Diaspora Chronicles - Bringing Value to Businesses and Careers in the African Community

#34 – Think twice B4 asking them to put down the video games

December 15, 2020Business

Since esports is still at its infancy, there are opportunities to ride the wave and make money before everything becomes extremely expensive. For example the Chicago Bulls were purchased for $16.2 million in 1985, today the team is worth $3.2 billion. Now many of us don’t have millions in the bank to buy a sports team, as a result, we performed some brainstorming and reviewed a recent Trends article to develop five lower capital opportunities to make money in the esports industry.

#33 – Commercializing Roller Skating in Nigeria

December 8, 2020Business

There is an opportunity to better commercialize roller skating as a leisure activity in the Nigeria. An outdoor roller rink will serve as an establishment for teenagers and the youth to hang out with friends, race around the rink, listening to music and munching on their favorite food. Factors that further reinforce this opportunity include the predictable weather in Nigeria, minimal competition in this space, lack of good roads to support roller skating, and the continuous curiosity to engage in activities popular in the Western world.

#32 – Considering Investing in Property Back Home?

November 25, 2020Wellness

Given the Price-to-Rent ratios in U.S. vs Lagos, it makes more sense to buy residential properties in the US as opposed to Lagos. The average ratio in the US is 18 indicating that a landlord gets the renter to pay off the property in 18 years, while in Lagos the average ratio for houses is 30 and apartments is 40. This indicates that an average renter in Lagos would take almost 40 years to pay off the value of the home in annual rent.

#31 – Inspiring Africans

November 18, 2020Wellness

Ben’s father was a police officer in Ghana, who rose through the ranks and became the head of Ghana Police and then the Minister of Interior. As Ghana was under a military rule, in 1979, there was a coup d’ etat, where the ruling government was overthrown and Ben’s father was exiled from Ghana. Ben explained that the government confiscated all his father’s assets and that the rest of the family lived in Ghana while their father lived in Togo in exile.

#30 – New Service for African Businesses

November 10, 2020Business

We need a cost efficient service where a business owner can mail their products to a professional photographer, who can take pictures of the products with models in a professional studio and then email the final pictures to the business owner at a reasonable price.

#29 – New College Business to Create Jobs

November 4, 2020Business, Career

A Nigerian University like UNILAG (University of Lagos) can implement a similar program, let’s call it “Unilag Ventures”, where high performing first year students can apply to start a business under Unilag Ventures with startup funding from the University as well as corporate sponsors. A Board should be created for Unilag Ventures, which will constitute of faculty members, Corporate Executives and also Government representatives. In addition, faculty and corporate mentors will be assigned to the students to help guide them through their operations. Having this Board and mentors will give students access to high profile individuals, who can help with job placement post-graduation, help provide corporate donations and also government investment in the Unilag Ventures program.

#28 – 7 Strategies to Support your Business

October 13, 2020Business

Don’t mine for gold, sell shovels....... During the gold rush of the 1850’s, the people who became wealthy were the entrepreneurs selling the supplies needed to extract gold, not the people digging for gold. In today’s world, look at what is trending e.g. there is a significant increase in the purchase of plants during the COVID pandemic, instead of trying to sell plants too, look for products that support plants for example start selling soil. Also, there has been a significant spike in the sales of bicycles due to the pandemic, consider starting a bike winter storage unit business.

#27 – The Need for African Images in Business

October 7, 2020Business

One of the biggest challenges African businesses and content writers face is the lack of stock images available for African content. For example, an African spices business needs a picture of an African mother cooking, however, it is difficult to find a quality stock image to purchase. A month ago, we wrote an article on Uber drivers in Africa, similarly, we were unable to find a stock image of an African Uber driver, so we had to use an American driver, which didn’t have the same authentic feel to drive our story.

#26 – African Food Start-Up Journey

September 30, 2020Business

Funmi explains that there are lots of activities going on with the business, in the short term, she is working on getting into retail stores in the United States. She is excited and will be making some announcements in the near future regarding physical retail stores. In addition, she is extending the product into other geographic locations due to inquiries from potential customers outside the U.S.

#25 – Hotels.com for Banquet Halls

September 22, 2020Business

Eventhalls.com is an online website where customers can view the availability of banquet halls/event spaces to make a reservation for their party event. The website will display the calendar of the banquet halls, making it easy for potential customers to browse through the different locations, view pictures, check their available dates and make a reservation. Think of hotels.com for banquet halls.