Soyinka commends Richards’ courage on ‘Never Quite The Insider’

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has commended the candour, courage, and confidence displayed by Chief Keith Richards in his latest book, Never Quite the Insider: a Nigerian Memoir.

Soyinka who reviewed the book at its public presentation at the Terra Kulture Arena in Lagos, described the book as a “Memoir of a Ghetto Blaster”, adding that the book remains a big insight on profiling the psychology of corporate Nigeria. Journalist, television host and media entrepreneur Kadaria Ahmed, who anchored the programme, maintained that the book is a thriller, as the author gave a frank, unprecedented, look into corporate Nigeria and the world of expatriates.

In his remarks, the author affirmed that the 287-page book “explains a little of my coming here, my love affairs with Nigeria, and management practice in corporate Nigeria. The author also insisted that 20 years of running multiple businesses in Nigeria qualified him to write an instructive memoir and believed he has the insights that have value.

According to some commentators, the book is partly a memoir, and a travelogue as it depicts a view of Nigeria from the position of a sightseer.

Richards’ career has spanned over 30 years of involvement in developing markets, especially Africa, as he headed Promasidor Nigeria Limited, Guinness Nigeria Plc and International Equitable Association (IEA), as Managing Director.

From 2005 to 2007, he wrote a weekly column for the Nigerian BusinessDay newspaper called “Outsider Inside”. The columns were a mixture of business, social comment, humour and inevitably, politics.