₦airaland Forum

Hello all,

I'd be willing to share some tips with you free of charge which could sharpen your life and make you become financially independent for life.

There are millions of opportunities which we don't see because of our myopic mindset on business engagements. I just woke up this morning and thought of the best way to reach out to the Nigerian youths out there, including those struggling to make ends meet in the Diaspora. I'm not a politician but a businessman to the core and I manage my time very well and despite my extremely busy schedule, I try to create time for beneficial ideas for others who may care to not keep saying yes sir for life.

Like I've always said, only the brave can bite the bullet. You cannot pick naira or dollar on the floor without making some sacrifices like time, finance ( no matter how small) and energy. Go and ask those doing money rituals which even has daring consequences. They'd tell you how far they tend to go to achieve their heinous aim.

Each time I contribute to any topic that has to do with japaing and some do differ on my stance against it, I just shake my head. They don't see the opportunities we see. You've got to be idealistic and in a unique way to achieve anything and stand out in life. The nairaland.com platform, Linda Ikeji Blog, etc were brought about by ideas...a unique one for that matter.

That said, I have some free tips for the Nigerian youths, none of which those politicians they're supporting would give them.
As a young man in my early 20s back in the days. I always loved to study new things and thanks to the advent of the Internet. I had my nysc same year GSM came to Nigeria and I happened to be among the young Nigerians who learned how to browse the Internet in the city of Ibadan in a first ever broadband based ISP cafe at Ring Road. While I'd pay for a night browsing, searching for opportunities abroad, my peers would be busy watching porn all through the night , or looking for foreign female fiends on friendfinder.com, Hotmail messenger and yahoo messenger. One day I jammed a programme in a foreign land and tapped into it. In 2004, I travelled for the very first time ever , out of the country and destination was New York. That was the beginning of my relevance I'd say.

After the programme, I stayed a few months looking for opportunities. I found one and came back home with it and the rest was history. I've been to DisneyLand times without number and several interesting places across the globe. The idea I brought home made me to sit with president Obama at the DAR Hall as the only invitee from black Africa. Its about ideas which they say, rule the world. Those colleagues of mine whom I left behind when returning to Nigeria are neither here nor there today. It's not by power but we reasoned differently. There was a time I visited disneyland in CA and looked round...I didn't see a single black with their family and I wondered...don't blacks too have time for fun? It boils down to deas which pave ways for success and total freedom.

Recently I watched on Foxnews where Elon Musk was planning to delve into Healthcare. Microsoft too is coming up with AIM ( Artificial Intelligence in Medicine). Microsoft came to educate us at a conference which I attended in 2018 at Anaheim, CA on AIM. We would probably be the first company in West Africa to introduce this in the health sector. What am I saying? Ideas! Nobody would draw you out of poverty except yourself, not even the political candidates we're supporting. You can only sit neck on neck with them with your ideas. Mark Zuckerberg became prominent cos of ideas. Stop working from morning till night all year round. Create time for idea that works.

Here are the tips...

Create time to attend conferences. There are thousands of conferences which are available on the Internet. Google it and verify authenticity. There are conferences that match your academic backgrounds like science, engineering, agriculture, oil and gas or perrol chemicals, robotics, techs, etc. Amazingly, registration into most of them are free. By attending those conferences, you'd meet people that matter, companies who are yearning to pemetrate foreign markets but don't know how to go about it cos they had no local partners in those foreign markets. You can become one of those beneficiaries. There's a product we introduced to the Oil and Gas sometime ago, now, we're a market leader. I met them at a conference overseas. The moment they saw my country on my name tag, which I wore, they rushed to meet me and directed me to their booths as if they've been waiting for me. The rest has been history today.

Search for short courses in universities abroad, even it is a certificate programme. From there you'd meet more opportunities. I'm a beneficiary of this. I remember the day I told my friend I was going to USA embassy for my visa interview. He said, you want them to use your money to grow flower too abi? I got my visa on a virgin passport and travelled for the first time. I had never travelled anywhere before that time. The rest had become history, all thanks to God given ideas.

Create time for foreign trainings in relevant fields. Work towards your leave period and apply. Everything is there on the internet my people. Even if the training programme is in Dubai or SA, it doesn't matter, register and go. There are opportunities over there which aren't available here. Tap into it apppy for your visa by yourself and go, DIY! I remember a similar one I attended in dubai in 2013. I met an Indian who engaged me in a chat. He said but many of your people don't see what we see, you know. He was from Chennai. We spoke at length. Again, during my 6hr flight from Baltimore, MD in 2019 to LA, I was seated close to an Indian who said he was going to San Diego where he lives. He said a lot about Nigerians. He said we're not so enterprising despite our high level of intelligence. He said we live in the midst of plenty yet, suffering.
I can say boldly that nobody sponsored my first trip to America, i was working where I earned so little but I was focused . I saved every penny I earned towards achieving my goals. While my mates were renting apartments, driving cars, even building houses, I was busy investing in ideas which finally paid off. None of them can boast of the kind of house or Company i built today...I mean none. Your story too can be like this.

Read widely and stop fighting everyone on social media with your precious time and data because, on reading lies great opportunities. In early 2000s after my nysc, I had a friend who used to read newspapers like I did. There, he saw his state's scholarship which he applied to. Luckily for him, he was taken and he jetted out to the UK. After his master's programme, he came back. One day he learnt his university in UK where he graduated from, had recommended him for his PHD due to his brilliant performance in another uni in Europe. Now, he's an employer of labour in Nigeria, doing very well. This was a son of a nobody, just like me.

Early 90s, my uncle who brought Xantrex Engineering to Nigeria from America hit his luck through reading. He too japa early 90s after he resigned voluntarily from Union Bank, Dugbe Branch. He was employed by Walmart as storekeeper. He said before he left, he had made up his mind he wasn't going to stay long in America cos he was going there to tap opportunities. Each time he closed from work he'd stop at a Mexican vendor's place and read papers. Afterall , house was dry as nobody was there to relate with unlike in Nigeria where you can barge into your neighbour's house unannounced and ask what he had inside his fridge. You're just alone over there so he sat and read papers as usual. There he saw an advert of Xantrex Engineering. He quickly thought of the power Challenges at home and wrote to them. They rejected his application for a distributor for 2 reasons. One, they didn't believe he'd do well being a new tech in the African matket. Secondly, they weren't ready to expand to Africa as of then. My uncle felt bad but wasn't discouraged. 3 weeks after, they wrote to him they'd reconsidered his application and should come for 2 weeks training FOC!. He jetted to the state from GA to take the training. He was told to come back home with free samples for demonstration which he did. All Nigerians over there told him that village people had come calling. They said he must be stupid to take such a step of returning home where there was no job and people were in abject poverty. He didn't listen to them.

A long story cut short, he headed to CBN Hq to market the product. The directors laughed at him and said they'd not need it cos they had 3 standby generators already. He said , but it's free. Reluctantly, they allowed him install one at the IT department where they had all their gadgets and data house. He now left. Barely 6 months later, 2 gens had packed up due to a collapsed national grid. They were running on gen always. The 3rd one also packed up so there was pandemonium in the CBN. On getting to the IT room, the directors discovered the staff were working unhindered. The Xantrex Power Technology did the magic. My uncle was just thinking of the next place to visit that morning when he got a call from CBN. He was asked to install some units there and in all the CBN branches nationwide. When the ATM revolution came to Nigeria, the cbn instructed some of the reliable commercial banks to patronise only my uncle. Today, he's a multi billionaire. Same company that first refused to deal with him now gave him the global distributor of the year...3 years back to back.

So, that's all I have for you guys. If you want to japa, japa but with sense. Go and bring into Nigeria great opportunities that will change your life, those around you and that of your entire family for life. And to my people in the Diaspora, there were challenges before you left and there would always be, as they are in every nation of the world. In the 80s, my inlaws relocated to the south west because of religous conflicts in zaria. Don't get scared because of the things you hear. Think of Indians, Pakistanis, Britons, EUs and worse still Chinese who keep thronging Nigerian space despite all the scary news you hear. There must be something they're looking for. They come with only ideas and become super rich in less than 5 years. Good luck!

Cc.
NLfpmod
Seun
Lalasticla

nice writeup kudos

I am wowed. You made a lot of sense. If only i could find someone to sponsor my visits.

Nice one bro.
If I may ask, what's the reason behind your moniker?
Eriokanmi (I've got no concern with evidence)

YoobaNesan:
Nice one bro.
If I may ask, what's the reason behind your moniker?
Eriokanmi (I've got no concern with evidence)

Lol. You tried. It means my conscience in yoruba. Ęri okan mi

Ooh! Eri Okan(heart) mi.
I do read it as Eri Okan(no concern) mi.

Can you lead me to where you read about Gencore interest in our oyel?

Eriokanmi:
Lol. You tried. It means my conscience in yoruba. Ęri okan mi

This is beautiful, to be frank with each other, determination is the key factor in this your write up. Resilience is needed also, internet has more goodness than the opposite. The opportunity needed is their but needs someone to dig deeper before it could be achieved.
May God continue to bless the op. Remain blessed.

YoobaNesan:
Ooh! Eri Okan(heart) mi.
I do read it as Eri Okan(no concern) mi.

Can you lead me to where you read about Gencore interest in our oyel?

Ooh. OK. Gencore is in the public space or domain

Truly inspiring.

Most youths would rather be internet warriors these days.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that makes everyone happy

fascinating!

Super wonderful!!!
I can relate....I learned from the internet everything I know about outdoor media before I got certified as a registered practitioner.
Everyday am still mining new ideas and exploring how to better the existing ones.

Kudos Eriokanmi

Nice write up Eriokanmi...can you incorporate the story of the young model you met as well your guy who won total energies into this piece....I think it would be more robust

Wonderful piece, taking a thing or two