Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Level Up Your Degree: The Skills Universities Forgot to Teach

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Level Up Your Degree: The Skills Universities Forgot to Teach · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. Before we begin, the usual
• 0:04
  apologies, The kids are home, it's a weekend, so I expect to
• 0:08
  hear some interruptions in the background.
• 0:10
  Now today what I'm going to do is to share an interesting
• 0:13
  conversation that I had with a Prof.
• 0:15
  Well, actually he's not a Prof, but he's currently undertaking
• 0:20
  whatever program it is that wannabe professors or aspiring
• 0:26
  professors do and is currently at the Lagos State University in
• 0:30
  the Department of Mass Communication.
• 0:33
  Now he reached out because he is working with someone who is into
• 0:39
  podcast production and he's been trying to develop a curriculum
• 0:43
  for a curriculum for podcasting that is going to be taught in
• 0:49
  the institution and hopefully in Nigerian universities.
• 0:53
  And his own primary concern in developing the curriculum is
• 0:57
  that they're going to have facets of it that are devoted to
• 1:02
  monetization for podcast audio producers and other audio
• 1:06
  producers at large. And it turned out to be a
• 1:09
  really, really, really interesting conversation.
• 1:14
  Of course, he recorded parts of it that are going to be devoted
• 1:16
  towards his thesis or whatever it is that he plans to use it
• 1:22
  for. But I'm just over here to share
• 1:24
  the what is the part of the conversation that I can remember
• 1:28
  anyway. And it's something that I was
• 1:30
  happy about because for those of you who have been listening to
• 1:32
  the show for a while, you're aware that both my parents are
• 1:35
  professional journalists. So my dad especially did, he had
• 1:40
  some courses in radio production from Nigerian Institute of
• 1:43
  Journalism and then also some diploma course in radio
• 1:47
  production while he he spent some time in London.
• 1:51
  And yeah, one part of the curriculum that is was missing
• 1:55
  was this whole thing of monetization, the business
• 1:59
  aspect basically because just like when I was in school, the
• 2:02
  same thing as when my father was in school.
• 2:04
  And OK, well, my grandfather didn't go to school.
• 2:07
  So I'm second generation educated, but for the university
• 2:12
  education, higher education basically has been exposing
• 2:14
  people to a bunch of skills but not quite telling people how
• 2:19
  you're going to sell those skills in the real world.
• 2:21
  That's why because of that, I was really happy with having
• 2:23
  this conversation with the Prof By the way, he's not really a
• 2:27
  Prof as in he's getting ready to be a Prof, but I'll just keep
• 2:30
  calling him Prof for this episode.
• 2:32
  But if you run into him, you know, don't address him as Prof
• 2:35
  yet so he doesn't get into trouble with his superiors.
• 2:39
  You know, let not be as if he's claiming what he doesn't have.
• 2:41
  It's just me calling him Prof. So, yeah, it's a conversation
• 2:47
  that a whole bunch of us need to be having.
• 2:49
  So whether you study architecture, whether you study
• 2:51
  audio production, whether you study law, whether you study
• 2:53
  dentistry, whether you study what's that one?
• 2:58
  My father-in-law, he calls them doctors of mosquitoes.
• 3:02
  Guy, what are they called? Again?
• 3:04
  These are animal doctors. This thing that.
• 3:09
  Good luck. Jonathan, our former president,
• 3:10
  studied. What is it called?
• 3:14
  OK, I can't remember anyway. Well, people who are doctors for
• 3:17
  animals. So no matter what it is that you
• 3:19
  study, it'll be nice if we can start introducing aspects into
• 3:22
  the university curriculum so that people get a fair idea of
• 3:27
  when I finish this course and enter into the workforce, how am
• 3:31
  I going to look for employers or how am I going to look for
• 3:33
  clients or how am I going to build a business?
• 3:36
  You know, just that next step forward so that people don't
• 3:38
  have to come to the job force like some of us do.
• 3:40
  And you come in and like, OK, I'm done with the school now
• 3:43
  what? So, yeah, what's an interesting
• 3:46
  conversation with Prof? I'm not going to use his his
• 3:49
  name because I didn't get his permission to do so.
• 3:51
  Before we go in, let me share what I'm listening to on
• 3:54
  Spotify. That's for those of you who want
• 3:55
  to broaden your musical palette. And recently I've been listening
• 3:59
  to some old stuff. Well, at least more.
• 4:04
  You guys would consider it old listening to Redman and Method
• 4:07
  Man. Now Method Man, for those of you
• 4:11
  who I'll explain it. OK, well, Redman, Method Man,
• 4:16
  they're both African American rappers.
• 4:18
  They've been in the game for a while, as in for quite a while.
• 4:21
  Particularly Method Man, who came to fame with the group Wu
• 4:24
  Tang Clan was with Wu Tang. That is some real grimy,
• 4:29
  experimental hip hop. So it's not hip hop that's for
• 4:31
  everyone, and this is not definitely hip hop for the club
• 4:34
  or things that You Can Dance to. So if you haven't been exposed
• 4:37
  to hardcore hip hop, as in pure, pure lyrics, pure flows, you
• 4:44
  know those sorts of things, then it might take a while for you to
• 4:48
  get used to. But anyway, Method Man was the
• 4:51
  first member of the Wu Tang Clan to like blow, you know, to get
• 4:54
  like popular acclaim. And that's because his his flows
• 4:58
  are more his flows, his chops are more easier to handle.
• 5:03
  And then by the time you blend it with some production
• 5:05
  techniques, like from what's his name, Timberland and you know,
• 5:10
  those kind of producers, you create some nice, so nice, you
• 5:14
  know, sounds that you can jump off to.
• 5:16
  So Redman and Method Man, I think they were assigned to Def
• 5:20
  Jam at some point. And so that's some real good
• 5:23
  stuff I was listening to on Spotify.
• 5:25
  So Redman Method Man, you like hip hop.
• 5:27
  Try it out. It's a different flair just for
• 5:30
  you to see. Excuse me, just for you guys who
• 5:33
  know you young bloods, those of you who like mumble rap and
• 5:36
  stuff like that, just for you guys to appreciate the the
• 5:39
  history of hip hop, the evolution of the art.
• 5:41
  You know that everything hasn't always been mumble rap and you
• 5:48
  know, this lazy Atlanta Southern kind of drawl.
• 5:52
  Just know that there's a there's been other stuff that's been out
• 5:55
  there. Then while I was checking them
• 5:58
  out, I decided to see who was on Def Jam these days and I found
• 6:01
  out something really interesting that our boy adequately Gold is
• 6:05
  also on Def Jam. I mean, that's that's good shows
• 6:08
  that Niger music is going places.
• 6:09
  So you guys can listen to adequately Gold as well.
• 6:13
  His wife Simi Simi also does some real nice stuff.
• 6:17
  I don't know if Simi is on Def Jam anyway, but I definitely go
• 6:20
  old Simi, just in case, you know, Weibo music and hip hop is
• 6:24
  not your thing. Do some good jams right there.
• 6:26
  And it turns out that Frank Ocean is also on Spotify.
• 6:30
  So on Def Jam. And I am ashamed to say that
• 6:34
  even though lots of Nigerians listen to Frank Ocean, I've
• 6:37
  never listened to him. So I don't know if he's a Niger
• 6:39
  boy or not. But I definitely will check it
• 6:41
  out. So let me cure my ignorance.
• 6:42
  Frank Ocean is on Def Jam. Then also found out that Jada
• 6:47
  Kiss is also on Def Jam. And Jada Kiss that is now that
• 6:51
  is really old stuff like back from those Rough Rider days, DMX
• 6:55
  and all those guys. So Jada Kiss used to be with
• 6:57
  this group, the locks. So it was three guys, it's Jada
• 7:00
  Kiss. Then there was Style Speed and
• 7:03
  then there was Chic Luch. But I think Jada Kiss was the
• 7:07
  most popular of them. So yeah, that's some good music
• 7:09
  right there. You want to broaden your talent,
• 7:11
  You sorry you're a musical pilot and you want to be a man or a
• 7:14
  woman of refined case just like I am, then this is stuff that I
• 7:17
  should check out. Redman Method Man Wu Tang clan
• 7:20
  on the Nigeria level adequately gold.
• 7:22
  Check out his wife. See me correct stuff.
• 7:24
  Frank Ocean, never listen to him, but I know that lots of
• 7:26
  Nigerians love him. So I'll try him out.
• 7:29
  I'll see if he's a Nigeria guy or not.
• 7:31
  And then older people, Rough Rider crew, the locks and all of
• 7:35
  that. So now back to the conversation
• 7:37
  that I had with the professor about podcasting.
• 7:41
  So like I said, the professor who's in the Department of Mass
• 7:43
  Communications at Lasso, that's Lagos State University and he's
• 7:48
  trying to see how you can develop a curriculum for audio
• 7:52
  producers, podcast producers, people in the audio end of the
• 7:56
  spectrum. You know, when you, when you
• 7:58
  talk about audio visual, So people on the audio end of the
• 8:02
  spectrum, I come up with a curriculum about how you can
• 8:05
  monetize these skills of yours because clearly there's a gap
• 8:08
  that is missing in these sorts of things.
• 8:09
  So if as a lawyer and a doctor, you think that there was a gap
• 8:12
  in the training that you received that did not prepare
• 8:14
  you for the real world, you best believe if you're if you're an
• 8:17
  audio producer, best believe there's going to be a real shock
• 8:20
  when you enter the job market when you finish from LASU, then
• 8:26
  let's see what else. Yeah.
• 8:28
  So we did some chit chat, you know, about how it's nice to put
• 8:32
  the entrepreneurial, sorry, forgive me, that's a real
• 8:34
  difficult world word, the entrepreneurial aspect into the
• 8:39
  curriculum so that we can foster the entrepreneurial element of,
• 8:44
  you know, these sorts of people. Because let's face it, it's not
• 8:47
  every single person that finishes with radio production
• 8:50
  has been end up working with NTA or the radio station.
• 8:55
  So you wanted my opinion on what the essential skills are that
• 8:58
  folks need to learn when you are in school so that when you enter
• 9:03
  into the job market, you can excuse me so you can thrive.
• 9:08
  And sorry guys, just give me a moment.
• 9:10
  Let me turn on the fan because the rains have stopped in Abuja
• 9:14
  and Abuja has just become as hot AF.
• 9:19
  I don't know why. Hot as hell.
• 9:21
  So let me just put on the fan. Yeah.
• 9:24
  OK. I was like, so Prof wanted to
• 9:27
  know what the essential skills are.
• 9:28
  And of course, we started off the same sorts of things that I
• 9:31
  tell you guys here every day. So you should not be surprised,
• 9:34
  especially those of you who've been listening to the show for
• 9:35
  months or maybe for years. So first of all, I started off
• 9:39
  with technical ability. So I had to let Prof know that
• 9:42
  the things that you people are teaching these kids, even though
• 9:44
  you're not teaching them the entrepreneurial aspect, it
• 9:46
  actually is very, very important because if you do not come out
• 9:50
  with technical ability, if you do not come up with subject
• 9:54
  matter expertise, it is very, very hard to sell.
• 9:57
  And that is a core tenant when it comes to sales and business
• 9:59
  development. In fact, what's his name, Brian
• 10:02
  Tracy would say that, you know, subject matter expertise is one
• 10:05
  O 1 because if you went to school, you studied medicine,
• 10:08
  but you're a dance, you don't know anything and you're opening
• 10:10
  your hospital, it will affect the way that you sell yourself.
• 10:13
  You won't have confidence to sell your ability because you,
• 10:17
  you know that you're a dance and that you might kill somebody if
• 10:19
  somebody comes to your hospital. But then there are some people
• 10:23
  and those people, we call them fraudsters who even though they
• 10:26
  don't know she, she as in, in their head, it is zero.
• 10:29
  They can't talk confidently. They talk with full chest as if
• 10:32
  they know what they're saying. But then those kind of people,
• 10:34
  we call them fraudsters, we call them Hulksters, we call them
• 10:39
  quacks, we call them all kinds of things.
• 10:41
  Because for normal people like you and me, if you don't have
• 10:44
  technical ability, if you don't have subject matter expertise,
• 10:47
  you can't sell nothing. You can't sell anything because
• 10:52
  deep down you know that you're a fraud and that you best keep
• 10:54
  your mouth closed before you cause some kind of Yawa.
• 10:58
  And believe me, it's serious problem to say you're an audio
• 11:01
  engineer. You collect somebody's money,
• 11:03
  you charge him in millions and then you now can't deliver on
• 11:05
  the product, on the recording, on the documentary, on the
• 11:08
  whatever. And you know that we're in
• 11:10
  Nigeria. Any small thing, people like to
• 11:11
  involve police. Before you know it, now you
• 11:13
  sleep in a cell or if they don't find you, they'll go and catch
• 11:16
  your brother, you know, and all those sorts of things.
• 11:19
  So I told Prof that look, entrepreneurial part of the
• 11:22
  curriculum is 0. But technical ability, you guys
• 11:26
  best stay on your game because we need that to be able to sell.
• 11:30
  If you don't have subject matter expertise, if you don't have
• 11:32
  technical ability, you're not going to be able to sell at all.
• 11:35
  So I told Prof yes, it's still is important that we're doing
• 11:39
  our best to make sure that all these young boys and young girls
• 11:43
  in lawsuit uni like OAU, Abu, last Botech, wherever it is that
• 11:49
  you want to, we need to keep making sure that we're
• 11:51
  graduating all these people first class or two one.
• 11:55
  Well, anyway, you get the point as best ability as possible.
• 11:58
  By the way, I'm not saying those of you who graduated third class
• 12:00
  that there's no hope for you. Let me not disgrace my family
• 12:05
  and say the degree that I graduated it.
• 12:08
  Let me just leave it like that. But I'm yes, it will be nice if
• 12:12
  you do first class or two one, but it's not the end of the road
• 12:15
  if you graduate 22 or if you graduate third class or even if
• 12:18
  you graduate past. But technical ability definitely
• 12:22
  has to be there, especially in something like this.
• 12:25
  Audio visual production, technical ability is king
• 12:30
  because if you graduate first class, what camera you can't
• 12:32
  hold mixer. You can't mix microphone, you
• 12:34
  can't mic. Then what did you go to school
• 12:37
  to, to do exactly? Then now we enter into the other
• 12:41
  skills, which are the much more entrepreneurial skills.
• 12:44
  And I told him that we need to have something in the curriculum
• 12:46
  around prospecting. That is one thing that is
• 12:49
  missing. And prospecting is this whole
• 12:51
  thing of you're trying to look for who might be interested in
• 12:54
  your product or service. Now, when we go to school and we
• 12:57
  study law, we study medicine, we study dentistry, we study audio
• 13:03
  production or study theatre arts.
• 13:05
  There's no part of the curriculum where your professor
• 13:07
  tells you that. OK, boys and girls, when you
• 13:09
  enter the real world, when you're graduating in three
• 13:11
  years, these are the kinds of people who might be interested
• 13:14
  in your skills. So theatre has people.
• 13:16
  Your professor doesn't tell you that the people who might need
• 13:19
  your skills are TV stations or schools looking for teachers or
• 13:26
  independent music. Sorry, independent movie
• 13:28
  producers looking for talent for a movie or something.
• 13:34
  We don't have that conversation, but if we have that
• 13:36
  conversation, then it would help and it would really develop the
• 13:39
  economy because some of us would have hit the streets running
• 13:42
  knowing that, OK, I'm done with my law degree.
• 13:45
  These are the kind of people, these are the kind of employers,
• 13:48
  these are the kind of customers or these are the kind of
• 13:52
  stakeholders, other people I can partner with that I should start
• 13:56
  running after. And so we need to add
• 13:58
  prospecting to the curriculum so that when people leave school,
• 14:01
  they have a sense of who might be interested in my product or
• 14:04
  my service. And so that's something that
• 14:06
  people in the podcast production space, in the audio production
• 14:09
  space, in the video production space, in the whatever space
• 14:12
  that we need to know. So those of you who are animal
• 14:16
  doctors for, forgive me, I can't remember what it is that you
• 14:18
  guys are called. My father-in-law calls you guys
• 14:21
  a doctor of mosquitoes, but you know, don't mind him.
• 14:24
  My father-in-law can be Randy fellows sometimes.
• 14:27
  So where was I? So even those of you that are
• 14:31
  doctors or mosquitoes, you guys need to know that, OK, when I
• 14:34
  Graduate School, how am I going to find people who need my
• 14:39
  Animal Hospital skills? So that needs to be in
• 14:43
  curriculum so that as soon as you finish school, you know how
• 14:45
  to start chasing the customer or the employee or the partner, the
• 14:48
  joint venture partner, the whatever.
• 14:51
  Then I also told Prof that need analysis also needs to be a part
• 14:55
  of the curriculum over here on in sales and business
• 14:58
  development. We call that qualification and
• 15:00
  discovery. That is where you're asking
• 15:02
  questions about the person and about the project because you
• 15:06
  need to figure out who the person's are, what the person's
• 15:08
  tastes are, and then the project, the vision that they're
• 15:11
  trying to solve, sorry, the vision that they're trying to
• 15:14
  move, move to. Since we're talking about audio
• 15:16
  production now, you know, you need to understand what it is
• 15:19
  that they're trying to do. Because audio production, you
• 15:22
  know, it's not like carpentry. With carpentry, somebody can
• 15:25
  say, I want a table, I want it to be maybe this high or this
• 15:27
  wide. I'm thinking of maybe this kind
• 15:29
  of color. And you know, you can rough it
• 15:32
  out and figure out what it is that the person needs.
• 15:33
  But then when it comes to audio production or video production,
• 15:36
  somebody just come and tell you that I want to do audio
• 15:38
  documentary. You know that is is high in the
• 15:41
  world of ideas and you need to be able to figure out exactly
• 15:43
  what it is that the person needs.
• 15:45
  So we need a part of the curriculum where we need to
• 15:47
  teach all these young boys and girls who are leaving last, are
• 15:50
  leaving OAU, leaving last protect leaving, what's it
• 15:55
  called? Rust River State, Abbey River
• 15:58
  State University of Science Technology, all these schools,
• 16:00
  we need to be able to get them to figure out how do you have a
• 16:03
  conversation with the person? Because if someone just comes
• 16:05
  and tells you I want to do audio documentary, say OK, audio
• 16:08
  documentary, it will be 8 million.
• 16:10
  And then the person gives you 8 million.
• 16:12
  You start rejoicing, only for you to enter the field and start
• 16:15
  the work and see that that 8 million, you're under charge
• 16:18
  because of studio space, because of talent, because of talent
• 16:23
  that you have to rent. And so that's your rent.
• 16:26
  What do you do? Yeah.
• 16:28
  Do you rent talent, Any. I mean, you know, you pay for
• 16:30
  voice actors, things like that. And then it turns out that
• 16:33
  actually you needed to charge like 24 M for that thing to even
• 16:35
  make sense, you know? But if you're able to do needs
• 16:38
  analysis and figure out the person's vision, it is then
• 16:41
  you'll be able to have a very solid proposal or presentation.
• 16:45
  It's OK Olga, I understand you correctly.
• 16:47
  You want an audio documentary done.
• 16:49
  This is what you want us to achieve.
• 16:50
  These are the ideas you want us to explore.
• 16:52
  In order to do this thing correctly, we need to record in
• 16:55
  this kind of environment, that kind of environment, we need to
• 16:58
  get voice actors of this kind of grade, of that kind of grade.
• 17:01
  We're going to need sound design.
• 17:06
  You know, we're going to need sound design talent, we'll need
• 17:08
  this, we'll need that. And so to pull this thing off,
• 17:10
  we're going to need 4 weeks of production and the budget of so,
• 17:12
  so, so, so, so, so then you can have that kind of conversation.
• 17:15
  You can make an effective proposal or presentation because
• 17:18
  you are good at need analysis. So it's not just a matter of
• 17:22
  somebody will come and say give me audio documentary and then in
• 17:25
  your mind, because you think 8M10M is big, every single time
• 17:29
  somebody says audio documentary, just say, Oh yeah, Oh yeah, your
• 17:31
  money is 10 M Yeah. I mean, that's not how it works.
• 17:34
  You need to have the need and ask this conversation first.
• 17:36
  What are they trying to do? What are they trying to achieve?
• 17:39
  Do you have the skill set to achieve on that vision that this
• 17:42
  person is trying to produce with the audio documentary or with
• 17:45
  whatever it is that they're trying to do?
• 17:47
  Need to have that conversation? It is.
• 17:49
  Then you'll be able to give an effective proposal or
• 17:52
  presentation. Now they can say, ah, yes,
• 17:54
  excuse me now. Oh yes, this boy understands my
• 17:56
  vision or this girl understands my vision.
• 17:59
  This producer, this person definitely knows, knows what's
• 18:01
  up. And then of course, I spoke to
• 18:03
  Prof about being able to close, which is being able to take the
• 18:07
  next step, being able to get someone to take action on things
• 18:11
  that you guys have had conversations on.
• 18:13
  So excuse me. Yeah.
• 18:16
  So that was pretty much the crux of the conversation that I had
• 18:19
  with Prof. So technical ability is there.
• 18:23
  Continue. It's absolutely important.
• 18:25
  Let's keep graduating all these people first class.
• 18:27
  But then we just need to make sure that these people, the boys
• 18:30
  and girls in school, that they'll learn how to prospect.
• 18:33
  Oh, sorry. Forgive me.
• 18:34
  It's the call to prayer out in the window.
• 18:36
  I mean, you know these things. Now.
• 18:39
  What was I so prospecting need analysis.
• 18:42
  How to make an effective proposal presentation.
• 18:44
  OK, negotiation, yes. How to negotiate because it's
• 18:47
  Niger. I mean, nobody just you can't
• 18:50
  just tell person your money is 10 M and person will now bring
• 18:52
  out 10 M cash and give you the water price.
• 18:54
  It doesn't matter what it is, whether it's house, whether it's
• 18:57
  documentary, whether it's airplane, whether it's whatever
• 19:02
  it is the most price. So you have to learn how to do
• 19:08
  negotiations and stuff like that.
• 19:10
  Then. Yes.
• 19:13
  So that was the main part of the conversation.
• 19:14
  But then let's see what else? What else?
• 19:17
  What else? OK, We, we got to speak about
• 19:19
  some other stuff, like how he would like me to address some of
• 19:21
  his students. And I'm looking forward to that
• 19:23
  because I haven't spoken at a university in a very long time.
• 19:28
  The last time I spoke in university was actually when I
• 19:30
  was in university because I was the Lord Chancellor of my, one
• 19:35
  of the small law student societies there.
• 19:37
  So I've, I've, I've been addressing other people since I
• 19:40
  left union, but I haven't addressed the university crowd
• 19:42
  since then. So it'd be nice to go back to
• 19:45
  school, you know, look at young folks, relatively young folks,
• 19:49
  younger folks, because I'm still a young man myself.
• 19:52
  So it'd be nice to address the young bloods, have a
• 19:55
  conversation with young boys and girls out there, answer all
• 19:57
  their questions. Well, bottom line, I just want
• 19:59
  young people to know that. It can be scary, but it's not
• 20:04
  something that you need to get anxiety over or to lose your
• 20:08
  sleep over because every solution has a problem.
• 20:10
  So it'd be nice to talk to the to the students.
• 20:13
  Looking forward to all that. And then he was also giving me
• 20:15
  just about how he's in talks with another professor in the UK
• 20:20
  about how they're jointly trying to come up with a curriculum for
• 20:23
  these sorts of things. And I think that that is really,
• 20:25
  really good that Nigel are moving in that level and that
• 20:27
  the UK is also moving in that level.
• 20:29
  And as you're teaching these people how to become audio
• 20:31
  producers, you're also teaching them how to be able to profit
• 20:34
  from their skills when they graduate.
• 20:36
  Let it not be this whole suffering artist thing that you
• 20:40
  graduate first in your class, audio production or theatre
• 20:43
  arts, and you're the best, but then you're a struggling,
• 20:47
  struggling artist. Then we also had the
• 20:50
  conversation around barriers to get into the trade.
• 20:54
  I thought was going to come at it from the angle of equipment
• 20:57
  and stuff like that that is needed.
• 20:59
  But the angle that he was coming from basically was he was saying
• 21:02
  that nowadays that everything has been democratized, that
• 21:05
  there's a lot of competition in the market.
• 21:06
  So he wanted to know what my own take was and I gave him my own
• 21:09
  take. Hoha, as per a a child of the
• 21:14
  profession, because like I told you, my parents were a
• 21:18
  journalist. My mom would eventually end up
• 21:20
  as a marketing communications professional in the world of
• 21:23
  advertising, PR, branding and all that.
• 21:25
  But Popsy was a comms guy all the way through.
• 21:28
  So journalism then from later on he now worked with anyway anyway
• 21:33
  is a national orientation agency.
• 21:34
  They took over from MAMSA. Maybe those are government
• 21:38
  public education schemes, Abby programs because it's Nigeria.
• 21:44
  When you say schemes, it sounds somehow so government education
• 21:48
  agencies. Then from there, where did he
• 21:52
  retire? OK, I can't remember.
• 21:54
  I think he retired at Noah, but I can't remember.
• 21:55
  Anyway, such a long time ago. So as a childhood professional,
• 21:59
  it's something I saw first hand now when my parents when I was a
• 22:03
  kid and my parents were journalists.
• 22:05
  Back then, to be a journalist, you actually had to go to
• 22:07
  school. So Mumsy studied theatre arts
• 22:11
  and then Mumsy had a did an MBA and then what did Mumsy do
• 22:16
  again? Basha, she went to go.
• 22:18
  She, she went to school. It's the same thing with Popsy.
• 22:21
  Popsy went to school. He didn't do university but
• 22:24
  Popsy had HN, HN something HND higher National Diploma.
• 22:30
  So he had higher National Diploma, then he went to
• 22:32
  Institute of Journalism, then he did the course in radio
• 22:35
  production. Then he also went to London and
• 22:37
  also did more courses in TV and radio production.
• 22:40
  But what I'm trying to say is that back then, if somebody was
• 22:42
  a journalist, best believe the person was a journalist properly
• 22:46
  called and properly trained. Because you went to school, you
• 22:50
  learnt the everything. This is how you handle the
• 22:52
  camera. This is how you mic, this is how
• 22:54
  you edit. This is how you do feed A feed
• 22:57
  B. This is how you transmit AB.
• 22:59
  You see up transmission, down transmission.
• 23:01
  As in they went to school, they learnt everything, they learnt
• 23:03
  professional ethics, objectivity, everything.
• 23:09
  They went to school. But by the time as times were
• 23:14
  changing 80s into 90s, it became clear that in Nigeria, anybody
• 23:19
  could just call themselves a journalist.
• 23:21
  All you had to do was go and buy cassette recorder.
• 23:24
  Yeah, that's what we had back then.
• 23:25
  Cassette recorder. You go and buy cassette
• 23:27
  recorder, you wear nice suit or you wear, you know, correct
• 23:32
  blazer or whatever. And then you have connection to
• 23:35
  people in power. You ask them a bunch of
• 23:37
  questions and next thing you say you're a journalist or next
• 23:40
  thing you're APR specialist or next thing you're this or you're
• 23:43
  your communication specialist. You're that.
• 23:45
  So that was what Prof was alluding to.
• 23:48
  And yes, that has been happening in Nigeria for a very long time.
• 23:51
  And it actually has been a global phenomenon that in some
• 23:54
  professions the barrier to entry is very low.
• 23:56
  So anybody can call themselves audio audio engineer.
• 24:01
  I mean, think about it now, if I want to be an audio engineer, I
• 24:03
  don't have to go to last room. All I have to do is sit down
• 24:06
  with YouTube. I watch plenty videos.
• 24:10
  By the time I watch plenty videos, and then I do some
• 24:14
  experimenting here and there. I can now say myself, I'm audio
• 24:17
  engineer even though I didn't go to school.
• 24:20
  So that's what professor was talking about with the spaces.
• 24:24
  And some of these things are becoming democratized.
• 24:26
  So anybody is a journalist, anybody's audio producer,
• 24:29
  anybody's photographer, anybody is videographer, anybody is
• 24:36
  anything because the equipment is cheap, the information is
• 24:41
  readily available on YouTube. And after all, in this space,
• 24:43
  people think we need these connections.
• 24:45
  So anybody can do the job. So I told him that unfortunately
• 24:51
  that has always been the case in Niger for for a while, so from
• 24:54
  the 80s up until now. And I told him it's not a trend
• 24:57
  that will go away. It will always be the case
• 25:01
  because let's face it, I'm here with my phone recording this
• 25:05
  podcast, and then I upload it. No editing.
• 25:08
  I'm sure audio producers who are listening to this now, I'm sure
• 25:10
  they're pulling their hair out. Like, what kind of rubbish is
• 25:12
  this? My guy just picks up the phone,
• 25:14
  records audio, puts it on the Internet, and the guy is feeling
• 25:17
  like he's a broadcaster. Did he edit?
• 25:19
  No. Did he script it?
• 25:21
  No. Did he do this?
• 25:23
  No. Is there noise gating?
• 25:25
  No. Is there?
• 25:27
  You know, So yeah, I'm sure that they're getting real angry
• 25:29
  listening to shows like this. What?
• 25:31
  This trend is not going to stop. So I told him that the future is
• 25:35
  for us to learn how to distinguish ourselves in the sea
• 25:39
  of competition that is out there.
• 25:41
  You learn how to differentiate yourself and that the only way
• 25:44
  you can differentiate yourself is from the sales process.
• 25:47
  That is what is going to help the true professional stand out
• 25:50
  from the amateur. So for somebody who goes to
• 25:53
  Lasso and who learns the technical thing from A-Z and
• 25:56
  graduates first class, but then also learns the entrepreneurial
• 25:59
  aspect, this is how you prospect, this is how you
• 26:02
  interact with clients. This is how you do client
• 26:04
  consultation. This is how you do needs
• 26:06
  analysis. This is how you do treatment for
• 26:09
  the project to be sure everybody understands.
• 26:11
  This is how you create a proposal, this is how you do
• 26:13
  presentation, this is how you negotiate, this is how you
• 26:15
  close. Now, of course, you guys teach
• 26:17
  them the project management aspect as well because after you
• 26:20
  collect somebody's money, you have to deliver on time and
• 26:22
  deliver on budget. So this is how you schedule a
• 26:25
  project. This is how you do timelines,
• 26:27
  this is how you do this, this is how you do that.
• 26:29
  This is how you handle continuity, everything.
• 26:31
  So it is only when somebody is exposed to not just the
• 26:37
  technical knowledge but then the business aspect as well that you
• 26:40
  can stand out as a true professional because the young
• 26:43
  boy or the young girl who just sits down and watches on YouTube
• 26:46
  is only going to learn that technical aspect.
• 26:48
  So the good professors in Lasso or in Ibadan or in Benwestate
• 26:59
  University, because we have a very famous mass communications
• 27:03
  department there at Benwestate University.
• 27:05
  So you professors need to introduce this part of the
• 27:07
  curriculum because that's what's going to make your people stand
• 27:09
  out. Because the young boy or girl
• 27:11
  who goes and watches something on YouTube and said, Oh yeah,
• 27:13
  me, I'm audio producer, the person will be severely lacking
• 27:16
  in this aspect. But then if you can enshrine all
• 27:18
  this in part of your curriculum and your graduates are
• 27:21
  graduating with these sorts of things, the difference will be
• 27:23
  clear. When a lasso graduate opens his
• 27:26
  mouth and has a conversation with you, you see me in analysis
• 27:29
  on point proposal is on freak. And then the way that they're
• 27:34
  handling the relationship and handling the project, the
• 27:36
  difference will be clear from somebody who just sat down in
• 27:40
  Popsy's house or Momsy's house and then watched documentary on
• 27:46
  watch the YouTube video on how to do audio production.
• 27:48
  He's now calling himself auto producer.
• 27:50
  So that is how we're going to make ourselves standard
• 27:52
  actually, not just from technical ability, but also all
• 27:57
  I call it. So I say business process
• 27:59
  ability. That is what will make the true
• 28:01
  professional stand out. So that was my advice to Prof
• 28:05
  just make sure the entrepreneurial aspect is part
• 28:07
  of the curriculum. I hope he's able to pull you
• 28:10
  through because people in academia typically don't like
• 28:12
  change. And Niger is conservative again.
• 28:15
  So I can understand how if he finishes his research and he's
• 28:18
  trying to talk to Senate, University Senate to say, OK,
• 28:20
  this is how we need to change the curriculum.
• 28:22
  I'm sure that lots of people are not going to be happy about
• 28:24
  those sorts of changes. But if he can push it through, I
• 28:27
  think this is how people in the audio production space are going
• 28:31
  to be able to stand out, are going to be able to monetize
• 28:33
  their skills in the future. And it definitely is something
• 28:36
  that you should be paying attention to in whatever sphere
• 28:39
  it is that you studied. By the way, before I run off, I
• 28:42
  am not saying that those of us who sat down and watch YouTube
• 28:46
  and learn how to do one or two things.
• 28:47
  I'm not saying that we are deficient, you know, continuing
• 28:50
  your hustle, but it gives your craft the respect that it
• 28:56
  deserves. Make sure you learn your craft.
• 28:59
  Make sure you horn your craft. It's not just about making a
• 29:01
  buck because there's some people that you know, they will do
• 29:04
  anything. If it looks like podcasting is
• 29:07
  making money today, they will see their podcaster then if next
• 29:10
  tomorrow it looks like it's crypto that was making money,
• 29:12
  they will say, OK, they need to crypto.
• 29:14
  Then the day after next tomorrow it was that is real estate that
• 29:19
  is popping. They will now say that they're
• 29:21
  real estate agent. Then next year, if it's that
• 29:24
  they discover a Nigerian superstar in football and
• 29:27
  something and it looks like a sport agent is what is making
• 29:31
  money next and they'll say that sports agent.
• 29:33
  So none of this rubbish and hopping.
• 29:42
  Sorry, one moment I need to check something.
• 29:49
  OK, sorry about that. You know, I recorded my phone,
• 29:51
  so something just came. I interrupted the recording.
• 29:53
  I lost my train of thought. OK, I guess what I was trying to
• 29:56
  say is that those of us who learn things from YouTube,
• 29:58
  because let's face it, my photography career, that's how I
• 30:00
  started. Basically, I was good at taking
• 30:02
  pictures. My flatmate said, oh, boy,
• 30:04
  you're good at this sort of thing, you should do it as a
• 30:06
  business. I said, Oh yeah, thanks.
• 30:08
  And then he sent me a couple of videos and then that's how I
• 30:10
  started learning my craft. So shout out to Aibi, who was my
• 30:14
  flatmate at the time at the University of Aberdeen.
• 30:16
  So he's part of the people who set me off on this trajectory
• 30:19
  that I am on today because he said, look, you got the skills,
• 30:22
  you should do this thing. And then after a while, he
• 30:24
  started sending me YouTube videos.
• 30:25
  So this is how you learn the craft.
• 30:26
  Well, go forth and make some money.
• 30:28
  So Aibi Dangana, my guy, thank you very much for setting me off
• 30:32
  on my path. So that's it, 30 minutes.
• 30:35
  Let me bring this episode to a close.
• 30:38
  If you are a Prof or you happen to know a Prof in any university
• 30:43
  who is also thinking about these sorts of things and they want
• 30:45
  advice about how their curriculum can be expanded to
• 30:49
  introduce these sorts of things into entrepreneurial aspects
• 30:52
  into the curriculum, then by all means give your Prof your uncle
• 30:57
  or whoever it is. If Prof happens to be your
• 30:59
  uncle. Given my phone number, I would
• 31:01
  love to have a conversation with people in the academia because
• 31:04
  this collaboration between people in in the academia and
• 31:07
  those of us who are live and in the field, this is how we get
• 31:10
  our disciplines to develop. So this conversation between
• 31:16
  academia and those of us who are in the field, it must always
• 31:19
  continue because the people that are going to enjoy at the end of
• 31:21
  the day will be the students because professors will bring
• 31:23
  their own. Those of us practitioners will
• 31:25
  bring our own that cross pollination, the children are
• 31:28
  the ones who are going to benefit from it.
• 31:30
  So thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 31:32
  My contact details are the phone number 0806466 2140.
• 31:39
  The country code is +234. For those of you who are not
• 31:42
  Nigerian, then you can also connect with me on LinkedIn.
• 31:45
  The name to look out for establishing.
• 31:47
  I'm the host of the show. Just look at the link where I
• 31:49
  listen to this episode. You see my name there, highlight
• 31:52
  it, copy and paste in LinkedIn. My handsome face will come out.
• 31:55
  Send me a connection request and we can be having a conversation
• 31:57
  24 hours, 48 hours later. So yeah, thanks for your time
• 32:03
  and attention. I'll catch you guys on the next
• 32:05
  episode.