Much Ado About 2020

This time last year (2019), many people (including Me) were already executing our “Detty December” plans.

 

From my corner, the December was indeed “Detty”, I had friends fly into Lagos from across the world, we had Boat cruises, Beach Parties, devoured Barbeques and emptied Bottles. It was Parté after Parté.

 

I mean, we have had several Decembers but December 2019 was kind of special kind.

 

It was the December that was ushering us into the “almighty” year 2020. 

 

I have been hearing Vision 2020 since I was a kid so there I was a few days to that 2020 where all our Dreams would come true and Nigeria will somehow transform to Dubai… So it was a Big Deal!!!.

 

Some even argued whether 2020 was the Beginning or End of the Decade (story for another day).

 

Fast forward to the 2020, Covid-19 struck.

 

At first, it was like the regular “Chinese Diseases” like SARS and MERS that would only affect parts of Asia and then stop but this one was different.

It hit everybody especially the so called “Developed Countries” like Tyson Fury KO’ed Deontay Wilder..

I will not bore You with the gory stories of the damages Covid 19 did, You already know.

 

The year 2020 suddenly started looking like the proverbial eCommerce story of “What I ordered” versus “What I got”.

I mean, we ordered the Premium 2020 that have been “prophesied” by our heroes past and present but all of a sudden, it was looking as though the “labours of our heroes past were going to be in vain”.

 

The Pandemic triggered partial to total lockdowns across the globe.

Schools and Business premises were closed.

Businesses that could not operate remotely or via the Internet took a big hit. Some even went under.

 

Guys like Jeff Bezos of Amazon that could operate via the Internet doubled their net worths.

 

So what is the purpose of this write up You ask?

1. To chronicle the events of 2020 in my own words so that when someone from 2070 googles what happened in 2020, they may get some idea.

2. More importantly to highlight some of the insights/lessons I learnt in the year. I wont bore You with any more write ups, so straight to the point, here are some of the lessons I learnt this year;

1.Brick and Mortar is failing (and will fail more) – Whatever You want to do in the years ahead, ensure You have inbuilt facilities and capabilities for doing it remotely.

2. Technology Adoption has come to stay – It is no longer, “can we use this Technology”, it is now more of “when are we implementing the technology” otherwise, You are going to become a dinosaur pretty quickly.

3. Your Business is an Online Business with offline offices- Like I hinted earlier,  Businesses that relied fully on their offline offices, shops and “brick and mortar” infrastructures failed woefully while their counterparts that had invested in online infrastructures thrived and even exceeded their income forecasts despite operating in a pandemic.

4. Think Automation Everytime

Let me tell You a short story here.

Sometime in 2019, when I heard about the alarming number of out-of-school Children (OOSC) in Nigeria, I thought about a way to reduce this number using Technology. I asked “what if we get sound qualified teachers into a studio, have them record Lessons and then we use the Internet to deliver these lessons to the various IDP camps and other places where these OOSCs are clustered”. Several iterations later, that idea gave birth to Schoolgate (www.schoolgate.ng)

Guess what? in the wake of the 2020 lockdown of Schools, Schoolgate became one of the 2 eLearning Platforms adopted by Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education to ensure that Students across the Country still had access to Quality Education during the lockdown

5. CryptoCurrency will take over the world of finance

Sometimes in 2020, I made a full entry into the world of CryptoCurrency. 

I have had several stunts with Bitcoin in the past but this time around, I went all in. I even founded a small CryptoCurrency Exchange Startup that I hope to grow in the years to come. Check out www.sellcoins.online

Take this from Me, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and several other global leaders who have thrown their weights behind CryptoCurrency. The new question is not “When will You acquire Bitcoin and other Altcoins”, the question is “How many Bitcoins and Altcoins” do You have in your portfolio.

Still not convinced?

Look at the chart below

I am sure by now You already know that except absolutely important, You do not need plenty physical meetings any longer. I mean Zoom was like the official partner of the Covid 19 Pandemic. The Company grew in direct proportion to the severity of the pandemic. Other competitors like Microsoft’s Teams and Google’s Meet also thrived. So, save yourself stress in the days and years to come. If there must be a meeting, jump on Zoom, Teams or Meet.

Conclusion.

This is my first attempt at chronicling the events of the year 2020.

I hope to write more in depth articles about some of the vital lessons I learnt this year in this days to come.

 

Did You find this article helpful?

I will love to hear from You.

Drop a comment below.