Can Innovation Thrive in a Country Without Good Leaders?

Innovation seems to have gotten to a commendable rate and most countries, both developed and developing, are getting a hang of it, with some doing better than others.

Looking at it from this perspective: what if the leaders of a country didn’t have the power to lead? Or what if they just weren’t focused on making innovation thrive? How would a country without leaders prosper?

There is only one reliable way to run a country. This is by empowering the leaders, who are ready to go the extra mile for their citizens and creating an atmosphere for innovation to thrive.

A country without 21st Century leaders is just another country.

Imagine a leaderless country; it would be in turmoil with its people feuding for power. Would it have an economy? Would it have boundaries, or even security?

Where would Britain be without its leaders? On the moon? No way of knowing.

Innovation is a change in the way of doing anything, from using technology and scientific discoveries to improve the quality of life. But are we able to grow an innovation? and if so, how long? Well, neither smart people nor innovation can live without good leadership.

Is innovation still important if the countries in which it thrives don’t have good leaders? It’s a question that we don’t have answers to. But what we do know is that people can make a difference in science and technology.

Innovation is a process of creative and systematic change. We have seen a constant rise in innovation around the globe, with many countries emerging as global hubs of innovation. But what happens when there is no leadership to drive innovation towards excellence?

It is widely perceived that innovation thrives in a country only if the leaders of its society are focused on ensuring its continuous growth. In other words, the single element most widely accepted as being crucial to the success of an economy is its leader.

Innovation takes a lot of time, money and patience. Leaders have to be focused and constantly encouraging the innovation process. But is the population of a country like Nigeria, good enough to foster innovation on its own?

This article provides insights into how public policy and leadership can help create a climate where innovation thrives.

When I was younger and hadn’t yet figured out that some stuff just doesn’t scale, I assumed that all innovation has a long tail. If a good idea is put in front of the right people and they can see the benefit, then there will be more and more followers—naturally creating an ongoing multiplier effect. This is the basic theory of exponential growth: If you increase X by 1%, then it will double in Y days, which increases by another 1%, doubling again after Z days. The numbers really get big very fast until… nothing else increments at all anymore.

When leaders of a country do not have the vision and determination to foster innovation, everything will be at the mercy of anyone taking over the job. The impact of innovation may fade off eventually if the job is not maintained by capable people in the future.

Good leadership doesn’t just support a country’s economy and people, it also ensures the continuous growth of innovation. If leaders aren’t taking the lead or being pushed, who will?

Leaders of a country must always keep innovation at the top of their list of priorities. Otherwise, will innovation thrive in a country without good leaders? It might happen, but then it would be hard to give innovation a chance to succeed even if technology or resources are there right out of the box.

As leaders of a country, we need to encourage innovation and keep our citizens engaged in working for it. We need to make sure that people are empowered and that their lives will change for the better as a result of their involvement in creating innovation in their country.

In Nigeria, we have the likes of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and others, focused on this.

Can innovation thrive in a country without good leaders? The question is not so irrelevant. If the leaders of a country are not focused on ensuring the continuous growth of innovation, can just the smart population make innovation scale? How long before the impact of innovation fades off?

We can innovate in any country, but the only reason is the national leaders. If their vision and ambition are inline with that of a nation’s needs and aspirations, then it is possible to promote innovation. But on the other hand if a country fails to focus on growth, it will end up throttled at its source: No investment in innovation can create value as well as productivity and efficiency.

According to a number of scholars, the impact of innovation on institutions and the economy is short-lived. For example, in the case of 19th century Britain, innovation may have triggered growth in certain industries and had a lasting effect on their workers’ skills. However, over time, these innovations faded from memory as more productive innovations came along. A new paper by researchers at Princeton University attempts to get at what factors lead to long-term growth in innovation.

You need to know where to find a good leader. Once you’ve found him, you need to make sure he has the capabilities and skills he needs to keep innovation running. Only then can you rely on the people in your workforce who are smart enough to invent new inventions.

Also from country perspective, why should anyone be concerned as Nigeria goes to the poll in 2023? President Muhammadu Buhari has just signed the Nigeria Startups Bill into law which is a welcome development. 

The (Bill) Act has 11 chapters, and all of them have been crafted to provide the enabling environment for startups to be very successful. You can read more about the top 10 components of the Bill, now an Act, here. 

We have seen some policies and regulatory instruments from the present government in Nigeria geared towards deepening or supporting innovations. However, we all know that the implementation of this Act will depend solely on who is elected the next President of Nigeria in 2023.

So, Nigerians should start asking critical questions, especially to those vying to become President, and/or State Governors. This is not the time to sit on the fence.