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An innovation you didn’t think you needed is currently happening around phone batteries and charging. If your devices keep dying before your eyes, you don’t have fuel in your generator to burn for long hours, or the Neps remembers your Band F area for only two hours daily, a solution has found you—a new option that gives you control over your phone’s battery life.
Thanks to the All-Round FastCharge 2.0 tech on the Infinix Note 40 Series, there are five exciting ways to do that.
Also, there’s no better place and time to buy an Infinix Note 40 Pro than in Nigeria right now.
Control your charging speed
Are you in a rush? An Infinix Note 40 Pro’s Hyper mode will charge up to 50% in 16 minutes. Its Smart mode balances fast charge and mid-temperature and gives up to 50% in 20 minutes. Low-temp mode has a slower charging process, but your phone will be cooler to touch. Now do the maths: In less than an hour, the Note 40 Pro can have a full battery.
Mind-blowing
Wireless charging
What’s cooler and more convenient than being tied down with your phone and charger at the socket? Omo, it’s wireless charging. With the MagPad device with Note 40 Pro, you can use your phone around the house and charge it simultaneously. Just make sure your MagPad is plugged into the power source somewhere.
Bypass charging
Yo, it gets cooler. Imagine a phone that doesn’t heat up while charging and is actively in use. The charging power goes directly to the motherboard and automatically disconnects when fully charged. The people that can’t do without their phone for two minutes will be the most thankful for this feature.
Phone to phone
Imagine being able to charge your friends’ wireless charging-enabled devices, such as smartwatch, earbuds, and iPhone with your Note 40 Pro. You can be the coolest of your friend group with Infinix’s Reverse wireless. All you have to do is enable the reverse charging feature on your Infinix Note 40 Pro, place the other device on the back, and witness the greatness of reverse charging.
Smart overnight charging
This feature is the most interesting. For example, if you’re the type to press the phone all day and sleep all night, the Note 40 Pro’s AI analyses your usage habits and prevents overcharging overnight by intelligently capping the battery to 80% charge until closer to the time you get up in the morning. What a phone.
Remember when Fatu Ogwuche asked everyone on Twitter X a question and had us all reveal our life stories on the internet?
Well, this time she’s taking to our screens and asking our favourite tech entrepreneurs the exact same question, “What is your backstory?”
Everyone has a backstory; a series of big and small moments that push you into your destiny. For Cinderella, it was losing her glass slipper. For the entire world, it was Eve eating that apple. For tech entrepreneurs like Odun Eweniyi of Piggyvest and FemCo, Olumide Soyombo of Voltron Capital and Kola Aina of Ventures Platform, we don’t know their full stories yet, but “Backstories with Fatu” promises to bring them to a screen near you.
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The first season premieres on YouTube at 3:00 p.m. on the 28th of November, and we already can’t wait to watch it. The trailer teases the show content with Odun Eweniyi talking about the backlash Femco faced post EndSARS, Olumide Soyombo reflecting on his time as a bus conductor and Kola Aina explaining why he doesn’t back jerks.
From the trailer alone, it’s easy to see how entertaining and informative this talk is shaping up to be.
You don’t have to take our word for it. But do something: Set your alarm for 3:00 p.m, sit tight and watch all your favourite tech babes and bros dish on what made them, what almost broke them and how they’ve come so far.
Nigerian fintech, PayDay, is trending on social media after a tech publication exclusively reported on Wednesday, September 21, that the company is looking to sell just six months after raising $3 million.
Here are seven facts we’ve gleaned from the situation which has since sparked mixed reactions in the tech ecosystem.
PayDay CEO: Favour Ori
PayDay raised $3 million in March 2023
The Rwanda-based neobank, which helps “Africans send and receive money globally” raised $3 million in a seed funding round led by Moniepoint. Three weeks before the raise, an earlier report revealed that the fintech company was looking to raise $1.5 million to “grow its product and engineering team, expand its operations and get the required licenses for those expansions”. Fortunately for the startup, the round was oversubscribed to the tune of an extra $1.5 million.
Moniepoint didn’t acquire PayDay
After leading its $3 million seed roundup in March 2023, an executive at Moniepoint was reported to have said the investment in PayDay was “a strategic investment and not an acquisition.”
According to TechCabal, however, Moniepoint issued a letter of intent to acquire Payday, but months later, the board was no longer keen on the deal.
Fresh talks of acquisition in September 2023
In March 2023, PayDay’s CEO, Favour Ori, admitted to turning down a $15 million acquisition offer by an African unicorn due to PayDay’s profitability.
Six months later, talks of an acquisition were revealed to be ongoing. “Active conversations are being had with people who reached out and expressed interest in buying.”
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Allegations against PayDay CEO
Former and current PayDay employees spoke out that their salary was reduced by 30-50% three months after the startup raised $3million.
A current employee was quoted to have said: “They told us that it was because the company wanted to be domiciled in Nigeria and was obligated to pay its resident employees in naira.”
Meanwhile, Ori maintained his monthly salary of $15,000 allegedly taking decisions out of the blue without carrying other members of the team along. A source was quoted to have said:
“There were instances when we would wake up to discover upcoming features through Twitter, and even the product team had no prior knowledge of these developments.”
Another said: “At times, he would suddenly take control of the company’s social media account to respond to customer complaints.”
The report of an acquisition barely six months after raising $3 million has stirred an onslaught of allegations against the startup’s CEO on social media.
Favour Ori is now planning to sell PayDay, 6 months after a $3M raise.
While withholding customer funds, slashing employee salaries, he was paying himself $15K in salary as Payday CEO while maintaining a FT job as a Github employee.
PayDay’s COO, other employees, exit after salary slash
According to TC’s report, the fintech’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Ogechi Obike, and some other employees, exited the company amid the salary reduction debacle.
In her exit note, she cited “misalignment of goals” as the reason for leaving the company. However, a company insider painted a picture of meetings where Obike and Ori clashed. “During meetings, he provoked arguments, particularly when she proposed approaches different from his own.”
Favour Ori claims $15k salary lasted less than three months
In a Twitter thread written in response to TechCabal’s September 20 report, Ori admitted that the company faced challenges.
“The past few months have been challenging for us, but these moments serve as tests to demonstrate our commitment to fulfilling our promise of becoming the one-stop for Africans who want to transact globally.”
Ori claimed that adjustments have been made to the team structure, including remunerations for employees.
On the topic of his $15k monthly salary in the middle of a company-wide reduction, the CEO claimed he’d invested over $100k in the company and “gone months without taking a salary”.
According to him, the $15k salary lasted less than three months and was slashed afterwards.
While PayDay’s potential acquisition has stirred mixed reactions, this isn’t the first time the company’s CEO will be found wanting in public discourse.
Twitter users made reference to August 2020, when he stepped down as CEO of WeJapa, a job sourcing platform.
Favour Ori defrauded devs and designers on Facebook and with WeJapa, dipped and went Scot-free, came back after a year or so with PayDay and some OGs applauded/accepted him with open arms, even some slandered people that slandered him, lol…una go dey alright. 😂
At the time, Ori was accused of underpaying workers or not paying for work, berating people after disagreements and often exaggerating his achievements.
In an apology shared on social media, he apologised for his professional misconduct but maintained innocence concerning fraud allegations.
Source: Technext24
Source: Technext24
This is a developing story.
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Apple has broken the internet again, and this time, it’s not because they teased the 78th iPhone upgrade. They unveiled Vision Pro; an augmented reality 3D headset that’s bound to put people’s bank accounts on life support when it eventually hits the market.
But what if Apple launches it in Nigeria first? Here’s what we think will happen.
Fresh material for our parents’ WhatsApp BCs
The moment it hits the market, you’ll start seeing BCs about how augmented reality is actually affecting your brain. Our parents never even let us sit too close to the TV, you now want to put it right “inside” your eyes? It won’t work.
And the Nigerian police
If every iPhone user is a potential yahoo boy in the eyes of the Nigerian police, it means someone who can afford a ₦2.6 million+ headset is a ritual killer. In summary, prepare to be stopped by police if you wear it out.
People will start making TikToks with it
Your faves would start pushing “unbox my new Apple Vision Pro with me” and “test my new headset” content down our throats. Where una dey see this money?
Baddies will turn it into a fashion statement
You know how iPhone users constantly try to choke us with mirror selfies? It’d be nothing compared to what rich kids and baddies will use our eyes to see when they lay hands on this headset—going to buy bread? Vision Pro. Going to braid hair? Vision Pro.
Users will start adorning it with chains and padlocks
People already steal airpods and snatch wigs. Is it this one they won’t steal? To avoid stories of, “They snatched my Vision Pro in Balogun Market”, Nigerians would start securing theirs to their head with chains and padlocks.
The Nigerian version will hit the streets
It’s not piracy, it’s just creativity. Why spend ₦2.6 million+ on Vision Pro when you can get “Vison Por” with ₦30k?
It’ll turn to owambe souvenir
Because everyone knows there’s nothing Yoruba people won’t share in the name of owambe souvenir. If they can share fuel during fuel scarcity, what is Vision Pro?
People will eventually abandon it at home
Because where are we even going to see the light or fuel to even charge it?
Every week, Zikoko will share the hustle stories of Nigerians making it big in and out of the country. With each story, we’ll ask one crucial question in several ways: “How you do am?”
Daniel Orubo’s hustle story took us through his transition from the media industry to tech product marketing, but how do you start a product marketing career as a JJC? That’s why we’ve made this guide.
Image: Pexels
Who is a product marketer?
From the title, product marketers are responsible for selling and promoting the features of a particular product to a target audience. They use processes such as product positioning, messaging, pricing and go-to-market roadmaps to drive the demand and usage of the product.
To put it simply, their job is to carry their products on their head.
What do they do?
So, we already know that the core of the product marketer’s job is to sell their product, but how exactly does this happen? Every organisation worth its salt knows product marketers are critical to the business’s goals, and they do this via:
Product messaging and positioning: Product marketers are necessary before, during and after a product’s launch. They analyse the customer’s needs — basically serving as the customer’s voice — and determine gaps to ensure the product’s features take the customer’s needs and feedback into account when releasing product updates and improvements.
Managing product launches: The product marketer also uses insights they get from customer and market research, as well as competitor analysis, to capture the best strategy and work required to successfully launch the product.
Product roadmap planning: Throughout the product’s lifespan, the product marketer will need to consider a number of questions, such as:
What are the tasks required to ensure the product launches on the decided date?
What are the content marketing and storytelling tactics required to properly position the product before, during and after the launch? What are the sales and revenues goals?
How are customers going to be onboarded?
In summary, everything related to making the product a success is the product marketer’s top priority.
Liaising with other members of the product team: The product marketer doesn’t work alone. More often than not, they work in tandem with the sales, marketing and product development team — including tech, if applicable. Imagine the product marketer promising the customer one thing and the tech team doing something entirely different. That’s why alignment is key.
No one:
Other members of the product team:
Yeah, we don’t want that.
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What skills do product marketers need?
A degree in marketing is beneficial, but many product marketers do without. However, you’d need to take relevant product marketing courses like Daniel did, to learn about the various tactics, strategies and research skills needed to succeed in this role.
Some major hard skills necessary for this career path include writing, presentation, well-honed marketing skills and an understanding of business basics, as you’ll need to understand revenue projections, business metrics and a bit of financial planning.
In the soft skills aspect, strategic thinking ranks high. Product marketers are always thinking about strategies, roadmaps and the market in general, so you’d need to know how to think logically.
Other important soft skills include creativity, an ability to prioritise, communication, advocacy, and a passion for solving customers’ problems.
Are they like normal marketers?
Not really. While traditional marketing focuses on driving demand and creating brand awareness, product marketing doesn’t end at acquisition, or “the sale”. Product marketing also includes product positioning, customer onboarding and ensuring retention.
For example, a marketer can rent a billboard to tell you that ponmo is available, and you need to come and buy. But a product marketer goes forward to add you to ponmo support group, get your feedback on the ponmo, create new ponmo dishes and basically make you see why you should keep eating ponmo, and possibly upgrade to the special ponmo dishes.
So, where can product marketers work?
At the risk of sounding like a Nigerian lecturer, product marketers can work in any organisation that has a product to sell, especially in tech, banking, and media. You just need to know as much as possible about the product, target customers and the general market.
How organisations will look at you
How much do product marketers earn?
Earning power in this field depends on several factors like experience, industry and organisation, but a product marketer can earn an average of ₦400k per month.
For newbies, it’s advisable to join productmarketing communities to get a good grasp of what other professionals earn, find mentorship opportunities, and grow professionally.
Besides the imploding economy and the pressure getting “werser,” now is the best time to open your laptop and become a tech-bro or sis. More than ever, global tech companies, like Twitter, Microsoft, Google, etc., have African tech talent on their radars. If you’ve been looking to break into the tech space, you have our full support to go for it.
But wait, before you go and accidentally hack the INEC server, calm down and follow the gist, because we sabi road. Here’s how you can go about getting the right skills.
Do Your Research
You don’t have to already be familiar with tech to get into it – all it takes is that first step. Evaluate your strengths, your growth interests and find programmes and courses that help you. To give you a headstart on where to search, check out ALX. ALX Africa offers tech programmes that are designed to help students unlock a plethora of technical skills and resources that gives them an edge in the job market.
To make sure you can say “all my guys are ballers” with your full chest, when you become a tech-bro or sis, get people to join you as you take these courses. Tell your friends, roommates, favourite neighbour, barber, ushers and choir members – anyone you can think of in your network that could also benefit from moving into tech. When you have people to keep you motivated, you can build a team with whom you can collaborate as you go. ALX programmes also give you a great way to meet other students and mentors who can guide you through.
Join the big leagues at the ALX Open House Sunday and Application Parties
The top tech programmes such as Data Analytics, World’s most used CRM platform – Salesforce and Amazon Web Services Cloud Computing, are available to you at a fully sponsored placement platter and all you have to do is start and complete your application.
ALX wants to make completing your application easier through the ALX Open House Sunday and Application Parties. Get all the help you need from the ALX team who will be available to help get you started on your applications and provide clarity on the application process.
At the ALX Open House Sunday, you will get all the answers to your questions, and any doubts you may have about the ALX programmes. The ALX team will be available to help get you started on your application and provide clarity on the application process. Register here – cutt.ly/alx-oh
Take your zeal a step further by joining ALX amidst great company and good food at YabaTech on April 13 or come along to the BBQ Weekend at WorkCity Lekki on April 15 for the ALX Application Clinic. As always, the ALX team will be available to answer questions for those who come in to complete their ALX application.
For more information on the application party visit: http://bit.ly/3nPLb7G and follow the ALXNigeria Instagram handle for more details,
Application Party – 13th April at Yaba Tech
BBQ Saturday – 15th April at Work City Lekki
Jollof rice is sweet, but a tech career is sweeter. Don’t miss this opportunity for anything in the world!
Every week, Zikoko will share the hustle stories of Nigerians making it big in and out of the country. With each story, we’ll ask one crucial question in several ways: “How you do am?”
Chisom’s hustle story triggered our “God, when?” button mercilessly, but it taught us anything is possible with determination and the right dose of knowledge and planning.
If, like us, you’ve ever wondered how to start a career in software engineering, keep reading.
Remember how in primary school, our teachers told us computers have hardware and software? If you didn’t waste your parents’ money, you’ll remember that software refers to the programs and operating systems of the computer.
Remember now?
So, the software engineer is the professional in charge of designing, developing, testing and maintaining software, web and mobile applications, operating systems and everything that powers our modern tech world. You’re reading this article without any hassle because of a software engineer.
But like, is it the same as being a software developer?
There’s a slight difference. While software developers typically design specific applications or computer systems, software engineers work on a larger scale to design, develop and test entire systems — they’re involved in the entire software development life cycle.
Also, software engineers take on more collaborative roles in the workplace, working with a range of developers, engineers and members of the product team. Software developers, on the other hand, work more independently as they typically focus on implementing software solutions according to specifications provided by the software engineer or other stakeholders.
In Nigeria though, some people just use both titles interchangeably (maybe because they think “engineer” presents them as a legit coder?)
What qualifies you to be a software engineer?
A degree in computer science or engineering should be a great starting point for this career, but we’re in Nigeria. No shade to our educational system, but you probably won’t get the practical skills needed for this career path. Whether you have a computer science degree or not, you’d need to attend coding bootcamps and take the relevant courses to develop programming skills and knowledge.
Some of the programming languages required for software engineering include: Python, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, C++ and HTML/CSS. It’s advisable to learn at least three programming languages as the work may require engineers to combine multiple languages.
Software engineers also need good communication skills, creative problem solving skills and an eagerness to grow and learn, because like Chisom’s story shows, these will come in handy as you work on software development projects. You’ll also need to continually practice your programming. Remember what they say about practice making perfect?
Is software engineering difficult?
Unless you were born with code in your brain, software engineering may be a bit difficult to learn, especially if you don’t have a technical background, but like a Nigerian mother would say:
Do the people learning it have two heads?
So, how long does it take to become a software engineer?
This depends a lot on your affinity for the required programming and coding skills, as well as your readiness to practice on as many personal projects as possible. It’s also important to build a network of fellow techies as feedback on your practice projects might just be what you need to become better at your craft.
Of course, tech organisations are the first places on the list. We’re trying to help you secure your tech bag, after all. But software engineers can also work in financial services, media, education, information technology, practically anywhere that requires software solutions to achieve business objectives. You can even decide to be an independent contractor.
How much do software engineers earn in Nigeria?
Depending on your level of experience and the industry, software engineers can earn as much as ₦600k to ₦1.5m per month.
How do you start making the big bucks?
At the risk of sounding like a motivational speaker, the key to earning even more as a software engineer is consistency. Make deliberate effort to grow your skills and you might just be the next person we pull in for a Hustleprint conversation.
Every week, Zikoko will share the hustle stories of Nigerians making it big in and out of the country. With each story, we’ll ask one crucial question in several ways: “How you do am?”
We recently shared Zainab Ayodimeji’s hustle story — how she decided her Agricultural Engineering degree wasn’t going to give her the soft life she wanted, and how a little bit of vibes, strategy and pure luck led her to a successful data scientist career.
Now that you know how she did it, this guide will take you step-by-step on how you can become a data scientist too.
Image source: Pexels
First off, who even is a data scientist?
In simple terms, a data scientist is a professional who collects, analyses and interprets data to solve problems and drive decision-making.
You know how you’d sample food from different “mama puts” before settling on the one who has the best food or whatever criteria you choose? That’s a data-driven decision. Data science is kinda like that, but it’s definitely more technical.
In technical terms, a data scientist is an analytical expert who uses a range of sources like data mining, artificial intelligence and machine learning to extract and interpret large amounts of data. The purposeis to help businesses make the right, data-driven decisions.
What does a data scientist do day-to-day?
While there are opportunities for data scientists to work in different industries, their roles are largely the same across the board.
For instance, a data scientist in the business industry would mine data for information which would be used to predict consumer behaviour or even new revenue opportunities.
Every time you see targeted ads when you log in to Facebook and Instagram and think, “Are these people in my brain?” It’s because of a data scientist’s work.
How?
Your data helps them analyse the types of pages you’ve liked or spent too much time on. They then use the information to decide what kind of ad you’re most likely to respond to.
Isn’t that witchcraft, though?
No, it’s not witchcraft. Data science employs practical skills like computer programming, mathematics, statistics, and analytics to make this happen. If these subjects were your best friends in school, a data science career might be your calling.
Why should you become a data scientist?
If somehow, the idea of tackling raw data till it makes sense sounds sexy to your ears, then by all means, consider this career path. Some other personal characteristics you’ll find useful include critical thinking, intellectual curiosity and good intuition. You’ll need these attributes when you analyse data.
Wait, is it similar to a data analyst career?
Both career paths deal with data. But while data analysts work with and analyse existing data using deep learning algorithms and AI-fueled programs, data scientists explore new ways of extracting the data that a data analyst may end up using, i.e. building the algorithms or programs by themselves.
Essentially, while data scientists can do the work of data analysts, the analyst would require more skills to transition to data science.
So, how do you start a career in data science?
“School na scam” doesn’t apply to this career path. You’ll need a science-backed degree like computer science, engineering, mathematics etc. Many data scientists go further to earn postgraduate degrees. Zainab even got a master’s degree in artificial intelligence before fully switching to data science.
Even if you don’t go to school the second time around, you’ll need expert training in programming languages like R, Python, SQL, C or Java and have strong mathematics and statistics skills. There are various data science training courses and platforms like Tableau that’ll also provide you with these skills.
How much money is in it for you?
You might be thinking, “Do data scientists make money in Nigeria, though?” Yes, they do.
Depending on your years of experience, you can make between ₦200k – ₦1.5m per month. Entry-level roles may offer less money, and sometimes to build experience and network, beginners in data science seek out internship roles first.
How long will it take before you blow?
The demand for data scientists in Nigeria is on the rise, especially because many businesses now depend heavily on data and new technologies.
To succeed in a data science career, you’ll need to make consistency your best friend. For Zainab, this meant taking classes to upgrade her knowledge and plugging her work on Twitter, basically creating a portfolio.
The more you focus on learning, practising and showcasing your skills, the quicker you’ll become a pro and become visible to organisations that need you.
TBH, no normal person looks forward to being bound by capitalism. But mans gotta eat, and since we all can’t get paid to sleep, these jobs are the next best thing.
Local government chairman
This will just be like you’re being paid to sleep. When has your local government chairman ever been “on seat”?
President
Imagine being the number one citizen. You can even decide to eat jollof for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Side effects include being dragged if you don’t do your work sha.
Tech person
Sure, your neighbours may think you’re jobless if you work from home, but you’d have the account of a baller and the bragging rights only a tech career can give. Sounds like a win to me.
Zikoko writer
What other job allows you to wake up and decide to ask people what type of bread they are?
Bank official
Just so you can walk around the banking hall for no reason, and play Solitaire on your computer, while ignoring angry customers.
Owambe food server
You haven’t tasted real power until you get to decide who eats at an owambe.
Twitter CEO
Forget working up from the bottom. Make sure you start right at the top as CEO, so you can bag the most coins.
If that doesn’t work out, you can always just choose the become-a-tech-person option we mentioned earlier.
Moringa School is offering soon-to-be techies the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of front-end web development. If you’re interested in software development and improving your tech skills, then they’ve got the perfect option for you.
Art of Technology Lagos (AOT) is an annual tech conference curated by Eko Innovation Centre, one of the leading tech hubs in Nigeria, curators of events like MarkHack, Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon, EkoClimathon, and Security Hackathon amongst others; in collaboration with the Lagos State Government – the economic and technology epicenter of Nigeria.
The conference brings together technology industry stakeholders, policymakers, enthusiasts, ecosystem players, investors, business founders and executives, venture capital firms, startups, and technology talents to create policies that will drive the development of a smarter Lagos.
Tech Ecosystem plays a pivotal role in the development of our economy. Art of Technology is proud to announce the first edition of the Ecosystem Awards. This Year’s conference is used as a platform to acknowledge individuals, organizations, and companies who have excelled in their efforts to foster the growth and development of the Nigerian Tech Ecosystem.
The nomination and sub-nomination categories are Startup Category – Startup of the year, Customer Service Award, Social Impact Award, Disruptor Award, Friend of Innovation; Investor Category- Investor of the year (Native), Investor of the year (International); Policy Category- Ecosystem personality of the Year, Ecosystem Influencer Award, State of Tech Award; People Category – Men in Tech of the year, Women in Tech of the year, Inventor of the year; and Industry Category – Best Startup (Healthcare), Best Startup (FinTech), Best Startup (AgricTech), Best Startup (EdTech), Best Startup (Mobility and Logistics), Best Startup (Hardware), and Best Startup (Saas).
Voting closes on the 15th of November 2022. Winners will be announced and recognized at the Gala and award Night which is scheduled to hold on the 9th of December 2022.
Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.
Need to send or receive money fast? Let’s help you send and receive money internationally on the go.Use Afriex
After graduating university with a third class in 2006, the 38-year-old subject of this week’s #NairaLife moved to the US and got a $50k/year job almost immediately. How did he manage to grow his career to the point where he wants to retire in three years?
What’s the earliest memory you have that’s connected to money?
It’s going to visit my uncle in Kaduna, in 2001, and getting ₦5k from him when we were leaving. I was 17 and that’s the most money I’d ever received up to that point. My parents were civil servants who didn’t believe in the idea of giving pocket money. They took care of us and bought the things we needed. So ₦5k was mindblowing for me — plus, it was a lot then.
He gave my siblings too. We pooled money together and got a puppy. From the rest of my money, I bought shoes because I thought I was going to uni that year.
Thought?
First, I didn’t make my WAEC papers, but I eventually did NECO and passed. Then I failed JAMB twice. It was in 2003 I decided to get into university through diploma instead. The next year, I crossed over from diploma to 200 level.
What did you study?
Computer science. I liked playing games and thought studying computer science would teach me how to make my own games. In university, I found out that was a lie.
How?
The Nigerian university system is terrible, man. I started failing right from 200 level. Not failing as per getting C’s o. Carryovers.
Lecturers just came to class to give us archaic notes and expected us to write those notes word for word in exams. At first, I didn’t realise what I was doing wrong. I’d take their notes, go to the library, and spend hours reading books to supplement the knowledge I got from the notes so that I could answer exam questions practically. Still, I failed.
It wasn’t until 300 level I found out I was wasting my time.
What happened?
A little backstory — I was also doing some business on the side. In that same 200 level, I went to the library, and online, I learnt how to build simple websites. I knew a guy who was good at graphic design and was making money from it. I wanted to have my own skill and make my own money, so I chose web development and learnt how to build simple sites. I also did a Microsoft Certified System Engineer certification and a CISCO IT course. Throughout university, I built only about five websites for family members and friends. They all paid between ₦5k and ₦10k each.
One of the people who reached out to me for a website was my class rep. Because I knew he had a good relationship with lecturers, I decided to stick with him. Maybe I’d get some favours. But the way he ass-kissed lecturers was too much. I couldn’t do it. One day, he saw me reading foreign books at the library and just started laughing at me. According to him, I was “studying the American way”.
By 400 level, I realised it was too late to make my courses without an extra year, so I inflated my school fees and used the money to pay lecturers. It was ₦5k for them to bump you up by like 20 marks. I paid ₦10k for one compulsory three-unit course. By the time I graduated in late 2006, I only managed to finish with a third class.
Whoa
After that, I knew I wasn’t going to be in Nigeria for long. The plan was to go to the US for my master’s but first, I went to visit my cousin on a regular tourist visa in 2007. I went to universities in the area to find out if I could get an admission with my third class, but nothing looked to be working, so I just applied for a job instead.
What kind of job?
Microsoft Windows engineer. The two certifications I did in uni are recognised worldwide. I got a job, but the window for applying for my H-1B visa closed before I could resume, so I went back to Nigeria, did NYSC and returned the next year for the same job. Again, the window closed by March, but I just decided to stay in the US till it opened again in October. In that six-month period, I did odd jobs like cleaning and working at restaurants to survive.
When I eventually got the job, it paid $50k a year.
Funds. Considering your level of experience, that’s huge right?
As someone who finished with a third class in university, it sounds impressive. But as someone who worked in one of the biggest and busiest cities in the US and lived two hours away in another city, it was small. I was spending four hours a day in transit, and after tax, I was left with almost nothing to save. That’s why they could still hire me after a year — I was cheap labour. After six months, I left the job.
Why?
My parents were on my case, trying to get me to do my master’s. I moved to another city, took a few remedial courses to cover for the ones I failed in university and started my master’s in Information Systems, funded by my parents, my uncle and me.
So my H-1B paused, and I got a student visa for the duration of my master’s and then Optional Practical Training (OPT) which lasts 28 months after you graduate. The plan was to work with the 28-month OPT and pick up the H-1B when that expired.
After my master’s in 2011, I had two other options I didn’t mind. It was either a job gave me the Green Card or I married someone who did. I got an IT job with an NGO because they help people process applications for Green Cards. It paid $55k a year.
But the NGO folded up after about a year and I had to find another job.
How was that?
It’s difficult to find a job in the US when you want to apply for a Green Card because the company has to pay for the process. So I was getting interviews but when they asked, “Would we have to apply for an H-1B and Green Card for you?” and my answer was yes, they would just say, “Sorry, we’re currently not applying for H-1Bs and Green Cards for employees”.
When I eventually found one, there was a twist. I had to pay for it out of my salary. It’s illegal, but it’s what we did because I was desperate.
How much did the job pay?
$70k a year. The entire process for Green Card filing cost about $10k. I was there for two years and in that time, it increased to $76k.
Only $6k in two years?
Yeah. First of all, because you’re applying for a Green Card with the company, you have to be there until you get it. Companies know this, so they play it to their advantage and don’t pay so much.
But the more obvious reason I didn’t get a big raise is that my skillset as a Windows engineer wasn’t high-value. People with that skillset usually max out at $80k a year.
Living on $76k a year was difficult. First of all, after tax, it was $30-something-k a year. That’s less than $3k a month. Then after I paid rent, car insurance, health insurance, and phone bills, I was only able to save between $300 and $500 a month. Thankfully, my family wasn’t so demanding, so I rarely had to send money to them.
Omo
Once I got my Green Card in late 2015, I quit and took two months off work because I’d been applying for jobs and knew if I was going to increase my earnings, I had to improve my skills.
I took on courses to become a Linux engineer because that’s what seemed to be in demand. As I continued to apply for jobs, I realised saying I had two months of Linux experience wasn’t enough to get them. People were even asking if I knew Python. So I did what people in America do — I lied on my CV. I backdated a lot of my skills to make it look like I was more proficient. In my past jobs, I put that I did things I didn’t do. Once I did that, more people started reaching out to me.
I remember one interview that ended up being a disaster because they tested me and I failed so terribly. Imagine four people joining an online interview and three of them leaving because you were so bad, you were wasting their time.
That’s wild
Shortly after that, I did an interview with a big company and got the job as a DevOps engineer. The pay started from $92k per year. After my probationary three months, they increased it to $100k. Till today, I can’t tell you why they hired me. Everyone was better than me.
They were probably just trying to diversify their mostly-white team..
You were there how long?
I quit after a year.
Ah, why?
I struggled so bad. It was obvious I was working way above my skill level and I saw a layoff coming. I just quit before they fired me and destroyed my confidence. Also, my commute to work was two hours every day and it affected my performance.
What did you do after that?
I stayed home and worked on a few personal projects so I could achieve something and build my confidence back. I also didn’t stop applying for jobs. In one month, I got another DevOpsjob.
This job required me to know Python, but they were willing to let me learn on the job. When they asked how much I wanted, I told them my range was $110k to $130k. They paid me $130k.
Did this one go well?
Not at the beginning. On my first week, I had to go to a client’s office to solve some problems that needed me to write Python. I didn’t know jack, so someone else had to help me. But that only happened the one time.
I took a two-week crash course on Python. I got a bit better, but work was still overwhelming for me. My boss saw that if I kept getting overwhelmed, I would quit so he took me off some tasks and organised a Python boot camp for me. That’s how I became really good at the job. I was there from December 2017 to October 2019.
How did the move from $76k to $100k to $130k affect the quality of your life?
At $100k, things got much better. I was able to move to a bigger apartment on a better side of town. At $130k, I got married in 2019, and, I moved into a three-level townhome with my wife.
Why did you leave in October 2019?
I got a new job and resumed in November. $120k. It was less money, but it was less stressful. At my old job, I had to travel out of the country to attend to clients and it was too much for me.
January 2020, I got another DevOps job. This one was remote and paid me $130k. For the first few months of 2020, I had to manage both jobs. If I had a meeting for my remote job, I’d go and have it in the bathroom or hallway of my in-person job. But COVID struck and I was able to conveniently do both at home.
Then I had a bright idea. What if I took a third job?
Did you?
Yep. This one paid $160k a year. I had a fourth job offer, but I didn’t want to push it so I rejected it. Along the line, I got another contract-type job that paid $100 an hour for some time. In total, I made about $550k in 2020.
That couldn’t have been easy
Oh, it was crazy. On some days, I had three meetings at the same time and I’d have to listen in on all three — one on one earphone, the other on another earphone and the third on speaker; all from three different computers. Once, they asked a question in one meeting and I replied in another. I had to play it off as a mistake.
I gained a lot of weight, I barely slept, my back was killing me — it was terrible.
But still, it was good money
Oh, for sure. Between 2020 and 2021, I bought a new car for $40k and paid 90% in cash and the rest in credit to boost my credit score. I bought a $50k car for my wife the same way and cleared her $65k student loans. I also cleared the credit card debt I’d accumulated over the years. $45k.
What does your wife do?
She works in finance. During that period, she also took an extra job. Between 2020 and 2021, we earned a combined yearly income of about $800k.
Does your family know how much money you make now?
That would be a huge mistake. The black tax would be too much. They know I work in tech and make good money, but they don’t know it’s that much.
Do you still have all three jobs?
No, I have two remote jobs now. I dropped the third because having three jobs became overwhelming. It’s tasking taking on multiple jobs, but a lot of people are doing it now that the world is working remotely.
My two jobs currently pay $170k and $180k. That’s a total of $350k. Sometimes, I get extra jobs too. So on an average month, I make about $20k after tax.
I’m curious about how you approach savings and investments
In Nigeria right now, I have three farms, a house I use for Airbnb, a cosmetics store I own with my wife, and I’m working on a tech startup. I travel to Nigeria from time to time to oversee the businesses. I have property in another African country and in the US too. In savings, I have $100k, crypto is like $10k and stocks are like $40k.
I’m 38 now, and I want to retire when I’m 41 or 42. The farms would be a steady source of from Nigeria. In the US, my friend and I are working on starting a company that gets government IT contracts. That’ll be income too. i; d get to give good opportunites to other Nigerians with my startup, but I’m sure it’ll bring money too.
What do you want to do when you retire?
I want to travel and spend time with my family. I’ll also try to mentor young people.
Let’s break down your current monthly expenses
Is there anything you’ve recently bought that changed the quality of your life?
Maybe not the quality of my life, but people’s reaction to the car I bought in 2020 changed how I saw myself. I get so many compliments whenever I’m out, and it boosts my confidence. Also, I got $1k watches for myself and my wife recently. I know they’re not expensive-expensive, but wearing mine just makes me feel good. Then there’s the fact that whenever I travel with my wife, we fly business class. It’s great.
How happy are you? The scale is 1-10
Now, I’m on a 9. I need more money to get some projects off and running, but apart from that, I’m happy and content.
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What does it mean to be a man? Surely, it’s not one thing. It’s a series of little moments that add up. Man Like is a weekly Zikoko series documenting these moments to see how it adds up. It’s a series for men by men, talking about men’s issues. We try to understand what it means to “be a man” from the perspective of the subject of the week.
Teslim Alabi is living the dream: leading Product Design at Netflix Global after five years at Microsoft, living a nice life in a country with constant electricity and having great skin — yes, I noticed. Honestly, Teslim is the tech bro I aspire to be. But as I fawn over his life, our conversation shows that the self-declared introvert hasn’t always had it easy. It’s been a long journey, and now, he’s finally getting settled into the life he deserves.
In this episode of Man Like, Teslim talks about growing up with a Muslim dad and Christian mum, stepping up to save his university relationship and how he’s been able to navigate life as a black man living in America.
What was growing up like for you?
I grew up with my family in Enugu. We didn’t have a lot, but I wouldn’t say we were poor. My dad was a branch manager for a restaurant start-up in Enugu, and my mum was a trader with her own store. We were generally okay, my parents did a good job of shielding my siblings and I from the tough times we’d routinely experience. Interestingly, when we were younger, my dad was Yoruba-Muslim, while my mum was Igbo-Christian. We grew up with that mix and went to the church and mosque. We were in between.
Wow. I’m interested in knowing how this worked out?
I don’t know how they did it, but my parents made it work, and we never noticed any friction between them about religion. We would go to the mosque on Fridays and church on Sundays. Outside religion, the difference in their cultures was another interesting intersection for my siblings and I. My dad always said, “When you’re old enough, you’ll decide the path you want to take.” He later converted to Christianity, and if you ask my mum, she’ll tell you it’s because of her prayers. LOL.
Did growing up with a structure like that affect your sense of identity?
The only time I became aware that my family was a bit different was in primary school, specifically in social studies classes, where they’d talk about the makeup of an ideal family. Those were the moments I realised my family didn’t fit into the typical box of what a Nigerian family should look like. Intertribal & inter-religious families weren’t as common as I assumed at the time.
Growing up like that helped me realise that multiple truths can co-exist. It has shaped my mind to accept different views and ways of living and being.
Now that you’re older, what religion have you settled on?
I was raised primarily Christian, but I’ve always been very curious about exploring philosophy and understanding more about the universe. I don’t oppose any beliefs. I will always be curious — wherever that leads me, I’ll go.
Still on identity, can you tell me when you first realised you were a man?
I feel like I’ve always been independent since I was like 8 years old. But one significant moment I can pinpoint was when my wife’s (my girlfriend at the time) parents wanted her to return to Nigeria for NYSC, after university in Canada. We had done long-distance in the past and understood a move would strain our relationship, so we had to act fast. There was a short period of time when she wasn’t getting any direct support, and I offered to help.
It wasn’t easy. I wasn’t making money at the time, but whatever pocket money I had, I’d split it with her. We made it work. She’s also very independent, so the idea of someone who’s not her family supporting her didn’t sit well. It took her a while to accept any help from me. I had to beg. LOL. It was a lot of pressure and sacrifices on both sides.
I told my dad about it, years later, after we had gotten engaged, and his response was that these are the things that make us men — we make sacrifices and give even when we don’t have.
What did you take away from this experience?
I learnt how to see things from a mindset outside of my own. My wife is more balanced and level-headed with how she approaches things. But as a man, I wanted to be useful and do something immediately. In a bid to act, I could’ve come off as desperate and controlling, and she’d have just gone back to Nigeria instead of putting herself in that situation. Working through this process with her taught me to be gentle in my approach to conversations and problem-solving. It was a learning curve for me.
Why did you feel this need to be “useful”?
From my perspective, it’s a massive part of our notion of masculinity — the need to always be the problem solver, to want to be seen as the person mobilising and moving everyone else forward. But over time, I’ve realised that people’s needs differ, and masculinity should be about a malleability of approach. I’m learning that being there for people doesn’t always mean that I have to solve their problems. Sometimes, they just want you to be there, to listen.
Nice. Being a black man in Nigeria is one thing, but being a black man in the US must be different. Can you tell me about your experience?
So I moved to the US for my master’s after completing university in Nigeria. I’d been to the US with my parents a number of times, but this time, I travelled on my own. When I arrived, on my first day, I went out to look for food, and it hit me that my parents had been doing most of the running around whenever we visited. For the first time, I was on my own. I went to this crowded park across the street, and even though there were so many people around me, I just felt incredibly alone.
Things got easier as I started cultivating relationships, but something happened in my first week that messed with me. I was walking on the street with my headphones, and a group of mostly white teenagers started following me around, yelling the N-word. All I could think about was how I was alone on the road and how this could end badly for me.
I’m so sorry.
I was coming from a country where I looked like everybody else, and suddenly, I was in this country where I stuck out like a sore thumb. It was a jarring switch for me. Oppression is rife in Nigeria, but people see it, everyone is aware, it’s undeniable. As black men in America, we get oppressed and people act like it’s not there, they can’t see it, so we feel paranoid and question our reality. There was another time I was in Hawaii, this woman on a scooter called me the N-word and just sped off. There are other less apparent instances like being the only black person at work and having no one take your ideas or suggestions seriously. Even though you’re the expert, your qualifications are always being questioned.
Early on, I had to repress my experiences with racism, hoping that maybe if I didn’t dwell on them, then they never happened. It wasn’t until a community gathering after another black man got profiled, shot and killed that all of the repressed emotions came flooding back again. Coming from Nigeria, the use of the N-word might not be seen as a big deal. But getting here and knowing that some people say it to intimidate me, to make me feel small, gives it a different meaning.
I’ve adapted to the system because I know I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t come here. But despite all this, every time I go back to Nigeria, I immediately feel like I’m home. There’s something peaceful about being around people who look and sound like me.
I agree. Let’s switch gears for a bit. What brings you joy these days?
Joy, for me, is starting to look more like impact. I’ve always been in this space where I try to make an impact by telling stories. And now, I am getting to a point in my career where I am mentoring other people, and I co-founded a program to help underrepresented people get jobs in tech. When I think about joy and fulfilment these days, I think about these things. It’s always about service and what you can do for others.
As a product designer, I’m working with Netflix to design features that ensure users have the best possible experience on the platform. I’m doing what I love, so my job is a source of fulfilment. Also, making time for family and the important people in my life. I’m trying to invest more in those relationships.
Looking at what we’ve discussed, and your journey so far, if you could change one thing, what would it be?
If I changed anything, I don’t think I would end up where I am. We can have all the speculations about what could have gone better, but I feel like I only have the power to influence what is before me, so I spend a lot of energy on that. I don’t have regrets.
If you ever wanted to switch to tech and you don’t know the first thing about landing a tech job, then you have found the answer to your prayers. Here are nine things you need to do to land a tech job.
1) Buy a MacBook
How can you get into tech without a MacBook? It’s like going into a farm without farming tools. Look for the most expensive MacBook on the market and buy it. It will pay off eventually.
2) Catch a python
These tech companies are always talking about pythons. So, go into the streets and find the biggest and best python. When you successfully trap a python, you can tell the companies you’re skilled with python. Work smarter, not harder.
3 IntroTech is still tech
Basic Technology, IntroTech are still tech jobs. If you can’t get into the ones closing deals and earning millions a year, try those ones that make you build lamps with wood. When people ask, tell them you work in tech. All startups are startups and all tech matters.
4) Beg and cry
If all else fails, try begging and crying. When they see you wailing and rolling on the floor, they’d offer you the job. What is tech that you cannot do? You can learn on the job.
5) Learn a new language
They’re always talking about programming languages. So, learn one. French? Yoruba? Ibibio? Just go crazy with it. Learn as many languages as possible.
6) Become a leftend engineer
There are enough front and back end engineers on the market. Do something different to set yourself apart from the crowd. That’s why it’s important to learn leftend. You’d be an expert in your field and you’d become the most sought after person in the tech field.
7) Have a photoshoot
How can you become a tech bro if you don’t have the tech bro photoshoot? How else will they recognise you as the bad bitch you are?
Something like this to spice the tech space up
8) Lie on LinkedIn
If you’re not on Linkedln writing epistles on how we all have the same 24 hours, or how your dog was able to overcome all odds and get a job, then you really aren’t ready to get a tech job.
TechCabal has all the important tech information you need to not just kickstart your tech career, but also keep you informed on everything going on in the tech space. You can subscribe to the TechCabal newsletter for daily updates on what goes on in the tech ecosystem.
Everyone wants to get into tech nowadays, but what tech career will actually make you blow?
Take this quiz and we’ll tell you. So you don’t waste your time chasing the wrong career.
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Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.
There are some things to note about the 25-year-old in this #NairaLife: she’s the breadwinner and was in about ₦2m debt. Three months ago she got a big break and her life changed — possibly forever.
What’s your oldest memory of money?
I was in primary school and living with my grandparents because my mum was in university. My parents would visit every two weeks and they’d give me between ₦300 and ₦500. This was in the early 2000s, so it meant a lot to me.
What could the money do for you?
I could ball a lot in school. I loved to spend the money on myself and my friends. I’m not sure if I was trying to show off or if I just liked to buy things for people. However, gifting got a little tiring when I was about 10 because books started to interest me. From that time, I started to spend more on books.
By 2005, I was in JSS 1 and my mum was done with the university so I returned to my parents’.
Ah, sweet.
Things were good. We weren’t rich-rich, but we were very comfortable. My dad sold cars and business wasn’t bad. He travelled to Germany a lot and even took me on some of the trips.
My mum was a stay at home mum. It didn’t matter because what my father made was enough for the family. It’s funny because at the time I didn’t even think we were comfortable, even though everyone thought we were.
Why didn’t you think you were comfortable?
I was very sheltered. I suspect that I may have taken everything — including the trips — for granted because my parents didn’t have conversations about money with me. But in 2008, I realised how comfortable we were.
What happened?
My dad died.
I’m sorry about that.
Thank you. It was challenging because my parents had four kids after me. Now, my mum had to worry about all five of us and she didn’t have a job.
Oof.
The good thing was that we have good extended family members on both sides. After we buried my dad, one of my aunts living in Ghana spoke with my mum and offered her two options: she could allow me to live with them in Ghana until after I finished university or I could remain in Nigeria and they would sponsor my education until university.
When my mum spoke to me about it, I decided to go live with my aunt and her family. I figured that my mum would still have to bear some of the cost of raising me if I stayed in Nigeria but if I lived with my aunt, my mum wouldn’t have to worry about me.
That’s how I moved in with my aunt at 14.
What happened in Ghana?
I was in a boarding school and my monthly allowance was GH₵100 until I finished.
When I got into university in 2013, my aunt and her husband were going through a tough time financially, so it was a bit of a struggle raising me with their five kids.
Regardless, they committed to seeing me through university but my allowance was reduced to about GH₵20 per month.
The four years in university were a little tough, but I survived and graduated in May 2017. I was broke as hell though.
Whew. What happened next?
I picked up my first job. Although, I should add that I did a couple of odd jobs here and there in uni to raise extra money for myself.
I returned to Nigeria in October and registered for NYSC immediately. I was posted to work at a university in Ogun State. I studied Human Resources in school, so I worked in their HR department and my salary was ₦10k. The federal government was also paying me ₦19800, so that brought my monthly earnings to ₦29800.
How were you moving money?
I lived in a 3-bedroom apartment with three other girls, and the total rent was ₦200k. One of my family members was paying my cut of the rent. My housemates and I also split household expenses amongst ourselves. However, I was the closest thing to a breadwinner my family had and I tried to send ₦10k home to my mum and my siblings. I also tried to save ₦5k every month but at the end of my service year, I had only ₦10k in savings.
How?
It was because of my money management skills. I was still an impulsive buyer and dipped a lot into my savings to buy things I didn’t need. Thankfully, I had started applying for jobs months before the end of my service year and got an offer two weeks after NYSC ended.
Tell me about it.
I got into the graduate trainee program at one of the Big Four consulting firms and my salary was ₦150k. This was 2018.
That’s a significant income jump.
It was. Moving from ₦29k to ₦150k in the space of a year was huge. I splurged on a lot of things that caught my eye in the first two months. I relaxed after that and started thinking about saving when I wanted an expensive new phone. I realised that I would be broke for months if I splurged on it at once. A better alternative would be to save the money for as long as it is required. I also had four siblings to worry about. I started to save ₦20k per month for the phone and another ₦10k in an emergency fund. About ₦40k went to my family. I lived on what remained. But it was hardly ever enough and I always ended up dipping into my emergency savings. I was pretty much living from paycheck to paycheck.
Omo. How long did you spend at the job?
Close to three years. I left in 2021.
How did your salary evolve during your time there?
I got my first promotion in October 2019 and my salary increased to ₦190k. My standard of living rose with it and I started spending more on some of the things I used to think of as luxuries. I ditched buses for Uber and hopped from one restaurant to another. Also, I increased my monthly support for my family from ₦40k to ₦50k. But there were other sacrifices I had to make for my family. Remember that money I was saving up for a phone in 2018? Towards the end of 2019, I had about ₦180k but my brother needed money because he was leaving for school, so I gave the money to him. I eventually opted for a lower-end phone.
You were something close to a breadwinner for your family too. What was it like navigating that?
For the longest time, I thought it wasn’t fair that I was working but didn’t have much to show for it because I had to think about my family first. But I’d also hate myself if we had to depend on members of our extended family before we could meet the most basic needs. That said, I learned to prioritise myself too and spend as much money on my most pressing needs as soon as I got my salary. The way I saw it, if I left the money in my account, I would end up spending it on something my mum or siblings needed.
Fair enough. When did you get the next raise at work?
October 2020. My salary went up to about ₦250k. However, I was already deep in debt.
Oh? Could you talk more about it?
In 2019, I took a ₦650k bank loan because our house rent was due. A few months later, my sister was about to resume university and because I wanted to send her off with something, I took another ₦200k loan from the bank. Later in 2020, my mum needed help restocking her shop but I didn’t have enough money. As a result, I applied for a ₦500k loan at the bank and got it.
You were at least ₦1.3m in debt and your salary was ₦250k. How were you paying back?
First, a chunk of my salary was going into loan repayments and this brought my take-home down to about ₦190k – ₦200k every month. Then I did something I probably shouldn’t have done: I stopped paying them off. Immediately after I got my salary, I cleared all the money in my account and transferred it into another bank account. Not the best move because the interest kept piling up.
My quality of life took a hit because I knew the debt was still there. I had also lost interest in my job in June 2020 but I couldn’t quit because I didn’t have a lot of options. But I started learning about frontend development. For some reason, I thought my next money move would be to transition into tech.
I was floating through 2020. In November, I went on a work trip and was there for close to a month. When I returned in December, I found out that I had Covid.
Damn. That’s rough.
It was. But it gave me a much-needed break from work and I dedicated the time I spent in quarantine to my software engineering courses. Nothing much happened until February 2021 when I had Covid again.
Ah.
It came back in full force and my body forgot how to work. I was bedridden for more than a month. Unfortunately, my HMO didn’t cover costs for my treatment, so I had to dip into the small savings I had. It wasn’t enough. As a last resort, I took another loan from the bank. ₦200k this time.
Whew.
It was so crazy. I was sick and still had to worry about money. When I recovered fully in March, I realised that I wasn’t earning enough, and I would probably need to take loans every time I needed money. The only thing on my mind was how to increase my income.
Was there a plan?
First, I needed to quit my job and find a tech role. I had an interest in it already, but my job was standing in the way of me learning the things I needed to make a full transition. I started to apply for HR roles in Nigerian tech companies and got interviews with a few, nothing came out of it.
Then I started attending online conferences, hoping to network my way into the ecosystem. In May, I attended a random conference where I met a white lady. We kept in touch after that. During one of our conversations, I mentioned that I was looking for a role in the industry. It turned out that her company — a freelance platform — had an open role and she promised to refer me.
I see where this is going.
Haha. In June, I got an email from her people. They were looking for a talent specialist and wanted to know if I was still interested. Of course, I was. I wrote a couple of tests and sent them in. One week later, I got another email from them.
It was an offer letter. I almost let out a scream when I saw how much they were offering.
I’m listening.
$3k, and that’s just the basic pay. There are also profit and performance bonuses.
Wow. That’s something.
I knew my life was about to do a full 180. I thought about what this meant for me and my family, and all the things I could now afford to buy.
In the same vein, I feared that they would rescind the offer, so I was scared to resign from where I was working.
LMAO. That didn’t happen, did it?
Haha, no. I started the job in July.
Congratulations. How did it feel when the first salary landed in your account?
Funny story. I was at the send forth party my former workplace organised for me when I got my first salary. If I had any doubts about my decision to leave the place, the credit alert erased all of it. I just started grinning at everyone.
Haha.
One of the first things I did was to get a group of my friends’ gift cards, and each one cost $80. They were always there for me. It felt nice to do something for them for a change.
Then I sat down and drew a plan to pay off my loans, which had accumulated to about ₦2m because I had defaulted on payments. I cleared everything in less than three months and am now completely debt-free.
Love that for you. So what’s eating your money these days?
Sweet. What do your savings and investments look like at the moment though?
Core savings — $750
Crypto investment — $500
Stocks — $250
I’d have put more money aside but we recently moved apartments because of some issues with the old landlord. The new apartment cost ₦1.3m.
Also, the initial excitement of getting a huge increase in income is phasing out. I’ve bought most of the things I couldn’t get this time last year, so I’m beginning to think about how to be more intentional about how I spend my money.
It feels like I’ve just started my financial journey, to be honest. And I’m hoping to have a better relationship with money going forward.
Great. How have all of your experiences shaped your perspective about money?
I’ve realised that spending money makes me happy, and that’s not a bad thing. The only thing on my mind now is to figure out how to consistently make more. The more I can manage to do that, the more I can increase my standards of living. I’m excited about my next level of income and the kind of life it will get me.
What do you imagine will get you there?
I currently work where I can focus on my job and have enough time I could dedicate to my software engineering courses. The plan is to upskill and fully transition into a tech role. It’s already happening actually.
I’m listening.
I’m currently in talks with the engineering team in the company I work at about the possibility of interning with them. We’re still ironing out the details, but it’s a paid role. It’s a win-win: I get to work on software engineering projects and learn on the job while also earning from it. I’ll start the new role this month.
Rooting for you. Is there something you want right now but can’t afford though?
Travelling to Dubai and the Maldives are high up on my list. But I don’t have the money for that now. If I save a few months, I might be able to do that, so fingers crossed.
Fingers crossed. What was the last thing you bought that improved the quality of your life?
My MacBook. It cost about ₦570k, but my company refunded the money. It was stressful to code on my old Dell laptop, but the new Mac has made it more fun.
What part of your finances do you think you could be better at?
Impulsive buying decisions. I bought a new phone in September, which isn’t a bad thing. But I didn’t plan for it. I saw the phone online a day after I got my salary and I placed an order for it even though it cost $500.
I also need to think more about investing. My mood used to be “What’s the point? What if I die soon?” Now it’s “ What if I live long and end up being broke because I didn’t plan well when I was younger?”
That said, I think the mindset shift is a reflection of my current earnings. I’m earning a lot more money now and have enough left to play with after settling my basic expenses.
I hear you there. On a scale of 1-10, financial happiness?
7. I’m in a good place right now and I know that I will be in a position to earn more soon. It’s amazing how much one job can change your life.
What does it mean to be a man? Surely, it’s not one thing. It’s a series of little moments that add up. Man Like is a weekly Zikoko series documenting these moments to see how it adds up. It’s a series for men by men, talking about men’s issues. We try to understand what it means to “be a man” from the perspective of the subject of the week.
Today’s Man Like is Fisayo Fosudo, a Youtuber, finance enthusiast and tech reviewer. He talks about how reading helped him navigate life, his discouraging early days as a tech reviewer and finally breaking out to become one of Nigeria’s most viewed YouTuber.
What was growing up like for you?
It was all right. My parents ensured we were taken care of even when they were going through unemployment, changing jobs or schooling.
My father is a lecturer but had to take a job as a photographer at some point. It’s funny how my grandfather was a photographer, my father had to take up photography and I’m now a vlogger. Runs in the family, I guess.
What’s your relationship with your father like?
I grew up with a strict father. In 2013, in my second year, my exam script somehow went missing, so I failed the course. My dad was so mad at me, he locked me up in the library of the school where he lectures from morning till evening. He did this every day for the whole break. I hated it at the time, but I ended up having a 4.9 GPA the following semester, so I guess it paid off. Now, we’re close friends. We talk about everything.
At what point did you realise “I have to crack this life thing by myself?”
Fortunately for me, I started reading early. I come from a family of readers, but the person who really got me into reading was my uncle. I looked up to him for everything, I think he’s the coolest person ever. He read all the time, drew art really well and was really into buying gadgets. He gave me a flash drive with tons of books and told me to read as many as I could. He would always tell me that whatever I do, I should never be idle. I should always be getting value from something. Is what I’m doing right now good for my goals? What can I consume right now that would add value to me? Books, tutorials, seminars — anything that adds value to me, I consume voraciously.
Reading motivational and self-help books made me realise that I could build wealth for myself. If these authors could be multimillionaires and have business empires, why couldn’t I? That’s when I woke up from my slumber. I was 19. Reading a lot of books helped me navigate life because I was able to apply the experiences and lessons from the books. I’m glad he made me read.
Which book has been the most impactful to you?
Mastery by Robert Greene. It teaches a lot about being deliberate about work and letting it speak for you. I’ve read it more than seven times. I should read it again. It helped me get my first job straight out of uni.
How did that happen?
I had designed the flyers and banners for a finance career fair that was happening in the school. On a whim, I decided to go, even though I was more interested in graphic design than in finance, the core area of the career fair. Long story short, some attendees from Price Waterhouse Coopers were impressed with the work I did and my involvement in the career fair that they recommended me for a job with a newly-established startup, Max.ng. That’s how I got hired straight out of school by the best bosses ever.
You sound like a real fanboy.
They were great employers and they saved my ass once. In 2015, I ordered video equipment worth $5k. I had saved for an entire year to get the money. The Nigerian Customs seized it and demanded that I paid $1k within a short period or else I would lose my gadgets. There was no way I could have come up with the money in the time they gave me, so I approached my bosses to ask for three months’ salary advance to cover the fees. My bosses thought that wasn’t fair and instead dashed me half of the money to help release my gadgets.
How did the tech reviewing start?
With the gear I bought, I started making tech review videos on YouTube in 2016. It was such a long and arduous journey. Someone once told me that I was wasting my time because there were more popular tech reviewers like Marques Brownlee and nobody would watch tech reviews in Nigeria or send me devices to review.
After spending so much on filming equipment and uploading many videos, I wasn’t getting views. I started thinking that person was right. Maybe I really couldn’t do it. But I pressed on.
And then what changed?
Slowly, I gained more subscribers. It took me four years to reach 100,000 subscribers. But I’ve gained another 94,000 subscribers since January 2021. I came up with the plan for Finance Fridays, a weekly segment where I break down difficult financial topics and concepts easily enough for the average Joe to understand. The growth of my channel has been near unbelievable, and I wish I could see the face of the person who told me I’d never become a successful Youtuber. I’m glad I didn’t listen to them.
What’s been the biggest challenge growing your channel?
Omo, it’s NEPA o. Having to constantly deal with power interruptions and my neighbours running their generators makes recording frustrating. Fortunately, I’ve just moved to somewhere with regular electricity, so I’m looking forward to that not being a challenge anymore. It still blows my mind that an Ajegunle boy is now making moves in Lekki.
Do you have long-term goals, both for yourself and your channel?
For my channel, I’d like to produce even more content. To learn even more. My Finance Friday series forces me to read wide and deep about various topics in order to write solid scripts for my videos. I’m passionate about making people more knowledgeable about their finances.
What’s the hardest thing about being a Youtuber?
Consistency. It’s taken five years to get here. Imagine if I had quit last year. There’s nothing more important than being consistent in your chosen field.
Interesting. What’s the best thing you’ve learned since starting Finance Fridays?
The power of savings. There was a year where I saved 70% of all the income I received in that year. In hindsight, that might have been overzealous because I was always broke and couldn’t afford the things I needed. But at the end of that year, I had a lot of money. I balled like mad. From my savings, I travelled to Dubai, bought everything on my Amazon wishlist and still had a healthy account balance. I’m a big believer in the power of savings.
Big baller. Tell me something random about you.
I’m a huge fan of music. I spend a lot of my money on paying for music production apps. In secondary school, I was part of a music group called the Candyboys. We performed M.I’s Anoti and our own song which we wrote.
Maybe you would have won a Grammy by now if you had continued down that line.
LMAO!
Check back every Sunday by 12 pm for new stories in the Man Likeseries. If you’d like to be featured or you know anyone that would be perfect for this, kindly send an email.
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On social media, many people often joke about wanting to work in tech or in startup companies in general so we decided to ask a few people who already do what that really is like.
Cynthia, 28. I was excited when I got the startup job at first because I loved the company’s mission, and founder as well. They painted this impressive image online of who they were, what problems they were trying to solve, and what their work culture was, so when I got in, it was a dream come true, until it wasn’t of course.
The first thing I noticed was that their ‘vision/mission’ was just something cute to say and get funds because, in truth, they were far from what they preached internally.
There were so many worst parts but I’ll tell you the one that stuck out to me. No matter how great you did in your role, they’d never agree to send you a good recommendation letter. I once heard the founder telling HR to say and I quote “He got along well with his co-workers” finish. They did not even say anything about his work, this guy worked very hard.
The weirdest thing was the founder openly being partial to team members she liked. I know she had a right to like whom she wanted but she did it without tact and it had a bad impact on the company culture.
It wasn’t all bad though, my team members were the bomb and we’re mostly friends till this day. Because startup cultures are sometimes toxic, you and your colleagues bond well. One thing I enjoyed about the startup culture was the energy and the feeling that you’re doing something to make the world better for someone else, so that’s pretty cool.
I know you didn’t ask me but I think that investors should look at the rate of team churn in businesses before investing because most of these startup leaders need lots of leadership training. Can you believe we had about 20 people resign in less than one year, with some of them spending 2 months before resigning? It wasn’t a huge team so 20 people meant the company literally started afresh.
People should generally look at the churn rate before joining some companies. If they’re always hiring for the same roles, let your legs hit your head as you’re running away. Also, the HR at your startup is not your friend!
Victor, 35. I have almost exclusively worked with tech startups since I started working and I won’t say it has been bad, to be honest. I just want Nigerian startup founders to stop acting like they’ve invented or founded the biggest thing since sliced bread. At my last job, I left because the founder spent most of his time being condescending to staff and belittling them. It is weird because you hired them because they are good so why go back to tell them they are stupid and should be ashamed. One day, he was shouting at a junior product manager and told her that when he was her age he was doing this and that. That was when I thought to myself ‘guy, one day it will be your turn and with your temper, you’ll do something that you’ll regret.’ I think the startup space is pretty great to work in and stuff, but it’s great when compared to traditional working spaces. On its own, man it isn’t all that. A person is expected to do the workload of three people, be on the clock 24/7, never complain and deal with rude founders/bosses.
Patrick, 27. Nigerian founders are probably the ones that’ll kill their companies. It’s a bit weird seeing them pretend to be nice considerate people on social media but you that work with them will be wondering when you’ll see that version of them. My boss fired an intern the day her mother died because she came late. Many of these companies can’t retain people because the moment people actually work for them, they immediately start looking for a new place to run to because of the toxic work culture. Last year, my boss fired me because he saw me looking at calls for job applications on my laptop. I didn’t even bother doing back and forth, I was already fed up. I think startups aren’t a bad place to work at because it tends to be more progressive but some of these founders need an attitude adjustment. You are not Batman, breathe sometimes.
Diane, 22. The workload almost drove me mad. I was employed as an intern as the first and then promoted to content associate. As an intern, I was doing the work of a full-time staff and was paid 60,000. I was handling social media, posting on their blog and everything. When I was promoted to content associate, my salary was increased to 120,000. The amount of content I was pushing out and for a company that was actually doing well, being paid 120,000 was an insult. I would be asked to do work on weekends, and even at night. God forbid. I quit there immediately I got a better offer.
We believe you are aware that tech companies are cashing out. First, it was PayStack, now Flutterwave. These people don’t have two heads nau. If they can make it in tech, you too can build your own and blow. What is inside unicorn that you cannot do?
Here’s how to build your own unicorn tech.
1. Grow your own dada.
That’s your ID card into the tech world. If you must beat them, you have to be like them.
2. Start painting your nails.
You need to build your identity first before building your business.
3. Now, upgrade your vocabulary and start speaking “tech.”
Anytime you open your mouth, these are the words that must tumble out: Stack overflow, Figma, Knorr, UI/UX, Vedan, Comms, Unicorn. By our mouths, we confess what we hope to become.
4. Oya, choose an area to base in.
PayStack and Flutterwave are into money. Why not upgrade? Start your own eyelash company that will allow people see into the future. Or maybe a catering service that will deliver food to aliens in space. Thinkkkk. Na who sabi think dey blow for tech oh.
5. Anything you settle for, sprinkle Flutterwave and Paystack on it.
Your investors:Tell us about your idea.
You:It is like Flutterwave, but for eyelashes.
You:Oh it’s like Paystack, but for puff-puff frying. We’ll be able to make even generations unborn taste hot puff-puff while in heaven.
You need to show them that if Flutterwave can do it, you sef can do better.
6. Lest we forget, you must not bathe oh.
That’s the secret charm. You think those tech bros and baes do usually shower? My dear, that odour is their aura, their essence, the core of their ideas. I’m telling you facts.
7. Whatever you do, avoid that man they call Sanwo-Olu.
May we not jam someone that will kill our unicorn and roast the flesh for meat, plis. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, abi what is that saying again?
8. And BuBu, his sugar daddy.
Aww, he’s shy. Silent pistol.
9. Please and please, don’t announce yourself before your time.
You need to let God announce you. Don’t make noise on your own head so that they will not kill your unicorn before it starts to gallop.
10. When the money comes, don’t forget us oh.
We can run ads for you and make more people patronise your unicorn tech. What is life if we don’t help each other to grow?
11. How can you keep bad belle away from your new wealth?
a) BUY CATS.
The richest tech bro I know owns cats. If that’s not a sign, then I don’t know for you oh.
b) Always thank Emefiele.
Before he will wake up one day and decide that it is your market he wants to spoil next.
Goodluck in your journey to building the next unicorn tech. We are rooting for you, omo olope. Rise like bread and don’t waste our money.
Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.
The guy in this story has two things going on for him: developing new skills and taking a leap of faith. The ultimate gamechanger for him, though, is a tech hub he joined at uni and a DM he got in 2020.
What is your oldest memory of money?
My dad always did this thing for me and my siblings when we were growing up: at the end of each term, he would drive us with his motorcycle to a restaurant in the town we lived in to flex us. We would order yoghurt and meat pie, sometimes we threw ice cream into the mix. At other times, he would drive us to the zoo.
What did your dad do for a living?
He ran a computer business centre with my mum. At first, all they did was type and print documents for people. But it grew into a printing press. I should add that my dad has done everything — he used to be a barber and then an electrician. He still runs these businesses to date.
What was life like, though, growing up?
The family was never hungry. We could be broke, but food was always on the table. For me, though, my childhood was tough. My dad made sure of that. I was the first child, so he thought I needed to be raised with an iron fist. I spent most of my childhood learning how to be a man. My dad always bragged about how he was an employer at 18, so it was like I was competing against him.
I would wake up at 6 am, say the morning prayers, go to school. There were extra classes after school, and then I would head to the shop to handle the business. I started helping around with the smaller tasks, but as I grew, my responsibilities also grew. I think I started managing all aspects of the business when I was 16.
What was it like handing the family business at that age?
My job was to make sure everything ran smoothly: the computers, printers and generators. I also did the books and made sure the numbers were right. I was paid ₦5k per month, although the money didn’t come to me. It went to a trust fund my parents kept. Subsequently, my salary was increased to ₦7k, then 10k, then ₦15k.
What was revenue like?
We averaged about ₦300k per month. But when it was time for elections or other large scale events, the number went up to ₦750k. During the 2011 general elections, I think we did about ₦1.5M to ₦3M every month.
Omo. So, when did you get into uni?
2014. I was supposed to study medicine, but I was offered biochemistry instead.
This sounds very familiar.
So, the plan was to do biochemistry and go for medicine later. My first year and second year were great. My grades were fine. In 2016, I replicated my dad’s hustle on campus and started a design and printing business. This brought in at least ₦200k in a good month. The best times were during the end of year events when I did about ₦400k.
Impressive. How old were you when you started this business?
19 or 20. The only thing was that this income wasn’t constant, so it was hard to plan around it. I mean, there were months I did only ₦15k.
I was making money on the side, but something happened in my third year.
What?
I was hit with depression and anxiety. I didn’t want to do the whole school thing anymore. I had my sights set on tech, but I didn’t know how to get into it. It kinda spiralled out of control. One day in 2017, I drank an entire bottle of vodka, Moet and Baron. The plan was to go off to sleep and maybe never wake up. I had forgotten that my girlfriend at the time was supposed to visit me later that day. When she came and couldn’t get in, she called my neighbour and they broke my door. They found me on the floor, laying in my vomit and my eyes rolled in. I remember the guy pouring buckets of water on me and pumping my stomach to get the content out. I eventually slept it off. I didn’t wake up until the following night. The pain was mad.
I’m so sorry you had to go through that.
We move. Later that year, my university started a tech hub. I was invited by a friend to join their team that was incubated to be mentored in the tech hub. All of us were rebels of sorts — we were tired of uni and just wanted to do something different. We had a building to ourselves, 24 hours of interrupted power supply and the fastest wifi on campus. Omo, I was sleeping there, just building stuff with my team. We became the cool kids on campus. The VC gave us ₦2M at some point.
What did you do at the tech hub?
My team was building drone technology of sorts. We wanted to deliver blood to cities like Zipline does in Rwanda. When we started, I was in charge of graphic design and marketing communications. I gradually moved into product design and front-end development. I also did a lot of strategy work. It was my biggest strength. People in other teams always wanted to pick my brain on something, and I absolutely loved it.
Where do you think this edge came from?
My dad. He’s a chief strategist. See, that guy didn’t go to uni, but he was a smart man. Also, I’m very curious about stuff. I’m interested in details as well as the big picture. So, when people tell me the big picture, my mind is looking for a million paths to get there.
Interesting.
I basically ditched classes. My classmates and lecturers thought I was a fool. Maybe I was, but I wanted better. Finally, I got to my final year in school and I was supposed to do my project. One day, I woke up and went to my supervisor to tell him that I wasn’t interested in the project anymore and needed him to refund the ₦30k I had paid for it.
This next person I saw at the hub was my dad. My supervisor had called him. This man came with a chain and he said: “I know an evil spirit has possessed you, so we will chain you and take you to the psychiatric hospital, then carry out some spiritual deliverance for you.” I was arrested and detained at the school security post for most part of the day. The school asked my dad to go home and that I would join him later, so we can settle our issue. This was in 2018, and we still haven’t settled it.
What happened after your “deliverance”?
They actually took me to see about three pastors. I sat through the whole process thinking of how to leave home. After everything, I lied to them I was going to school to fix a few things. It’s been two years now.
So, you came to Lagos.
Yup! A tech bro I met on Twitter bought me my ticket. I stayed at an uncle’s place for a while.
Wait, was a job waiting for you in Lagos?
Nah. There was no job waiting for me. I had sent applications before I came, but nothing clicked. I roamed the streets of Lagos for three months before I got my first job. I saw a tweet where someone said you could message recruiters at companies you applied to on Linkedin. So, I sent a message to a recruiter and she asked me to mail her my details. Two days later, I got an interview.
What role were you applying for?
A Creative Designer at a software company.
And you got it?
Yup. This was May 2019. My net salary was ₦145k.
Nice. How did that go?
That job got me settled in Lagos. But damn was it challenging. It was a lot of sleepless nights. The biggest challenge was navigating the commute. Where my uncle lived was too far from where I worked. After trying to wing it for two months, I started sleeping at the office. I would wake up early to go have my bath at a friend’s who lived close to the office. The work was crazy, but I didn’t do badly.
In 2019, the company flew me and a few other people to Dubai. That was my first time out of the country.
How did that feel?
Omo, it was mad. On the day we were leaving the country, I called my mum on my way to the airport and she broke down in tears — tears of joy and fear.
Lmao. Why fear?
It was that panic parents feel when you’re travelling. She has never been on a plane, so I guess I understand how she felt.
2020, how did that go for you?
It started with some massive gbas-gbos. I left the company where I worked because I got an offer to do something different in another company. This one was an actual product design job. And it came with a bump to my salary: ₦250K.
The company was on the Island, so I paired up with a friend and got an apartment together. I was also getting a few side gigs, so I was doing ₦400k-₦500k every month. Then Covid happened, and I got fired.
Whoa!
I didn’t adjust very well to working from home — with poor power, internet, and the emotional side of things. I got back to back queries before they terminated my appointment. It was a fair decision, sha.
The sad part about this was that my contract did me dirty. By the time they finished picking out the small details in the contract, my salary for that month came down to ₦160k. Naso I take broke oh.
Damn. How did the subsequent months go?
I had no job from May to August. What kept everything together was a few side gigs I got. Towards the end of August, I got another job. The salary was ₦300k monthly. It was actually one of the best places I worked. I quit at the end of last year.
Sometime in October 2020, I got a DM from someone wanting to know if I was interested in a job. I looked at it but the application process was too long, so I left it. One night, I went back to it and sent in an application. Two weeks later, I was invited to interview. A design test followed and a series of more interviews. In November, I got an offer from them.
*Drum Roll*
It was ₦16.6M per annum. $35k in addition to $4k in gadget, insurance and internet allowance. That’s ₦1.4M per month. Also, it’s a fully remote job.
Omo. What has this jump meant in this little time?
It feels good. It is more than any validation I could have gotten about my work, and it’s not even all about the money. Throughout every stage of the hiring process, they kept talking about how impressed they were with my work. See, I work hard. I deserve it.
Energy. Let’s break down your monthly expenses now.
I have this tradition, any lump sum I make, I spend at least 10% getting myself something
Is this break down pre-new bump or based on the new bump?
Pre-bump. Oh, I didn’t mention; I make about ₦500k-₦600k every month from side gigs.
What do you do for people on the side?
Product design as well. I used to do WordPress but stopped for a while. I also get gigs to help prototype products launch into full products. Then people pick my brain for a price.
Walk me through how your skill sets have evolved over the past decade.
I started designing with CorelDRAW 9 and Adobe PS 7. After that, I went into print production. I don’t think there’s a printer out there I don’t know how to operate. In uni, someone I met online taught me brand identity and strategy. At the time, coding was the rave, so I learned a bit of frontend technologies (HTML, CSS, JS), but computer engineering wasn’t something I wanted. UI/UX and product design were the perfect alternatives, so I explored and grew in it. I dropped graphic design totally and moved on.
The years you picked them up?
2010: I was already typing faster than my mum.
2012 – 2013: My design skills were getting better. By 2014, I was solid
2014 – 2017: I picked up most of the skills set. Brand Identity design and strategy was key at this time.
2017: I picked up UI/UX.
Growth. So, what do you imagine the next 5 years will look like?
I should have one or two products in the markets. I have enough resources to start — human capital and funds. I’m currently enrolled in a university in the UK and will be starting classes this year for a degree in computer science. And yes, getting married to my girlfriend is also top of the list.
Back to the present. What’s something you want right now but can’t afford?
A collection of media production equipment for my church. It cost about ₦36M. This is very personal to me. With my current bump, I think I can afford most things I want. Last last, I’ll save up for it.
What is something you wish to be better at financially?
Saying no, maybe. I’m very reckless about giving people money.
What’s the largest amount you’ve given away at once?
₦330k. I was the president of an organisation in 2017, and we were planning an event. However, we were low on funds. I borrowed ₦200k, but it wasn’t enough. Then I started dipping into my personal funds. By the time we were done, I had spent ₦300k. I never got it back.
Lmao. What’s the most annoying miscellaneous you paid for recently that cost a lot?
Maybe my trainers? Got them for ₦25k after searching for months for my size. I am a size 50. The annoying thing was not the price but the fact that it had to be shipped from Germany, and I have been searching for three years for a size 50.
SIZE WHAT?
All my shoes are custom made.
Haha. When was the last time you felt really broke?
My first four months in Lagos. I trekked to places a ₦100-₦150 bus ride could have gotten me to. There’s this lady on Twitter that shares food in my area. One day, I joined the line to collect rice oh.
Wild. Have you ever imagined how life would have turned out if that Tech Hub didn’t get built in your school?
I would have found another way to survive. I may not have gotten to this point, but I definitely would have survived. I believe that the places we go to and the people we meet are all paths to a destination. Taking a different path might mean having a different experience, but they all lead to a result. Now the uncertainty is, nobody knows how good or bad the result will be.
What’s a purchase you made recently that significantly improved the quality of your life?
Ah, that trainers oh. In one week, I have lost 6.5 kg.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?
If like me you’ve been thinking of a way out of penury, I welcome you. Here’s a list of places to find our helpers (tech baes) so that we can flourish and finally chop life.
1) Any coffee shop
Your nearest coffee shop is filled with so many lowkey rich tech people looking for wonderful ambience and uninterrupted power supply. Use this information wisely.
There’s every other normal person in life, and there are tech bros. Such is the difference between our species. Nonetheless, it’s not hard to pick out a tech bro from the crowd if you know what to look out for.
1. Turtleneck.
Every tech bro has at least 3 different shades of black turtlenecks. It’s part of their uniform.
2. Chelsea boots.
Once you see this, just know that this is a tech bro.
3. Laptop bag.
This is also part of the uniform.
4. Afro/dreadlocks/dyed hair.
As most of them are going through pre-midlife crises, they suddenly decide that a non-conventional hairstyle is what has been missing from their lives so they try to fill this void with hair. Unfortunately, most of them don’t have the hairline capacity for this.
5. Laptop covered with stickers.
The only thing more important than having a head of unexplainable hair is making sure everyone knows you’re a tech bro.
6. Headphones.
Accompanying the overburdened laptop is often a headphone that’s probably too large for the tech bro.
7. Preaching on Twitter.
Tech Bros always have something to say about everything, so it’s not strange to find a tech bro spinning long Twitter threads about god-knows-what.
8. Lives in Gbagada/Yaba/Surulere
Our very own Silicon Valley
8. Probably drives a Corolla.
It is easy to confuse them with GTBank boys but that’s expected.
9. Sweatpants.
Is he really a tech bro if he doesn’t own several pairs of sweatpants?
10. Piercings.
Your average tech bro wears a earring. Or plans on getting a piercing.
Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.
Today’s subject is a guy who knows how to be the life of the party and the workhorse too.
What was the first thing you did for money?
I organised parties in university. I started in 200 level, 2007. My first party flopped like hell. Then I realised the clubbing dynamics of Lagos nightlife. Before, we were running after the public school guys. That didn’t work, so we started running after the private school guys with money. The second party cost me zero naira to organise. I made ₦376,000.
That’s interesting. Where did the money come from?
Basically I went to the club and offered them a certain type of percentage. So I said hey, we are willing to let you guys keep all the money from drinks and 10% from the gate (fee). Then we went to meet a new and upcoming club within the school too and said hey, are you willing to do a collaboration party? They agreed.. So most of the costs for running around, printing IVs and stuff like that, I kind of like moved that cost to them, including the transportation and running around costs.
And for me in my own crew, it was myself, two siblings and my girlfriend – family.
Zero costs incurred.
Yep. I continued for a while until I finished uni in 2010. I tried to continue, but I realised that I had lost the connection and the crowd. Most of the people in my set were gone. When you go back to school, it’s like Uncle Agbaya, what are you doing?
Did you have a stash at the time?
₦800k+ in my account. In typical baby boy fashion, that’s when I decided to move out. I moved in with one of my friends, and he was the turn-up lord. It was a lot of money then, but –
–Aha, the but.
Under six months, the ₦800k was remaining ₦100. Initially, you’re partying, buying foodstuffs, girls are constantly coming and eating, and then the babes start reducing when the money is going down. That’s when I went back to the house like a prodigal son, and started looking for work. I haven’t stopped working since.
Your first job. What was that like?
₦55k a month. During NYSC. I got a job while I was serving – it was an administrative role in a consulting firm. In fact, I used part of that money to buy Blackberry Bold 2.
My salary became ₦109k after a year, so what did I do? I joined the office ajo, sold my Blackberry and bought a car.
How much did that cost?
₦300k. After selling by Blackberry, I was using one kpalasa – in fact, it was my mum that gave me the phone. But I was driving a car, hahaha.
I’m trying to make sense of your cashflow at the time. What was it like getting by on ₦109k, fuelling a car?
Here’s the trick, I was doing consulting and most of the time we had to go outside Lagos, I was getting ₦7,500 per day stipend. Another ₦5,000 laundry – this was receiptable though. I remember earning up to ₦252k a month. I was 22 and still serving at the time o.
What type of conversations were you having with your fellow NYSC people?
None. One time, they told me to come and sign register for my ₦9000-something allowance, the woman said ‘you’ll lose it o’. I said ‘take it ma’, hahaha.
Waawu.
I was outside Lagos at the time o, earning more than that in two days.
Mad o. Do you miss those days?
No I don’t, hahaha. It’s been an interesting career. I was promoted thrice in three and a half years, climbed from ₦55k to ₦159k.
What were you doing right? I mean, the obvious thing is “I worked hard, I focused on my job, I did my best” but what do you feel you were doing, that everybody that was working hard wasn’t doing?
To be honest I’m not sure. I knew I was very good at work. I knew I was very good at whatever I was doing. But I think something always stands out – I’m extremely decisive. So if I decide to do something – and this could be bad though – I go for it, whether I break fences or make enemies. In my last job, my strongest point was the ability to achieve business goals. That’s what my manager always said. And everybody likes people like that in their team. Because once you’re able to achieve the target, that’s it. You always get favoured.
Anyway, back to service. I finished in 2011. But by the end of 2014, I was earning ₦372k. I had changed jobs. But the hack is the perks.
Tell me about that.
What I was actually taking home was ₦452k. At this new job, I was working on special projects. That meant that sometimes I was working on partnerships, other times, talent scouting and acquisition. I did that till 2016. I left at ₦490k, and then I took my first pay cut ever, my choice. So basically, I took ₦7.2 million per year instead of waiting for a few months and climbing to 9-point-something.
Interesting.
But I just knew that I was going to be stuck where I was. I knew I was doing the wrong thing. I knew I wasn’t in the career line that I wanted. So I hit the reset button.
There was no story to it. They sent me the offer. I looked at it, and I said yes. There was no whining.
There are certain things that are important to me at different points in my life. Like when I moved after three promotions, I moved for money. Solely for money. Not career. And then when I moved out of money, it was for me being able to build my career.
And when I was getting married, I married someone who was contented as well. That meant no spousal pressure. I got married at 27, by the way.
Interestingly I saved more with that pay cut.
How?
The working environment changed. I wasn’t as invested in depreciating assets. When you work in the bank for example, you spend so much on buying suits, buying shoes, buying watches and all of that. But where I moved to, it was mostly t-shirts –
Ohooo, a startup.
Yeah. I mean, I’ve always been a saver, but I started saving more when I got into tech.
So, were you a consultant?
No. Now I was still actively in a special projects role in management. 2017, 550. Beginning of 2018 I was earning 603.
2019?
5,250. Wait, 4,250 first, then 5,250 after 3 months.
That is clearly not naira, and there’s no outcome where there aren’t a lot of zeros here.
Hahaha, dollars. Net. I went from a ₦9.6 million per year package in January to 22 or so.
How does a person go from – what, ₦55k? – to ₦22 million in less than a decade?
It’s actually interesting, thinking about it hahaha. I’m laughing because I’ve never sat down to reflect. Maybe whenever I feel sad again, I should just…
Think about how far you’ve come.
Yeah. Maybe you should start charging people for this. But after me sha.
Hahaha.
I realise now that at every point, I’ve never really felt like I should have been earning more. Basically, I’ve always been extremely content.
You know, what I was earning in mid 2014 is equivalent to what I’m tithing now.
Wollop. Start again.
It’s a little more that what I earned, but you get it.
Someone bring me a choir!
Hahaha. I’m not sure if this is related, but I always keep my living expenses low. For example, my living expense hasn’t grown significantly since I was on ₦9 million a year. Also, I don’t think of my income as just mine. I think about it as a unit.
Ah, you and your wife?
And kid, the real oga, hahaha. That kid chops the most part of the income. So household income is currently at ₦2.5 million a month.
I’ve been wanting to ask a married person, do you run a joint account?
No we don’t have any joint account. We keep it separate, but we have a system. Take for instance, if we want to buy a car, we put all the funds together and buy that car. Regardless of who earns what. So that’s kind of how we operate. If we want to do investment for Treasury Bills, it’s done for the family.
Not as individuals.
Yeah. I tend to pull in most of the funds, but for the family still. That’s how I see money, because anything can happen any time.
Any time!
At the end of the day, the money belongs to the unit. It’s just that one person has more earning power as a unit.
So let’s break down monthly expenses.
₦450k
As in, all your expenses?
Including rent. I remove rent monthly, lock it in a savings, set a maturity date, then I give the landlord yearly.
So, let’s break down the ₦450k.
We have things we take care of. I pay the rent, she handles feeding. Sometimes it climbs to ₦500k.
So for my last rent, I managed to save up to 1.8, even though rent was ₦1.2 million. That meant that for the next month, I didn’t even touch my salary.
It’s a little over 450, but I have some side investment that pays me ₦100k. That covers extra stuff. But ₦450k is the unshakeable running cost, all things being equal.
Incredible. So, ₦450k out of 1.9. What happens to the rest?
Investments, savings, some of them go into stuff that might come up but mostly investments.
You have ₦1.45 million that you can do anyhow. Your potential lau lau budget.
Yeah thereabouts.
Let’s create a scenario of how you spend the ₦1.45 million.
I leave the rest to stay denominated in dollars. I have a monthly savings budget, a monthly investment budget minus your rent. I juggle a bunch of investments: treasury bills, mutual funds, and dollar investments.
I’m always looking for investment opportunities, but medium risk. I prioritise medium risk and low risk investments. I don’t do the high risk because I’ve probably not had enough time to sit down and understand it.
What’s something you wish you could invest in, in Nigeria, more easily?
I’m not sure. Two things around that; before, I was the kind of person that’ll be like Nigeria will be great. But more and more, it’s chipping away from that confidence. And when you start to have kids, you start to kind of like lose hope and…
And start thinking about their future.
Yes. So by this time now, it’s more or less about how much investments can I do abroad.
Your true country?
Yes my true country. So that the day I decide to… You know, Nigeria is actually my true country, I really love Nigeria. So did many of the people in my circle who have gone. I don’t think I want to just yet. I don’t think I’ve reached that point just yet.
You were saying something about the investments that helps you pay for the ₦30k.
On the side consulting; income can come through those avenues. It used to happen frequently but now, I spend more of my time at my current job. The thing is, if you want to be seen as a performer, you need to be able to block out the noise. And when you start to do side gigs, it can become noise. I feel this needs my focus 100% till I’m able to build something.
I feel you.
And there’s no urgent request to increase income right now.
How much do you feel like you should actually be earning?
Once in a while, I struggle with imposter syndrome. And I’ll say sometimes, I don’t think I should be earning more than 12 million, a year. If I was going to get promoted in my last job, which was what happened in June, I would have been earning 12m. This job is the quantum leap.
What is something that you really want but you can’t afford?
A house. I don’t have plans for it yet, but I have a picture of the kind of house I want. It’s so clear. A terrace house. I can see it, but I don’t have a strong desire to get it now.
You have pension and health insurance, right?
Yeah, plus car and home insurance. I’m flirting with the idea of life insurance, because tax wise, it reduces my tax liabilities.
Ehn?
If you have a life insurance, the amount that they use to calculate your income tax goes down.
Just for bants, when was the last time you felt really broke?
I think it’d have to be when I was earning 550k. But broke for me is not when I run out of money, but when I run out of pocket money.
What is something you honestly wish you could get better at?
Reading. And if I’m able to focus the way I have focused every other part of my life in getting better at reading, I won’t see what happened as a quantum leap.
I have a very poor attention span. Meaning I can be very excited for a while, which makes it difficult for me to pick up a book and read. I read articles and management reviews though,
Because they help you get better at work.
Exactly.
On a scale of 1-10, happiness levels.
I’ll say seven. Money is fickle, and that uncertainty is where the remaining three sits. I’ve been lucky, but I also believe that luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
The only thing better than a success story is a success story in the making. That’s the feeling I got when I spent some time with Team Neptune, made up of the nine Nigerian teenagers who won InterswitchSPAK’s inaugural “Innovation Challenge.”
InterswitchSPAK 1.0 Innovation challenge is just one segment of InterswitchSPAK’s National Science competition, organised by Interswitch Foundation.
A while ago, they were just nine students; now, they are nine students creating a solution that could change Nigeria’s health system forever. I know what you’re thinking; how did they get there? Let me take you on a journey that begins with — like everything in school — a written test.
Students from all over the country competed in InterswitchSPAK National qualifying examination.
Finalists were grouped into nine groups of nine students each. The groups were named after some of the known planetary bodies.
Their task was not a simple one. They were asked to find a solution to any notable socio-economic issues in health care, public transportation and education, taking advantage of technology. Each team had some help from staff of Interswitch who volunteered as mentors.
Team Neptune, made up of nine SS2 students, tutored by Interswitch’s Princess Edo-Osagie, Inalegwu Alogwu and Abiodun Adebisi, won the challenge.
Their innovative solution permits anyone who’s registered on the NHIS to consult doctors via the internet, or USSD (for those without internet access). Like the superheroes that they are, the students also dreamed up a system that allows the patients, after consulting ‘internet doctors’, to get drugs from partner pharmacies using the doctor’s prescription.
Sweet, right?
According to the judges, Team Neptune ticked all the right boxes.
The two major criteria in choosing the winners were ideas and presentation.
The jury considered the use of technology, what opportunities were explored, whether the idea was possible and how much change it would bring.
For the presentation, the jury considered the delivery, creativity and demonstration of teamwork.
Team Neptune worked for it and they got it. They won the founder’s prize. Since then, they’ve been lowkey working, with help from Interswitch.
Interswitch is keen on making Team Neptune’s solution a reality. Here’s what they did; the students were brought into the company and tutored for weeks by no other than the Interswitch head of innovation, Eghosa Ojo.
In those few weeks, they’ve built their health solution into a business, while also learning invaluable teamwork, strategy and planning skills.
According to Israel, who is Team Neptune’s de-facto CEO, the entire experience was great. He said, “I think the most important thing we’ve learned here is how to work as a team, how to combine ideas and approaches to create something strong and valuable. We’ve also had the privilege of being tutored by someone who has years of experience and is very patient and willing to pass on knowledge”
Team Neptune has now presented their business to the senior management team at Interswitch, and we can’t wait to see how far this goes.
Keep your fingers crossed. If anyone tells you how your health insurance package now lets you consult a doctor via the internet and buy prescribed drugs, you know who made it happen. Nine Nigerian teenagers will have made that happen and we have Interswitch to thank for it.
Okay, let’s rewind a bit. I have always wanted to venture into farming, maybe it’s because I believe there is so much potential in the business. But every attempt at getting started and keeping up with it has been a serious pain.
Who did I offend?
First, I started out trying to cultivate maize on one acre of land and let me just tell you now, it’s not beans.The headache started with the farmer I partnered with because even though he had some experience with farming, he didn’t know too much about maize and he could have advised me on a better seed variety.At the end of the day, I waited to harvest the remaining maize and prepare to sell. What no one tells you about agriculture is the insane risk that is involved especially if your farm isn’t insured, and that’s exactly what happened to me. I didn’t insure my maize farm so I bore all the losses.Thankfully, I was relaying this story to a good friend of mine who had a smile plastered on his face while I was recounting this horror story of an investment.At the end of my long pitiful recount, my friend just shook his head and told me that had he had already read a lot of similar stories online and that was why he took the safer and more guaranteed route.He told me that he also had a maize farm and his farming has been nothing but smooth. He didn’t have to deal directly with farmers, because he sure didn’t have the time to train them, neither did he deal with labourers or selling the farm produce at the end of the farm cycle. I almost fell off my chair.
Is this real?
So I probed further and discovered that my friend had invested in agriculture through a platform that took care of dealing directly with farmers. The farmers had hands-on training from dedicated farm specialists, they were given improved seed varieties and were always on-ground to monitor the farmers, from planting to harvest to getting off-takers for the product so that there is nothing like wasted produce or the farmer can’t sell after harvest. To say “I felt I had just been handed a hot EXPO to profitable farming in Nigeria” was an understatement. I was excited.So, I invested the little money I had left from my misadventure into my old maize farm and used it to sponsor maize farms on this Agric platform which I later got to know was Farmcrowdy. Of course, I still did my research and I kept seeing nothing but good reviews, coupled with my friend’s testimonial, I just went ahead. Sat down, relaxed and waited for the harvest while getting all the farm updates on my dashboard. At the end of the farm cycle, I collected my initial investment plus pure profit, without lifting a finger. I have not looked back since then and I have continued to sponsor more farms to build my personal investment portfolio in the agriculture space. My name is Nnaemeka Obinna and I am now a proud farmer because I farm on Farmcrowdy. Better to work smart, than to work hard!
He has now been inducted into the Island fit-fam club, after going on a run on Lagos’ current infrastructural pride and joy, the Lekki-Ikoyi bridge, this morning.
Many people are particularly tickled by his easy breezy movement around the city, even though we are very sure he has incredibly tight, serious security.
$54 bn walking anyhow in Yaba. Meanwhile one ogre will be blowing siren ween ween ween cuz he's Local Govt Chairman https://t.co/iE7bLagO8S
Have you ever imagined being able to tell the time in Yoruba? Well, now you can with the Yoruba Watch Faces created by tech enthusiast and Software Engineer, Moyinoluwa Adeyemi.
This Computer Science graduate who has created a sizeable number of Android Watch Faces became inspired to create a way to tell the time in Yoruba after looking at a clock on a Friday evening after work.
Soon after, she started working on this idea, and began gathering all the knowledge she gained from the Natural Language Processing classes she took while in school.
Moyinoluwa has been doing awesome work even before her Android Watch Faces became popular. In 2013, she was the event developer of TEDxIfe that held in OAU, and was also on the 14-member team that helped improve the ranking of the university from 6th to 1st in Nigeria at the Webometrics ranking of universities.
Moyinoluwa is currently the Software Engineer at Swifta System and Services International.
Two of these Watch Faces are currently available for free download on Google Play Store, with each of them depicting a man and woman in Yoruba attire.
