Q: Can you tell us a bit about your background and the journey that led you to establish Zebra Group?
My early childhood was spent in Enugu, the former capital of Eastern Nigeria. I also occasionally spent time in Lagos where we had some of our family businesses. I moved to England in my teens for college and eventually University. I moved to the United States in my twenties where I set up a business and attended graduate school.
My family background had a significant influence on me. My family origins are strongly connected to entrepreneurship and public service. Besides being very successful businessmen, both my paternal and maternal grandfathers also served in public positions. My paternal grandfather served as Minister of Agriculture from the late 1950s to the 1960s (at the time he also oversaw Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation), while my maternal grandfather served as a Director within the Ministry of Agriculture sometime around the same era. As a boy, I grew up under the umbrella of the family business, and as a first son I often followed my father to business and community meetings from a very early age. I learnt quite a lot from simply tagging along. In particular, I learnt the importance of communal success. My father and grandfather alike would often say Success in isolation is no success at all.
It is this background that shaped and informed my business philosophy, a philosophy centered on shared prosperity. It is this philosophy, and the resulting restlessness born from it, that led me to seek out ventures and opportunities that could achieve both capital gains and deep social impact. This quest led to the birth of the Zebra Group.
Q: Zebra Group is a dynamic entity with ventures spanning various industries. What inspired you to diversify so widely, and how do you see each arm of the company contributing to the development of the Southeast region?
Our two core focus sectors, Agriculture and media, both offer wider societal/social benefits alongside profit potentials.
The Agriculture sector holds the highest potential for shared prosperity, inclusive capitalism and economic advancement. Over 60% of the world’s remaining arable land is in Africa, so if we get our acts together Africa can determine the future of food globally. It is also one sector that engages people starting from the remote rural areas (farming), all the way to the larger cities (processing and retail). So at Zebra we have built different companies focused on the different facets of the agriculture value chain.
Media on the other hand plays a pivotal role in shaping the mindset of a nation or region, offering a lens through which people perceive the world around them. By showcasing various backgrounds and perspectives, media helps break stereotypes and fosters empathy and understanding among different groups within society…..leading to more inclusive mindsets. It also fosters transparency and access. For these reasons I have always been interested in the media. These considerations motivated me to establish a free newspaper back in my twenties – The Abuja Times Newspaper, within the Zebra Group umbrella.
Q: Agriculture plays a crucial role in the Nigerian economy, particularly in the Southeast. With Zebra Agro-Industries &Zebra CropBank at the forefront, how do you envision transforming the agricultural landscape in this region and empowering local farmers?
Back in our golden era, Agriculture was the driver of our regional development (as was the case with other regions). Nigeria was one of the biggest exporters of commodities like palm oil (#1 globally) and cocoa (3rd globally), in the world. We had highly efficient and inclusive systems that were incorporated back then. Within the region, our government-owned farm settlements would provide land for farmers and support them with funding, Produce buyers &processors were licensed to offtake at fair prices, and marketing boards were set up – connecting our local produce to international buyers. Prices were fixed but farmers had access to markets. Everyone thrived.
This knowledge fuelled my quest to develop modern interpretations of such efficient systems.
Our goal at ZEBRA is to leverage modern tools and technology to recreate an even better version of what we had back then. Our efforts have seen us build/deploy last-mile solutions that marry infrastructure, technology and finance. Our team is building tech-enabled facilities directly at farm gate in dozens of locations within and outside Nigeria. One by one, these facilities make it more efficient, accessible, and transparent for farmers to manage, process and monetize their produce.
Q: What are some of the specific challenges you’ve encountered while working to improve the agricultural sector in the Southeast, and how have you addressed them?
Well, In my view, one of the major challenges afflicting the agriculture sector is the lack of a regional agriculture blueprint. We need a clearly defined set of regional agricultural priorities and goals/objectives into which players and international partners alike can easily plug into. An inclusive master plan if you like.
At the moment, most operators in the space find themselves individually grappling with multiple facets along their respective value chains. In order to meet their obligations, they are forced to do everything, from production/farming, to logistics, storage, processing, distribution, all the way to retail. While at the same time grappling with poor rural infrastructure, road networks, power and security issues. All of which dissipates efforts/resources and spreads them too thin.
Transforming the region’s agricultural sector would require a multifaceted approach and framework that defines and addresses various challenges and opportunities within the sector. Touching on infrastructure, finance, market development and technology adoption, etc. Allowing players to plug in easily, and focus on their specific facet of choice. This is exactly what we are currently working to build at ZEBRA. We are actually leveraging technology to establish an easy-accessinfrastructure network, which is a necessary foundation/base to establishing efficient national, regional and continental agro supply-chains.
Q : How do you manage to maintain innovation and growth across the various sectors Zebra Group is involved in?
Our internal motto is to – Dream big, but keep it simple – start, move fast and evolve as you learn – and adapt/innovate as the market changes.
We focus on identifying simple replicable and scalable solutions addressing everyday challenges, we then deploy capital to build and fine tune it, then use technology to propagate it. Growth for us is achieved by first building something small, simple and efficient, then figuring out a system that allows us to replicate it 1,000 times over.
Having the right team is also crucial. It is important to work with people that are somehow connected to the problem we are trying to solve, as this gives them a deeper understanding of the challenge, which in turn is crucial for developing innovative but practical solutions.
Q: Your work has been instrumental in promoting African culture through Zebra Media. How do you believe media and entertainment can be leveraged to preserve and promote Igbo culture on a global scale?
I reckon the media can be leveraged in two ways – for Internal and External engagement.
First we need platforms that allow us to have internal dialogue and reorientation, as a people (I believe platforms like Voice of the East, etc, are working in this direction). You would be surprised how little a lot of younger folk know about our history, guiding principles, internal systems and local opportunities.
On a larger scale, modern media provides platforms that allow us to aggregate, harmonise and propagate our stories and culture, in a way that fosters curiosity, excitement, and eventually, understanding.
If well harnessed, through media we can engage and unite our global diaspora, by highlighting our shared origins and reawakening our cultural ties. Globally, a lot of local populations consist of large percentages of people of Igbo origin. Such is the case in – America (African-Americans), Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and Gabon. Imagine that critical mass of people consuming, identifying with and spreading this culture and stories, eventually the world will start to pay more attention.
Take Nigeria as a country for example. Because we have a large local population and a critical mass of people internally consuming, celebrating and sharing our media/entertainment content, inevitably the rest of the world noticed and started to pay attention.
Q: Leadership is often about leaving a legacy. What do you hope your impact will be on the Igbo community and the younger generation of entrepreneurs looking up to you?
The Redefinition of success.
Traditionally and historically, our people believed that success is not determined only by how much money you amassed, but also by how many lives you impacted in the process. Our people had a saying – Onye arana nwanneya, meaning “you cannot advance and leave your people/community behind”, Igbo-Capitalism- the idea of shared prosperity. Success must not be in isolation. I would love to be viewed as one of those that espoused, acted on, fueled and inspired the continued adoption of this philosophy.
It is this foundational disposition that has led to our creating the largest and most successful business incubation system in the world.
Q: Finally, what advice would you give to young Igbo entrepreneurs who are eager to make a mark in their communities but face significant challenges?
I always say – Start small, Think Big, Move Fast
There will always be challenges. But start where you are, learn quickly, move fast and be resilient. The rest as they say is time and chance.