National Daily

CWG is Columbia's school beacon of hope for Africa

COMPUTER Warehouse Group recently brought joy to millions of Africans and African Businesses when she received very positive reviews from the Business Education Editor of the Financial Times Europe, Della Bradshaw.
Ms. Bradshaw had been following the progress of some students of the Columbia Business School who had traveled to Africa to identify companies on whom they could develop business case studies for MBA courses.

Austin Okere, the entrepreneur co-founder of the Computer Warehouse Group, a foremost Systems Integration company, being a graduate of IESE in Barcelona understood how case studies were used in business schools. But an academic study of a Nigerian company, he believed, would be different from U.S. or European case studies. He believed that putting the story of the Computer Warehouse Group out there would correct the stereotype that the Nigerian business environment was characterised by corrupt practices.

Professor Murray Low, the director of the entrepreneurialship programme at Columbia Business School could not agree more. He believed that the lack of teaching materials about African companies had been a pitfall, so when he approached Okere about writing a business case study on his company he readily agreed.

Ryan Petersen, a graduate student under Prof. Low at the Columbia Business School, who led the team studying Computer Warehouse in Lagos reported that while there is generally very little information and historical records to accurately value a company in Africa, he was very pleasantly surprised at the depth of professionalism in maintaining financial records at Computer Warehouse and the corporate governance structures instituted in the 15 years running of the company.
Okere seems to have achieved precisely what he set out to do with the CBS case study on his company, as the international exposure on his well run Computer Warehouse has largely contributed in correcting the negative notion of business in Africa.

The boom in the Nigerian economy coupled with very little investments in education over the years has brought about an acute shortage of skilled resources. The major multinationals that troop into the country have very deep pockets with which they attract the best staff away from the local companies. This has not been the case with the Computer Warehouse Group.

When Okere asked Petersen and his team to act as independent consultants to get feedback on the morale of his staff, he emphatically reported that the employees were very happy with the independence and entrepreneurial spirit in the organisation and the opportunity to grow. Petersen said wistfully "I wish I could have a business where employees were so motivated."

Petersen's blog has generated a lot of debate on the Internet and a well deserved appreciation to Columbia Business School and the Computer Warehouse Group for helping to correct the age long negative stereotype of business on the continent and to Financial Times Europe for the international exposure.