“So, why are you going to Nigeria?” It is difficult to explain to an airport customs official why a HBS student would go to Lagos during Nigeria’s most disruptive labor protests in forty years. But, that is the situation that the Nigerian GIX team found themselves in during J-Term.
The GIX team consisting of Chuma Ajene, Max Tuchman, and Paul Chong (all HBS MBA 2012 candidates) was invited to Lagos for a three-week consulting engagement with one of Nigeria’s fastest growing banks. After only three days in the country, however, a nation-wide protest erupted as national labor unions took to the streets in protest of the recent government removal of popular fuel subsidies cartier santos 100 replica. Five days of strikes and protests ensued, with the typically vibrant Nigerian economy grinding to a halt.
Undeterred, the GIX team worked diligently from their hotel room to deliver a new strategic direction for an appreciative Nigerian client. The proposed retail strategy focused on developing new methods for providing consumer banking services to Nigeria’s 100 million unbanked, and under-banked, population. Recommendations included reducing barriers for mobile banking adoption, innovations in direct banking through roaming banking agents, and prize-linked and loyalty programs to increase customer engagement and retention – a major issue in Nigerian retail banking cartier roadster replica. The final recommended strategy was based on a series of case studies, research and retail frameworks gathered by the GIX team in the three months leading up to the client engagement.
The GIX team delivered their final presentation to the client’s executive board after three weeks of research and analysis. Their recommended strategy was warmly received by the Nigerian client, and generated a significant amount of local media attention, with the GIX team appearing in three of Nigeria’s top newspaper publications. Notwithstanding the disruptions caused by the labor strike, being temporarily detained at a police checkpoint for refusing to pay a bribe, and an encounter with armed robbers on a night out in Lagos, each member of the GIX team agreed that the experience was well worthwhile. “It was a great learning experience www.replicabestsale.co.uk,” states one GIX team member, “a real glimpse into the commercial, political and cultural sides of Nigerian society.”
