough to pay for the idea, then all you have
• 3:21
  to do is use market validation as a key term when searching
• 3:27
  within my own podcast and you'll be able to find all those
• 3:30
  episodes or I think I, I did a series of episodes on how to
• 3:35
  start your business in three easy steps.
• 3:37
  So search for those and you're going to get some stuff there
• 3:41
  about market validation as well. So now let's move on to faith
• 3:46
  and whether faith is a rational criteria.
• 3:50
  This is a really important question today because most
• 3:53
  people today assume that faith is a wishy washy thing.
• 3:57
  They assume that faith is a relative thing.
• 4:01
  As per I have my faith, you have your faith, this other person
• 4:04
  has his lack of faith. All join is all the same.
• 4:08
  What's the big deal? But unfortunately, that's
• 4:12
  because in modern society, we have a very poor understanding
• 4:15
  of what faith means, what rationality means, and the
• 4:19
  relationship between the two. I'm not going to go into details
• 4:23
  on the whole thing because I'll make this podcast extremely
• 4:26
  lengthy. And then again, this is a
• 4:28
  podcast not on philosophy, but on business, especially on
• 4:33
  sales, personal selling, sometimes marketing, you know,
• 4:36
  things like that. But suffice it to say that faith
• 4:42
  actually is a very rational proposition.
• 4:45
  So this whole thing of faith is relative.
• 4:47
  You know, I'm a Christian, you're a Muslim, I'm a atheist,
• 4:49
  what's the big deal? All join different flavours.
• 4:51
  No, it's not different flavours. Faith is a very rational
• 4:55
  proposition. And by that I mean that when you
• 4:57
  take faith stances, whether you take Christianity or Islam or
• 5:01
  atheism, it is something that you can rationally critique or
• 5:04
  philosophically critique to arrive at the position of
• 5:08
  objective truth. I know that some of you don't
• 5:12
  believe in objective truth. If I have a friend of mine that
• 5:15
  I thought she was an OK chick until I found out that she's one
• 5:17
  of those people who believes that objective truth doesn't
• 5:20
  exist, but find it kind of confusing because she doesn't
• 5:23
  live her life that way. Like there's no short thing as
• 5:25
  objective truth. Well, anyway, what I'm just
• 5:29
  trying to say is that faith is a very rational proposition
• 5:32
  because the ideas behind faith are what on the God's reality.
• 5:36
  Why is there the fact that things exist?
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  Because if we think about it, there's absolutely no reason to
• 5:44
  say that this world has to exist or that I have to exist or that
• 5:48
  you have to exist. Does God exist?
• 5:51
  So these questions are rational and philosophical propositions
• 5:55
  because if you answer the question, what on the God's
• 5:57
  reality or does God exist and you answer ideas, then the next
• 6:01
  question is what has he revealed?
• 6:04
  Because what he revealed, what he in quote has revealed will
• 6:10
  throw up stuff that are normative for mankind.
• 6:13
  And by that what I mean is what is mankind?
• 6:16
  What are human beings I'm supposed to do?
• 6:17
  Oh, by the way, I'm not trying to trigger anybody with this
• 6:20
  episode. So every time that I say he,
• 6:22
  there are lots of historical and philosophical reasons why when
• 6:27
  people talk about God, they use he.
• 6:29
  I've addressed that in the previous episode.
• 6:31
  I can't remember the title, but if anyone has qualms with you,
• 6:34
  just let me know and we can have a conversation about that.
• 6:37
  And then when I say mankind, I'm not.
• 6:41
  I'm not trying to trump up patriarchy and blah, blah, blah,
• 6:44
  blah, blah. It's just that we need to have a
• 6:49
  universal word for the race of Homo sapiens, and for now,
• 6:57
  mankind is one of those terms. So what was I?
• 7:00
  Oh, yeah. So it's a rational proposition.
• 7:02
  What under God's reality does God exist?
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  If he exists, what has he revealed?
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  What things are normative for human beings?
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  What should we be doing? And this whole thing about God's
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  existence, it's a rational proposition because it's
• 7:14
  something that you can critique philosophically.
• 7:17
  And my favorite arguments about these whole things are the
• 7:21
  contingency arguments. You know, the things that show
• 7:23
  that nature doesn't explain itself.
• 7:25
  You have to look outside of nature to be able to find out
• 7:30
  what it is that is the cause of nature, the cause of creation,
• 7:32
  the cause of reality. And this whole thing of looking
• 7:35
  for scientific proof or empirical proof is not going to
• 7:39
  answer the question because empirical proofs are limited.
• 7:42
  If you're going to look for empirical proofs for everything,
• 7:45
  you can only find empirical proofs for things that you can
• 7:48
  see, taste, touch, smell, measure, or demonstrate in a
• 7:52
  laboratory, which is why there's no empirical proof for love,
• 7:55
  because you cannot see, taste, smell, measure, or do scientific
• 8:00
  experiments for love. So anyway, let me move beyond
• 8:05
  this more philosophical part of the podcast, but I'm just trying
• 8:10
  to demonstrate to you guys that when I say I'm a Christian, or I
• 8:14
  say I'm a Muslim or I say I'm an atheist, it's not a matter of
• 8:16
  all joy. Different flavours was the big
• 8:19
  deal. Actually, it is a big deal
• 8:21
  because no matter which position you take, we can have rational
• 8:25
  arguments and their rational propositions to try and arrive
• 8:27
  at who is telling the truth and what is objective reality.
• 8:33
  OK, so let me skip beyond that since it's not a podcast on
• 8:35
  philosophy. I want to move on to another
• 8:38
  question about why I'm faith people are so hung up over
• 8:43
  business decisions because there's some people who think,
• 8:46
  look, you're a Muslim, what's the big deal?
• 8:47
  Like you can sell pork now, what's the big deal?
• 8:49
  No, be big. There's no money.
• 8:51
  Or somebody will say like, yeah, you're a Christian, you're a
• 8:56
  Catholic. So why can't you, Why can't you
• 9:01
  run the strip joint? Oh, by the way, it happens in
• 9:04
  Lagos. I know someone who's Catholic
• 9:06
  who has multiple strip joints. And funny enough, I moved to
• 9:09
  Abuja, I run into another person who owns a strip joint or should
• 9:13
  we say an adult entertainment bar.
• 9:15
  And the fellow also happens to be Catholic as well.
• 9:17
  So I'm just wondering if there's a certain predilection for
• 9:22
  Catholic businessmen to run those sorts of establishments.
• 9:25
  Anyway, don't mind me, I'm just being silly.
• 9:27
  So yes, some people say what's the big deal.
• 9:29
  Now, this is the reason why faith people in quote have a big
• 9:33
  deal about these sorts of things.
• 9:36
  First of all, there's this whole thing of stewardship of creation
• 9:38
  in the Christian and the Muslim tradition.
• 9:42
  And because of that, there's a special role of man or humanity,
• 9:46
  yes, let me say humanity, so that people don't think I'm
• 9:49
  propping up patriarchy here. So there's a special role of
• 9:53
  humanity to steward creation. And so that's why it is
• 9:55
  important. So there's a question of
• 9:56
  stewardship. And then there's also the
• 9:58
  problem of material cooperation with evil.
• 10:03
  What that means is this, there's good and there's bad.
• 10:06
  People who are in faith traditions do not want to do
• 10:10
  anything that cooperates with bad, which is the reason why all
• 10:14
  the people that run around talk about the environment, you know,
• 10:17
  like Bono, what's her name, the actress and the rest of them,
• 10:21
  that's the reason why. So excuse me, People look at
• 10:24
  them as if they're hypocrites because they say, look, you're
• 10:26
  talking about the environment, but then you're going to leave
• 10:28
  this whole thing and you're going to fly in your private jet
• 10:30
  all over the world. You know, if you love the
• 10:31
  environment, why not just fly? Why don't just fly economy?
• 10:37
  So if you're going to divide the world into good and evil and
• 10:41
  good is environment and then bad is anti environment, you know,
• 10:44
  then if you're going to talk the talk, but they're not walk the
• 10:47
  walk, then you're going to be cooperating with things that are
• 10:51
  bad. So these are the two main
• 10:54
  things. And that is the tension that
• 10:55
  kind of comes up when, you know, you run into someone and he's
• 11:01
  Catholic, but he owns a strip joint or, or an adult
• 11:04
  entertainment establishment, or you run into a Muslim and he
• 11:08
  sells pork or maybe he invests in alcohol or something.
• 11:14
  So these are the tensions, the stewardship, and then there's a
• 11:18
  problem of cooperation with evil.
• 11:21
  So these are some of the tensions that come out of the
• 11:24
  whole thing. But I guess the summary of what
• 11:27
  I'm just trying to say with this episode is if you are a faith
• 11:31
  investor or a faith business person, there's absolutely no
• 11:35
  need to hide because I know that there's some of you who faith is
• 11:38
  important, but you think this is business.
• 11:40
  Let me keep it on the down low. And in a certain sense, when
• 11:45
  we're trying to close the sale, yes, you're not supposed to
• 11:47
  bring up religion, politics and what else.
• 11:50
  I can't remember the third three things, but if there's a
• 11:58
  rational, if you think that there's a rational basis for
• 12:03
  these things that you hold to that are true and that is a
• 12:08
  rational basis that can be justified, then I'm not saying
• 12:11
  you should go around and throw your Christianity or your Islam
• 12:13
  in everybody's face. But there's absolutely no reason
• 12:17
  to hide that you are a faith investor or a faith driven
• 12:23
  business person or someone who's got, you know, an environment
• 12:29
  based, you know that the criteria for your investments
• 12:32
  are the environment or the advancement of women or or
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  whatever it is you do. So long as there's a rational
• 12:42
  basis and there's a rational basis, there's financial return.
• 12:47
  You can have meaningful conversations around these
• 12:48
  things. It doesn't have to be something
• 12:50
  that you are scared of, so long as just remember market
• 12:53
  validation. The business fundamentals have
• 12:56
  to be spot on because even you're trying to do something
• 13:00
  for the glory of God, but the business fundamentals are not
• 13:03
  there. You're either going to have to
• 13:04
  do make it a great act of charity or you're going to have
• 13:07
  to fold up the business. So the business fundamentals
• 13:10
  have to be there. Financial returns, cash flow
• 13:12
  management, blah, blah, blah, all those things.
• 13:15
  You have to be there. Then for the problem of
• 13:20
  cooperation with evil, for those of you who are faith driven
• 13:23
  business people or you have a conscience, you have to, you
• 13:28
  have to just bite the bullet. So if you're Catholic and you
• 13:31
  have strip joints, you have to be coherent about that, you
• 13:37
  know, close your strip joints. Or anyway, I'll leave you to
• 13:41
  decide what it is you're going to do with your strip joints.
• 13:43
  Or if you're a Christian, should be involved in adult
• 13:45
  entertainment. If you're a humanist atheist,
• 13:48
  should you be involved in the business That kind of has
• 13:51
  overtones of human trafficking, which is why that whole Nike
• 13:55
  thing that I mentioned yesterday, you know, that's kind
• 13:57
  of the emotional acts that those people are going through.
• 13:59
  Like, OK, Nike, good investment, but they're running sweatshops,
• 14:03
  they're not paying children well, blah, blah, blah.
• 14:06
  You know, So these are some of the tensions.
• 14:08
  And then if you're a Muslim, you know, the whole thing about
• 14:11
  alcohol and pork, you know, should you be and all that?
• 14:14
  So the faith is important. Grow some balls and get some
• 14:18
  courage, get some mozzy and decide.
• 14:23
  So for those of you who are dealing with all kinds of acts
• 14:25
  around these issues, because believe me, we all do from time
• 14:30
  to time, as a business consultant, I get approached by
• 14:33
  some people and looks like this thing is making money.
• 14:36
  But then I'm like, well, as a Christian, is this the sort of
• 14:41
  thing that I should be putting my time and money and mental
• 14:46
  abilities too? So we all have these sorts of
• 14:48
  things. So if you're dealing with those
• 14:49
  sorts of acts, make sure that you have your religious dealer
• 14:52
  on speed dial, you know, call your mom, call your pastor, sit
• 14:55
  down, have a chat, you know, do some research online or maybe
• 14:58
  attend the class on business ethics or something, just so
• 15:02
  that we can get the framework that we need to be able to
• 15:06
  decide these sorts of things. You know, so I'm a Muslim.
• 15:12
  I'm not going to touch the alcohol, but it looks like this
• 15:16
  hotel is making good money. Should I put money behind it
• 15:19
  knowing that the key driver is that they serve alcohol at the
• 15:23
  end of the day? So yeah, So that's how we deal
• 15:26
  with these sorts of things. People who are religious
• 15:27
  leaders, leaders do some research around business ethics
• 15:30
  and stuff like that, and you should be able to find the
• 15:32
  answers that will help move you forward.
• 15:34
  But the answer to the question, can you say that my faith is
• 15:37
  going to serve as criteria for getting into business?
• 15:39
  Yeah, The answer is yes. Can my faith serve as a criteria
• 15:42
  for getting into investment? The answer, Oh, yeah, is yes.
• 15:45
  That's for sure. Just make sure financial
• 15:48
  returns, market validation, you need to lock that down.
• 15:51
  There also has to be a rational basis so that today it's not
• 15:55
  your faith in Christianity that decides this decision and then
• 16:00
  tomorrow it's your new age or whatever that determines you
• 16:05
  entering into another decision. And then, you know, two years
• 16:09
  down the line, you become an atheist, and then it's the
• 16:11
  atheist, whatever that is, all your faith in Santa Claus or
• 16:14
  whatever it is. There just has to be some
• 16:16
  rational basis to all these things.
• 16:17
  So you don't keep hopping and hopping and hopping.
• 16:19
  So you meet those two things. In my own opinion, you're cool
• 16:24
  walking around and using your faith as your investment
• 16:26
  criteria or your business criteria.
• 16:29
  So with that, we have come to the close of this particular
• 16:33
  topic. Might as well just wrap it up
• 16:35
  quickly so that this doesn't become an exercise in
• 16:38
  philosophy. So remember to connect with me
• 16:41
  on LinkedIn. My name is Tava Shima Ayede, I'm
• 16:44
  the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of
• 16:46
  my name so that you can find me on LinkedIn and my e-mail
• 16:50
  address is also going to be visible on the link that you're
• 16:53
  using to listen to this episode. Then connect with me on
• 16:57
  WhatsApp. I love hearing from you guys.
• 16:58
  The phone number is 08064662140 and the country code is +234.
• 17:06
  For those of you who are not Nigerian, thanks for your time
• 17:08
  and attention. I got you guys in the next
• 17:10
  episode and don't worry, we are done with all the philosophical
• 17:13
  stuff, so you don't have to be scared that you came here for
• 17:17
  business and instead you're getting a sermon.
• 17:19
  So I'll catch you guys tomorrow.