Space Summary
The Twitter Space Moonshot Series: Systems, structure and culture in building a team hosted by TechCabal. Explore the intricate dynamics of team building within the African context in the Moonshot Series. Uncover the significance of diverse talent, effective communication, and positive organizational culture in fostering innovation. Learn how technology, structural balance, and conflict resolution strategies play crucial roles in optimizing team performance. Embrace continuous learning, celebrate achievements, and adapt to cultural nuances for cohesive and collaborative team environments. Find insights on establishing successful communication strategies, managing conflicts constructively, and promoting a culture of inclusivity and empathy within teams.
For more spaces, visit the Innovation page.
Questions
Q: How does diversity contribute to innovation in team building?
A: Diverse teams bring unique perspectives, creativity, and problem-solving approaches, fostering innovation.
Q: What role does culture play in team collaboration?
A: Culture influences communication styles, teamwork dynamics, and overall work environment, impacting collaboration.
Q: How can technology optimize team performance?
A: Technology facilitates efficient task management, real-time collaboration, and data-driven decision-making within teams.
Q: Why is continuous learning important within a team?
A: Continuous learning fosters skill development, adaptability, and innovation, keeping teams competitive.
Q: How to handle conflicts within a team constructively?
A: Addressing conflicts openly, actively listening, and seeking resolutions collaboratively promotes a positive team dynamic.
Q: What are the benefits of celebrating team achievements?
A: Celebrating achievements boosts morale, motivation, and reinforces a positive team culture.
Q: Why is it essential to balance flexibility and structure in team management?
A: Balancing flexibility allows adaptation to change, while structure provides guidance and clarity in roles and responsibilities.
Q: How to establish effective communication strategies within a team?
A: Clear communication channels, active listening, and feedback mechanisms enhance team collaboration and goal alignment.
Q: In what ways does positive organizational culture impact team productivity?
A: Positive culture fosters employee satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty, resulting in improved productivity and performance.
Q: Why is it crucial to adapt to cultural nuances within a team setting?
A: Understanding cultural differences promotes respect, empathy, and inclusivity, enhancing team cohesion and collaboration.
Highlights
Time: 00:15:42
The Power of Diversity in Team Innovation Exploring how diverse teams drive innovation and creativity.
Time: 00:25:19
Cultural Influences on Team Dynamics Understanding how cultural aspects shape communication and collaboration.
Time: 00:35:08
Technology's Role in Team Efficiency Optimizing team performance through technology integration and tools.
Time: 00:45:56
Conflict Resolution Strategies within Teams Managing conflicts constructively to strengthen team relationships.
Time: 00:55:33
Importance of Celebrating Team Wins Boosting team morale and cohesion through recognition and celebration.
Time: 01:05:22
Balancing Flexibility and Structure in Teams Finding the right mix of flexibility and structure for effective team management.
Time: 01:15:10
Communication Strategies for Team Success Enhancing collaboration through clear communication channels and feedback mechanisms.
Time: 01:25:48
Positive Organizational Culture Impact Examining how a positive culture influences team productivity and satisfaction.
Time: 01:35:37
Adapting to Cultural Nuances in Teams Promoting inclusivity and understanding through cultural adaptation within teams.
Key Takeaways
- Importance of diverse talent in team building for innovation.
- Structuring teams for efficiency while fostering creativity and collaboration.
- Establishing a positive organizational culture enhances team productivity.
- Effective communication strategies promote team cohesion and goal alignment.
- Utilizing technology and systems to streamline team processes.
- Adapting to cultural nuances and diversity within the team dynamic.
- Encouraging continuous learning and growth within the team environment.
- Balancing flexibility and structure in team management.
- Celebrating team achievements to boost morale and motivation.
- Recognizing and addressing conflicts constructively within the team.
Behind the Mic
Introduction
Hi everyone. Good evening and welcome to Moonshot X Spaces. So we're just going to give our guests a couple of minutes to arrive before we go right into today's agenda.
Welcoming Guests
Hi ef, welcome. Good evening. Hi everyone. Good evening. We're just giving some time, say two minutes for other people to join before we start. That's very fine, all.
Introduction of Emmanuel
So before our second cohost joins, I will just start by reading out Emmanuel's bio. So Emmanuel Faith is a globally certified HR professional with a strong background in economics. He has led HR initiatives at companies like BKbau Media, Kawiwise and General Electric. Emmanuel Faith founded HR clinic and luminous consults, focusing on advisory services for startups and career solutions for professionals. A full time TEDx speaker and advocates for SDG five, he has facilitated over 200 hr related engagements and authored two ebooks on career and personal branding. Recognized as a top HR voice on LinkedIn, Faith also writes about women's football and co founded Favora, a media brand for female african footballers. Emmanuel fates, thank you so much for joining us today. So lovely to have you here.
Response from Emmanuel
Thank you very much. I am glad I'm here. Thank you. This is what did they used to do when they read people's profile again? I mean, now it's virtual, so I probably stare into this space. You've done amazing work. It's not a bad thing if you own it. So, yeah, so, we're just going to dive right into today's agenda.
Discussion on Startup Challenges
So this space is about system structure and culture in a building theme, essentially. So, to go right into it, Emmanuel, what do you consider to be the biggest challenge with startups when it comes to hiring their first set of employees? Omar, you didn't give me. Did you not even start on a very soft note? You cannot, like, start softly. Let's give you soft landing.
Introduction by Second Speaker
Okay. Hi everyone. Welcome to Moonshot XPC. This is organized by tech about in preparation for moonshots. If you have not gotten your moonshot ticket, please God, get it. Thank you. hope you are not in Lagos traffic. If you're in lagosian, hope you've eaten. Hope you're not in traffic. This may try to calm myself because of the hard question I asked me, by the way.
Challenges in Hiring Talents
Okay, I, I mean, three key things. one is resources, right? Because you're hiring your first set of talents. One, you want to get it right. You want to be sure that you're bringing the right kind of people. The most successful startups are those who got it right the first time. I feel like some funders are luckier than the other. And then I can easily make reference to a couple startups in the african ecosystem, right? We, all of us talk about the story of Piggyvest. That was because it was like five co founders with totally different set skills, right? You know, some people are lucky to have very set first set of brilliant talents, like carrier wise, right? Who had like a good design person, good engineering person, good cx person.
Resource Management in Startups
So it's always one the resources, then the next thing is then the searching of the talents. Most times, founders do not know the kind of talent they want. They want someone who does all fits. There's a joke we make in talent management in startups. We say that all startups need a buyer, so a seller and a builder. To be honest, when you're making your first hires, you need both. You need someone that can build and someone that can sell. And if you do not have money, it's hard to find someone that can build and someone that can sell, right? So these are like the top two things.
Understanding Hiring Needs
And maybe the last one is sometimes the founders don't even know who they need, right? And that's why when I consult for, when I consult with funders at HR clinic, half of the time, especially when it comes to the IRA talent, trust me, half of the time. And maybe they write their jds because you just have this very bogus JD that is very vague. And so if you have a big JD, you don't even know who you want to hire. So I spent like 30 minutes brainstorming and asking questions and probing and asking more questions. I was still on a call with someone yesterday that told me two weeks ago that I'm looking for this and then came to tell me another thing. I'm like, guy, let's just get on a call. Why? Why did you suddenly wake up and added this criteria? You know, let's talk about it.
Concluding Thoughts
So those three things, one, the obvious limited resources because you're just starting out your complaint. Two, out finding a builder and a seller. And then three, is you even understanding what you want to hire and the kind of traits or skills that you're looking for, where you want to hire. Yeah. Two, three, thank you very much. I think that has been very enlightening and insightful. Just piggybacking on that. What happens in a case where the startup doesn't have, you know, enough money? How do they maneuver this situation and still get the best talent? Is there any way?
Funders' Perspectives
Okay, so I'm assuming that, you know, a couple people on this calls are startup funders, and a couple are also talent too. Right. So I'm going to speak from both perspectives. I think one thing I've noticed is that funders sometimes are not honest with themselves. Right. You want to get, again, I speak to funders like, oh, you want to get quality talent. Okay, now, what's your budget? 250k, sir. Is it forever? Right. I think that it's very healthy and it's very okay for you to start with a quality talent at your level. Right.
Defining Quality Talent
I was, I think, I can't remember which I think it was get paid, hr, Twitter space. And someone was talking about the difference in quality talent. As, for example, if you're starting out your startup, right, a quality marketer might just be someone that has two years experience or someone that has a lot of experience, but can only give you 20 hours per week. Right. And so you just determining you first, acknowledging your constraints, then knowing what is available and what you can get within your resources. It's very important.
Looking for Interested Individuals
So look for people who are interested in what you want to do. Look for people that are looking to prove themselves in different places that I've worked, I've hired that kind of talent before. In fact, as a matter of fact, open confession. Thank God there are just people in this space, people have not invited. A lot of people tweet about this space so that more people will join. Thank you.
Opportunities for Individuals
There's one of you, I won't mention the company, but there's a role that I picked up, and I keep thinking, and I still think about it, that the reason why I did so well in that role was because I wanted to prove myself, right. So there are people that are looking for opportunities to prove themselves. There are people that looking for a platform to prove themselves. And, you know, your startup might just be that place where they get the chance to prove themselves.
Leveraging Expertise
That's one, two, what are the expertise that you can leverage on? Again, it's a gig economy, right? What are the expertise that you can leverage on that can add value to what you are building before you're able to bring someone on board? This is what I mean, imagine that you're being a startup, right? You cannot afford a very experienced data scientist or data engineer, but you can afford someone that just graduated from. I hope that this comes, I mentioned, I hope they are sponsoring.
Building Knowledge Exchange
You can afford a graduate of old school is one of the best take around, right? Or a graduate of ALx or something. Now can you get a graduate and can you also, get someone, was your former colleague or somewhere in one organization to coach that graduate that you just got over the next couple months. Right. That way there is a knowledge exchange. You have a talent that you can afford. I also leverage you on your social capital to transfer some expertise and knowledge.
Self-Reflection for Funders
Right. So I feel like sometimes when funders are hiring talent, they try to buy bites more than they can chew. As against exploring the options around them, there are a lot of them, volunteer, entry level designers, entry level like professionals leveraging your social capital to experience some transfer of knowledge and skills, looking for people who are really desperately wanting and longing to prove themselves.
Summary of Suggestions
Right. So those are a couple suggestions. Thank you very much. I think it really makes a lot of sense that you, as an employee, try to prove yourself wherever you are, can open doors to many opportunities which I myself have been a benefactor of. So, a beneficiary, rather. hi, faith. Welcome. I hope you can hear me.
Engagement with the Audience
Yeah, yeah, we can. All right. took a bit to join. so, faith, good to have you here. so this is popular saying about our culture, its strategy for breakfast, right? And I'm curious to know, what does a good startup culture look like and what does it look and feel like from your perspective?
Thoughts on Company Culture
You know, I've been thinking very hard, right? And I was like, maybe I need to do a video on company culture, so that every time someone asks me, I'm able to just coherently put my thoughts. But every time I get asked this question, the first thing I ask is how many of us did social studies that we know, people that attended here for gay high school, and people that attended Queen's College and King's College.
Cultural Understanding
If you did social studies and you did culture in primary school, secondary school, we have to testicle. Let me see. Let's. Let's see if all of us attended good school. Hey, you people attended in for GE high school. Okay. Okay. If you didn't react. okay, good school. I mean, were taught in social studies that culture is a way of life, right?
Living Company Culture
And so when I think about company culture, I'm thinking about, how do this organization live life? Literally, how does work life look in this organization? Okay, work life sounds confusing. How does life at work look like in this organization? So, cultural majorities and, encompasses of what are your, what are the attitude, what are the shared values?
Norms and Behaviors
What are the norms? What are the behaviors? Now, things that people normally would make reference to that we gloss over, actually call things that make up culture. For instance, if a culture is first name and you're using, sir. I'm presently working with someone and we've been fighting for, with, for about that over like the last three days. Like, don't use that for me. Just call me fate or Emmanuel.
Impact of Addressing
Or Emmanuel. Fate. My names are very melodious and sweet. Why are you using sir? Any smarting, sir? Mister Emmanuel. A lot of you are going to call me mister in this life. I don't want to start adding to them now. Now it might sound very minute because it's just, oh, what's first name? But what it psychologically does is that if you can call your CEO by name, then you can send a slack message to your CEO.
Communication Culture
You do not think that your CEO will say with this intent, sending me a slack message. Right? So things like first name basis, things like how collaborative, you know, you're doing cultural interviews, and I hope that people ask me questions around this. When it's time to ask questions, you're doing cultural interview and they're asking you, how do you like to work?
Work Preferences
Do you like to work with people or do you like to work alone? Hrs are not asking these questions from for phone guys because there are companies that are very collaborative. You cannot do anything in. If you try to work in silo, you're going to be extremely frustrated. And there are also companies that they are so compartmentalized that you can join the team, join the onboarding, and after the onboarding, you might not talk to your HR for the next three months. Right? So how do we interact? How do we behave? How do we talk? How do we share ideas? What, what does Internet communication look like? Do we use slack? Do you reuse email?
Company Culture
Every time I have to talk about culture, I always make reference to this. When I was at a certain organization, my first meeting with the team leads, I'm like, oh, everybody, check your email. I've fixed a meeting. And then the CX leads came to my DM to say, hope we are safe. I'm like, oh, yeah, we are safe. You know, I just wanted to catch up. Like, this one, they are sending email. Email is only used for serious things in this company. All the Internet communications go through slack. It was very minor, but it was also very major. Right, right. So I just think about all the components that makes up the interactions and execution in an organization. Those are literally the components of culture. Either is a startup or not, to be honest.
Addressing Cultural Knowledge Gaps
All right, thank you very much, Manofit. Benito. Back to me, Emmanuel. I think that was really good one on company culture. But as regards this culture, what would you say are the knowledge gaps that can hinder founders from building the right culture? Very see, thank you very much for that question. I think there's one sticker like that on Twitter that says, thank you very much for that question. Again, back to definition. I think were saying, I think it was destiny that was saying that a lot of problem Africans have is that we do not think, we just do. It sounded like a sub, but it's very true. I feel like sometimes people do not even sit down to think to say, I'm building this company. What do I want to be known for?
Identifying Core Values
For instance, people say, oh, these are core values. If I asked you before this call that the last two companies you worked with measure their core values. In fact, if you can mention it, streets at this space. Let me see, maybe the first correct answer. We get Sharama for the weekend. I'm very sure that half of you cannot remember, you don't know your company covers. You just did it an onboarding and that was the end. Right? And it's not even your fault. Maybe your head hrself does not do your covering and like, and you kind of talk about building a culture or scaling a culture if you do not even know the foundation. Some people don't know the mission ambition of their company, right.
Importance of Communication
They just joined the company. I don't get off how it finally happened. Tweets, congratulations. All of us who come under the tweet, the post I'll say, you know, congratulations. Congratulations on boarding. You are not listening, right? And then you only interact with the call valley. It's just your first week and then that's the end of it. Because people do not define and then communicate and then people connect with. It's something that we remember that we'll connect with. So I feel like one, startup funders, either you're a co founder, you're a joint finder. It's very important that you sit down and discuss the things that would define your organization.
Reinforcing Culture
And if there is need, you continue to upload it or update it as you evolve. That's one, two. It's very important that as your team expand, these things is reinforced either at your boarding, either at your company retreats, either at your. What's that thing that they used to drive you from? Id. You will shrimp me now. Yeah. All. Thank you very much. Yes. You know, people that always punctual at all hands. Yeah. So those are ways to ensure that these things are built and these things are reinforced. Thank you very much.
Establishing a People Management System
All right, all right. Thank you so much. So let's take the case of a first time founder, right? Somebody just starts in a company that manages logistics for, like, fashion items delivery, right? Can you walk us through what a good people management system and structure looks like? You're asking me questions that people used to pay dollars to hear. Anyway, it's only moonshots that can do that, and it's you people. Okay, so very simple, right? so I'm studying a company today. What's the illustration? I'm a logistic company for fashion. Right? Yes, yes.
Planning and Hiring Staff
Among that illustration that you use is very hard. But let's, let's take an attempt. So I'm a logistic company for fashion. the first thing is who are my most important talents at the beginning? In HR, we call it workforce planning. so one, I need riders, obviously, because I'm a logistic company. I maybe need an operations person because logistics is a very operations heavy industry. So I an operations manager. Do I need an accountant or can I find one of my finance guys to run my accounts for me? Right. I probably don't need HR at the beginning. Sorry, HR guys.
Managing Customer Experience
I need a CX person, obviously, because Nigerians are always angry and they are going to rant and they don't get their order. They need someone to be able to call and scream at. So I'm going to hire a cx person. So for me, the first important thing is the workforce planning. What am I starting? Staff? How many do I need? Just three riders from, say, I'm starting Lagos. So one rider just. They born the mainland. They even bought that cousin Qatar bridge or Tom mainland. Just stay on the mainland. All our orders on the mainland, you take it and you deliver it.
Addressing Startup Challenges
Right? Another rider on the island, you know, and then maybe it's one for emergency in case the wife of one of the riders decides to get pregnant or someone decides to have emergency malaria. Those are the random issues that, you know, a startup face. So I feel like starting with that very defined roles for your first set of team will then determine what goes on. So now I have my starting team policies, obviously policies. People overlook the place of policies.
Implementing Policies
In the last six months, half of the things I've done for funders aside recruitment and helping them write JD because, I'm sorry, a lot of nigerian funders don't know how to write a JD and they will not even listen to HR is policies. Right. What are the things guiding me? For example, something very interesting approach. I ordered a package for my friend and then, and Uber either took the package away. So today we have not gotten the package, 30k package in this Tinuba economy anyway.
Analyzing Complaints
So what are the policies? If my rider takes the cleanse good away, can I sue the person? What's the current thought process? What's the background check? Right. So policies. So I do that for three months, right? And then I would do analysis. Where are my highest complaints from? Is it time of delivery? Is it turnover? Thigh? Is it quality of delivery? Yes.
Hiring a Marketer
Then I probably hire a marketer or. Yeah, a marketer. Definitely any kind of marketer. I'm very sure that my friend Adebola Williams is very happy to hear this. So I would hire a marketer, right? Because now I offer this service, I need someone to redefine how I sell this service. I need someone to guide how I reach my audience. And then I will just begin to scale gradually.
Scaling with Values
What is the critical niche that I have now? What is the critical role that I need now? How do I hire the person? How do I scale that alongside my values, missions, vision, whatever. And it's very important. So for example, two particular things. Imagine that you're a logistic, you can be a logistic person, and you only cater for express deliveries. So your vision or your tagline might be get your other same day within quality.
Defining Clientele
So anybody that is coming to negotiate as sorry for those that don't understand, delivery is 4000. Can I pay 25? That's not your client. Your client is someone that is willing to pay six k or ten k for same day delivery. So workforce planning policies, then analyzing the core talent I need and then hiring those core talents. Yeah, that's like a quick step by step process.
Achieving Successful People Management
Thank you, ef. Let's just go straight this next question. So according to the 2023 great Place to work list that was released, only two it companies, which are Cisco at number three and Salesforce at number seven, made it top ten of the list. So what would you say are the top three indicators to look out for in order to achieve successful people management in the tech space? I wanted to say that, like, have you seen it companies have you see how those people work?
Challenges in Tech Workplaces
They cannot make great place to work. I'm sorry. In fact, if they make it, they're going to fight that list. Okay. So honestly, and this is me being as practical as possible, especially from a business perspective, it's really hard, right? Because when you are in a building phase, you need people to put in the extra hours you need. You need people to like there are some things that are just obtainable in, like, different kind of organizations and you might not just be able to do.
Work Culture Observations
For example, I just wrote an article for career body and I think they just even posted about it. And I was talking about four day work week and the editor was like, startup left the group chat. So I think one is company culture, which I think that we have overflowed. two is work life balance, which obviously does not exist in tech, sadly. three is compensation, right? It's okay for work life balance not to exist, but do you, does your company actually recognize that people are doing great work and are they being rewarded for that?
Practical Implementations for CX Teams
For instance, something very practical. And if you are a founder here, I hope that you consider implementing this, athlete. I mean, I can. I can say the number of companies because I implemented it wise. We had a policy. Our CX team worked around the clock, right? But we paid them for the days that they were not supposed to work, that they worked, right? So we have, for example, public quality allowance. So if a customer, experienced person, and you work on public holiday, you're going to get paid, right? You're going to get paid that daily wage alongside your salary, right? And it's just we saying, hey, we know that you're not supposed to work on these days, but sadly, because you work in a fintech in engineering where someone can call us on Twitter if we don't reply them immediately, you have to work. However, we are also going to reward you for this work. So we have that right now it's 24.
Inclusion and Accessibility for People with Disabilities
And then inclusion is becoming a very big thing. So what is the. I just finished a discussion with my colleague and we're talking about PWD, that's people with disabilities, how for those that have physical places, physical offices, how hospitable, you know, how acceptable is your space to people with PWD? I attended UDC today, that's on title design conference, and there was an interpreter. Is it an interpreter like a sign language person? And I just felt that's the most amazing thing that I had seen in any conference in Nigeria this year. Right. So there is. That. There is empowerment. People want to learn, people want to develop. So you're a startup, you don't have a lot of. That's right. Why are you deliberately training your people? And training is not, is not. there's a $10 course on Udemy. Go and take it now. How deliberate are you about people's career path, career projection?
Reflections on Remote Work Preferences
If I talk a lot. Let me stop there. I hope that you get something. Yeah. All right. All right. Thank you for sharing. So my next question is about remote or virtual workspaces? Which do you prefer and why? This question that you asked me, I have to ask. God, I used to be very bribing, right? I love people. If you met me before, you will know that I love people and I am an introvert. People don't believe me, but I'm also a ball of energy when I'm around people. So I definitely, definitely love ibridge. But now that I've stayed at home for like one year, run away from 95, I also feel like I love the corner of my house. Right. I only want to go out when I want to. So remote. I also don't want to fully remote, Roman. I want to be able to see my colleagues. So I'm probably, I don't think that will ever get to a point where I will put pk fully on site or fully remote.
Startup Dynamics and Growth Structures
I'm very pro hybrid. Boy, if you don't put a gun on my neck, I think I'll put remote. Just because you want to see my colleagues, I can call all of them. I say, let's go and eat somewhere. Yeah. I can call someone, say, I'm in your city. Sure. Thank you, ef. So, for a. For growing startup, right? I know growing startup is of like a tautology, but we have established big startups. So for startups that actually just starting up, which of these types of work steps would you recommend, please? If I find out, yeah, react to this. Do a thumbs up. If you are a talent and you're not going to be a founder anytime soon, do use a love sticker. So I will know how to balance my feedback. Because some people say I'm taking some people's side, people should react. I'll call you people out too. I know people that are friends here. I know people that are talent.
Advice for First-Time Founders on Hiring
Okay. So honestly, in yoga, but they will say, you understand that. I think that a startup that is just starting off should not be remote. And that's my honest opinion. I feel like there is a lot of interaction and a lot of bonding that AIDS speedy execution. That happens when you in, when you're in person and see a multiple person that come and argue and say, hey, this is 24, we can do slack, we can schedule meetings, yada, yada. But if you check out, I mean, register your facetack. I know that Kara is a little bit of that to reach a bumper. You would see that at some point people were in the same space, betting ideas someone is betting an idea someone is executing. So I feel like in the first few years, one to three years, or one to two, if I'm being gracious, I think that there should be some sort of physical interaction, because there is just a lot of idea execution that can happen when people of the same mind are thinking about the same goal in the same space.
Building Strong Teams and Company Culture
So, yeah, I do not think that if you're just starting out, you should be fully or not. And you can ask me questions if you argue against me when it's time for questions. Oh, all right, Manuel. So in this op spot, list of top reasons why startups fail, not hiring the right people was like listed as number five and on the book why startups fail. It also talked about the importance of staff and structure. So for first time founders, right, who have no experience at all, how did they, like, hire the right set of people, and how do you think they can build the right staff and structure? Okay, first, if I first time find out, please book a session with HR clinic. Thank you very much. How so? It's very important that you find people who are genuinely interested in what you're building.
The Value of Genuine Interest in Recruitment
I feel like there is no amount of compensation and remuneration that can replace genuine interest. One of the clients, one of, I think one of my most favorite clients at the moment is I don't know if she would give me permission to share. I mean, I don't think she will mind. He's an NGO is. I think he's one of the leading NGO when it comes to SDG 13, renewable energy, green energy, climate movements in Nigeria. And I remember that when I was handing their recruitment and when I was designing their HR processes, I kept on laying emphasis on the fact that it was important for them to hire someone that was genuinely interested in renewable energy, climate change. Now, see, it's okay to be very selfish, right? It's okay, for example, it's okay for you to be interested in renewable energy and climate change because two years down the line you want to apply for Mastercard scholarship.
Understanding the Importance of Transparency
I know that Mastercard will give you a scholarship if you have done something in rebuild energy. Like, it's totally okay. Because guess what? In that two years, what happens is that you will do shitload of work and then my company's group will grow because I've hired you to come and work with me. But I think it's very important that people hire a who is genuinely interested in the mission of the company. When I was at Kris for our key, we call them like critical roles or key function roles. One of the random culture interview questions that we ask is, have you made a money mistake before? Or has someone around you made a money mistake before? Because we just wanted to do a double check and be sure that you understand the problem we are trying to use our product to solve. You are not just joining another fintech out of the list of 57 fintechs in Nigeria that is doing payments, wealth and savings, like one of my friends would say, right?
The Necessity of Open Communication
So I cannot emphasize the importance of hiring people that are genuinely interested. The second part, which is where people talents drop off, is be honest, be very honest. Communicate to people. Let people know the state of the company. Let people know if the company is going to make it or nothing, that they will quickly preach their tents elsewhere. Communicate funding, communicate products, communicate growth. Share the real time numbers. There's one of my favorite CEO on Twitter. I'm not going to give you a shout out because I don't know if he's paying for this or not, but I just love how he just talks about this company, talks about the challenges he's facing, talks about his win, talks about the losses, talk about the disappointment. Because what it means is that when, when people join your company at initial stage, they are betting their life with you.
The Responsibility of Founders
I do not think that founders understand that. They are literally saying, hey, I want to pitch my 10th year. I want to bet my life with you for the next six months or for the next one year. And so if someone is betting their life with you, I think that is very important that you show them how it's going. I don't know if people watch K drama here. If you watch K drama, please react with a smiley. One of my favorite K dramas in this life is a yemenite in one class. And either you watch Kdrama or not. If you're an entrepreneur, I think you should absolutely work, watch it in one class. One of my favorite part is where, you know, the manager tells the owner to say, hey, you cannot go to this investment meeting without me. You cannot make this investment decision without me because I am the manager.
The Ethics of Leadership Compensation
So I find this do not come. And that's why you hear Jesus. That's why you hear that someone is collecting $140 a month. Because if you are CEO, you are collecting one hundred twenty K dollars and you're paying your talents, maybe even if you are paying them well. Yes, you are paying them well. You are paying them like $500 or $1,000, but you are pocketing ten k dollars. That's unfair, right? That's. That's disappointing. That's actually. And someone will not leave that company. You will not go to another company. That defender is nice, but because they broken the talent hats, it will just say our. No more loyalty or fuck loyalty. And you know, so those two things, one, higher people that genuinely interested in what you're building to honestly communicate.
Creating Global Solutions from Local Contexts
Yeah, those two things very important. Thank you very much, yev. So for our final question, it's moonshots related, right? So this year's moonshot theme is building for the world. So how can african startups build a company that can attract global talent and also elevate the status of local talents here in Africa in the global market space? Omar, this is the question that you're supposed to start with because this one is easy. You know why it's easy? Because there are really references shout out to, I will always pray for defenders of space stack, even though there's a close cover there. But yeah, it's. It's really exciting that you can just look around you and like make a reference. I. One, I think that Nigerians are building amazing products. Again, because of what I do with HR clinic, different kind of people, you know, consult.
Innovative Problem-Solving in Nigerian Startups
And then when I'm done with the. A couple of times you see me come and make a tweet, I just listened to what they are building. Like, first, how did you conceptualize this? Second, how did you even think that this will work? Second thought, how are you even making it work? Right. People are building solutions, not just for Nigerians, but solutions are really global standard. And I just wished that we had like a better macroeconomic system. I'm not going to shade any government right now, but I wish that we had a better macroeconomic system supporting the foreigners. How can you build a global solution? I honestly think one of my favorite phrases or coinage in this world is globalization. So people talk about globalization, but I talk about localization.
Finding Local Solutions for Global Challenges
So how can I think of a global problem and solve it within my locality? It's one of the reasons why I always root for shortlist, right? I think that shortlist is one of those startup staff because like transportation system is not Nigeria. Have you people been to India? Have you seen the nonsense that happens in Delhi? Lagos doesn't have traffic. Ask any of your friends that have gone to India, they will tell you, right? So how can I pick a global problem and solve the local part, right?
Startups and Growth Opportunities
I think that a couple startups are doing that already. I've given a couple names, I've given shout out to a couple names. But I'm more interested in the second part, to be honest. I think that as a new founder, this might not be immediately achievable, but I think as you grow and expand, this will be achievable. And we can see it. We have global talent. Working with Paystack, working with Africa Change, working with Piggyves, working with old school. I facilitated a Dei knowledge sharing session with old school as far back as 2022. And they had a sizable percentage of Europeans, Americans, people from nordic countries, scandinavian countries. And it was also quite exciting. Right? It means that we are, I mean, the CEO of. The current CEO of Paystack left World bank to join Paystack. That's. That's insane. To living, automatic passports, diplomatic passport, to come and join a startup.
Quality Developments in Nigeria
Right? So it just means that we're really building quality stuff in Nigeria. How come people get elevated to their global status? Three things. Give people future value. I don't know. If you guys in this series of spaces, you would have a session dedicated to talking about stocks, equities, and stuff. If you don't, I hope that there's a panel that will talk about that. I'm not sure by tech about, people, Nigerians don't understand the concept of future value, but a few people that understand it often bets their life on it. Right? And that's why when people say, oh, I'm giving equity. Okay, that's why you're giving this equity. This is because they are giving. Do you believe in it? Or did you just find this company so that you apply for technician next year? Sorry. Wherever. Catch that. Just that. So sorry. It's very important that you are given. You are giving, like, your talent, future value that yourself believe in.
Global Standards and Culture
That's one. So it's very important that you continuously make reference to global standards everywhere that worked. When I'm talking about culture, I always reference Netflix. I just think that for me, about culture, Netflix is the standard for other parts, for products. Apple might be the standard, you know, for usability. Google might be the standard. It's very important that you bring this global context to local scenarios, so that while there is no easy reference of what you want to know, where there is no close reference to what you want to build, people can look at these global platforms and say, okay, this is what we are trying to build in Nigeria. I hope I have not talked too much. No, no. You've been really enlightened. It's been an enlightening conversation. And to what you said, we do have a startup stage at moonshots by Tekaba where all of these contemporary global talent issues would be addressed.
Challenges Facing Global Companies
So it's time for questions. If you have any questions, you can just request for the mic or raise your hand and I'll elevate you to speakers. Everyone have a question while we're waiting for people to raise their hand. So I know you are not like a magician or you're not in people's minds, right? We have always wondered why these global companies would post job opportunities and say EMEA, right? And people have been saying that a is silent. So what do you think? What do you think can be done to remedy that? And do you think they have a good enough reason for actually not accepting african applicants when they actually put it in the application that they will? My sister, this question that you have asked me, so one, I do not like fallacy of generalization.
Hiring Practices in Global Companies
So I just want to put it out there that there are global companies that I am from Africa. I was on a call with an HR from Bloomberg like four weeks ago and were literally talking about this. So I know that there were a lot of financial services, consulting hire a lot from Africa, but I think that a lot of migration of talents has happened over the last three years to Bloomberg, bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgane. Yeah. However, I haven't put that disclaimer. I do. Those guys, there's a rejection mail that I got. And so they had rejected me because I was not in their time zone. And I wanted to tell you that you, I don't used to sleep. As a matter of fact, I used to watch NWSL for those that watch NWS's national women's soccer league. And it's played in the midnight, because it's midnight, it's afternoon american time, which is midnight.
Logistical Issues from an African Context
And so like, I just found a recruiter and then I sent her a message like, oh, you sent me a rejection. You rejected me not based on competence or, but based on my time zone, but you indicate you had indicated that this role is really remote across all part of the world. So why are you rejecting me? And this lady won't, I will mention her name, but she's scandinavian. I said, oh, very polite woman. He said, we struggled from ironing from Nigeria over the last three months, over the last three years, not three months. They always have issues. It's either their network is bad or they do not have lights. And that is not just a lot of logistic issue they are willing to go through. And she went on to say, I don't want to mention this country, but she went on to say that they actually just hired from another african country just two months ago. Right.
Understanding Structural Challenges
So I'm not signing them. I'm just saying that we obviously have structural issues and logistics issues that sadly, this is where we find ourselves. Now, the next question is, should they remove the a? No. Why? Because these problems are actually nigerian focused problems. If you are in Rwanda or Kenya or South Africa, the chances that you will face these problems are next to zero. So sadly, my brothers and sisters, we are all in this sheets together. Thank you. I don't know if that's the answer you are looking for, but that's the answer I have. Thank you so much. I think I can work with that. So do we have any other questions? Faith, you people should ask me questions. Don't send me DM after this, you know, see me ask questions now.
Final Words and Insights
Can ask your questions request for the mic or raise your hands if you want me to add you as a speaker. Faith, I'm sure you have a question. Oh, okay. So I also wanted to say me, because this conversation has been very like startup, fanda focus, fanta. So, like, I'm an HR professional. That literally means that you can ask me questions. I've worked in the tech space five, six years now. So that means you can ask me questions around HR and working in tech, etcetera. Fit. You wanted to say something? No, no. I was saying I did not have any question. All right, should we do 30 seconds countdown? Yeah. No.
Conclusions from the Dialogue
Would you take it or. No? I was just saying like 30 seconds to count down forever. Wants to ask question or if maybe they can treat their question at us or something. Okay, that's fine. If not, we can just wrap up so that people can go and do la Friday. So do you have any final parting words for us? Yes. Yeah, final words. Right. Number one is, of course, buy your ticket to moonshots. Tweet about moonshots. Invite people to moonshots. That's number one. Either a tech talent or not. Either you're a founder or not. Okay. No. So let me start. Let me, let me take it bit by bit.
Recommendations and Work Ethics
So, you're very fonder. I think that you should read Olumide did not pay me for this, but I think you should read vantage by Ulumi Desha Yombo. Cecil is already saying hundred percent, so I'm assuming that person's ready book. You absolutely should read that book. I've been post. I need to do a trade on that book. I've been postponing. Yes. So read that book. I feel like every founder in Nigeria should read the book. It contains any big final words that might have for you. That's one. If you are a talent in tech or anywhere, really ensure that you do good work. Good work might not be rewarded by your current employer, and that's the honest truth.
Recognition and Value of Good Work
But just ensure that I do good work. I think in my few years experience in the career space, the thing about good work is that one, people can see it, people know it. You might not get acknowledged at that point. You might not get rewarded. In fact, you might have a very condescending boss. You might be working in a toxic company. But you see that thing about good work, nobody, like, nobody can say, nobody will say a good work and call it Badlandhouse, right? I've moved a lot in my career, and then everywhere I go, like down, years, down, July, people make reference back to, oh, do you remember when you did this? I'm like, oh my God, I did that.
Impact of Past Achievements
I mean, someone read an article, a tax article I wrote in 2018 from I was doing tax six years ago. I totally forgot that the article existed. But the person googled stopped by the website. Apparently the website, the company had updated their SEO rankings, and so my article ranked on that particular topic. And the person find me on LinkedIn and sent me a message. I was like, oh, why did you leave tax for HR? I'm like, sorry, I didn't want be enabling people to give some Olu money. That's why I left. But it just means that, like, I did the work six years ago and someone is still referencing today.
Encouraging Consistency in Quality
So no matter the environment, either is an enabling one or sadly, an unenabling one. I think that you should prioritize doing good work. And I think that's my final word. Thank you very much. It's been really nice having you here. I think I've learned a lot myself. And in case I want to start my own startup now, maybe, just maybe, I would be able to use this insight from this session. So my own final words. We'll be having moonshot conversations on Thursday the 29 August at 04:00 p.m.
Looking Ahead: Moonshot Conversations
the links are up. Registration links are up on all our social media platforms. So Moonshot conversations is a series of discussions about some of the most critical problems facing the african continent and what radical or innovative solutions to them look like. So, speaking at the events, we have Megan Yates, co founder of Xindi. We have Clinton Odor head of data science at Amini. We have Zane Virgie, co founder at Devon down.
