Pamela Watson - Gibbous Moon Over Lagos
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- Book:Gibbous Moon Over Lagos
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- Year:2020
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Lagos, Nigeria, a city of about 20 million people is growing fast and it is not the same Africa as that of the open plains of the Serengeti or the thunderous white cloud of Victoria Falls. This is Africas wild side, a place where ethics can be lost and where enormous good can be done; it is where Africas future will be made.
In 2005, Australian Pamela Watson, a one-time intrepid cyclist who peddled her way solo across Africa turned Lagos-based businesswoman, embarked on a thrilling five-year entrepreneurial journey. It included the highs of creating a successful hand-made paper social enterprise and making a difference to an embattled community, and the lows of discovering the human cost of a corrupt system and anxiety over the integrity of those she believed shared her business dream.
This original story explores whether Lagoss gibbous moon is waxing to full or waning back to the dark side, and what happened to Pamelas own cycle of business adventures. Along the way, we gain rare insight into this megacity of contradictions as open as it is opaque, as full of opportunity as it is of hazards, as exciting as it is frustrating. What becomes clear is that effervescent, hard-working, self-aware and brutally self-critical Lagosians are determinedly chasing dreams and opportunities in this untamed urban environment.
Gibbous Moon Over Lagos is a timely, spirited and inspiring read for those keen to know an Africa that challenges old stereotypes.
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To AJ, my partner in lifes adventures
MAP 1: AFRICA SHOWING NIGERIA
MAP 2: NIGERIA
MAP 3: LAGOS STATE
MAP 4: LAGOS ISLANDS
Timeline
| Year | Event |
| 199294 | Cycled alone and unsupported for 18 months, 14,500 km across Africa from Dakar, Senegal to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. |
| 1999 | Published Esprit de Battuta: Alone Across Africa by Bicycle (Aurum Press), my account of the above trip. |
| 1999 | Moved to Lagos, Nigeria with my partner, Alec. |
| 200001 | Worked as Associate Director of Strategy at international consulting firm in Lagos. |
| 2002 | Founded Strategyworks, a consultancy firm specialising in strategy and change management for private and public sector organisations, in Lagos. |
| 2003 | Year spent with my staff, Peter, Remi and Sonny, experimenting with paper making. |
| 2004 | Founded Ekologika Papers in Lagos. |
| End of 2004 | My partner Alec left Lagos. I stayed, running Strategyworks and Ekologika Papers. |
| 2005 | Appointed Honorary Consul for Australia in Lagos. |
| 2009 | Left Lagos for London. |
About This Story
This story focuses on events between 2004 and 2009, when I was running Strategyworks and Ekologika Papers. Most conversations are based on my best recollections. Names, including those of my businesses, have been changed and some characters are composites of several real people. While the events depicted are true, in some cases I have compressed or rearranged them to simplify a story that unrolled over five years and to place more focus on the drama rather than the miscellaneous sub-plots of my life.
Ten years on, I am based in London but regularly visit intoxicating Lagos and enticing Africa for business and adventures. Change and the movement of people to cities such as Lagos are rapid and relentless and my optimism for this megacity and its inhabitants future waxes and sometimes wanes like the moon. Hype about business prospects in Lagos and Africa goes hand in hand with debilitating hiatus, and many ventures fail. Corruption, lack of access to justice and poor, self-interested political leadership remain disappointingly strong, creating many obstacles to success. Chinas enormous public and private investment in Africa and Nigeria brings both benefits and concerns. But, generally, the continents and nations people are wealthier, healthier and more hopeful than they were twenty-five years ago when I rode my bicycle alone on Africas roads. Indeed, what seems most astonishing is the tenacious hold of the rural, impoverished, needy African stereotype ingrained in so many western minds.
Being fascinated by the complexity and wondering how it will all turn out, I watch, speak, write and advise about business and adventures in this exciting, rapidly urbanising, inexorably westernising continent of fifty-four nations.
People in Lagos still ask about my paper company. What happened? they ask. Here is its story.
Principal Characters
Note: Names have been changed, some characters are composites of several real people.
| Name | About them |
| Aaron | Australian managing director of a multinational soft drinks company, not in a rush to hire a consultant |
| Alec | Scottish executive with a multinational oil and gas company, dashing in a kilt |
| Alhaji | Gateman who has completed the haj to Mecca, sometimes kept on his toes by his boss |
| Andr | Lebanese friend of Jean, with gorgeous wife Vanessa |
| Mr Atta | Helpful and wise lawyer with glaucoma |
| Ayo | Upright lawyer, husband of Toks |
| Mr Babatunde | Enterprising operator of a large punching and binding service in Lagos |
| Bola | Creative accountant who works for Wale |
| Bruce | Generous Australian wine distributor |
| Caroline | Hard-working young Congolese woman |
| Chuks | Ekologika Papers conversion officer, a smart engineering graduate, cost control not his strength |
| Cliff | Shady Australian businessman |
| Colin | Nave Australian farmer with a buxom girlfriend, Deirdre |
| Dapo | Printer, dubious about most things, husband of Esther |
| David | Barman at Lagos Motor Boat Club (LMBC) with a growing family |
| Deirdre | Colins aid worker girlfriend |
| Dennis (deceased) | Ginger tom cat, curious and brave, brother to Tippy |
| Deola | Self-confident Strategyworks consultant, seeking new horizons |
| Edith | Strategyworks analyst who puts vacation first |
| Edward | Steward who likes cooking for crowds |
| Esther | Hard-working manager and wife of Dapo |
| Father Jim | Australian Catholic priest, long-serving in Lagos, fond of beer |
| Feyi | Bright, young Strategyworks consultant and mother of two |
| Gail | Canadian general manager (GM) of Ekologika Papers, apparent friend to all |
| Gloria | Assertive personal assistant (PA), with an invaluable ability to find just about anything |
| Haresh | Oxford-educated, successful Indian entrepreneur, client, friend and mentor |
| Helmut | Unlikely rescuer in Mali |
| Hew (deceased) | Alecs younger brother |
| The High Commissioner | Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria who knew the capital Abuja and its diplomatic world better than Lagos and its commercial realities |
| Ibrahim | Sword seller at Agaja beach |
| Ismail | Snappily dressed and slippery sheriff of a Lagos court |
| James | Cheerful young graduate and Ekologika Papers papermaker |
| Jean | Young Lebanese guy with a wicked sense of humour, also in the printing business |
| John | Mature Strategyworks senior consultant who did not last long |
| Josh | British West African correspondent, a courageous but possibly blinkered journalist |
| Kevin | Sports-mad and energetic Australian banker, excellent client and friend |
| Kola | Senior experienced Ekologika Papers sales professional, hard to manage |
| Kunle | Strategyworks analyst with a liking for music |
| Luke | Caretaker at Agaja beach hut, builder and brave swimmer |
| Max | FrenchLebanese businessman with a cool Parisian style, business partner to Jean |
| Michelle | Australian businesswoman with wide-ranging interests |
| Mike | Australian Deputy High Commissioner who has seen it all |
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