I’ve been working with entrepreneurs in Europe for the last 10 years and I have heard time and time again a series of “facts” about European entrepreneurship that are closer to myth than anything else.  Mostly they are urban legends.  An urban legend is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may…

I have the opportunity to observe Lagos street vendors in action on my daily ride to school. At one round-about which is particularly jammed, dozens of them offer drivers all and any kind of products: ceiling brushes, soft drinks, clocks, CDs, flip-flops, chewing-gum, underwear, posters, soccer team flags (including that of Barça F.C.), magazines, windshield…

Income inequality has increased in practically every industrialized nation in recent decades. The best measure of that change is the Gini index, named after the Italian statistician Corrado Gini, who designed it in 1912. The index values vary between zero, when everyone has exactly the same income, and 1, when one person has all of…

In a comment to an earlier post, Patricia Ferrando shared her experience coaching successful Nigerian entrepreneurs. She highlighted their commitment to giving back to society and to contributing to the development of the less privileged. Patricia's comment made me reflect upon Africans' communal mentality. Let me share some examples I have seen while in Lagos.…