Yabacon Valley is dead. Long live Yaba Right

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I personally believe that for things to work…people must work it…beyond the #HashTags boot must hit the ground. How far can #YabaRight go? We never know until we try! So, why are we here? To build companies, inspire younger people to aspire to build or work for companies disrupting industries! All these need actual work beyond typing behind the PC.

I’m in Yaba, I’m a witness to how much impact a team of young, committed people can have when they not only believe that they can build something big, but they are not afraid to be called failures or copy-cat but go ahead either way to build. Failure is just another avenue to know what doesn’t work.

If you believe in YabaRight, let’s get talking…let’s start meeting and make things happen!

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Actually you need to brush up on your facts and be ready to back them up. You said the MAJORITY of Americas largest tech companies are based in Silicon Valley. I mentioned 8 of the top 15 to help enlighten you.

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I hate to be this way but what list are you looking at? Might need to study it. Top 8/10 of Fortune 500 in Tech are in SV. http://fortune.com/2015/06/13/fortune-500-tech/

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I am very interested in how other parts of the country can be hubs but I’m not one to declare victory for a battle that hasn’t even begun. These parts of the country are promising but they will all require serious vision, work and investment to become tech hubs.

Lagos is still Nigeria’s largest tech hub. More honestly, a lot of it simply boils down to what are investors able to visit when they are around?

It is highly unlikely that a foreign investor (much of the money in this space) will take the time to venture far from Lagos. (Even Yaba can seem like a chore sometimes). What is good about a cluster is they can visit like 8/12 of their companies in one day and head back the next day. This is difficult to achieve in disparate clusters especially in the very early days when startups are small and have a lot more to gain from sharing infrastructure.

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Lagos is home to big corporates and is a trade port that is what attracts professionals there. But formal employment in Lagos is tiny in comparison to the number of people coming out of Nigerian universities. Over half of all uni graduates will not get related white collar employment even five years after they graduate.

About whether Lagos is easier for middle class living that’s debatable. Port Harcourt, Abuja any of the oil rich states offer far more. Yes they are civil service dependant but as the collapse in oil prices show Nigerian economy is dominated by government revenue.

Here is what McKinsey found:

http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/consumer-potential-three-nigerian-city-clusters-to-compete-with-lagos/

Port Harcourt, Warri, Benin City, Aba, Enugu and Onitsha make up the six city southeast cluster. Its proximity to oil wells has led the region to be a hub of activity for oil companies and foreign investment.

According to the report, total GDP in this cluster alone is $63bn, which is a close rival to Lagos’s GDP of $68bn, despite having far fewer households. Both Port Harcourt and Aba have considerably higher consumption per capita than Lagos.

Ibadan (the capital of Oyo State) is the second largest city after Lagos, and has a fast-growing consumer market. While Lagos has over four times the number of households as Ibadan, consumption per capita of Ibadan in 2013 was $4,562, rivalling Lagos’s $4,710. Ibadan also has a large emerging consumer class with annual household incomes of between $7,500 and $20,000, and one of the larger consuming middle classes in the country with incomes between $20,000 and $70,000 a year.

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Finally something to back yourself up. Only problem with your list is 1. you misinterpret it - Ibm, Microsoft, Amazon, Qualcomm means that 6 not 8 of your list and 2. The Fortune 500 criteria is for public companies and has its own definition of Tech. Dell is larger than many on that list but is privately held.

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What are these big corporates you keep talking about? Small businesses are the life blood of Lagos. Boutiques, restaurants, bakeries, hotels, taxis, wedding planners, etc. Gosh, can’t believe I’m arguing about how Lagos is the obvious epicentre of the Nigerian economy. Look, I am all for Nigerian cities becoming better, but the fact is that the quality of life in lagos is by far the best. The only better place is Abuja, but you need to be a politician for that.

Pray tell, which jobs are giving Ibadan those high household incomes. Ibadan is a city, Lagos is a state. Port Harcourt is a small city in Rivers which is a ghetto state despite all the oil. Aba is minute compared to the vast wasteland that is Abia state, I could go on. If we want to nitpick parts of Lagos, then Ikoyi, Lagos Island, VI, Lekki axis will have household incomes of at least $100,000 a year.

Go to any private school in Nigeria with school fees upwards of 1 million naira, they almost all live in Lagos. I went to Loyola in Abuja and despite the location, like 70% of students lived in Lagos. Can schools like Corona primary school exist in Ibadan, where fees are like 750k naira? No. Because the people that can afford it are in Lagos.

Like I said, I’m all for a push out of Lagos, as it will be better for the country’s economy. But we shouldn’t mislead ourselves.

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super interesting thread.

Like it or not, Yaba is shit! Not ideal for an office. And only a few places ideal for living.

i agree, it’s central and cheap, but it doesn’t mean it’s a good place.
i recall what i went through to get to the new Andela campus after they moved from Sabo.

People talk about setting up near other tech companies. In our context, I have no idea what that means. No real value to me as an employee nor to my employer.

I doubt Konga and her employees miss the place after moving the entire company (both offices) to Ikeja.

I would not say you guys should not catch your fun trying to be creative.
But please, drop the idea that the place will be the “Silicon Valley” of Lagos/Nigeria.

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Why Lagos-Based Tech Startups Should NOT Move To Yaba…Or Anywhere Else http://techloy.com/2013/11/23/why-lagos-based-tech-startups-should-not-move-to-yaba-opinion/

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This entire Yaba is becoming a religious argument where one argues about the superiority of his own god. My god is better/cooler than yours. Here is why. Or rather I’m an atheist, and your god is a fraud. It’s starting to lose its essence, IMO.

How to disagree, PG
http://paulgraham.com/disagree.html

@iaboyeji @lordbanks and some other Yaba proponents appear invested in Yaba and wish to see it becomes what they envision, hence all their argument. Iyin wish to see we come together to nurture Yaba, and make it representative of our SV or at least, a version of it. All well and good.

Nigerian technology ecosystem is still very nascent. In fact, we don’t even have actual winners yet. We only have media/PR-crowned winners. With all our grammar and ecosystem talk. And sure we will get there. L’oruko Jesu. But I can only pray we all chill, and just build the companies/businesses first. Situate wherever. Jason 's iROKO is doing fine from Anthony.

The opposing end, which I slightly belong, is that tech hubs are springing up in places other than Lagos now. I talked about Akure and how I wouldnt mind setting up an office there if I can.

For me in Lagos, I’ll rather set up in Lekki than in Yaba. Because I’m afraid there is a lot of group thinking happening there(Yaba that is), and clicque-ing which I’m not very fine with it. But this is perfect to some other persons or companies. I can only do what works for me, and specify things how I want it.

My point is, just like religion. Serve the god that works for you, or be an atheist if however too, so also with Yaba.

Set up your office as it serves you right. No point arguing about the distribution of talent and infrastructure. Cook your indomie the way you like it. Opari. No need to push Yaba or variance of Yaba into anyone’s throat and no need to make it look bad, even with all the SV comparisons. SV didn’t start 10 years ago.

Snapchat works from LA. Livingsocial is NY. 37 signals is Chicago based. Skype is UK. Blablacar is French.

SV is great for what it is. But please for the love of God, Yaba is far from what SV is. It is not close yet and anywhere in Nigeria still can be a SV. At the end of the day, things will converge naturally. Those that will come to Yaba(or Yaba right) will, and those that would rather operate from the outside will too. No group is superior/inferior, just as we have it in religion.

How to be Silicon Valley, PG
http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html

Why Silicon Valley Works, Sam Altman

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This has been a really interesting thread. So much to learn and glean from vital information being dispensed all in the name of YabaRight. But I love the discus. Wish to see more of it. As for me, I would go the way of @akindolu Serve the god that works for you. #Shikena

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Lagos is a major part of the Nigerian economy but not the epicentre. 70% of the economy lies elsewhere. One thing I noticed over the past 5 years is that every city outside Lagos is growing at twice or three times the rate of Lagos and modernizing quickly thanks to private investment.

Modern housing, office space, shopping springing up in all these places are far cheaper than Lagos and quieter. You have reliable internet and fibre across the country. You have decent schools, hotels, leisure.

Malls are springing up in Ibadan, Akure, Kano, Owerri, Onitsha, Warri, built by South African and Nigerian investors. I expect the trend will continue with telcos, banks and insurance setting up major offices in key cities to serve customers. With power stabilizing manufacturing will follow suit.

In the next 20 years I expect to see a similar pattern of Nigeria having multiple large modern cities as is the case in other large countries like USA and Brazil.

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That’s definitely the goal.

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A corollary is that you have to keep out the biggest developer of all: the government. A government that asks “How can we build a silicon valley?” has probably ensured failure by the way they framed the question. You don’t build a silicon valley; you let one grow.

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Next time, get your facts right.
You can visit Lifeforth and Christ Ambassadors in Ibadan to find out their school fees. Startups (Tech) can flourish in Lagos (Yaba right or left) it depends on the industry where you operate…