The Internet Is Changing Everything

I spent the greater part of Friday at a friend's place. He is now based in US and came in briefly for a project in Nigeria. He is the founder of a US startup and built it from scratch with a US partner. They've done product demo, pitched several US VCs and on-course to getting big funding. He is doing what I can only dream of. And I'm lucky to have known him long before now and he still thinks I'm more techy than him. We went to the same university and I was the guy always doing crazy geek stuff at school -- a Linux seminar (then, unheard off), a very complex final year project, and the guy who knows something about every geek thing.

We discussed a lot of things and he showed me how to use Microsoft Azure. And when I told him I still code in VB, he was surprised because he remembered when I was learning C# and got training videos from him. He told me about the Internet of Things revolution. At the end of our discussion, one thing was clear: The internet is changing everything.

image: enterprisecioforum.com

The changes might be slow in Nigeria, but it's certain. The next generation of millionaires will be internet millionaires. Soon, internet companies will be like the telecoms companies of 2004, the banks of 1994, the oil companies of 1983, and government jobs of 1971. Everybody will want to get a piece of it. Just as the entire western world is crazy about the internet, we will soon catch the craze.

Internet businesses will give the big traditional companies a run for their lives. What Amazon did to Barnes & Nobles and Netflix did to Blockbuster is going to happen in Nigeria. Some unknown and ignored online company with 15 employees is going to put a very big traditional company with thousands of employees out of business. People will stop looking at online business owners as frustrated job seekers who took to the internet or foreign based Nigerians who are seeking a big way to come back home. Banks will begin advertising that they have support for internet entrepreneurs and funds for online startups. The same way adverts of stock investing dominated the airwaves in 2007, and real estate (Lekki Phase 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5) is dominating the airwaves now, is the same way internet business opportunities will dominate the airwaves soon.

Just like the BB revolution, there's going to be an online business revolution. People will begin to see the internet for what it really is: A total revolution.