AjanleKoko: A Harvard graduate should not be looking for work in Nigeria in the first place
Which work is there to do in Nigeria that requires a Harvard grad?

Yup

my opinion- If your first point of call after Havard is nigeria then you're copping out big time, the person probably couldnt hack the competition in the west-except ofcourse it's a short term strategy to enter the big one in the west

or perhaps the candidate probably just want some ego massaging - he/she will probably walk around with it on their forehead too!

Dis Guy:

Yup

my opinion- If your first point of call after Havard is nigeria then you're copping out big time, the person probably couldnt hack the competition in the west-except ofcourse it's a short term strategy to enter the big one in the west

or perhaps the candidate probably just want some ego massaging - he/she will probably walk around with it on their forehead too!

It even makes far more sense for such a person to find work in places like Brazil, Turkey, India, or the UAE. Even South Africa. These are more mature markets than Nigeria, and there is a bigger room for career growth.

^^^^But I dont see any reason why an Harvard or any graduate from these Ivy League school's can't come to Nigeria to work. Its like asking why multinational firms Shell, Unilever, KPMG, PWC, Nestle etc have establishments in Nigeria. Even as bad as Nigeria is, with the so much insecurity, they are here. We are not that bad nwwww

dahmie2013: ^^^^But I dont see any reason why an Harvard or any graduate from these Ivy League school's can't come to Nigeria to work. Its like asking why multinational firms Shell, Unilever, KPMG, PWC, Nestle etc have establishments in Nigeria. Even as bad as Nigeria is, with the so much insecurity, they are here. We are not that bad nwwww

Before you even go up to the popular Harvard level, why would a less locally-popular Wharton BS. Economics graduate consider an entry-level role in the PWC or KPMG office in Nigeria to earn $13,000 a year before taxes, even though that might be his dream company? Note that he just paid $60,000 a year for the past 4 years. After considering that he has to write some poorly conducted aptitude test with 1,000 people in a hot hall somewhere, then interview a dozen times and wait for a year before receiving the crappy offer, then endure a few months of kissing arse and fetching photocopies in some overly hierarchical office before learning anything useful in generally messed up Lagos, he'll probably prefer to take that offer from a relatively unknown, midsized, $100m revenue firm in the US offering $30,000 without having to endure a year of career stagnancy 'serving' his nation in khakis (longest sentence I ever wrote). If he does decide to return to work in the country as an experienced hire, his appetite will probably be too big for typical non-oil multinationals to be able to afford him. God forbid it's a 21-year old female who studied something like Public Policy in Oxbridge with the dream of starting out in Government. She'll fast realize the difference between her Level 8 Federal Civil Service position at our House of Reps and the 2nd year internship she did at Downing Street, then jump ship. As someone rightly mentioned above, the organizational culture, work ethic/environment, compensation, power-distance in Nigeria is not just appealing.

There are really cool places to work straight out of school here in Nigeria though--I work in one--but they're not your average Nigerian companies. Such places actively target these Wharton students as well as local graduate with the right orientations, and give them careers comparable to what obtains internationally (while taking advantage of the cheap labour ). Unfortunately, these places are limited.

I don't even know anybody from an average lower-middle-class or middle-class background in Nigeria who has gone to Harvard, frankly speaking. Everybody I know who went to Harvard, their folks could afford it wella

I thought in our youth service
we all swore to serve our father land
whether we are from Harvard or college of technology ado-ekiti

An employee would always be an employee even if you work for Microsoft, IBM etc..

I don't know if schools are relevant or not, but I'm sure these schools are over-rated.

Mind you, before an employer would boast of a salary scale of a million naira per month for his havard trainee, know fully well that a million naira is an equivalent of what he (the employer) spends on his dog per week and pls don't be deceived, the same amount is the least the company has ever made in 1hour. Some how, the company cheats the harvard guy. You can never be 'smarter' than the CEO even if you have a 1st class degree.


Btw, if the total school fees of a graduate from OAU (100-400l) is N100,000, give me one reason why such graduate won't settle for a N100,000 monthly salary..

Ordinarily, it will be f00lish for anyone to settle for the same amount after paying a fee ranging from 10-20million for a 3year programme.

Its about your pocket; your class.


..and I wonder why someone said we shouldn't mention Dangote lol.. may be cos he didn't attend LBS

esere826: I thought in our youth service
we all swore to serve our father land
whether we are from Harvard or college of technology ado-ekiti

Hey, you'd swear to anything with a 'gun to your head.' The youth service isn't voluntary like joining the army.

Acidosis: An employee would always be an employee even if you work for Microsoft, IBM etc..

I don't know if schools are relevant or not, but I'm sure these schools are over-rated.

Mind you, before an employer would boast of a salary scale of a million naira per month for his havard trainee, know fully well that a million naira is an equivalent of what he (the employer) spends on his dog per week and pls don't be deceived, the same amount is the least the company has ever made in 1hour. Some how, the company cheats the harvard guy. You can never be 'smarter' than the CEO even if you have a 1st class degree.


Btw, if the total school fees of a graduate from OAU (100-400l) is N100,000, give me one reason why such graduate won't settle for a N100,000 monthly salary..

Ordinarily, it will be f00lish for anyone to settle for the same amount after paying a fee ranging from 10-20million for a 3year programme.

Its about your pocket; your class.


..and I wonder why someone said we shouldn't mention Dangote lol.. may be cos he didn't attend LBS

Your analogy seems a little off. In many many industries, 1million is pretty standard. In fact, that's only a lot in Nigerian terms. It's not even up to $100,000 a year. The average Harvard MBA earns $150,000. Also, whether you're a start-up or a billion dollar company looking to recruit a Harvard MBA, regardless of what you earn, prepare to pay north of $100,000. I know of start-ups that have employees earning more than the founders. Employee pay is not relative to the CEO's earnings; it's commensurate with the value (or perceived value) added.

There are virtually free schools in Germany and Scandinavia, whose graduates command the highest salaries in Europe. The OAU graduate who studied on a full academic merit scholarship and later settles for a N100,000 monthly salary settled for one of these reasons.

1. He's only desperate to get some experience and values that over pay
2. He doesn't think he's worth more, so he didn't negotiate
3. He's dispensable or it's the industry standard for that position, so the company will just employ the next guy instead if he tries to negotiate at all.
4. He'll live comfortably with 100,000
5. He has no other options

The Nigerian guy who went to Brown on a full scholarship will not settle for N100,000 for the following counter reasons:

1. He could get similar experience elsewhere and get at least 3 times more money
2. He knows the earning power of his graduating class and that before him, and he'll negotiate to that standard
3. He actually thinks he knows his stuff, and thinks he's the best in the lot for the job, so he'll negotiate up to what he thinks he deserves. If the company can afford him, they will; otherwise, they'll negotiate fiercely before going for the next guy.
4. Even if he can live comfortably with 100,000, he knows he can earn much better
5. He has 3 other offers awaiting his response all offering at least $20,000.

The only difference between these two guys is not what they studied, how much they paid for the education or how smart they are. They're both equal in every respect. Just that one person went to an Ivy league school and the other went to OAU.

Asked not to mention Dangote because he's an outlier. The one in a million. Like Wole Soyinka, the one Nobel winner from from Nigeria versus the 89 Nobel winners from Cambridge alone....

Finally, LBS? Hope that's London Business School, not Lagos. Although Lagos business school is the only business school one can reckon with in Nigeria. Really proud of what they're doing over there.

Sammy107_d: Was having a little debate about this and thought I should open it up..

It's easy to say no, but think about it. What are the chances of getting a high-quality, global job if one doesn't have some sort of history with a top-ranked global school? What are the chances of finding a graduate of Herriot-Watt doing meaningful, specialized work in the the Goldman Sachs London office? These company's sometimes only recruit from certain schools anyway. It's easy and a cliched to say "anything is possible" or "It's what you can do...," but can you back these assertions up with factual, searchable examples?

Help close this "school doesn't matter" debate, wise ones.

well, well, well
I believe that at this point in this thread we've been able to establish a couple of things
1) A big name school does matter in some companies and many places
2) It doesnt mean they are smatter than you, its just what it is
3) It doesnt mean they'll get better paid than you, but they'll get better paid than many
4) It doesnt mean that if u dont have a big name school in ur CV you wont get specialized roles in some companies, .. but it does mean that it would be statistically harder
5)It does mean that elitism is in demand (there's a study that finds this trumping over race)
6) Getting a big name school in your cv apart from some intelligence needed, would need some N10 million annually (pretty cheap in terms of cost benefit analysis)

esere826:

well, well, well
I believe that at this point in this thread we've been able to establish a couple of things
1) A big name school does matter in some companies and many places
2) It doesnt mean they are smatter than you, its just what it is
3) It doesnt mean they'll get better paid than you, but they'll get better paid than many
4) It doesnt mean that if u dont have a big name school in ur CV you wont get specialized roles in some companies, .. but it does mean that it would be statistically harder
5)It does mean that elitism is in demand (there's a study that finds this trumping over race)
6) Getting a big name school in your cv apart from some intelligence needed, would need some N10 million annually (pretty cheap in terms of cost benefit analysis)

Case closed. Thanks for a good discussion guys.

AjanleKoko:

Obama was angling for politics from Day 1. You think being the president of the Harvard Law Review was a coincidence?
The dude knew what he was doing. Social activism would provide the much-needed top-of-mind share that a black politician needs in America.

In the Naija case, after all we have the likes of Gani and Femi Falana (neither of whom went to Harvard by the way) as social activists who also became quite successful at practising law. Or Fola Adeola, a Yabatech graduate who founded GT, Fate Foundation, and is now a politician. Or GEJ, the current president who incidentally is a UNIPORT product.

What do you need a Harvard degree for in Nigeria? To talk about maternal mortality, a la Ngozi Iweala? LOL

Harvard's 362nd Commencement: Live streaming

Someone is giving out a message on social investment as a cop with a Harvard degree
http://www.harvard.edu/live-stream

esere826: Harvard's 362nd Commencement: Live streaming

Someone is giving out a message on social investment as a cop with a Harvard degree
http://www.harvard.edu/live-stream

Great find. Thanks