DCM SPEECHES

Chargé d' Affaires Thomas P. Furey

Speech

SAGE Nigeria National Championship

June 3, 3006

 

Protocols.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Good Afternoon.

It's not often that I have the opportunity to speak to so many young entrepreneurs. From what I have heard, we have some great business minds here today. We also have some true civic leaders, genuinely interested in good business practices and their local communities. My guess is, the future fortune of Nigeria lies in this very room.

The entrepreneurial activities the SAGE teams have presented today are truly creative and show a great deal of talent. In America, when I was young, my friends often had small business ideas – juice stands, babysitting businesses, gardening. I myself picked strawberries. But neither I nor my friends were nearly as creative as all of you. I have to admit, I am truly impressed. You should all be very proud of yourselves.

Nigeria is an amazing country. The most populous nation in Africa, it boasts over 250 distinct ethnic groups and the world's largest concentration of Christians and Muslims living together within a single boundary. Nigeria has abundant fisheries and livestock and has arable land that produces cocoa, palm oil, yams, cassava, sorghum, millet, corn, rice, groundnuts, and cotton. And of course, Nigeria is a major oil producer. But, in the year and a half that I have been here I have also learned that it is a country lush in more than just this one mineral resource. In addition to petroleum and natural gas, Nigeria is endowed with gold, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, lead, and zinc. Certainly, though, Nigeria's most valuable resource is its people. And hardworking, forward thinking individuals, like yourselves, are its future.

Nigerians, like people the world over, hunger and thirst for leaders who will develop the tremendous human capital and manage the vast material wealth transparently, honestly, with the best interests of Nigeria's people in mind. Now, I know it's been a long day and you are all probably thinking about the judging going on but I want to tell you a story. It might be familiar to some of you. It's an ancient West African tale; the story of ray deer and leopard.

Now, one day, all of the animals were invited to a feast. As usual, ray deer was hungry and decided to take a short cut through the forest. On his way to the party, he encountered leopard. In uncharacteristic fashion leopard said to ray deer, "If you tell me three truths I’ll set you free". Ray deer responded, "I’ll tell you four.""Truth number one, if I had known you were going to be here, I would have taken a different path." "Truth number two, if you let me go, I will never pass this way again.""Truth number three, if I tell the others that you let me go - they will never believe me."Leopard marveled at ray deer’s reasoning.Finally, ray deer said: "Truth number four, you must not be hungry, because if you were, we would not be having this conversation."

There are two morals to this story. Don’t take short cuts, and the truth shall set you free. Clearly this story has application for Nigeria in the 21st century. he road to democracy and development is fraught with dangers and setbacks but with perseverance, transparency and accountability the journey is well worth it.

As entrepreneurs you will often be tempted to find the easy way to make money and this often means hurting the people around you. Think of the 419 scams that have made Nigeria infamous around the world and unfortunately also made it hard for small Nigerian companies to do business abroad. But, if you remember the story of ray deer; if you don't take short cuts; if you seize the opportunities afforded you by Nigeria's emerging democracy, then you and Nigeria will soar like an eagle, a national symbol our two countries share.

Now, I must be candid and recognize that at this stage of Nigeria's economic development and democratic consolidation, there aren’t that many opportunities for bright young people in Nigeria's public sector nor is its private sector developed enough to provide these jobs. And so I want to commend each of you for taking the first step towards control of your future by establishing your own enterprises and creating your own jobs. Given the vast wealth of intellectual and material resources Nigeria has, the size of its own internal markets and the vast opportunities for exporting in our global society, those dedicated, hardworking entrepreneurs among you will certainly succeed.

And your success is Nigeria's success because with civic minded leaders like yourselves Nigeria's economy is bound to grow. And of course that means more jobs and a better standard of living.

Now let me be candid one more time. Being an entrepreneur is not easy. Competition is difficult and finding money to run a company can be hard. You will need to be creative and resourceful to succeed and grow your business.

But I can see that we have some dedicated individuals in this room so I want to tell you about some programs the American people are sponsoring in Nigeria to help. The first program I want to tell you about is called PRISMS. PRISMS stands for "Promoting Improved Sustainable Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Services." PRISMS is designed to work with commercial banks to facilitate lending to micro, small and medium enterprises through microfinance institutions. PRISMS works with big banks to get them to lend to small, local credit institutions. These, in turn, make very small loans, as small as fifty thousand naira, to local people so that they can start their own business. Currently, PRISMS is concentrating its work in the Niger Delta and Northern regions of Nigeria. So far PRISMS has given out 35,372 single loans valued at 91 million naira.

Another program we have is called JOBS. JOBS has offices in Kano and Calabar and trains youths in basic business management, life skills development, micro enterprise development and computer skills. So far JOBS has trained 19,000 people.

Now I am sure many of you might need internet access to help with a new business so I want to be sure you know about the six community resource centers available to the public. The resource centers are located in Abuja, Kaduna, Bauchi, Abeokuta, Enugu, and Calabar. The facilities are designed to assist the Nigerian people, especially students, graduates, youths and small business owners to acquire computer skills, to access the internet and to locate opportunities for their personal life and businesses. One of the Centers is right here at the Women's Center.

Now I know that SAGE also encourages an international aspect to each entrepreneurial venture. So I also want to draw your attention to another U.S. program designed to encourage private enterprise - the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act - commonly referred to as AGOA. Thanks to the special access to United States markets provided by AGOA, U.S. barriers to imports from Africa, including Nigeria, are among the lowest in the world. In 2004, over 98% of the imports from AGOA eligible countries entered the U.S. duty free. Especially noteworthy for Nigeria is the increase of non-traditional and value added African products, such as apparel and agricultural goods, though of course much more activity in this area is needed.

These are just a few of the programs the American people are supporting in Nigeria. I encourage you, as business people, to investigate other opportunities we offer.

Okay, so I'm coming to the close of my speech but I was hoping to tell just one more story. It is the story of the two area boys and the wise man.

Two area boys decided to play a trick on the wise old man who lived next door. They collected a small bird and went to the old man asking "Baba, is the bird dead or alive?"You see, they had already decided to shame the old man. If he said the bird was alive, they would crush it and show him the lifeless body. If the old man said that the bird was dead they would release it to fly away. The old man thought for a while and then answered, "My sons, whether the bird is dead or alive I do not know but, there is one thing I can tell you – it (the bird) is in your hands".

with the creative energy of the young entrepreneurs such as yourselves, Nigeria is sure to expand its markets and see its people prosper. But as the wise old man told the area boys so I tell you – the choice is in your hands. Let’s not forget ray deer’s lessons either – the truth shall set you free. As you continue your journey along the path of business development - don’t take short cuts.

Thank you.

####