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here was no plan to write a book” Jacobs tells Insights, “but profes-sional activities and explaining

what I’m trying to do to transform business with digital systems at OFID, unconscious-ly led me to it.”

Copies of his book entitled “Digital Transformation: Evolving a Digitally En-abled Nigerian Public Service” are inside stacked boxes cornered in his office. Jacobs rummages to pull a hard copy out for In-sights and proudly tells us:

“A couple of years ago, sometime after I’d finished my second Master’s degree, someone asked me for a proposal on the subject of digital transformation for Nige-rian Public Services.” Jacobs thought that his work at OFID, his studies and his experience could all be brought together and was planning to write the proposal, but close friends en-couraged him to write a book instead.

“That way, my work would be documented for prosperity and secured with copyright,” he says.

So how did he manage to balance work, family and writing a book? “My friends were hugely supportive, and my family were amazing. I couldn’t have done this without them. Towards the end there were a lot of late nights, and they were very understanding. That’s why the book is dedicated to them.”Notably, the book dedication also extends

to OFID’s Deyaa Alkhateeb. Asked why, Jacobs responds sincerely: “Let me tell you, change can be hard to embrace. It needs imagination.”

Invited to elaborate, he says: “Deyaa Alkhateeb is a unique leader. He had the vision. He knew what he wanted to achieve for the IT department and OFID. He be-lieved in my abilities and gave me the freedom to expand and build this body of work. His wonderful leadership led to all of this.”

A steep learning curveOnce the manuscript was completed, Jacobs was faced with the challenge of publishing his work. After all, this had been the aim from the beginning, in order to secure his intellectual property. “When I was reading about it online it sounded so easy, but in reality it’s very tough” he says.

“At first I wanted a publishing house to do it, so I met with one. They wanted me to invest thirty to forty thousand euros, and had a whole heap of conditions,” remembers Jacobs. “So, I researched online, and there was Am-azon Digital Services doing it for free—I went with Amazon.”

Amazon’s self-publishing services are free, but you have to do everything yourself including all the cover page and layout design. “Let me tell you, the learning curve was steep,” says Jacobs. (No need to tell Insights—we have a team of two people (see credits) in addition to our editor who are specially trained in production.) “This all requires enormous skill, which I don’t have,” agrees Jacobs.

“Actually, at this point I became stuck,” he admits. “In the end I had to hire people to do the layout and design. I used an online site, which sets you up with design-ers you commission. Then I used print on demand services to produce the hard and soft cover books.”

Digital Transformation explained

The book is in three parts. “The first part looks at the history, what currently exists, the challenges, and the background of the digital landscape in Ni-geria. The second part is what needs to be done and what technologies Nigerian public services need to be looking at to improve systems,” explains Jacobs.

D i g i t a l t r a n s f o r m a t i o n a n d p e r s o n a l a c h i e v e m e n t OFID’s SAP guru, Jacobs Edo, has successfully published his first book. Here, he speaks to Justine Würtz about the inspiration for this achieve-ment as well as the trials and tribulations of publishing.

T“

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would like to share with you a story I read on a recent flight:Before the brutal winter arrives, you

open all the doors and all the windows to let the fresh fall breeze into your home. You feel the air rush in and revitalize your home.

But fresh air isn’t the only thing rushing into your home; you hear the buzz of an insect. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a bee flying around your home. The bee seems so helpless that you decide to help.

You want to show the bee the way to freedom. The bee keeps slamming into and bouncing off the large pane window in your living room. You open up the front screen door and try to direct the bee to safety with your hands. The more you try, the more irritated the bee gets.

You’re puzzled at the bee’s anger. You think to yourself: “I’m only trying to save the bee’s life.” You finally try to direct the bee from the window to the open door by using your whole body. The bee gets angry and stings you on the arm. And in the act of stinging, the bee dies.

The moral of this story is that we must learn to put aside stubbornness, pride and arrogance so that we can benefit from the wisdom and experience of others. For, in the end, we are the ones who lose the most. By refusing to listen to the advice of our mentors and leaders, we end up hurting ourselves more than they are hurt by our rejection.

CAPTAIN’S LOGby Suleiman J Al-Herbish

D o n ’ t b e c o m e t h e b e e t h a t s t i n g s

“When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you

may learn something new.”Dalai Lama

“Common sense is not a gift, it’s a punishment. Because you

have to deal with everyone who doesn’t have it.”

Anonymous

IQ u o t e s o f t h e m o n t h

He continues: “Part three brings every-thing together. It makes suggestions for actions, including implementation strategies; legal and policy reform; and financing and professional manage-ment.”

Jacobs explains that the book is basically a template for digital transfor-mation—one he hopes will spur govern-ments and civil societies into action.

The book details true case studies. These examples include industries, or-ganizations and governments, which have integrated digitalized systems to great effect. Among them, OFID gets a special mention, with two pages devoted to the organization’s SAP, ERP and EDMS integration.

“When I first came to OFID, I was very worried about the quantity of paper being used. I used to see a stack of paper on my colleague’s desk this high.” Jacobs hand rises up as his eyes open wide.

“This was just three forms!” he exclaims: “leave requests, travel requests and purchase orders. There were times you could be filling out three or four of these forms a day.”

But for Jacobs, the worst were the pay-slips. “Admin would print them multiple times, then make corrections and print them again. After that they’d put them in envelopes and send them out to each member of staff. When you

added in the transactional side, including memos, action sheets, financial transac-tion documents and all the rest of it, we had a veritable graveyard of trees in this building.”

Jacobs was adamant that such prac-tices had to stop. “If we are going to promote sustainable development, we need to start here,” he reproaches. Now, his work introducing SAP and EDMS integrated systems has revolutionized staff applications at OFID and reduced paper consumption by at least 50 percent, he reckons.

Moving on“The response has been amazing” says Jacobs. The book is currently rated with a full five stars by readers on Amazon.

“But numbers of readers are more import-ant than stars,” he humbly hastens to add.

These numbers are steadily growing and already he has a list of VIP readers.

“I’m really a very lucky chap,” he exudes, revealing that he was able to give a signed copy to the Nigerian Minister of Science and Technology when he came for meet-ings at the UN in Vienna. The chargé d’affaires from the Nigerian Embassy was there too, so he also got one. “And now I’ve been asked to send a copy to the wife of the President (of Nigeria). Well, if I’m sending her one, I’ll put in an extra copy for her hubby,” he jokes.

“Actually, the Minister has asked me to make an executive summary,” he tells Insights, returning to a more serious tone.

“He wants to present it to his team in the ministry. So that’s what I’m doing now. I hope it will help.”

Jacobs will host a book launch and presentation at the Intercontinental Hotel (Salon Four Seasons) on November 12. Please contact him directly for further information or a signed copy of his book.

Jacobs dedicates the book to his “amazing” family.