Video Games and The Future of Entrepreneurship in Nigeria

Borrowing Ideas

Megan McArdle - Bloomberg, The Atlantic

Evolution of Video Games1980s - Atari, Arcades - Dozens of levels, extremely difficult, almost no one ever finished them because trying again = starting all over again

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Today - Possible to save games, cartridges, disks, memory cards/drives, no need to start from the beginning each time you stop

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Then and Now

• Hard core gamers only • Unbroken stretch needed

to play games • Take your game

wherever you were going • Boys only

• Play when you have time • Play online • Boys, girls, men, women, old people

What do Video Games have to do with Entrepreneurship?

Professor Deirdre McCloskey has one of my favourite answers to why rich countries got rich - Attitudes started to change in Holland and

England in the 1800s

http://youtu.be/a0nsKBx77EQ

Hockey Stick Growth!

For centuries, the world was poor on $3/day. And then, like magic, in the 1800s, wealth shot up and people began to get rich

A Simple Answer...

...it became ok to fail. Previously, failure had been severely punished, even by death.

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But people began to respect and honour innovators, entrepreneurs and have a more relaxed attitude to failure.

Back to Video Games

They teach us a few things... !

• Why it's ok to fail and start again • Why it's important to broaden the base and bring more people into

the game • Why no one should be expected to get it right the first time • Why eventual success is the sum total of all previous experiences • Why success is not just for those who were 'born' with a skill but for

those willing to learn too

Some Notable 'Failures'

Today's PayPal was Plan G - Plans A - F all failed !

Nokia actually began as a Paper Mill !

Suzuki started by making loom machines used to weave Japanese Silk !

Nintendo started off with playing cards, vacuum cleaners, instant rice and hotels before landing on Donkey Kong and Super Mario

Nigeria - The Way ForwardWe wont all be entrepreneurs but we can all do with changing how we view entrepreneurship and failure

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As with video games, the game is a long one and we should treat every failure as a pause point we can restart from

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We should campaign for things that make business easier to do even if they dont directly benefit us (CAC, business banking) !

We owe a duty to ourselves and our country to ensure a society that properly incentivizes and rewards effort