Imu Ahia: Traditional Igbo Business School

(By Biko Agozino and Ike Anyanike) - “There is an Igbo saying that the world is a marketplace (uwa bu ahia). This simple worldview can be explained literally to mean that the Igbo think so because trading is a prominent occupation among the Igbo (it could also mean that a market-place is the epicenter of community social and business interaction). That might be why the Igbo weekdays are named after their markets - Eke, Orie, Afo, Nkwo. Children born on any of these market days often assume the default name as in Okeke or Mgbeke, Okorie or Mgborie, Okafo or Mgbafo, Okonkwo or Mgbonkwo for male or female children, respectively, born on the corresponding market days. We are yet to come across another culture for which the market holds such a fascinating centrality in their worldview even while they see themselves as ruggedly egalitarian. The meaning of the thesis statement that the world is a marketplace is deeper than the literal interpretation. The deeper meaning is the suggestion that all the problems we encounter in this world are open to negotiation, haggling and bargaining. Some people come into the market place with greater resources than others and therefore are able to buy more goods and services just as some people are born or raised with greater resources, increasing their bargaining power in the global marketplace. When the Igbo say that the world is a market, they usually complete the sentence by observing that when one buys to one's content, one goes home. The home referred to here is the land of the ancestors to which the Igbo believe the spirits of the dead return to bargain for a better life in their next incarnation. If one's creator dealt one a raw deal in this life, one can still bargain with his/her personal God (or Chi) and haggle for a better break in the next life. In other words, the Igbo intend the paradox that the world is a market as a description of the global world and not simply just the Igbo world. … Are there lessons that other cultures could learn from the Igbo and are there lessons that the Igbo could learn from the social structure of modernist business school? ...

          The family of the poor children willingly offers their wards for apprenticeship training with the more successful businessmen. This approach evolved from a long standing practice of sending children to live with older uncles or aunts who oftentimes supervise their education (especially if the uncle or aunt is a school teacher) and or training in a trade or profession. The understanding is that the wards would be trained in the same business the businessman or relative is engaged in. This is called Imu Ahia (Imu = to learn; Ahia = marketing) or the science of marketing. The seriousness of the deal in some Igbo communities requires a traditional formal ceremony of handing over the child in a brief meeting between the 'master' and the family of the boy, traditional kolanuts are shared with elaborate rituals invoking the spirits of the assembled ancestors or with prayers to God to bless the occasion, palmwine drinks are offered and the oral agreement was made after everyone has offered advice to the young apprentice on the virtues of honesty, hard work, obedience and respectfulness. The parents must have admonished the young child about the mission he is about to embark on before all those gathered for the ceremony. This is also an opportunity for the master to state his expectations and give the parents of the boy his assurances about the child's welfare under his care. At the end of the apprenticeship, there is usually a freedom party which serves as a graduation and commencement ceremony for the erstwhile apprentice. This is the simple secret of Igbo commercialism - a guild system that ensures the training of new generations of traders that is not very common in other cultures.

Biko Agozino and Ike Anyanike, 2007, 233-235
"Imu Ahia: Traditional Igbo Business School and Global Commerce Culture, 

Dialectical Anthropology (2007) 31: 233-252