Alder Consulting and Covenant Christian Centre Launch Governance 500 and Enterprise 500

Yesterday the 2nd of October 2010, Alder Consulting launched the first edition of Governance 500 and Enterprise 500 in partnership with Covenant Christian Centre. The actual programmes will take place in November 2010 and February 2011, respectively.

The aim of the Enterprise 500 programme is to develop 500 sustainable business enterprises in Nigeria, each year. The Governance 500 will train and empower 500 individuals each year to participate in Nigeria’s political terrain in different capacities.  Both programmes will create a network of informed and credible individuals who will make a difference in the history of the nation and its economy.

By bridging the gap between entrepreneurial talent and critical business development skills, the Enterprise 500 programme will create structured, sustainable businesses with long term potential.  Participants will receive a business development toolkit, the Combo comprising materials on Business Design, Operations & Management; Branding & Communication; HR; Idea Development and Personal Development.  It is hoped that the businesses will become credible brands and function as Nigeria’s brand ambassadors.

Similarly, by providing foundational knowledge in governance and enabling critical networks, the Governance 500 programme will breed a new generation of conscientious participants in Government and Politics.

Having consulted for SMEs, Corporates and Government agencies for over 12 years, Alder Consulting, Nigeria’s premier ideas and branding corporation has a deep understanding of the needs and requirements of the sectoral divide.  Leke Alder, an entrepreneur & Principal of Alder Consulting sits on the Board of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), is a consultant to Governments, has developed strategies for political campaigns, authored several books on business and speaks at both local and international fora. He also hosts a weekly radio programme for entrepreneurs titled Minding Your Business with Leke Alder.

The Covenant Christian Centre has been at the forefront of enterprise development and social revolution for over 15 years.  The Presiding Minister, Pastor Poju Oyemade, hosts an annual programme tagged The Platform.  The Platform is a non-religious event that seeks to pioneer social change through empowerment seminars and knowledge fora. The Platform holds twice a year on May 1 and October 1.  Tens of thousands have benefited from the knowledge programme.

About Alder Consulting
Alder Consulting is an ideas and branding corporation, with offices in Lagos and London.  The company progresses nation development through its ideas, policy contributions and intellectual assets.

About Covenant Christian Centre
Covenant Christian Centre exists to bless the local community, city and nation. It is dedicated to the development of human potential and vision.
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Governance 500 and Enterprise 500
Press Statement by Leke Alder, Principal of Alder Consulting

On October 1, 1960, our nation began a fortuitous, if sometimes, tortuous journey into the pages of history. This journey, of which we speak, has consumed many lives and dreams.

Our evolution from an amalgamated structure to a federated structure has not been easy. Till this day, the workings of the federation remain imperfect. We will not go into details but in a manner of speaking, a lot of water has flowed under the Niger Bridge.

Many of those who initiated the journey into nationhood are no longer here with us. The script developers of our national history have themselves become paragraphs of our history textbooks. The founding fathers are all but gone. The remnants never fail to remind us that this is not the nation they dreamed of.

One generation makes a bequeathal unto another generation. As a generation, we have been bequeathed with a legacy of sorts. We have our culture, our diversity, our mineral endowments… but we are also saddled with unenviable socio-economic realities.

On October 1, 2010, that legacy will be 50 years old.

October 1, 2010 thus represents the half way date of our centennial journey. While we celebrate October 1, perhaps the question we should be asking ourselves is, “What happens on October 2nd”?

That question is phrased in a variety of ways in the hearts of Nigerians. The people are demanding a much better alternative to the experiences of the past.

Without a doubt, the greatest mitigator of the hopes of generations has been the challenge of leadership. The problem is not so much with our institutions. We have the same institutions of state like the successful nations of the world.

Our challenge has been, and continues to be, the operators of the instruments of governance, from the mangrove swamps of the South to the balding hills of Abuja, to the shifting sands of the North.

Those who rule determine the outcomes of our lives and the future of generations yet unborn. It is foolhardy to hope that things will sort themselves out. Nations are built. They do not happen. Nationhood requires deliberation.

If things must change, we must design special intervention programs. And we must take a long-range view.

It is imperative that the competent, the wise, the knowledgeable and the patriotic must rule.

This is not the time for hues and cries. This is the time for action. We must take strategic steps to design our future. Our conscious creation of the future must start with the education of those who will control our future through politics and governance. A novice must not ascend the dais of power. The consequences have been dire and will be dire. The nation will be plunged into an orgy of violence and confusion.

Those who aspire to power must be schooled in the art of governance and politics. They must learn economics, learn the lessons of history, and learn about policy development.
Without this, the issues that have bedeviled us in the last 50 years will continue to dog our nation like a stubborn and persistent witch’s curse.

Tangential to these issues is the economic model we run as a nation. We run a government centric economic model. Such a model cannot create the future we need. Our population is too large for all of us to continue to feed from the trough of oil revenue allocation. We must tap into the enterprising spirit of the Nigerian. We must cater to the needs of our jobless young men and women roaming our streets daily in search of employment. We must equip them to create jobs for themselves. They must become creators of value. Giving them fish will only assuage their hunger for a while. Teaching them to fish will turn them into national economic assets.

It is more efficient to create job creators than to create jobs.

The preceding, coupled with an abiding love of the country, and a romantic desire for the fructification of the dreams of our fathers informed the cooperation of our two institutions  Covenant Christian Centre and Alder Consulting.

On the surface it looks like an unusual partnership – the collaboration of the temporal and the divine. But these are unusual times. Unusual times call for unusual collaborations. Unusual collaborations yield unusual results.

Both organisations are notable for national contributions. Covenant holds the bi-annual Platform program at which young men and women are purposed for national service and enterprise development. Alder is noted for its work on Nigeria’s image and several policy contributions, having worked closely with government at all levels.
Our solutions to the issues raised herein are the twin programmes of Governance 500 and Enterprise 500.

The simple idea is to train and empower 500 would-be political players, as well as 500 entrepreneurs every year, in two separate programmes. In addition to training, they will receive resource materials, get dedicated online support and be networked. Participants in the Governance 500 programme will, in addition, be attached to political parties and organisations as volunteers. They will cut their political teeth with these organisations and gain invaluable experience.

In time, these individuals will come to play significant roles in our nation and our national economy. They will play salient roles in our body politics and national economy.

We are not after short-term results. That has been the bane of our country. We are more strategic in outlook; we should begin to see significant impact by 2015. Perhaps, some day, the President of this great nation will emerge from this group.

This is the curriculum for Governance 500:

Power & the Political Industrial Complex
–    Portraits of Power

Leadership & Governance
–    Financial Governance: Lessons for Nigeria
–    Leadership & Nigeria
–    Followership Responsibilities
–    The Constitution & Government Institutions
–    Effective Governance and the Effects of Corruption

The Press & Politics
–    The Role of the Media in Politics

Policy
–    Conceptual definition
–    Policy, Development & Economics
–    The Economics of Politics
–    The Problem with Nigeria
–    Stirring the Intellectual Grassroots of a nation

Politics & Electioneering
–    The Nigeria Vision: Political Anecdotes, Experiences & Lessons for the         Future
–    The Political History of Nigeria & Political Party Structure
–    Politics & Candidacy
–    The Legal Aspects of Electioneering
–    e-Electioneering & Monitoring

The facilitators include the following:

Dr. Christopher Kolade CON, Pro-Chancellor, Pan-African University
Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, KJW, Elder Statesman and Afenifere Chieftain
Mr. Donald Duke, Former Executive Governor of Cross River State
Reverend Sam Adeyemi, President, Success Power International
Mr. Frank Nweke Jnr, Director General, Nigerian Economic Summit Group         (NESG)
Mr. Jimi Agbaje, Founder Jaykay Pharmacy and Former Lagos State
Gubernatorial Aspirant
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Visiting Fellow, Center for Global Development, USA &     former Executive Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission         (EFCC), Nigeria
Mr. Leke Alder, Principal, Alder Consulting
Dr. Konyinsola Ajayi SAN, Managing Partner, Olaniwun Ajayi LP
Mr. Asue Ighodalo, Managing Partner, Banwo & Ighodalo
Mrs. Maryam  Uwais, Principal Partner,  Wali- Uwais & Co.
Dr. Doyin Salami, Economist and Director of Programmes, Lagos Business         School
Mr Simon Kolawole – Editor, THISDAY Newspapers
Mr Dan Siroker, Director of Analytics for the Obama Presidential Campaign         and Co-Founder Optimizely

This is the curriculum for Enterprise 500:

Business fundamentals
The possibility technology of Faith
Idea progression
Ethics & business
Branding & marketing
Corporate Social Responsibility
Business management & finance
Motivation

The Enterprise 500 programme was developed specifically for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This programme will give them a knowledge advantage comparable in quality to that of better-resourced corporates who can afford to buy intellectual assets by engaging high-level consultants. (The average bank in Nigeria has at least 15 sets of consultants, by the way).
Participants will receive a business development Combo containing resource materials, books and software.

The programme is derived from a successful experiment by Alder Consulting with a class of entrepreneurs a few years ago. Today, some of those businesses are billion Naira enterprises.
Our dream is that some day, one of the Enterprise 500 businesses will fly the Nigerian flag in the global brand arena. They will be our brand ambassadors.

The Enterprise 500 programme also has a potential of creating at least 10,000 jobs per annum after the initial maturation period. And we’re being conservative. Each business will be developed to have a carrying capacity of at least 20 employees.

The political programme, Governance 500, is not just for those who aspire to political office but for all those who seek to play active roles in the politics of our nation: whether as advisers, political appointees, financiers, activists, policy developers, etcetera.

~Governance 500, Enterprise 500

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