In today’s world, the typical “rags to riches” story is becoming less and less heard of. We now hear stories of the individuals who benefited from attendance at (often times) world-class schools and universities, giving them a head start in reaching the top. This is not to discredit the achievements of this generation’s visionaries – rather to highlight that the typical narrative has certainly changed from generations prior. Alex Amosu’s story, however, is a genuine, old-school ‘rags to riches’ tale. After emigrating from Africa’s most populous city, Lagos, Nigeria, to a low-income inner-city district in London, Alex truly hustled from the ground up.From working as a cleaner during his teens to making his first million at 25, Alex’s entrepreneurial feats are inspirational. Today, he sells luxury products to some of the world’s wealthiest clientele.


Moving From Nigeria To London

Alex grew up in London and, like many first-generation immigrants at that time, his early life was a struggle. Initially, his parents remained in Nigeria whilst he lived with his grandmother in a small flat on a North London council estate, where several family members were crammed into too few rooms; Alex recalls often sleeping on the living room couch. They could not afford any luxuries and this became more pronounced whilst Alex was at school. He remembers feeling like an outcast, as he had never owned any branded items. As is the case today, culturally-relevant fashion items (from brands such as Nike and Adidas) were popular amongst school children and Alex often found himself with non-branded versions which had “6 stripes rather than the 3 that genuine Adidas trainers were supposed to have”. Deasperate to fit in, Alex wanted in and, where he grew up, “there were typically two ways to get what you want in life – people either stole it or found a way of paying for it”. The entrepreneurial cogs began to wind and Alex took up a paper round in his local area, delivering newspapers at 6 am Monday to Saturday, for which he was paid £10-a-week for. A few weeks later, he was able to buy his first pair of genuine Nike Air Max trainers.

Alex’s new target was income growth and one newspaper route would not be enough to achieve this, so chose to invest the money he’d saved from his sales into another venture. After being rejected from the football team, he decided to arrange a school football tournament instead. Alex took full charge of the project, spearheading all areas from generating ticket sales, negotiating with the school for space, organizing catering and even refereeing the games himself. The tournament generated around £1,200 and confirmed to Alex that his business model worked and could easily be replicated in different ways. He then organized tournaments for other sports such as tennis and basketball and extended this to also organizing parties. Fixed on maximising the profit, he once again opted to run several of the functions himself, and hiring friends and family for free to the door, DJ and catering. He was regularly making £1,500 for just a few hours of work on a Saturday.

From House Parties To Cleaning

Having has a taste of entrepreneurship, Alex wanted to work on a more sustainable business that had the potential to scale. The inspiration for his next project came from an unlikely source. Whilst at college, his pregnant aunt had asked for help with the cleaning of her home. To his surprise, she paid him £20 for his work and, when he inquired further, mentioned that this was the going rate for cleaners. Within a week, Alex had created a logo, printed business cards and delivered flyers offering cleaning services in his area. He gained his first customer in the following week and turned up to the job in his tracksuit. Unfortunately, in North London at that time, a 17-year-old showing up wearing tracksuit was not well received and Alex was immediately turned away – he muses that “the couple probably thought I was going to steal something from their house”. He laughs when recalling the memory. The experience taught him a key lesson for a customer-facing business – good presentation is essential to making clients feel confident in his services. At the time, he did not own any smart clothing, so borrowed his father’s (oversized) suit and, once at his next assignment, arrived smartly dressed and even with copies of his passport to hand (to serve as proof of identification). He offered to clean their premises for free for one week after which, should they like his work, they could hire. He exhausted himself finishing the job, leaving the house completely spotless. Not surprisingly, he was offered a contract on the spot. Soon after, and very much like his newspaper business, he realized he could hire friends and scale the business. He eventually secured an impressive 12 commercial contracts for office cleaning. The business began to generate a healthy amount of income. A growing interest in technology, combined with his business studies at college led him to take on a Saturday job in an electrical store. It was here the “big idea” was born when Alexander bought his first mobile phone, the Nokia 3210.

Ringtone Riches

If you are young enough, selling ringtones may see like a foreign concept. Back in the 90s and early 00s, mobile phones had grown in sophistication and popularity, however were still a long way behind the high-tech gadgets we are so familiar with today. MP3 ringtones did not yet exist. Instead, ringtones were monotones (imagine a string of musical “beeps” that made up some sort of tune). The phones came with a limited range of ringtones, however almost always had the option to compose your own, using differing key tones and combinations. Seeking a ringtone that reflected his own personality, Alex composed the polyphonic version of a Jay Z song. His friends were impressed and wanted the composition for themselves. Being the businessman that he is, Alex charged them £1 each. In total, he made over £20 from that single composition. After researching the ringtone industry, he noticed that there were no ringtone providers catering for the hip-hop genre, which was increasingly gaining mainstream popularity. Confident that he had spotted a gap in the market, he handed over the cleaning company to his siblings and focused on ringtones fulltime.

Alex after selling first business
Alex after selling first business COURTESY OF ALEX AMOSU
Alex set up a premium-rate number charging £1.50/minute for ringtone compositions (online card payments were still not a popular method of payment). He advertised his new venture with 20,000 flyers that he distributed around his university and, that very day, made £97. He now had with sufficient conviction to drop out of his university course and channel all of his energy to his business. Within 4 months, the operation had moved from a council flat bedroom to an office in North London, with 21 staff members selling thousands of ringtones. At the end of its first year, the company had turned over £1.6m (which only came to Alex’s attention after receiving a call from his accountant; he ran to the first ATM he could find to double-check). Alex had made his first million at just 25 years old. From that point, advertising became more sophisticated, with the company often paying for spreads in national newspapers and TV and radio adverts. The company was turning over £6.6m in its fourth year. However, as is the case in any profitable industry, competitors soon spotted the opportunity and entered the market. The return on investment was slowing down and it was time to figure out an exit. An opportunity presented itself when a German telecoms company who wanted the back catalog of ringtones paid £9m for the company in 2004.

Diamonds And The World’s Most Expensive Suit

As a result of his successful entrepreneurial endeavours, Alex became accustomed to some of the finer things in life and wised-up to the vast potential of the luxury market. A conversation with a wealthy friend, who was planning on purchasing an expensive phone brand for his wife (costing upwards of £5,000), sparked his next idea. Alex made a suggestion to his friend: rather than buying from this brand, he could instead customize the exterior of a phone in the market which, he argued, would be far more exclusive. His friend agreed with the recommendation and, within a few months, Alex delivered a customized solid gold Samsung phone encrusted with diamonds. It goes without saying that the recipient’s wife loved it. Shortly after, word got around and Alex began receiving a variety of customization requests. He customized items for A-list celebrity clientele, such as Alicia Keys, 50 Cent, Lewis Hamilton and Chris Brown. He sold a mobile phone via London-based superstore Selfridges for an impressive £70k and, the following year, sold a Blackberry to a Middle Eastern family for £150k. Phone companies began contacting him to customize their handsets and other electronic products, such as iPhones and iPads. Using this momentum, he expanded his luxury portfolio and moved into the sale of fashion items under his self-named brand ‘Alexander Amosu’. A highlight of his career is when he was commissioned to produce the world’s most expensive suit – an exquisite bespoke men’s suit made from three of the world’s most expensive wools, with buttons made of 18ct solid gold and diamonds. It was sold to an anonymous buyer and valued at an eye-watering £70k.

Alex Amosu Luxury Cigars
Alex Amosu Luxury Cigars COURTESY OF ALEX AMOSU
Despite his overwhelming success, Alex was looking for something more. He identified with the growing middle and upper classes in Africa and saw that those in the luxury market were not well catered to, whilst often looked down on by some international brands. He established his next business “Lux Afrique” to address this issue.

Lux Afrique

Today, Lux Afrique is a company that offers a variety of services to high net worth (HNW) Africans and luxury brands. As Africa’s affluent communities expand, there is room for the company to engage with their needs. Lux Afrique organises exclusive access to special collections at high-end fashion stores, host events such as their annual polo day (link) taking place at Ham Polo Club in August which invites top African polo players to compete with the rest of the world as well as royalty, celebrities and captains of the industry. Further down the line there are ambitions to launch private wealth management services. In short, it is a lifestyle, concierge and events company catering to the needs of wealthy Africans.

Additionally, this year the Lux Afrique Agency launched, as part of the Lux Afrique Group, to represent sports personalities, celebrities and influencers from across Africa and world. Alex’s vision is that the agency will provide luxury brands with opportunity to engage high profile individuals (either as brand ambassadors) or to connect with their millions of followers online and beyond.

Alex sees Lux Afrique’s mission as “ensuring the HNWs in Africa get the level of service they deserve globally, but also have access to the education on finances so their wealth spreads for many generations”. He names some of his role models – such as Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola – and highlights that he really wants to leave a lasting impact on the continent where he came from.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommywilliams1/2019/02/21/meet-alex-amosu-serial-entrepreneur-catering-to-africas-ultra-wealthy/amp/