Lessons from IrokoTV founder, who made $30m in his 30s

For an entrepreneur, succeeding is important and today, we bring you Jason Njoku , a Nigerian internet entrepreneur and is CEO and founder of Iroko partners, the largest distributor of Nigerian music and movies online, who made $30 million in his 30s.

Njoku, who studied chemistry at the University of Manchester and grew up in the UK, is currently one of the most successful internet entrepreneurs in Africa and this did not come by accident. Several media accounts tell it that Njoku, while studying at the university, ran some side businesses to keep himself busy.

His several years of hard work finally paid off, leading to the launch of one of the most successful content agency in Africa’s media space.

Some may say that his success came from a principle – “don’t wait around” to act on an idea, because you never may know where the journey may lead you.

For instance, in an interview recently, Njoku was quoted to have said: “Don’t wait around – the sector is in its infancy but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to move quickly. There are a lot of people out there who are smarter than me, who have an Ivy-league education and who have great ideas to start up a business, but something is holding them back and they are voyeurs rather than entrepreneurs.

My advice to young entrepreneurs is this: don’t wait for the day when you’re reading about YOUR idea in the business pages. Do it now. Break free from the shackles that hold you back and start your business today.”

Here are some more lessons to learn from Njoku, from his own words in interviews.

Embrace hard work, “hustling” can be profitable, eventually

“I’m a hustler at heart and it wasn’t a conscious decision to be an entrepreneur. It was just something I had always done and expected to continue doing after my degree. I knew I didn’t want to work for ‘the man.’” Determined to define his own path, Njoku embrace entrepreneurship and made it a part of who he was going to be.

Understand who you are

Knowing that he could not work for “the man”, through an understanding of who he is, Njoku preferred to led the way only a few could follow.

“In fact, in all honesty, I genuinely don’t think I could keep down a regular job. I’m brutally honest about the sort of person I am—curt, belligerent, intense, egotistical—I could go on. But I’m also astute, hard working (stupidly so), creative and have no fear of failure. Add up my personality traits and business skills and they don’t lead to a 9-5 job, they lead to a life as an entrepreneur.”

There is a saying that the world gives way to the man who knows where he is going. Decide to be that person today.