If there was ever a time Nigeria could have taken off, it was in 1999. Democracy had been restored, the country's economy reopening after decades of mismanagement and plunder under military dictatorships.
Tomi Davies, a systems analyst, was one of thousands of Nigerians who came home to help rebuild the country. After a few years working on public-sector projects, he was offered a bag full of dollars to add ghost employees to the payroll system he was installing. When he refused, a group of men attacked him at his home in the capital, Abuja.
"I arrived like many others full of hope, but had to escape in disgust,” said Davies, 65, who returned to the U.K. where he is now chief investment officer of Frankfurt-based venture capital firm GreenTec Capital Partners.