By Bianca Iboma-Emefu
A Senior coach and Principal Consultant at Producitvate Plus USA, and the President of the Institute of Productivity and Business Innovation Management (IPBIM), a globally focused African institution of productivity and innovation learning, Remi Dairo, has developed a Personal Productivity Program (PPP); software that would help Nigerians find their personal productivity capacity in life, business, and career.
Dairo who is also the Chairman of Kemi Remi-Dairo Hearing Foundation, an Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) based in Nigeria and the US, said that leveraging on latest technological solutions would further develop and boost Nigeria’s productivity, as this would enhance economic empowerment in the country.
As a productivity expert, he has been advocating on the need for Nigerians to re-define productivity, which he emphasized in his book, “Product-Activity: 12 keys To Unleash Human Performance And Workers Companion”
According to Dairo, the book has been widely read and applied in the workplace globally. In addition to this, herecently launched a new book; “Improving Organisational Productivity; Defining Philosophy, Product, Process, and People”. He equally co-authored with John Heap; President of World Confederation Productivity Science and is in high demand on Amazon.
He charged Nigerians to be innovative in whatever they do, as doing things the same way that have been done for several years would not yield any good results, adding that the aim of the institute was to make people challenge tradition and drive them to do things differently and be able to compete globally. “The institute came into being when we noticed that some people feel they would be seen as productive only when they work and begin to sweat profusely, but in the end, nothing has changed. We have to devise ingenious ways of doing things that would increase productivity”.
Dairo has featured on various international and local media on different ‘Productivity’ programs. The inspiring coach was a voice from Africa on issues of productivity and innovation at the Nigeria/UK Diaspora Conference in the United Kingdom and World Productivity Congress, Halifax, Canada and he was the only African who spoke at the World Productivity Congress held in Bahrain in 2017 amongst many other conferences within and outside the continent of Africa.
His inspiring journey and passion for personal productivity, prompted his ambition to start the School of Productivity in 2007 which, metamorphosed into the Institute of Productivity and Business Innovation Management (IPBIM).
“I started this movement when I saw that the human capital potential capacities of Africa is robust yet the continent is getting little from that capacity. You will agree with me that Africa is so blessed yet poor and has been on the developing list. Considering my deep interaction with Nigeria public service and my many years of private business, I see the same problem all over- lack of appropriate skills, lack of appropriate information, and the right attitude to work. So, I set up the IPBIM to help bridge the productivity gap and take the nation to the new global productivity experience called Innovation. I discovered that many are hard workers but do not know that the rules of work have changed. They work so hard but are not smart. In IPBIM we redefine productivity. We have a Personal Productivity program that helps people to find their productivity capacity in life, career, and business. With the help of our PPP App, participants can take their PPP assessment and get results that will give them clarity of their capacity”.
Dairo said that their organisation also has a workforce productivity program for an organisation which helps to build a productivity mindset and skills for maximum performance. “There is another program called Innovation management for an organisation that wants to go through the Innovation system process for optimum results. Our organisation has the productivity and Innovation Program curriculum for secondary schools in Nigeria, to help us develop productive and innovative kids right from secondary schools. We also have a Business Innovation Program for businessmen and women who want to set up a profitable system, cutting waste and sustainable customers.The first thing I would like to say is that there is no country in the world that does not have its problems. Nigeria is not the only country that has economic challenges but the way we see the problem will determine how we solve it. Every economic problem should allow people to think within and find solutions for others to pay for”.
Dairo added that the internet has connected the world and Nigerians can lash on this. “Social media is a big opportunity for free or less marketing to other parts of the world outside Nigeria. With the advent of the internet, productivity and making money has changed and our people much learn the new skill of today”.
He stressed the need for people to re-skill, cross-skill and up-skill. “Our people must also change their mindset with the seven right attitudes- to work, organisation, subordinate, colleague, salary, God/universe, life, and money.
Dairo is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and has a post-graduate program in Education Management from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He equally has Strategic Management and Innovation Specialization from the Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, and Strategic Leadership and Management from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Chicago Fellow.
Dairo is also a member of the Association of Productivity Specialist, USA, and International Coaching Federation, USA. He is a certified SME consultant, USA, Accredited Management Consultant, Canada.
A Fellow member of the Institute of Information Management (IIM), Africa, and Fellow member of the Institute of Productivity and Business Innovation Management (IPBIM) Africa.
More so, he is a board member of the Life Coaches Association of Nigeria (LCAN) and Passion House International. He was awarded Global Productivity Researcher by the World Confederation of Productivity Science at the World Productivity Congress in 2017. Recently, he was also awarded amongst few coaching in Nigeria; Master Coach Award in honour of his contribution to the coaching industry in Nigeria 2019.