Interview with Timi Oke

CO-FOUNDER and CEO, AGROEKNOR

Timi Oke is the co-founder and CEO of AgroEknor, a company exporting dried hibiscus flowers grown in Nigeria to global markets, including the US, Mexico and Europe. He secured his first agricultural trading deal through LinkedIn while still working at a bank in the UK.

How we made it in Africa editor-in-chief Jaco Maritz spoke to Oke about building the company and the opportunities within Nigeria’s agricultural industry.

Topics discussed during the interview include:

• How he landed his first commodities trading deal through LinkedIn
• The booming market for hibiscus flowers
• Key lessons from working with smallholder farmers to source hibiscus
• Breaking into the lucrative American market
• Other crops with business potential in Nigeria
• Why organic waste management and storage present major agribusiness opportunities
• Practical advice for aspiring agricultural commodity traders
• What he would do differently if he had the chance to start the company again

Interview summary

Nigerian-born Timi Oke has long been drawn to agriculture. While working at a bank in the UK, he actively used LinkedIn to explore opportunities in the industry. In 2012, his efforts led him to connect with an importer in Mexico interested in sourcing hibiscus from Nigeria.

Hibiscus, often touted as a superfood, is a flowering plant known for its vibrant, trumpet-shaped blooms. Its dried petals are used to make hibiscus tea, a ruby-red drink prized for its refreshing taste and potential health benefits, including its ability to lower blood pressure. Beyond beverages, hibiscus has applications as a natural food colouring and an ingredient in jams, syrups, and desserts. It is also valued in the pharmaceutical sector for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and in the personal care industry for products like facial scrubs, masks, and hair care treatments.

Nigeria plays an increasingly significant role in the global hibiscus supply chain due to a preference for the country’s healthier, non-GMO varieties.

As Oke was still employed at the bank, his brother – a co-founder of the business – travelled to Kano, northern Nigeria, to purchase the hibiscus from aggregators who sourced it from small-scale farmers in the region. A third partner, whom Oke knew from the UK and who is originally from northern Nigeria, also helped with introductions.

Once the first order was completed and payment was received, Oke left his banking job and moved back to Nigeria to focus on the business full-time. He returned to LinkedIn to find new clients and also began attending food industry conferences. The business expanded rapidly, with volumes growing from 60 tonnes in the first year to 120 tonnes in the second, and 540 tonnes in the third.

The company raised some early capital from Oke’s mother and his partner’s father. “We were lucky that they bet on three young boys in their middle twenties who wanted to build a business out of hibiscus,” he explains.

The funds were used to set up a warehouse and hire experienced supply chain staff. “We went and we hired about two people who were very experienced in the supply chain … It is one thing to be able to source the hibiscus. It’s a totally different ball game … to move it from the north to Lagos, where the ports are in Apapa, and then get it on a vessel and get all the right documentation that allows your client to clear the goods stress free.”

Building direct farmer relationships

When AgroEknor started trading, it sourced hibiscus through aggregators who gathered the crops from smallholder farmers. However, relying on aggregators left the company with little control over the prices it paid for the hibiscus.

Oke realised that AgroEknor needed to work directly with smallholder farmers to address this issue. Over time, the company experimented with different ways of collaborating with farmers. Today, AgroEknor works with over 7,000 smallholders. The company has set up collection centres near the farmers and supports them in various ways to help improve their yields.

Entering the lucrative US market

Oke advises commodity traders to begin by targeting markets with less stringent import regulations to gain experience and learn the trade. While newcomers often aim for the EU or US, he warns that issues like errors in shipment documentation or fumigation can result in the destruction of an entire cargo at certain ports, particularly in the US – losses a startup cannot afford.

AgroEknor eventually entered the US, which Oke describes as particularly lucrative, with revenues often double those in other countries. The company focuses on retail-packaged hibiscus flowers and cordials for the American market, with Texas a key region for sales.

Exploring opportunities beyond hibiscus

While hibiscus remains AgroEknor’s main focus, Oke also sees opportunities in other crops grown in Nigeria and across the continent. “We tend to look at commodities where there is no major player already … So our priority is niche markets where the market leadership is for the taking.”

One crop Oke is enthusiastic about is fonio, a drought-resistant, gluten-free grain with numerous nutritional benefits. Cultivated in West Africa for thousands of years, fonio remains under-commercialised.

The company became interested in fonio after considering other crops that hibiscus farmers could grow. “You don’t need fertilisers for fonio, you can literally just throw the seeds of fonio on the ground and it will grow … It can grow on any type of soil.”

Oke mentions a recent article by Bill Gateshighlighting fonio’s benefits and notes that brewer Carlsberg has launched a beer made solely from fonio grains, without barley or bittering hops. He also points growing demand for fonio in certain European countries.

However, AgroEknor is primarily looking at fonio for the Nigerian market. “We are more interested in using fonio as a substitute for rice domestically because Nigeria imports rice and it’s just not practical.” Yet, Oke acknowledges one of the key challenges with fonio: its processing. The grain requires dehusking, which is a labour-intensive process.

He also sees potential in the sisal plant, a cactus-like species whose fibres are used in products such as rope, string, yarn, and bags. Sisal is increasingly found in composite materials for cars, furniture, and construction, as well as in plastics and paper products. AgroEknor has made small investments in sisal-related R&D activities. However, the company found that achieving profitable margins through value addition in sisal would require venturing into industrial manufacturing. As a result, AgroEknor has set the idea aside to focus on other opportunities.

The company has also been involved in ginger trading in the past. “We had a lot of clients in the global markets who wanted us to help supply ginger. And we looked at that value chain, but in all honesty, it was a value chain that already had very dominant players … And yes, opportunistically we would trade in it. But in the medium term, we’re not looking to build out a future value chain out of ginger because there are already big players who already control 80% of the market.”

AgroEknor is also exploring opportunities for crops beyond Nigeria. One of these is cloves, a high-value spice. “It’s not grown in Nigeria but it is grown in other African countries,” Oke notes.

How We Made It In Africa

The Debt Management Office (DMO) says Nigeria has raised $2.2 billion in the international capital market through its latest eurobond auction.

The development comes two years after the federal government issued its last eurobond.

In November, Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, said approximately $1.7 billion is expected from a eurobond offer and $500 million from a sukuk financing to strengthen the country’s finances and support economic reforms.

The sum is expected to be used to finance the N9.1 trillion deficit in the 2024 budget

In a statement on Monday, DMO said it auctioned two bonds including a 6.5 year eurobond which is expected to mature in 2031 and a 10-year eurobond in 2034, respectively, in the international capital markets on December 2.

According to the statement, although Nigeria priced the eurobond at $2.2 billion, the bonds recorded a peak orderbook of more than $9 billion.

“The Federal Republic of Nigeria (the “Republic”) successfully priced US$2.2 billion in Eurobonds (the “Notes”) maturing in 2031 (6.5-year) and 2034 (10- year) in the international capital markets on 2 December 2024, with US$700 million and US$1.5 billion placed in the 2031 and 2034 maturities, respectively,” the statement reads.

“The 6.5-year and the 10- year. The Notes were priced at a Coupon and Re-offer Yield of 9.625 per cent and 10.375 per cent, respectively.

“Nigeria is pleased to have attracted a wide range of investors from multiple jurisdictions including the United Kingdom, North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East and participation from Nigerian investors, which it views as an expression of continued investor confidence in the country’s sound macro-economic policy framework and prudent fiscal and monetary management.”

DMO said the transaction attracted “a peak orderbook of more than $9 billion,” underscoring the strong support for the transaction across geography and investor class.

Regarding investor class, the agency said demand came from a combination of fund managers, insurance and pension funds, hedge funds, banks and other financial institutions.

DMO said the notes would be admitted to the official list of the UK Listing Authority and available to trade on the London Stock Exchange’s regulated market, the FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited, and the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

“The proceeds from this Eurobond issuance will be used to finance the 2024 fiscal deficit and support the government’s budgetary needs,” DMO said.

“Nigeria mandated Chapel Hill Denham, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Standard Chartered Bank as Joint Bookrunners. FSDH Merchant Bank Limited acted as Financial Adviser on the issuance.”

The Cable

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Ecology and Climate Change, Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West), has said the National Assembly will pass the tax reform bills despite opposition from different quarters.

Dickson, in an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Monday, said the bills would be passed like the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), stressing that heavens would not fall when the tax bills are consequently passed.

President Bola Tinubu had on October 3, 2024, transmitted to the National Assembly, four tax reform bills, in a letter, read by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajuddeen Abbas, during separate plenaries of the two chambers.

Tinubu said the bills would bolster Nigeria’s fiscal institutions, adding that they were in line with his government’s broader development objectives for the country.

But Nigerians including some governors, traditional rulers, civil society organisations, federal lawmakers and others have kicked against the bills.

Recall that the Senate had last week passed the bills for second reading while the House of Representatives is yet to act on the bills.

Dickson also dispelled the claim that the planned public hearing on the bills could be chaotic if proper consultations were not done, and urged those opposed to the bills to attend the public hearing with facts if they have issues with any sections of the proposed fiscal legislations.

Dickson, former Governor of Bayelsa State said, “The PIA was passed. We wanted 10% which was what Yar’adua proposed. They (federal lawmakers) reduced it to 3%. Heaven did not fall. This tax reform bills will pass and heavens will not fall.

“The Senate has passed the bills for second reading. Public hearing will take place and people should get ready to present their positions. The tax bill is a proposed law like every other and it has to go through the normal legislative process.

“Right now, taxes from Bayelsa State are paid to Lagos State and I don’t want that to continue. When there is consumption of any goods or services from any state it should be calculated and paid to that state.

“Now there is an opportunity to review the tax laws, to correct the anomalies and that is why I’m in support. I know there are states that are feeling that when they apply the new sharing formula, they will earn less. It’s for them to raise those issues and bring the statistics. I don’t go by sentiments. I go by what is right and in the national interest.”

Daily Trust

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured the final forfeiture of an estate located in the federal capital territory (FCT).

Jude Onwuegbuzie, a judge of the FCT high court, delivered his verdict in favour of the EFCC on Monday.

In a statement, Dele Oyewale, spokesperson of the anti-graft agency, said the estate, which measures 150,500 square metres and contains 753 units of duplexes and other apartments, is the largest single asset the EFCC has recovered since it was set up in 2003.

The individual who forfeited the property was not mentioned, but Oyewale said it belonged to a “former top brass of the government”.

“The road to the final forfeiture of the property was paved by an interim forfeiture order, secured before the same Judge on November 1, 2024,” he said.

“The government official which fraudulently built the estate is being investigated by the EFCC. The forfeiture of the asset is an important modality of depriving the suspect of the proceeds of the crime.

“In this instance, the Commission relied on Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud And Other Fraud Related Offences Act No 14, 2006 and Section 44 (2) B of the Constitution of the 199 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to push its case.

“The Establishment Act of the Commission places huge emphasis on asset recovery.”

The EFCC spokesperson said the judge held that the respondent did not show cause as to why he should not lose the property.

Oyewale quoted Ola Olukoyede, EFCC’s chair, as saying that asset recovery is “pivotal in the fight against corruption, economic and financial crimes and a major disincentive against the corrupt and the fraudulent”.

The Cable

Hamas says 33 hostages killed in course of war in Gaza

Hamas said on Monday that 33 hostages in Gaza had been killed during the almost 14-month-old war between the Palestinian militant group and Israel in the enclave, without giving their nationalities.

Hamas added that other hostages had gone missing.

"With the continuation of your crazy war," it said in a statement addressed to Israel, "you could lose your hostages forever. Do what you have to do before it is too late."

Hamas shortly afterward published a video it said detailed when and how the hostages had been killed, blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their fate.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment, which came as Israeli military strikes continued in Gaza.

Hamas has called for an end to the war and total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as part of any deal to release remaining hostages. Netanyahu has said the war will go on until Hamas is eradicated and poses no more threat to Israel.

Israel launched its war after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's military offensive has killed more than 44,400 Palestinians and displaced most of Gaza's population, Gaza officials say. Vast swathes of the enclave lie in ruins.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kiev too weak to retake territory – Zelensky

The Ukrainian army is powerless to push back Russian forces and recapture all the territories that belonged to Kiev before 2014, Vladimir Zelensky has said, adding that his country must rely on diplomacy to achieve this goal.

In an interview with Kyodo News on Monday, the Ukrainian leader signaled that Kiev wants to end the conflict as soon as possible and retake Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye regions after the prospects of joining NATO become clear.

He acknowledged, however, that this will not be easy. “Our army lacks the strength to do that… We do have to find diplomatic solutions.” At the same time, diplomacy will have a chance “only when we know that we are strong enough” and Russia is prevented from launching new offensives, Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian leader went on to say that US President-elect Donald Trump, who will be sworn in in January, is well aware of the details of his ‘victory plan’, adding that this initiative will put Ukraine in a “strong position” for negotiations. The plan, which was unveiled by Zelensky in October, demands an immediate invitation to join NATO, unrestricted Western military support, and placing conventional deterrence measures in Ukraine to keep Russia at bay. Moscow has rejected the plan as a “set of incoherent slogans” and a recipe for escalation.

The Trump team, the Ukrainian leader claimed, is “studying the plan and we are going to hear from them… But there will be no capitulation from the side of Ukraine.” 

While Zelensky has ruled out “bargaining” over territory, he signaled last week that Kiev could be ready for a ceasefire with Moscow if Ukraine is allowed in its current form to join NATO. He added, however, that this deal has never been on the table.

Russia has signaled that it is ready for talks over Ukraine, but insists that any settlement must take into account the territorial realities on the ground. Moscow has also ruled out the option of freezing the conflict, stressing that all of the goals of its military operation – including Ukrainian neutrality, denazification, and demilitarization – must be achieved.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

NATO expected to sidestep Ukraine's call for quick invite

NATO is highly unlikely to heed Ukraine's call for a membership invitation at a meeting on Tuesday, according to diplomats, dashing Kyiv's hopes of a political boost as it struggles on the battlefield and awaits Donald Trump's return to the White House.

In a letter to his NATO counterparts ahead of the meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said an invitation would remove one of Russia's main arguments for waging its war - namely, preventing Ukraine from joining the alliance.

But there is no sign of the required consensus among NATO's 32 members for such a decision at the foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels, said diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"It will take weeks and months to get consensus," a senior NATO diplomat said on Monday. "I don't see that happening tomorrow, I would be very surprised."

A senior U.S. official said the meeting would focus on surging support for Ukraine so it was in the strongest possible position next year, "going into possible negotiations".

"The best way to do that is to surge money, munitions and mobilisation," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday announced a new weapons package for Ukraine worth $725 million.

MUTUAL DEFENCE

Ukraine sees NATO membership as the best guarantee of its future security. Under NATO's Article 5 mutual defence pact, members agree to treat an attack on one as an attack on all and come to each other's aid.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy suggested on Friday in a Sky News interview that putting territory currently controlled by his government "under the NATO umbrella" would stop the "hot phase" of the war.

His comments came as Ukraine faces a tough winter on the battlefield, with Moscow's troops advancing in the east and Russian airstrikes targeting the country's hobbled energy grid.

While NATO has declared Ukraine will join its ranks and that the country's path to NATO is "irreversible", it has not issued an invitation or set out a timeline for membership.

Any such decision would depend above all on NATO's predominant power, the United States, so will soon be a matter for Trump, when he returns as U.S. president next month.

Biden administration officials are aware that any major move on Ukraine should ideally have the backing of the incoming government to ensure it has a lasting impact.

Ukraine was among the topics of a discussion in recent weeks between U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his successor Mike Waltz but the level of alignment, if any, between the outgoing and incoming administrations remains unclear.

Trump has criticised the scale of U.S. aid for Kyiv and said he will end the war in a day. But he has not set out a detailed plan of how he will tackle the conflict.

Some NATO members, such as Hungary, have openly voiced opposition to Ukraine joining the alliance. But some others have also signalled they do not think the time is right, such as the current U.S. and German governments, according to diplomats.

RT/Reuters

“All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies” – Arbuthnot, 1667-1735, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 191. 

Note: This article started on the day of the Ondo State election. The result was not surprising. “You can’t beat something with nothing”. PDP is now nothing. Obong Victor Attah, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State and former Trustee of the PDP, is an internationally-recognised architect. He was the first African to be granted licence to practice as an architect in New York State.

Attah turned 86 on November 20 this year. Few Nigerians are aware that Attah designed the PDP flag. As a member of the G-34, a group led by late Alex Ekwueme, former Vice President, 1979-1983, and an artist like all architects, the flag symbolised an all-inclusive party. Its original constitution reflected the intention of the founding fathers to create a society in which glaring marginalisation of any group will not be allowed.

Ekwueme was on the way to becoming the first President elected under the PDP banner when powerful people intruded into the party; forced PDP to violate its own constitution and accept Olusegun Obasanjo as their candidate. The facts are detailed in PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED. Self-righteous Obasanio was thus the first beneficiary of the corruption of a sacred set of political principles laid out by patriotic Nigerians. Obasanjo quickly moved to dismantle the PDP constitution and to substitute one which was an image of himself – a dictator at heart; despite his hypocritical pronouncements now.

He appointed and removed party Chairmen at will and approved candidates for elections at all three tiers of government. How he removed Audu Ogbeh would bring tears to anyone’s eyes. He sowed the seeds of the destruction of Nigeria’s democracy. Today, Attah is no longer active in politics. But, at 86, he must certainly feel disillusioned by what the PDP has become. The flag he designed is now a mockery of what the PDP has become in his life time. I was still writing this article when the result of the Ondo State election was announced.

It is predictable what will follow. There will be a massive desertion of the PDP to the APC. A few years ago, when the late Vincent Ogbulafor, then Chairman of the party, announced, as if he was God, that “PDP will rule for sixty years”, I told him that he will not live for 70 years, but, he might live long enough to see the party out of power. He did both. PDP had been living on borrowed time since (President) Jonathan lost control of the party and suffered defeat.

Now time has run out for the party. Even now, close to half of the leading members of the APC were once in PDP. More will now follow; leaving a party so weak as not to offer much opposition to the APC. Daniel Bwala, a former spokesman for Atiku, the presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 elections, who was blasting the APC as lustfully as he did since the elections in September this year, had been invited by President Tinubu to “come and eat”.

He quickly accepted the offer and is now eating in Aso Rock and singing the praises of his new paymaster. That raises the question: Which party will defeat APC in 2027? The answer curiously enough might be APC itself or a new party primarily northern based. In fact, we might be heading for regional parties such as we had before 1960. Two developments account for this position. One, the APC, never a political party, in just nine and a half years, has left the North reassessing its support for APC.

The eight years of Buhari blinded the people to assume that the party was working in their own interests. His departure had laid bare the truth. Under Buhari, APC was a party of the elite, by the elite and for the elite. Tinubu’s presidency has marginalised the northern elite; like never before. They want to redress the situation as soon as possible. Two, hitherto, northerners have lacked a rallying point; there was no common agenda. Tinubu’s Tax Reform Bills, considered anti-North by the vast majority, have provided the impetus for regional collective action.

It is doubtful if any northern politician will support the bills and survive politically. As one old friend from the North-West told me, “I canvassed for votes for Tinubu. He is holding a knife to our throats in the North. We will not allow him to get away with it.” It was, therefore, not surprising to me that all the northern governors are opposed to the Tax Bills. The real surprise was the unanimous opposition of southern governors as well.

Given the fact that the majority of governors belong to the APC, that has revealed the lack of principle within the party. It is doubtful if any Republican governor will oppose a Tax Bill proposed by (incoming US president) Trump because the party’s position on taxation has been consistent for over a hundred years. A situation in which the president’s own party governors and most National Assembly members might turn against him is worrisome – even if expected in a nation where politics without principles is the norm.

TAX REFORM: POSSIBLE ISOLATION OF LAGOS

“There are plans from Lagos to colonise the North” – Kwankwaso.

The presidential candidate of the NNPP is not alone in condemning the Tax Reform Bills; which most commentators, nationally, have not read; and very few understand. But, it now serves as a fulcrum for moving massive northern sentiments against the APC in the region. The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, a few days after Kwankwaso spoke, made an even more unmistakable declaration.

2027: “North will be best served by northerners” – Report, November 21, 2024.

Just in case anybody in Abuja misses the point, the ACF Chairman said: “Notwithstanding the parlous state of Arewa’s glaring economic conditions, the policies of the current Federal Government has continued to make matters much worse, with little indications of needed sensitivity to the precarious existential conditions of Arewa people… economic reforms while indeed desirable, should not impoverish the same people they are meant to serve…” Battle line drawn. Elected, as well as appointed, APC northern politicians are now confronted with an unpleasant dilemma: Continue supporting Tinubu and his policies or bail out. Either way, there will be serious consequences. I don’t envy Vice President Shetimma or Ganduje. The attempt by the Board of Trustees, BOT, of the ACF to distance the old association from Mamman Osuman’s outburst by suspending the Chairman was a blunder.

The blowback by several northern groups, especially youth groups, points to the possibility that the more cautious and conservative elders might not be aware of the depth of hostility to FG’s reforms. Nigeria is getting ripe for demagogues. Historically, demagoguery triumphs when there is a very angry, dissatisfied section of the populace who want simple answers to very complicated problems; and when the section can identify another distinct group to blame for its problems.

Kwankwaso, focusing on the section of the Tax Bills which recommends the principle of derivation to be adopted for Value Added Tax, VAT, revenue allocation, represents the northern view that with Lagos accounting for over 50 per cent of the VAT revenue collected, any change in that direction will adversely affect their states. Kwankwaso has deliberately ignored the fact that not only northern states will be affected. Even all the rest of the South-West states will lose.

But, Tinubu is from Lagos State; so the conspiracy to further impoverish the North must be a Lagos agenda. That is most unfortunate; because it has shifted the discussion from addressing the merits of the tax proposal to North versus Lagos. More unfortunate is the fact that the northern leaders conveniently forget that the Nigerian economy was already ruined by the time Buhari finished his eight years in office. More importantly, as the Emir of Kano, Lamido, has warned repeatedly, the North was ruining itself – not Lagos.

Virtually all those in APC, NNPP and LP in the North were in PDP before; when the seeds of destruction of the economy were sown. Not to be left behind, the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, led by Ango Abdullahi, sent a chilling message. Read some of it; and it is clear why political lines have disappeared in the North: “The Tax Reform Bills are conceived in bad faith, poorly packaged and is a palpable threat to our unity and national cohesion.

The brazen way and suspicious manner in which the Tax Bills were imposed on the nation confirmed the sinister intentions of those promoting this outrageous Bill. The days are fast gone when such conspiratorial connivance against the vital and strategic interest of the region, either by those within or outside of the region, would be condoned or even tolerated”.

Non-partisan political war could not have been more brutally declared. The attackers have the advantage. Serious economic hardship, especially coming so suddenly and brutally, invariably gives rise to the search for scapegoats – people on whom to place the blame. Despite Benjamin Franklin’s, 1706-1790, position that, “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”, few people except government officials want to hear the word TAX. But, where there are political parties in the real sense of the word, the Tax Bills should have been discussed with party leaders of the ruling party; and everybody should now be out fighting for its passage. The party no longer counts in this struggle.

LAST LINE: Tinubu and his inner circle of advisers missed a vital step in advancing the Tax Bills. Now, the Bills are virtually dead on arrival.

Vanguard

Tom Huddleston Jr.

To become successful, you might have to learn to take yourself less seriously and be willing to keep doing the work, even when times get tough.

That’s according to Jake Loosararian, the co-founder and CEO of Gecko Robotics, a tech startup that makes wall-climbing robots for jobs too dangerous for humans, like scanning the inside of a power plant boiler or nuclear missile silo for critical structural issues.

After starting as a college engineering project, Gecko launched as a business in 2013. It ranked 42nd on the 2024 CNBC Disruptor 50 List and was most recently valued at $633 million.

Loosararian, 33, says Gecko never would’ve made it this far if he weren’t willing to “go into the unknown and the dirty and unexplored.” He means it literally: Loosararian spent parts of the last decade testing robots in dark, dangerous environments, soldering circuit boards in hot, grimy power plant boiler rooms.

Even launching the business in the first place was a risk — many of his closest friends and advisors thought it was a longshot, he says.

Ultimately, Loosararian says getting his hands dirty helped set him and Gecko apart from the many potential startups and prospective “innovators” who haven’t prospered. “So much of Gecko’s success and progress has been just through embracing that value of grit and gritting your teeth,” he says.

Grit, or the ability to persist in striving toward a goal over the long term, and in the face of any number of obstacles, is a trait that psychologists often associate with success. It can be even more important than skill or intelligence, according to University of Pennsylvania psychology professor Angela Duckworth.

“Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality,” Duckworth said in a 2013 TED Talk.

A company built on grit

Loosararian spent three years bootstrapping Gecko Robotics after graduating from college with a degree in electrical engineering. He had no money to pay himself, so he slept on friends’ floors and at the power plants where he tested early iterations of Gecko’s robots.

At times, Loosararian considered giving up. He remembers thinking to himself: “I don’t belong in this place. ... I’m a talented engineer with a hard hat on, steel-toe boots and covered in coal soot. I shouldn’t be here.”

Instead, he decided to embrace those challenges, leaning hard on his initial belief that he’d found an untapped, potentially lucrative market — “a secret hiding in plain sight,” he says.

Plenty of other successful businesspeople agree with Loosararian on the importance of endurance. “The most successful people have a lot of skill, but they also have grit,” billionaire and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt told CNBC Make It in 2022. “In other words, they’re willing to put up with the setbacks and the inevitable challenges that people deal with.” 

Unwelcoming environments, like the ones where Gecko’s robots typically operate, are “actually where we’re needed the most as innovators and designers and technologists,” adds Loosararian.

Gecko’s challenging origins helped shape its company culture for the better, he says: Determination and resilience now “permeate” throughout Gecko’s 300-plus employees.

“Everyone has to drive robots and run the software, and has to understand how the built world works. And, man, that’s exciting,” Loosararian says. “You want to get a group of people that are all convicted in that value.”

CNBC

Holcim, a Swiss building materials company, has agreed to sell its Nigerian business to Huaxin Cement Ltd., a Chinese firm.

The deal, valued at $1 billion, would lead to the sale of Holcim’s 83 percent stake in Lafarge Africa, according to a statement on Sunday.

Lafarge Africa Plc is a member of the Holcim Group — a maker of roofing and other housing products, such as cement, aggregates for construction and ready-mix concrete. 

The company said the agreement has been signed, noting that the transaction is expected to close next year.

“Holcim has signed an agreement with Huaxin Cement Ltd to sell its entire 83.81% shareholding in Lafarge Africa Plc, at an equity value of $1 billion on a 100% basis,” the statement reads.

“The transaction is expected to close in 2025, subject to customary and regulatory approvals.”

Holcim, however, did not give reasons for its exit.

On May 24, Kimberly-Clark, makers of Huggies, said it plans to stop localmanufacturing and sales in Nigeria after 14 years of operation.

According to the firm, the decision was made owing to its recently refocused corporate priorities globally as well as economic trends in the country.

Pick n Pay, a South African grocery retailer, in October, also announced plans to exit Nigeria by selling its 51 percent stake in a joint venture.

Sean Summers, chief executive officer (CEO) of Pick n Pay, said the move was part of plans to restructure outside of its home market.

In 2023, three pharmaceutical companies exited Nigeria.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Nigeria Plc ceased operations and transferred its business activities to a third-party organisation.

Sanofi-Aventis Nigeria Limited, a French pharmaceutical company, also halted its direct operations in the country in November 2023.

One month later, Procter & Gamble (P&G), an American multinational consumer goods company, disclosed plans to transition from local production to solely importing its products.

The Cable

President Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, after the first son was convicted in two separate federal cases earlier this year.

The announcement was made by the White House on Sunday night. The pardon applies to offenses against the U.S. that Hunter Biden "has committed or may have committed" from Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 1, 2024.

"Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter," Biden wrote in a statement. "From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted."

The president went on to claim that his son was "treated differently" by prosecutors.

"Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form," Biden added. "Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently."

Biden also referenced his son's battle with addiction and blamed "raw politics" for the unraveling of Hunter's plea deal.

"There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution," the 82-year-old father wrote. "In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough."

"I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision," Biden's statement concluded.

A court document obtained by Fox News showed that Hunter signed his name on a legal acknowledgment of the pardon.

"On December 1, 2024, I received a formally accepted the President's grant of a pardon," the document stated. "I declare (or certify, verify, or state) under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct."

In a statement on Sunday night, Hunter said that he would "never take the clemency" his father gave him for granted, and that he plans to devote his life to helping those with addiction.

"I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport," the first son wrote. 

"In the throes of addiction, I squandered many opportunities and advantages. In recovery we can be given the opportunity to make amends where possible and rebuild our lives if we never take for granted the mercy that we have been afforded."

Hunter Biden, 54, has had a busy year in court, kicking off his first trial in Delaware in June, when he faced three felony firearm offenses, before he pleaded guilty in a separate felony tax case in September. 

President Biden pardoning his son is a departure from his previous remarks to the media over the summer, declaring he would not pardon the first son.

"Yes," President Biden told ABC News when asked if he would rule out pardoning Hunter ahead of his guilty verdict in the gun case. 

Days later, following a jury of Hunter’s peers finding him guilty of three felony firearm offenses, the president again said he would not pardon his son. 

"I am not going to do anything," Biden said after Hunter was convicted. "I will abide by the jury’s decision."

In the gun case, Hunter was found guilty of making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

Prosecutors specifically worked to prove that Biden lied on a federal firearm form, known as ATF Form 4473, in October 2018, when he ticked a box labeled "No" when asked if he is an unlawful user of substances or addicted to controlled substances. 

Hunter has a well-documented history of drug abuse, which was most notably documented in his 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things," which walked readers through his previous need to smoke crack cocaine every 20 minutes, how his addiction was so prolific that he referred to himself as a "crack daddy" to drug dealers, and anecdotes revolving around drug deals, such as a Washington, D.C., crack dealer Biden nicknamed "Bicycles."

Hunter’s attorneys did not dispute the first son’s long history with substance abuse amid the trial, which also included an addiction to alcohol. The defense instead argued that on the day Biden bought the Cobra Colt .38, he did not consider himself an active drug addict, citing the first son's stint in rehab ahead of the October 2018 purchase.

Prosecutors, however, argued Biden was addicted to crack cocaine before, during and after he bought the handgun. Just one day after the gun purchase, prosecutors showed the court that Biden texted Hallie Biden, his sister-in-law-turned-girlfriend, to say he was "waiting for a dealer named Mookie." A day after that text, he texted that he was "sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th Street and Rodney" in Wilmington. 

A jury deliberated for roughly three hours across two days before they found Hunter guilty on each charge. 

Hunter was scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 13, which was delayed until December before his dad intervened. 

After Biden dropped out of the presidential race in July amid mounting concerns over his mental acuity and age, Hunter faced another trial regarding three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. 

As jury selection was about to kick off in Los Angeles federal court, Hunter entered a surprise guilty plea. 

"I will not subject my family to more pain, more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment," Hunter said in an emailed statement at the time. "For all I have put them through over the years, I can spare them this, and so I have decided to plead guilty."

The charges carried up to 17 years behind bars, but the first son would likely have faced a much shorter sentence under federal sentencing guidelines. His sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16. 

Ahead of the president’s decision to pardon his son, President-elect Donald Trump said on the campaign trail that he would consider pardoning Hunterif victorious on Nov. 5. 

"I wouldn't take it off the books," Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt in October. "See, unlike Joe Biden, despite what they've done to me, where they've gone after me so viciously. . . . And Hunter's a bad boy."

"There's no question about it. He's been a bad boy," Trump continued. "But I happen to think it's very bad for our country."

Fox News