Exploring Solutions to the Development Problem with Efosa Ojomo

Development is one of the major challenges of our time. Unfortunately, it’s often approached in a way that does more harm than good. Efosa Ojomo has a better solution, and he’s here today to share it. Efosa is the leader of the Global Prosperity Research Group at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, the co-author of The Prosperity Paradox, and the author of the upcoming book, The Prosperity Process. In this episode, Efosa explains how his first foray in the development space (building wells in Nigeria) catalyzed a journey of discovery which led him to realize that, in order to truly change the world, we need to implement pull strategies instead of push strategies and focus on market creating innovations. He shares some examples of what these innovations look like and we discuss what it takes to be a market creating innovator, how regulation impacts innovation, a new way to think about corruption, and more! Make sure to tune in today.

Key Points From This Episode:

•  The lesson Efosa learned through his first foray in the development world.

•  Definitions of the three types of innovation that Efosa and his co-authors explain in depth in their book, The Prosperity Paradox.

•  Efosa shares the story of Mo Ibrhaim to highlight the power of market creating innovations.

•  Push versus pull development strategies and the problem with the former.

•  The story of Indomie Noodles as an example of the huge amount of change that can be made through the implementation of a pull strategy.

•  How a proliferation of government agencies negatively impacts a country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

•  The type of person who is best suited to be a leader in the market creating innovation space.

•  Aid for developing countries: how the approach needs to change.

•  Efosa explains why good laws are not enough to create thriving communities.

•  Key factors that resulted in the rise and fall of Venice.

•  How Efosa believes we should be tackling the issue of corruption.

•  A tribute to Clayton Christenson.

•  The Prosperity Process; Efosa’s future book.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Efosa Ojomo

Efosa Ojomo on Twitter

Global Prosperity Research Group at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation

The Prosperity Paradox

Mo Ibrahim

Gambling on Development

Yuen Yuen Ang

Why Nations Fail

The Innovator's Dilemma

The Innovator’s Solution

Charter Cities Institute

Charter Cities Institute on Facebook

Charter Cities Institute on Twitter