Money is an interesting thing. What’s most interesting is people’s perception of it. Most people I know think my wife and I have millions of dollars sitting in a bank vault room somewhere. We wake up, count the stacks by the bed stand or check our bank accounts and argue over how to spend our gains. Firstly, we have never ever ever had an argument about money. In our household, it has never been that important. When I first met my wife, she had a better car than I did and because my little Jeep (which I borrowed from an uncle) was always breaking down, she actually let me use her car. No shaking. No ego (well a little). She has been here from the early days. So we know ourselves. November 2010. My Jeep hated me (above).
So folks think we are rich.
Unfortunately the reality is far from that. Far far far from it. What we have is equity in iROKO. But cash? Less so. The equity we hope grows and will be valuable someday soon, for school fees and such. In the interim, we both have a salary. One which is at the behest of my board and if I want to increase it, I need to kick some ass, create a narrative around said-ass-kicking, build a presentation and try and convince them I deserve it. That doesn’t sound like something rich folk do. I am the founding employee. There are actually 2 other people at iROKO who earn the same amount as I do. And because of tax regime issues in pure cash terms, I don’t even earn the most at iROKO today. As I mentioned, we don’t get hung up too much in cash issues. We believe in equity.
Why am I writing this…
I actually think it’s really annoying that folks think I have money. There is very very little upside. But I think there is a theme which needs to die in Nigerian ‘startupland’.
‘fake it until you make it’
It’s easy to appear and mislead people to think you are rich. Really easy. I was surprised how duplicitous most people are about such things. Especially around regular, hard working people. Because your father appears to have money, doesn’t mean you do. Having assets and having actual cash are very different things. Having things, material things, isn’t having money. It’s having things. And things can be borrowed on mortgage. And we all know most things are on a mortgage.
I am frequently in Accra, where I am now. Someone was telling me I spend too much on hotel bills. I should just buy an apartment. Nothing too expensive. Just $250–300k. The way he casually mentioned it. Just. It’s a tad annoying. I definitely don’t have that kind of money sitting around. But as I tried to explained to him that, he thought I was being modest. Being humble. Playing things down. We all know that’s not my suit. I don’t really do modest.
Then it dawned on me.
What I realised in Nigeria and Africa at large is usually the company money and the person appears (and is usually) the same thing. So if I spend millions at iROKO as my day job, it [obviously] means many of those millions are in a bank vault somewhere. That makes sense, right?
That’s wrong. And in the West, it’s obviously wrong.
Back in 2012, Forbes mentioned I was worth $30m. That has become the bane of my life. Maddening enough, I wasn’t even earning that much money then. Probably something like $60k/year (post raising $13m). Mary and I had saved up hard for our wedding (no rich parents to kick in) and we didn’t have enough for our dream honeymoon to the Seychelles. In August. At $1.5k/night. Forget it. Come 2022, we plan to renewal our vows there instead.
So. I had raised $13m at that point but couldn’t really afford to pay for the entire wedding of our dreams. So we compromised. On everything. Honeymoon, location, like everything. Yet that same month, Forbes said I was worth $30m. It still was a glorious day. We spent what we could just about afford. We invited people who cared about us (sorta) and just enjoyed the day. It was about us, after all. Most of the weddings I have been to post ours have been grander and bigger affairs than my little one in Festac Town.
Why am I telling you all this? Why should you even care? Because I value being honest about entrepreneurship and its pursuits as my civic duty. My contribution to the world. Anyone who has spent any time around me knows these stories as they always invariably come up. And you will never ever hear me talk about how much money I have personally. That’s not my style. Because I am a salary earner (granted a relatively good one). And I don’t really have money like that.
Only downside to people thinking you are rich and not having cash at hand. You want a lawyer? The price goes up x10. I want to negotiate a deal. Price goes up x10. I claim lack of funds. No one wants to listen. I think most of what I write here is pretty negative as a whole. That’s my nature; I naturally oscillate between extreme optimism and pessimism. But at the very minimum, I am honest with myself. Always. The moment I stop that is the moment I stop being me.
Dapo; one of the ToLet founders asked me last week how I deal with negative press / things people say about me. It’s easy. I don’t read too much into or believe most of the positive things people say about me. I just focus on what I know to be true. And that’s where I keep the circle small and primarily made up of people pre-iROKO. So positive vs negative. Who cares? My wife, kids and friends love me. So one has to keep it moving.
I am in the mood to be honest about the state of startups in our grand land. Hopefully it will make us all better people. Keep us clean. Separate the tourists and wannabes from those of us who crank things out for a brighter economic future. Nigeria needs this moment of clarity. She is going into tougher economic climes and wishful thinking or suggestion of imaginary success are not what is needed. Realpolitik is needed.
realpolitikreɪˈɑːlpɒlɪˌtiːk/
noun
a system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations.
On a final note. 4 years later. My shares are worth considerably less than Forbes mentioned all those years ago. Still working hard to get to those numbers but I am simply not there. It’s important I realise that and the world does too.