What’s good everyone? I trust we’re all doing well. Hope everyone has had a fantastic start to 2025 and wishing you all the utmost best for this year.

The lingering energy of December still hangs in the air – a month that has taken on its own cultural significance across West Africa. As I write this from Lagos, I'm considering how physical spaces shape our collective possibilities, and how wisdom might need to be redefined in our rapidly shifting landscape.

Roads to Progress

The Nairobi Expressway cuts through the city like a clean blade, reducing what was once a 90-minute airport commute to a swift 20 minutes. Beyond the obvious time savings, it's made me think about how infrastructure quietly rewrites the stories of cities and nations. Local businesses along the expressway have evolved from neighborhood operations to metropolitan enterprises, their market reach expanding with each new connection point. Their scope of possibility has shifted from local to city-wide thinking.

This mirrors patterns seen elsewhere: Vietnam's rural transformation wasn't just about connecting points A to B, but about rewriting the economic geography of entire regions. When travel times compress, possibilities expand. Markets that once existed in isolation begin to overlap, creating new networks of exchange and opportunity. The mathematics of distance fundamentally shifts.

For Lagos, with its ambitious vision of becoming Africa's premier economic hub, the infrastructure question isn't just about convenience – it's existential. A city targeting 10% yearly economic growth cannot afford three-hour commutes or flooded streets during rainy seasons. The relationship between mobility and economic output isn't linear; it's exponential. Every hour lost in traffic represents not just lost productivity, but missed connections, delayed innovations, and deferred dreams. Nigeria's broader economic aspirations will remain theoretical without a fundamental rethinking of how people and goods move through its spaces.

Worldly Wisdom in an AI Age

Charlie Munger's passing has prompted reflection on his concept of "worldly wisdom" – particularly relevant as we witness the rise of artificial intelligence. While machines excel at processing domain-specific knowledge, they still struggle with the kind of cross-pollinated thinking Munger championed. His approach wasn't about accumulating information, but about developing an almost artistic ability to see patterns across seemingly unrelated fields.

"The first rule is that you've got to have multiple models—because if you just have one or two that you're using, the nature of human psychology is such that you'll torture reality so that it fits your models." This framework feels less like a strategy and more like a way of being – one that becomes increasingly valuable as AI reshapes the landscape of expertise.

Consider how biology's concept of ecosystem interdependence might illuminate market dynamics, or how physics' laws of entropy could reshape our understanding of organizational decline. The principles of game theory that explain prisoner's dilemmas might offer insights into climate change cooperation, while psychological concepts like loss aversion could inform urban planning. What fascinates me is how these intellectual crossovers often reveal themselves in unexpected moments – like when a friend who studies evolutionary biology offered a fresh perspective on how to ensure successful partnerships on a business development front, using the example of the symbiotic relationship between the sea anemone and clownfish. The power lies not in the individual models themselves, but in the novel insights that emerge when they collide.

The Economics of Homecoming

December in West Africa has evolved into its own economic ecosystem. What's fascinating about "Detty December" isn't just the surge in hotel bookings or the sold-out concerts, but how it's become a catalyst for business relationships that extend well beyond the festive period. Conversations that begin at Lagos rooftop parties in December often culminate in cross-continental ventures by March.

The phenomenon represents something more subtle than just a holiday rush – it's a month-long suspension of the traditional barriers between home and diaspora, creating a unique space where cultural and economic capital flow more freely than usual.

What's particularly intriguing is how government administrations could leverage this organic movement. Ghana has already shown the way – their "Year of Return" initiative in 2019 masterfully transformed cultural heritage into economic opportunity. By positioning Ghana as a spiritual homeland for the African diaspora, particularly Black Americans, they generated over $1.9 billion in revenue and sparked a wave of business investments that continue today. The initiative went beyond tourism, creating pathways for knowledge transfer, business partnerships, and cultural exchange that have fundamentally altered Ghana's relationship with its global diaspora.

The template for success exists for other nations. Rather than viewing Detty December as merely a social phenomenon, it could be approached as a strategic economic lever. Consider the potential of coordinating investment forums alongside cultural festivals, or creating special economic incentives that activate during this period. The real opportunity isn't just in capturing the immediate spending – it's in transforming this seasonal surge into sustained economic relationships. Some cities have masterfully turned cultural moments into economic catalysts – think of how South by Southwest transformed Austin's technology ecosystem, or how Art Basel reshaped Miami's cultural economy. The ingredients are already there; what's needed is the vision to see these December returnees not just as visitors, but as potential architects of cross-continental commerce.

In true Detty December fashion I’ll see us out with the hit that was everywhere in Lagos these past two weeks. Joy is coming for real.

Until next week. Peace.