Thursday, January 6, 2011
DARE TO DREAM AT THE LEADING LADIES SUMMIT 2011
'Learn to fail elegantly' says Creative Commons CEO, Joichi Ito
Joichi Ito's many business ventures - as an investor, an entrepreneur and as CEO of Creative Commons - are all about connecting people
Serial entrepreneur and investor Joichi Ito believes in perseverance.
"Every single company I did failed," he says of his first ten years as an entrepreneur and investor.But despite a number of setbacks, he has since launched or invested in a string of successful technology companies.
His venture capital fund Neoteny Labs looks for opportunities in Asia and beyond. And Mr Ito is also CEO of Creative Commons, a non-profit organisation which has the goal of "making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright".
Joichi Ito was born in Japan and educated in the US. While studying at the University of Chicago, he became involved in the city's club scene.
"I was learning a great deal just working and hanging out in the nightclub," he recalls. "I realised that in the sort of working-class community of the nightclubs there was a lot of very interesting stuff going on… The communities, people caring for each other."
The discovery prompted him to question the value of this studies. He says the "homogenous group of students focused on one thing" meant that he "[wasn't] really learning very much and it wasn't particularly exciting.""People and communities and networks are what I'm interested in," he explains.
After leaving university Mr Ito worked as a DJ and then a journalist but says he "switched quickly" to technology entrepreneurship once he realised that "the internet was really all about connecting people."
Patents As a venture capitalist, Joichi Ito is very specific about the type of companies he invests in.
He favours businesses operating in areas where patents are not always necessary, such as the internet. According to Mr Ito, the high costs of patents mean that smaller companies can rarely afford them, leaving them at risk of being sued.
He believes that even the ownership of one patent is no protection when faced with a patent litigation from a larger corporation possessing many patents in that area.
"Patents are like land mines," he says. "In an area where I see lots of patents, I'm going to be careful about any company in that space."He has chosen to invest in online services such as Twitter and Flickr and says that online success is more about exploiting the flexibility of networks to promote a product than it is about the product itself.
He gives examples of two companies he didn't invest in which are successful: "YouTube had a relationship and it figured out how to connect into MySpace… PayPal figured out a way to connect into eBay… It's strategic."
Freedom to create Joichi Ito is critical of modern ways of communicating ideas.
The CEO of Creative Commons believes the many tools in place to protect creators often act as barriers to future innovation.
"There are certain benefits to copyrights and patents and providing an incentive for people to invest in research. But at the same time… most ideas actually increase in value as they're spread." The internet is symbolic of this according to Mr Ito.
Many Flickr users make their work available under Creative Commons licenses "And they've created explosions of innovations for things that we couldn't anticipate."
He says the aim of Creative Commons is to make it easier for people to collaborate. "It's a tool that allows you to legally use copyright without having to hire a lawyer each time to craft a contract when you're trying to share" .
Failure Joichi Ito was an entrepreneur before he started investing. He says modestly, "we only talk about our successes but there are probably ten times as many failures that I've started."
But Mr Ito believes the setbacks were crucial to his success as an investor. "I think it's essential for any investor to have been an entrepreneur. I think it's important that you understand that perspective."
One of the most important lessons he learnt was to fail "elegantly."
In fact the angel investor now spots employees from ailing companies. "People who have survived failures are just…worth their weight in gold," he explains.
"Whenever I see a company fail, the first thing I do is I go in and I look for those people who did a good job through that failure and I immediately recruit them."
And Joichi Ito is used to looking for opportunities in places where others might not look.
"I believe in serendipity," he says. "If you plan everything you can't be lucky."
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
DYNAMIX AWARDS 2010
The recent edition of the Dynamix All Youth Award presented another opportunity for Nigerian youths to be recognized for their efforts in different fields of endeavour. The award ceremony took place on 21st December, 2010 at the Eko Hotels & Suites with over 2000 students from different Nigerian universities including the Universities of Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Benson Idahosa University, Lead City University and Igbinedion University in attendance. The awards started with an interesting red carpet session with Mo’Cheddah and Jesse Jags as the hosts.
Hakeem The Dream was the first performer of the night, and he thrilled the audience with the performance of his popular single, Dey Dere. Yemi Alade’ s beautiful rendition of a Christmas carol was next, and Whizkid stole the show with his performance, proving to all – with his songs and stage presence – that there is a significant place for him in the Nigerian music industry.
The Kennis Music group mesmerized the audience, particularly with Yinka Adefemi’s acapella rendition of Never Felt a Love, which was a favourite with the ladies. Yinka also rendered a single of his own, Money Money Money. Goldie and her troupe of dancers performed next, with Jaywon drawing the Kennis music crew performances to a close. Jaywon’s hit track, moved the crowd so much that the students reacted by ‘spraying’ him with money.
Comedians Seyi Law and Bash kept the audience laughing with rounds of jokes. There were several other performers for the night, including Skales, Lynxx, Whizkid, Dotstar, Tha Suspect and Ill-Bliss. Ice Price performed his hit track, Oleku to a very excited audience, and Mo’Cheddah, Tiwa Savage, Skuki, Jesse Jags and MI shone like a thousand stars.
Keke and D1 of Primetime Africa and Don Jazzy of Mo’ Hits Crew were present to lend their support to the Dynamix Awards team. Don Jazzy generously presented the sum of N250, 000 to the winner of the ‘Most Intelligent’ award category.
The breakdown of the various categories and their winners are as follows:
Favourite Movie Act of the Year – Tonto Dike
Comedian of the Year – Ovie
Best New Artiste – Mo’Cheddah
Most Promising Artiste – Whizkid
Song of the Year – Fi Mi Le, KAS
Role Model in Sport – Obafemi Martins
Role Model in Music Production – Don Jazzy
OAP of the Year – Toolz of the Beat FM
TV Presenter of the Year – VIXEN of STV
Most Intelligent Student – Enioda Joshua, (University of Lagos)
Best Entertainment Promoter, Diaspora – Tiwa works (USA)
Best Youth Hangout – Rehab
Most Enterprising – G12
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